To discover the dominant views of credit union employees toward their organizations, we asked anthropologists John B. Gatewood, Lehigh University, and John W. Lowe, Cultural Analysis Group, to look into the matter. The result is a newly released report, Employee Perceptions of Credit Unions: Implications for Member Profitability. Listen to a podcast with the authors:
- Employees can’t neatly compartmentalize how a credit union fits into our society.
- Employees agree on the “credit union idea” but have a very difficult time explaining that idea to external parties.
- Employees can identify the parts of the credit union puzzle, but they don’t see how it all fits together.
- “Trusted” is the highest rated characteristic attributed to credit unions.
- Employees younger than 30 and those with higher levels of educational are less committed to credit unions.
- There is significant variance across institutions in employee commitment and in the consensus of what a credit union represents.
Click here to view the Appendix 1: Employee Survey.
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Good stuff.
Maybe this is where the industry should start with a “national credit union awareness campaign?”
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I took a closer look at the data, and now I’m confused. There looked to be a lot more alignment than disagreement and confusion. Among the things that stood out to me:
+ 98% felt credit unions exist to serve ordinary folks, not just people with money. + 96% thought “people helping people” pretty much summed it up. + 95% believed there was more of a community feeling at a credit union. + 95% believed that members actually own their credit unions. + 94% believed it was more important to look after a member and not push them into something they don’t want. + 91% believed that fundamentally, a credit union is a pooling of the members’ financial resources for the members’ benefit.
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I agree with that lovely discussion you share with all that new credit union members must come from investing time and energy into communities. Credit unions can not match the widespread marketing and branding initiatives of the larger banks. The message would most likely be lost in the clutter. We should focus on one member at a time.
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