ANAHEIM, Calif.-Credit Union Journal asked attendees of the CUNA HR/TD Council's recent conference here what are the biggest challenges they are facing in human resources, training and development.
Kelly Johns, AVP-HR
Partners 1st FCU, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Training, performance evaluation and measuring goals are the biggest. We are trying to get long-serving employees to adjust to the new expectations we have throughout the credit union.
In addition, we are re-evaluating our benefits package. All of these changes are part of updating the credit union to the modern world.
Laura Nemetz, PHR
UW CU, Madison, Wis.
For us it is resources, specifically time resources given the number of people we have on staff. The credit union has 450-plus employees while the HR department only has eight people. We have done amazing things with the staff we have, but there is only so much we can do. We get creative and overcome obstacles, but we cannot do as much as we want.
I would love to do more development, especially leadership development, but have to focus on employment issues.
Rob Carmichael
Maine Savings FCU, Hampden, Maine
Some of the biggest challenges are the influx of regulations on all of our functional areas. The compliance section has taken on a huge role. We have to make sure all employees are properly trained to meet the new regulations, and that we have the technology in place to track everything. All of these things have added to our costs, starting with a full-time AVP of compliance, which we did not have a few years ago.
Kathy Ready, HR/payroll specialist
Camino FCU, Montebello, Calif.
Right now it is employee engagement. We have a lot of long-term employees. We have had changes, leaving some on our staff wondering why we cannot do things in certain ways.
We revamped lending, and in the last year and a half we instituted a sales culture. Some employees do not want to be engaged, so we are working around that. It is difficult trying to figure out how to get them back engaged.
Cari Palmer, operations analyst
Energy Plus CU, Indianapolis
We are rewriting our personnel policy this year and there are a lot of things we want in there. Another one is keeping employees engaged and not just showing up. We created a formal statement of vision and values, which has helped. The staff gets the part about serving members, but treating each other right is something we need to work on.
Training is the easy part because we need so much. The topics are already there. We try to empower the staff to find their own thoughts and solutions.
Courtnay Lynch, VP of HR
Xceed Financial CU, El Segundo, Calif.
The biggest is regulations, especially all the changes to healthcare benefits. The biggest is regulations, especially all the changes to healthcare benefits. Health premiums will potentially increase in 2014 and employers are gearing up now on how to address. One key point employees need to realize are the tax implications if they do not take insurance through us or through an exchange.
Another big challenge is all the reporting requirements for employers.
