Members today interact with their credit union through a wider variety of channels than ever. In response, credit union leaders are updating their organizational design to ensure contact centers meet maximum service levels while aligning with broader organizational goals.
The contact center at University Federal Credit Union ($4.2B, Austin, TX), splits approximately 116 employees between phone and digital channels. As part of the member service department, the contact center is evolving along with the larger institution.
“Our headcount depends on where the organization is with our digital and self-service tools,” says Becca Pike, director of member services. “We’re still building the foundation of our digital transformation, so our headcount is fairly consistent today with what it has been historically, although I see that shifting as we see what volumes come in through which channels.”
UFCU typically starts all contact center staff in the phone channel so they can build a solid understanding of the organization’s systems and its sales and service model. As employees build on that foundation, gain confidence, and learn to appreciate the empathy needed, they can then shift to digital channels.
Similarly, GreenState Credit Union ($11.2B, North Liberty, IA) splits its team of 60 between phone and digital channels, with the latter group focused on chat, email, and ITM service. The credit union serves more than 400,000 members across branches in three states; the contact center alone supports approximately 50,000 interactions each month.
Staffing is split roughly 60/40 based on where the growth is at any given time. If the credit union is deploying ITMs, for example, it’s likely to increased hiring on the digital side. If it has released new products and expects an influx of phone calls, it’s likely to staff up the call side.
To create pathways for advancement and avoid turnover, GreenState employs three levels of contact center specialists that take on higher-risk tasks — from credit card advances and mortgage and wire calls to eventually call monitoring, quality assurance, training, and more. And to reassure staff that AI and automation won’t be taking their jobs, GreenState is upskilling specialists for more complex needs beyond what is now level three.
“Our North Star is always going to be member experience and reducing friction, but our star right next to it is employee engagement,” says Amy Stevens, senior vice president of member experience.
Out west, Desert Financial Credit Union ($9.5B, Phoenix, AZ) has slightly more than 150 contact center employees to serve its more than 500,000 members. It divides that group into four different teams, including service — which is the largest group with the highest turnover — sales, digital, and member loyalty. That latter is focused on member retention.
Desert Financial expects the sales team to generate at least four times the monthly revenue of a branch salesperson, and the contact center drives approximately 60% of the credit union’s lending support. Christina Mijares, assistant vice president of the member engagement center, staffs for specific teams and says moving to a universal model would change staffing needs for the entire contact center.
Integration And Food For Thought
Best Practice: Design For Upward Mobility
Mijares is intentional about building leaders who can graduate to other areas of the credit union. That not only advances their careers but also ensures credit union leaders understand the contact center, which promotes alignment.
“It’s great for employee morale, for longevity, and for costs,” she says. “Selfishly, it’s great for me when it comes to helping people understand the call center.”
Contact center leaders often struggle to help their staff members feel they are a part of rather than apart from the rest of the organization.
GreenState runs a relatively lean team, and Stevens says she has “lots of champions embedded in business units” across the credit union, which ensures the executive leadership team knows what’s happening in the contact center.
Stevens’ team also has monthly liaison meetings with cards, marketing, collections, and other departments to understand what’s happening in those areas. That not only keeps the contact center up to date but also creates growth and integration opportunities for those employees. Executive leadership also listens to calls every month to get a sense of what members are reaching out about.
“Senior leadership gives a lot of shout outs to this team, and it wasn’t always this way,” Stevens says. “Contact centers can have a negative connotation, and we’ve been able to garner respect.”
At UFCU, Pike says there’s a clear understanding that the contact center is the intake for the credit union.
“We’re the place people go if and when a journey broke,” she says.
That requires a high level of awareness about what’s going on across the organization. If members reach out and the contact center doesn’t know what’s going on, that doesn’t instill a high level of confidence, the director says.
To mitigate that risk, contact center leaders regularly meet with staff in key departments. For example, they meet monthly with branch and payments leaders because service inquiries frequently relate to those departments.
Desert Financial’s quarterly “Food For Thought” sessions bring in senior leaders across different departments to eat lunch and observe the contact center to gain a better understanding of how their work affects the contact center.
“Doing that repetitively and being consistent about it has created more awareness,” Mijares says.
A quarterly contact center newsletter also helps keep the entire institution informed about what’s happening there, and Mijares makes sure to mix data with photos to deepen the connection to the center.
Building Culture
The cadence of contact center work is different from the branches or back office, where there are more opportunities for employes to chat and form relationships. Because the contact center has a much faster rhythm, Mijares says she’s intentional about building a culture that matches the rest of the organization yet support contact center requirements.
“You cannot overstate how critical that onboarding process is,” she says. “It’s uncomfortable for people to take a call, have no idea what it’s going to be, and be unprepared. The call center onboarding experience is a game changer. It’s make or break.”
Since staffing the contact center can often feel like running a complaint line, UFCU’s Pike says internal culture is important.
“All of us are in it together,” she says. “How we support one another — from phone reps to leadership — is a crucial part of how we’re empowered to solve issues.”
No matter how technology, consumer preferences, or regulatory agendas change, Stevens at GreenState says culture and a laser focus on the member-service mission is critical.
“As long as you have that, you can weather whatever changes you go through,” she says. “The people on the team need the mindset that we’re going to collect feedback, do something about the feedback, and improve on that while at the same time ensuring the member that their voice was heard.”