OGDEN, Utah-Cross training is going to be a critical personnel issue in 2009, according to several analysts, but at least one is urging caution.
"In a tight economy where you are going to have limited growth, cross-training is vital," observed Kent Streuling, VP-HR for the $4.5-billion America First CU and chairman of CUNA's HR/TD Council, "because you don't have the luxury of adding a new person to do a job. You have to continue to grow to offer the products and services your members need, so we'll have to do that in creative ways."
But cross-training staff to wear more hats may not be the best approach for every CU, warned of Carl Fredrickson of Carl Fredrickson & Associates in Florence Ky. "High levels of cross training are not appropriate for credit unions that have a large number of part-timers. The investment here in having staff learn to wear a number of hats is not justified by the payoff because you have too much turnover. If you have 30% to 40% turnover, which is not unusual with part-time tellers, it doesn't pay to have them trained on how to do the many things that an MSR does."
