SALT LAKE CITY — Mountain America Credit Union Senior Vice President of Human Resources Marshall Paepke has recently caught the eye of Utah Business Magazine and been named one of the "Top 40 Under 40″ business leaders in the state.
Paepke's career literally began as an HR intern when the credit union had just over 100,000 members, $560 million in assets and about 300 employees. A decade later, Mountain America has more than 240,000 members, over $2 billion in assets and 800 employees.
Throughout his career, Paepke says the biggest achievement he and his department have made to support Mountain America's success and initiatives is the focus on employee engagement. The credit union put a feedback forum into place on its intranet in 2001 as a place for employees to submit their concerns, ideas and compliments. Since then, Mountain America has implemented Service Awards recognition, Educational Assistance, Leadership Development opportunities based on employee feedback. "These tools are a critical vehicle for the Leadership Team to stay in touch with what employees need and want. These initiatives were important to employees, added value to the credit union and were supported by the Leadership Team. A true win-win-win," said Paepke. The HR team also engages employees in the credit union's health initiative by getting them involved in corporate games, charity drives and wellness plans. Mountain America's HR team recently implemented an educational aspect into their "open enrollment" health benefits meetings.
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HR staff met with small groups of employees throughout the credit union to educate employees about the similarities and differences between the emergency room and Instacare. They encouraged the use of Instacare when it's reasonable and as a result have cut down the costs of emergency room visits for both employees and the credit union.
A move Paepke says has helped the credit union maintain the same health insurance premiums for five consecutive years, without impacting or changing coverage.
"This hasn't come at the cost of employees or membership either. We've kept the same level of quality coverage for all five years," said Paepke.
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