Are Credit Unions Ready to Work Less (Differently)?
Much to the industry's delight, an Oregon credit union pilots a four-day workweek. Is it a good idea?
When the $3.4 billion Oregon Community Credit Union (OCCU) announced it was conducting a four-day workweek pilot program, the credit union industry perked up to find out the details.
I can say this because I see the data coming in from the stories we publish and holy smokes, you all were fully engaged! There were a series of cheers from industry leaders who were very excited that OCCU was going down this path.
Of note and weirdly, we did not hear any naysayers chime in about the four-day workweek test.
To back up and provide some context, OCCU’s pilot program involves 61 call center employees, or Member Contact Center employees as OCCU likes to say. Beginning in mid-March, these employees began working four eight-hour days, but are being paid the rate equivalent for five eight-hour shifts.
“We’re excited to see if the four-day workweek is the right fit for OCCU,” the credit union’s COO, Tracey Keffer, said. “Our hope is that stepping outside the traditional workweek schedule and seeking innovative solutions will result in a positive impact to our team members’ well-being and create a positive and engaging workplace culture. This new model has the potential to boost employee health and engagement, decrease turnover, increase productivity and, as a result, provide the best experience possible for our members.”
The Eugene, Ore.-based OCCU is using the following metrics to measure the success or failure of the pilot program:
• Abandonment rate; • Time to answer; • Average queue time (percent of time in queue compared to percent of time scheduled to be in queue); and • Employee absenteeism and turnover ratios.
According to OCCU, it is not hiring more employees to support this test. The credit union is letting this play out in real time over the next three months.
“If the four-day, 32-hour workweek pilot proves successful, the credit union will consider implementing the model in other business units,” according to the credit union.
The credit union industry appears to be crossing its collective fingers for this to work.
Here are some comments we received from readers:
• “Incredible!!” • “Leading the way to a healthy work-life balance! I also applaud you for deploying a 4 day 32 hour work week rather than a 4 day 40 hour work week!” (three clapping emojis) • “This is awesome! I think this may be the first credit union in the US that I’ve seen attempt a shorter working week? I have been working in/with credit unions for 15 years and am so excited about this work.” • “This is awesome!”
The “awesome” comments go on and on. CU Times is keeping in touch with OCCU officials as the test goes on and they’ve indicated that they will share the results of the pilot program sometime later this year.
When it comes to employee health, engagement, retention and productivity, OCCU seems to be putting its strategy where its mouth is. That’s not a real phrase, but you get it.
What’s intriguing to us is that OCCU is not a small credit union or a giant credit union. It’s right in the sweet spot to be able to appropriately test out an idea like this.
Of note, Metro Credit Union in Chelsea, Mass., began allowing eligible employees to work four 10-hour days earlier this year. While Metro is a similar asset size to OCCU ($3.1 billion), its new policy is very different from OCCU’s test.
While different, these two credit unions are the only ones we are aware of that have taken such steps in this post-pandemic world.
Belgium, that beautiful beer-forward country, adopted a four-day workweek in 2022. But, the work hours are the same as the five-day work week. So not a lot of full-time employees are loving this change because it means big adjustments to daycare hours and longer shifts on factory floors.
In the United Kingdom, more than 60 companies are involved in a four-day workweek pilot program. We haven’t seen the results of that test, but it involves more than 3,300 employees.
Back here in the U.S., Newsweek conducted a survey led by a strategic consulting firm earlier this year and found that 71% of Americans support the four-day workweek concept and 83% of employees believe “they could complete their weekly workload in four days.”
By the way, only 4% opposed the idea, according to the survey results.
In doing research on the topic, human resources experts seem to believe a shorter workweek wouldn’t be possible in our country on a grand scale. It could work for office employees, but not for retail, manufacturing and hospitality workers.
The way I read the HR research is that our capitalism-focused economy wouldn’t allow the lower-earning employees to work fewer days while being paid the same. I’m not slamming capitalism, it’s what we are, for good or for bad. It’s just a bummer when you see another example of lower earners potentially getting yet another short end of the stick.
The big/simple question I have surrounding the whole issue of a four-day workweek, with the parameters OCCU is using, is this: Is it a good idea?
It’s like the idea of unlimited paid time off (PTO) – it sounds great, but is it really?
For instance, unlimited PTO has gained traction as an employee perk around the country, including a rollout currently happening at CUNA Mutual Group. It’s positively positioned as the four-day work week has been – for employee health, retention and a positive work-life balance culture.
Theoretically, unlimited PTO allows employees to take vacation and sick days when needed. Inside this policy, you’ll see the devil is in the details. In most cases, according to HR benefits research by Quartz and others, the manager must approve the time off. That’s normal. But this kind of unlimited policy appears to be used effectively or mostly ineffectively depending on your manager’s attitude to taking time off.
Research found that those employees with unlimited PTO take an average of 13 days off each year, while those with traditional PTO policies take 15 days off.
Also, our culture has a terrible history with taking vacations because of our weird/guilty association with productivity equaling being at work and the fear of losing our jobs.
At the same time, unlimited PTO saves companies an enormous amount of money because earned vacation balances don’t have to be paid out.
I call this a “floaty” policy that sounds good, but is too vague and can be abused too easily.
Now back to the question: Is a four-day workweek a good idea?
I feel like it’s a fantastic idea for specific segments of the credit union workforce. It’s one of those ideas like the invention of the iPhone. I wish it had been around when I was growing up. Of course the iPhone has plenty of downsides too. But the upside to working a four-day workweek while being paid the same as during a five-day workweek is something that, if it works, would result in a brilliant shift of priorities for credit unions and their employees.
I can’t think of another industry that could lead the way with these kinds of progressive and beneficial policies for others to adopt.
I’m very excited for OCCU and what we will learn about its experiment in the months ahead. Credit unions are paying attention, and maybe down the road, they’ll only have to pay attention for four days each week.
Michael Ogden Editor-in-Chief mogden@cutimes.com