Sea Change of Staffing in CU-land

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Gone may be the days when members know each teller by name. A recent D. Hilton Associates Inc. 2003 Employee Hiring and Turnover Survey finds that more than one of every four faces credit union members saw at the teller window last year was probably unfamiliar. According to the survey 28% of credit union employees were not with the same employer the previous year. Replacement hiring accounted for most of the workforce change, but nearly 10% of staffers overall were occupying new positions particularly in credit unions with at least $400 million in assets. Among this group nearly 13% of employees occupied newly created positions. “While the survey was in line with what we expected with teller replacement and turnover higher than other positions, personally I was surprised that the benefits for part-time employees were better than expected,” said Vicki Rex, vice president of research and development. “Most of the credit unions surveyed offered paid vacations and holidays to part timers and about a quarter also provided medical and dental coverage.” According to Rex, credit unions retained 78% of their full-time workforce, only about 44% part time workers ended the year with the same employers. In addition, analysis by position indicates that replacement employees were most common in call center and teller positions. However, because of the sheer number of tellers employed tellers also accounted for more than half of the total replacement employees hired in 2002. New positions were most common in the loan processing area, which made up 12% of the yearend workforce. According to Rex the initial benchmarking survey also found that teller salary levels were significantly lower than the average salary for other positions in credit unions with tellers earning a median salary of $21,495. For more information about the survey visit the D. Hilton Associates Web site at www.dhilton.com or call (800) 367-0433.