Getting the Most from Staff Without Incentives

Motivating staff can be a challenge. With a focused program on hiring, training and coaching, Partners FCU is encouraging employees with minimal monetary incentives.

Motivating staff is a challenge for all credit unions. Many credit unions employ incentives to motivate their staff to service their members. However, a well-thought-out hiring process, training program, and regular coaching designed to reinforce a strong credit union culture can make monetary incentives unnecessary. One credit union that has developed an effective approach to motivating staff without sales incentives is Partners Federal Credit Union.

Case Study: Partners FCU

Partners FCU ($251 Million, Anaheim, CA) has established an organization and culture that is closely aligned with its sponsor, the Walt Disney Company. Partners’ employees are Cast Members and the HR department is named Cast Development, which reflectsthe nomenclature used by the Magic Kingdom.

While Partners does provide corporate-wide bonus incentives twice a year, there is no individual sales incentive plan in place. According to Wendy Danbury, director, cast development, we pay our employees to do their jobs well; we do not feel itnecessary to pay extra to encourage them to push a particular product or service. Rather, Partners has developed an effective recruiting, training, and coaching process to ensure that staff conform to the credit union culture and behave inthe desired manner.

Hiring

Partner’s staffing strategy begins with an effective hiring process that clearly identifies the attributes they desire in a Cast Member. We want a friendly, engaged, and polished front line, says Ms. Danbury. Our cast membersshould be enthusiastic and have interpersonal communication skills, in addition to their skills and experience in banking. We’re picky about selecting the right people to represent Partners.

Training

Once individuals are selected to become part of the Partners team based on their skills and personal attributes, Partners reinforces its ideals and culture through the Service Plus training program. Managers meet with their Cast Members individually everyweek to discuss service skills learned and used in member situations. Backstage departments are also trained on Service Plus, and bi-monthly mystery shops are tailored to individual departments.

Next year, relationship-building training will further enhance the skills and actions needed to strengthen Partners’ relationship with its members. Creatively using the name of the popular Disney character, Pluto, as an acronym, Partners’training program will include practice sessions and videotaped feedback to reinforce the desired behavior. Trainees will be taught the concept of PLUTO (Personalize, Listen, Understand, Transition, and Offer), Partners’ approach to interactingwith members.

Non-Monetary Incentives

Regular performance feedback is an important means of motivating staff at Partners. The most important feedback for which all managers are held accountable, is their coaching and conversations with each Cast Member based on observation and member feedback.Department-specific targets are set by managers and results are shared in staff meetings. Corporate goals and metrics are communicated every month, so that the staff can see where everyone stands in relation to the semi-annual bonus payout goals.According to Ms. Danbury, knowing where they stand in relation to the goals is very motivating to the staff.

Partners FCU is proud of their friendly, upbeat, and self-motivated staff. Their emphasis on hiring, training, and regular coaching has made it easier to exclude individual monetary incentives in their budget and maintain an employee culture that is strong,service-focused, and pleasing to their members.

April 28, 2016

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