By Ray Birch
MADISON, Wis.—It’s become one of the big debates of 2020: Are credit unions employees more productive when they work at home? One analyst says maybe not when it comes to at least one aspect of CU operations.
Steve Rick, chief economist with CUNA Mutual Group, told CUToday.info that in the discussions he has had with several CEOs concerns have been expressed that staff may not be as productive in the work-at-home environment as they are in the office.
According to Rick, many of the concerns center on an employee’s ability to handle as many calls from members per day while working from home and the amount of time members are waiting on hold.
The concerns come at the same time credit unions for the first time fell behind banks in their service delivery in one measure. Experts have stated that as more consumers use mobile services for the daily banking needs instead of visiting a branch, where CUs have delivered strong service face to face, credit unions are suffering from not having equally robust digital offerings as many other providers.
‘Bit of a Drop-Off’
Steven Rick
“CEOs are saying they're having issues with a little bit of drop-off in employee productivity,” said Rick. “The call center waiting times may be going up. It’s different now. You’re working at home, dealing with your dog barking or your two-year-old running around the house…These are things many workers have not had to deal with on the job before.”
The finding also comes after a number of credit union leaders reported during the early days of the pandemic told CUToday.info the sudden move to working from home as a result of the pandemic has gone much better than expected—from not just a productivity standpoint, but also from the standpoint of addressing security risks and the speed with which their organizations shifted to a virtual environment. CEOs have even stated that while remote work had never been considered a feasible option for many employees prior to the pandemic, the health crisis has proven that working from home does work.
Some Erosion
But there has been some erosion in that initial optimism, and not just in credit unions. As CUToday.info reported here, one recent report identified 27 different issues related to work-from-home arrangements.
“This information is anecdotal, but CEOs are saying that productivity now is not as high as it was prior to the pandemic,” explained Rick. “When you're in the office you're in an office environment. You are wearing business clothes. You're dealing with other people who can see you. You are self-monitoring, and you’re not sleeping at your desk. At home, you can put your head down—hey, nobody’s looking.”
Rick said in his discussions he had found CEOs are considering more ways to monitor staff as they work from home, outside of the obvious metrics, such as member wait times on the phone, complaints, and the number calls fielded per employee per hour.
“It could mean creating different types of incentives to encourage staff to answer more calls and to reduce the wait times of members,” Rick said.
Complex Question
But other matters, outside of staff performance, might also be raising concern among CU leaders, said Rick. He explained the type of calls employees are taking could be changing due to the pandemic, and more call center staff may be needed as a result.
“Maybe staff are not taking as many calls per hour because of COVID-19. Maybe members are calling in with larger, more in-depth issues to discuss. So the conversations are longer,” said Rick. “Before the pandemic if a member had an important issue to discuss, they typically stopped into a branch. They are not able to do that with the lobbies shut down. It’s more difficult to talk to someone over the phone about your mortgage application not being handled well, for example. And when you are with someone in person you can hand them papers, show them things. Those types of things—the more complex financial issues—are harder to address over the phone, and take more time. Maybe credit unions will have to hire more call center staff?”
CO-OP Financial Services and SWBC, which both offer call center outsourcing, told CUToday.info they are expanding their call center operations due to demand rising during the pandemic.
No Conclusions--Yet
But CEOs not yet ready to say employees are slacking off at home, according to Rick.
“They are in the investigative stage,” he said. “They are trying to figure this out before they blame employees.”
Rick added that some credit unions have seen their Net Promoter Scores recently drop.
“This is a new world, a new environment, and we are all still learning some of these unforeseen consequences of COVID-19,” said Rick.