How Tight Margins Are Also Affecting Another Area: HR

SAN DIEGO - Tighter margins, pressures on cost containment and regulatory compliance are issues credit union CEOs face every day, but many executives do not realize those same concerns have an impact on their CUs' human resources departments.

"HR in credit unions has struggled to be a strategic partner in the organization," said Tammy Trudelle, vice president of human resources for Fort Worth Community Credit Union, Bedford, Texas. "HR now attends board meetings, but that's only in the last 10 years."

Trudelle is well acquainted with the numerous challenges human resources professionals face at CUs. In addition to her duties at Fort Worth Community, Trudelle has just completed her two-year term as chair of CUNA's HR/Training and Development Council. She will serve one more year on the Council's executive committee as membership chair and then will be termed out-ending a nine-year run.

During the HR/TD Council's recent summit here, Trudelle told The Credit Union Journal an issue such as compliance with regulations has two elements. Not only are there HR-specific regulations, staff training must focus on regulations that affect the entire CU.

"On the human side, we want to develop folks, be proactive and make them productive members of the organization," she said. "Many executives are aware of the value of human resources, but when tighter margins hit the budget, training is the first thing to get cut. This is short-sighted because training is about improving the organization."

One possible solution is HR professionals learning more about financials, Trudelle suggested. She said if the human resources director better understands how benefits and costs impact the CU's bottom line, communication with the management team and the board will improve.

"Everyone needs to recognize how the staff can make or break a marketing initiative," she said. "The HR folks must not be myopic to their little world. They need to step back and see it as OD, or organizational development, which is a lot more than hiring and firing."

Many CEOs rise through the CFO track, so they understand numbers, Trudelle continued. In the past year, she began including turnover analysis and retention statistics. "On some things, we can show the value of training-such as increased investments, decreased errors and better cross-selling. And, we track member responses."

Retention is a "huge" issue for credit unions for several reasons, Trudelle said. Not only does recruiting carry large costs, the quality of the applicant pool is down, she explained.