Notes from — June
22, 2006
Council meeting-open forum
- Review of last meeting: Revisited with
Delta Community Credit Union on their corporate wear that
they phased into for
their front line employees (www.oobesore.com).
Training programs as well as moving to a
sales and service culture were reviewed again.
- HR Council website: The HR Council
website (http://hrc.gcua.org)
was on display in its “work
in progress” format.
The “Ask the Attorney” section
will be redone as the attorney
wishes to submit a topic
for
the forum with the explanation
and not be an open avenue where
others
could
receive legal assistance.
We will
change this section somewhat,
but still look
at the possibility of inviting
an attorney once a
year to
sit in on a meeting as this
is an interest to the Council.
The user
id for the website is hrcouncil and
the corresponding password
is rocks;
please note that any suggestions,
information,
changes, or topics for
the website are always welcomed and will
continue to be a work in progress!
- Questions emailed to the Council: One
credit union offered their bonus plan for referrals and
was curious on what plans were used by
others?
The plan that this credit union utilizes is to award
the referring employee $250 after 6 months
of the hire date of the referred individual, then
another $250 after
they have been employed another 6 months. Then,
at the end of each quarter they hold a drawing and
for every
referral that is made the employee’s
name is entered . . . and every candidate that
is hired,
the referring
employee has 5 entries made into the drawing.
One plan mentioned by the Council was to pay the referring
employee $100 after 6 months of the hire date,
then another $100 after another 6 months.
Another plan mentioned was to pay the referring employee
$300 after (6 or 12) months of employment.
One credit union had asked if anyone uses
a test for morality?
Lockheed Georgia Employees’ Federal Credit
Union mentioned a test that they have used
through Pearson
Performance Solutions (www.pearsonps.com) for
both basic banking math and personality (tests
BBSB-S
Q32 and PSI-B7T
Q32 respectively), but mentioned that they
may be looking at others as well.
Another credit union had asked if anyone
gave bonuses tied to longevity?
Option one: bonus of $500 after 5 years of
employment, $1,000 after 10 years of employment.
Option two: bonus of $100 for the first four
years, $250 after five years, and then $100
per year for
10 years and every year after.
Question was posed on FMLA, specifically
if a doctor releases them before the 12 weeks
are up do you have
them return or are they still entitled to the
rest of the 12 weeks?
Unanimous-for other than the reason of birth of a child,
they have the employee return once the doctor
releases them. FMLA entitles them for UP to 12 weeks, and
if they are released from their serious health condition before
that then they are to return.
A credit union had asked if there was anyone
that people would refer to come speak to their
staff on member service
standards?
Some do this themselves-coaching for their teams.
- Topics discussed at the Council meeting
Retaining, Motivating and Training
Board training on diversity and what was paid on
behalf/to board.
Topic of holding managers accountable
and getting them to manage was discussed,
offered solution was
to make it a part of their performance plan and hold their feet
to the fire.
Does anyone utilize service standards?
One credit union has 5 separate standards
along with a quality
loop program that has surveys that go out and reports that can be
pulled per employee. One had a coaching
session with Randy Herrington for their
leadership group and that
the hours you have in a conference
are not enough and you need to reinforce
the message by coaching . . . some
through third parties, some do in house.
Sales and service training . . . one
credit union recently hired a Sales
Director who will be involved
in every area. . training, hiring, sales, lending, will be
a whole new outlook for the credit union.
Incentives for cross selling or teller transactions were
discussed such as little incentives
that are shared, minimal things such as gas cards (Discussion on
what
criteria was used for gas cards? Referrals?
Acknowledge the support? Recognition rewards?) One credit union
ties the incentive into the training program and has learning
bucks that they can trade in for gift
certificates. Sometimes sending them home after lunch with pay
is the incentive.
And at what point do we say that it is the want for
the employee to do it because it is the right
thing to do?
Getting employees to see the big picture
and getting out of the “college student” mentality.
Upon hire, one credit union asks the new
employee to put the following in order of
importance to them:
work
environment, recognition, benefits
and salary. Ironically, most have put them
the order listed;
who says it’s
all about the money!?
An individual who had officially been
given the HR duties recently had asked
what conferences would
be good to
attend to aid in this arena. Those
recommended: Skillpath seminars, SHRM
conferences-local meetings
and national
(some with positive, some with negative),
the Coastal HR Conference, and CUNA’s
HR conferences.
Benefits
Health insurance . . . question on if anyone paid
100%? Yes, but at single coverage and with a
$1,000 deductible.
Benefit statements . . . who had used them in the past
and what was
the employee reaction to them? Mixed reviews from the
credit unions that have used them; one credit
union who had
a very positive outcome made a big deal about the statements
and the benefits, to the point of
having a jeopardy
game about the benefits that were given at a employee
meeting.
Tuition reimbursement. ..what happens when things go
awry and the
employee leaves before the payback period expires?
Do they pay them back? Most yes, or at least
receiving a portion.
Blue Cross/Piedmont
crisis discussion;
credit unions
had sent letters
to their employees
to keep them
informed.
Payroll/FLSA/Audits.
. .Various Legal Conundrums
Mortgage Loan Officers . . . are they treated as
exempt or non-exempt? What if they were made a
manager, can they be treated as exempt at that
point?
Discussion of audits---had anyone been audited
by the IRS (one yes), an
FLSA audit (no), NCUA audit and the Banking Department
audits (yes on both), and/or Department
of Labor
(one yes)? One mentioned that they had been audited
when they went to from a defined benefit
plan to a defined contribution plan.
Assistant Branch Managers, are they
exempt or nonexempt? Most did not have
employees of this title
and had someone such as an MSR, Teller Supervisor/Head
Teller be the second in command and
were treated as
nonexempt. The question was then asked for those
that have this, how did they work loans
at their branches?
Those that did had them sent to the main office.
HRIS systems . . . a credit union had just implemented
a new HRIS
program by ADP and we will follow up with them
at the next meeting for an update.
Pay scale for tellers, depending on location, mentioned
as $18,500,
$11.03 up to $15.50, $12-$13 an hour or $24,000
to $26,000 by the credit unions.
Discussion of employees with bankruptcy . . .
they are protected, but can you move them to
another
position with less risk? What if it was a board
member and not an employee? What if there was
a loss to the Credit Union?
Important
to seek legal opinion, be consistent, if a
board member then no.
Leave
Maternity leave . . . does anyone pay maternity
leave? Various answers, many relying on paid
leave,
a combination of short term or long term disability,
and one credit union that paid 8 weeks maternity
leave
to those employees.
Did anyone allow management to accrue more years
of service? One had mentioned that upper management
received an extra week right off the bat, 8 hours
a month for the first
5 years
then 12 hours a month afterwards, and a 4 week
carry over amount.
Next meeting to be held on October 19th at CDC FCU. |
