Moving to a Hybrid Work Model: Westerra CU Shares Its Insights

In January of this year, Westerra Credit Union announced its move to a permanent hybrid work model for employees. The adopted model became a part of Westerra’s strategy to enhance employee experience and align with the credit union’s priority of being “digital first.”

This shift certainly didn’t happen overnight. While the word “hybrid” is currently trending as a concept for organizations and companies of all sizes and industries, a hybrid work environment, however, isn’t one-size-fits-all. By utilizing internal and external research, Westerra set out in the fall of 2021 to determine if a hybrid work model would be beneficial to staff while ensuring it would allow the credit union to continue to provide excellent, trusted and knowledgeable financial services to members.

Westerra was no longer talking about “going back” to pre-pandemic times, but rather focusing on what comes next and the evolution of employee success. To accomplish a successful transition, Westerra leaders gathered data from teams regarding their ideal work environment and preferences, such as the need for an assigned desk, frequency of working onsite, how they would anticipate using space when onsite and more.

From here, the credit union launched a five-week hybrid work model pilot with 42 employees across departments who tried out different hybrid work scenarios each week. As a financial institution, Westerra’s practice is to make data-based decisions, and in this instance, making the decision to embrace a hybrid work model was grounded in what employees said was important to them. The pilot considered corporate culture, available technology and proximity implications. At the end of the pilot, each participant completed a survey providing feedback about their experience, such as if they were able to effectively perform job requirements, collaborate with team members and fully engage in meetings; ease of technology and overall preference to the schedule.

Westerra compared these internal findings with external research data and, after all the data was analyzed, reached the decision to officially embrace and roll out a hybrid work model. This decision was grounded in what employees said was important to them, including greater personal flexibility, reduced environmental impact, enhancing staff’s ability to react quickly, minimizing overall stress, and improving capabilities to attract and retain a high-performing workforce.

The hybrid work model looks different for each team and employee based on their role, business need and preference. Currently, 44% of staff work a combination of onsite and remotely, 32% are fully remote and 24% are exclusively office-based. Though now a hybrid organization, Westerra ensures employees have purposeful opportunities to connect with colleagues onsite or in-person, participate in professional development opportunities and serve our communities. Westerra is also committed to providing the highest level of technology services to support all employees regardless of where they conduct their work, as well as to continue to check in with teams to ensure the model is still proving effective.

Overall, feedback regarding this switch has been very positive, with employees expressing they appreciate the flexibility. Many cite the elimination of long commutes, ability to spend more time with family, saving money, reduced stress levels and, overall, appreciation for Westerra meeting them “where they’re at” in their individual situations.

For example, Jonathan Hodges, a Westerra contact center representative, noted how the elimination of a long commute allows him to allocate work hours more effectively, save money on vehicle maintenance, fuel and food, and contributed to his overall well-being.

As the world moves forward, embracing this new model is just another sign that Westerra is focused on the future and continues to place a priority on being a digital-first organization that works to enhance the experience of our employees and members.

Ellie Fordyce is Chief People Officer for the $1.9 billion, Denver-based Westerra Credit Union.