Vaccine Mandates for Credit Unions: Two CEOs Speak Out

Earlier this month, three credit unions announced vaccine mandates for all employees. According to research by CU Times, a fourth credit union, the Kensington, Md.-based Signal Financial Federal Credit Union ($451 million in assets, 20,130 members) has been added to that list. The other credit unions included:

• Allegacy Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Winston Salem, N.C., $1.9 billion in assets, 164,574 members.
• Credit Union of Texas, headquartered in Allen, Texas, $1.7 billion in assets, 143,811 members.
• Hawaii State Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Honolulu, $2.2 billion in assets, 121,177 members.

Each credit union stated the main reason for the mandate was due to the surge in the COVID-19 Delta variant spreading across the U.S.

CU Times contacted the leaders of Signal Financial FCU, President/CEO Francois Verleysen, and the Credit Union of Texas (CUTX) CEO Eric Pointer, to discuss the process of communicating the vaccine mandate to employees and the challenges and lessons they’ve learned in the process.

The following are excerpts from the interviews.

CU Times: Explain the process you went through to create a vaccine mandate for your employees?

For Verleysen, he began holding video meetings twice each week with the entire staff last year. During the time, he encouraged everyone to get vaccinated when it became available, and he provided information from the CDC and results of the vaccine studies. Once the FDA fully approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, he gave employees and board members a vaccination deadline. Of the employees, 15 were hesitant about getting the vaccine.

“As of August 31st, if you’re not vaccinated, I accept your resignation. The 13 individuals immediately went and got vaccinated. Two gentlemen in their twenties said, um, ‘I guess we’re resigning.’ So two, we’re losing two of our employees at the end of this month because…they don’t want to get it done. It’s not a medical issue. It’s not a religious issue. It’s not any of that stuff. And, you know, the rest of the institution applauded and said, ‘Thank you for doing that.’

“You’re going to have to do it if you want to be employed. We will not hire anybody who is not going to be vaccinated – we’re just not going to do it. And same thing for the board. You’re going to get the boosters too, when that happens. And there have been no objections. They all understand it because they know everybody has seen somebody who has suffered from it or lost one of their loved ones. So they understand it. That’s how we kind of did it. It was that constant communication.”

Pointer: “It was not an overnight decision. We have kept a close eye on the science, news, and recent developments, including information about the pandemic and the Delta variant’s impact in our communities.

“We’ve also watched updates about other companies’ vaccination policies. Like those companies, we are also navigating ongoing hurdles or concerns, as well as recent news, such as the FDA news regarding vaccination approval.”

CU Times: Did you feel like politics came into play or had to be considered with your decision?

Pointer: “Our focus under the policy is the health, safety and well-being of our staff, members and communities. That focus, not politics, was the key driver for our decision.”

Verleysen: “I took politics completely out of it because it’s not worth it to us. It was not worth looking at the political side of it. This is the way it’s going to be people, because I’m caring about the safety of not only our employees, but your family members and the people that you’re coming across, like our members.”

According to Pointer, CUTX conducted surveys of employees to find out how many were vaccinated or not. The initial survey found that 70% of employees were vaccinated. After mandating a mask policy for unvaccinated employees, many of the initially-unvaccinated got their shots.

Of those remaining unvaccinated, they have been given until September 20 to show proof of vaccination. If employees chose not to be vaccinated and wanted to be eligible for severance, they had to notify CUTX by Aug. 18. Thirteen of CUTX’s 478 employees chose to exit and take the severance, according to Pointer.

“The decision to protect each employee was not taken lightly, and although some left, the response from our team has been very positive. While we never want any of our employees to leave our Credit Union of Texas family, our goal is to provide a safe workplace that protects all of our employees. We are ensuring that all employees are treated equally under the policy and those who terminated their employment before August 18th were provided three weeks’ severance. We respect everyone’s choice and, although we don’t ever want to lose part of our CUTX family, we stand by our choice to protect our employees, members and our community,” said Pointer.

CU Times: What have you learned through this experience?

Verleysen: “Communication. Clear, concise communication. And to be consistent and really to be fully, fully transparent with the staff on what’s going on. And I think that’s what made a difference for me, because they knew I wasn’t lying to them. I was giving them facts.”

Pointer: ”Through the pandemic, we have been taking preventative measures against COVID-19 to help keep people safe. And throughout, we have learned more that we can all continue working and striving under some uncertain and often stressful conditions, as we can continue our essential operations.”

CU Times: Any advice you’d give to credit union executives out there who might be considering steps like this?

Pointer: “We know many credit unions, like us, care deeply about their employees, members and communities. Starting with that focus is a great first step for any decision.”

Verleysen: “They’ve [CEOs] got to reach out to employees – don’t delegate it to any of your executives. It’s not the same. It’s got to come from the very, very top. Because if you give it to one of your executives or your HR director, as much as they would try and do their best to do it, it’s not going to come across the same way. When the very top is thinking of them, of them as employees, their family and the membership as a whole – when they get that and they understand that and they hear it’s coming from the very top of the organization, that’s when it’ll be accepted.”

CUTX added a $500 bonus for all employees that got vaccinated. According to Pointer, the credit union held a job fair a few days ago offering $1000 sign-on bonuses as well as the $500 vaccine bonus bonus to all new hires.

Signal Financial FCU and CUTX acknowledged these new terms of employment policies were not necessarily easy to pull off, but both credit unions believe they were necessary for the future of each credit union.