Approximately one-third of all credit unions – including more than half of CUs with assets of $100 million or more – plan to add full-time employees to their payrolls this year, and CU salaries are up by nearly 3 percent this year.
That’s according to the recently released annual Staff Salary Report from the Credit Union National Association, which encompasses compensation data for 90 positions, along with 10 part-time positions, and allows users to calculate ideal compensation packages for most employees. Data from the report is broken down into categories including base salaries, bonuses, total cash compensation and incentives.
Highlights of the report include a 2019 salary bump in credit unions holding assets of $1 million or more, which stood at 3 percent for management and 2.7 percent for non-management positions. Average anticipated salary increments for both management and non-management vary among credit unions in different asset classes, reaching maximum levels among those with assets of $100 million to $3 billion. Roughly 20 percent of CUs that responded said they are not anticipating salary increases this year.
For credit unions holding assets of at least $1 million, 71% of all respondents said their credit union provides some option of variable pay such as bonuses or incentives, though those options are not available for all full-time employees. For credit unions ranging from $100 million to $3 billion, 90 percent offer a bonus structure, and bonuses continue to prevail over incentives for both management and non-management employees.
“Offering a competitive salary is more important now than it’s ever been,” James Carrick, CUNA’s VP of learning events, said in a statement. “If you want a talented pool of employees who are going to not only enhance your credit union, but stay engaged in their role, you need to be providing them with the right compensation. The content of this report is going to show you, statistically, what that competitive number is going to be.”
