By Ray Birch
SEATTLE—When it comes to bricks and mortar, credit unions have been talking less about how a new design will boost member service and more about how it will benefit staff.
Mark Alguard, senior director of strategic services for design/build firm Momentum, says the change marks a subtle, yet import shift happening among credit unions, and it’s a change that actually leads to even better member outcomes. Alguard said it’s a necessary evolution as more branches become consultation centers and staff must be able to handle several tasks.
“I have noticed there has been a change in the conversation,” said Alguard. “It used to be when a new branch was being built that the talk was all about member experience, member experience, member experience. How can we make this building better for our members? But now the discussion is how do we make the branch better for our people—because it is our people who will deliver the great experience to our members? So you just take a different approach to get even better member results—plus your staff is happier.”
Many of the new designs to help staff be happier and more effective allow employees to collaborate with each other, easily move around and interact with members, and use technology that provides quick and up-to-date member profiles to make conversations more effective, explained Alguard.
“In a traditional branch with a traditional teller line your staff sits behind a wall, a barrier, if you will,” said Alguard. “When they are not busy tellers become bored. They are thinking that they would like to get out from behind the teller line and help a member, but they can’t do it.”
Alguard said that was a big issue with one credit union it recently worked with to build a new office. The CU said that its employees were frustrated with the “shackles” they had on, believing they did not have the freedom to help members with their problems.
“Really, it was the building standing in their way,” Alguard said.
Alguard said employees complaining about a branch design is one way to know a credit union has issues. But a credit union can also learn the same lesson when staff clamor to work at a specific location.
“You know, then, at this one branch you did something right, and apparently something not right at your other locations,” he said. “You often see employees wanting to work at one location, not because it is cooler or hipper, but because the branch itself makes it easier for them to do their work.”
Alguard shared three examples of CU branches designed by Momentum to benefit staff first:
Verity Credit Union
Mark Alguard
Verity CU in Seattle partnered with Momentum to design a branch that makes it easier for teams to collaborate and be engaged with the CU's mission, Alguard said.
“A huge piece of this strategy was to move away from the traditional teller line barrier and segmented roles to having universal roles in the branch and non-traditional interaction areas,” he said.
Alguard said this type of change is fairly common for credit unions that are transforming their branches.
“But the reason Verity did it was a bit different,” he explained. “They really were looking to make it easier for their staff to get out and help members, and not be stuck and frustrated by physical barriers, and from the barriers that resulted from their siloed roles,” Alguard said.
The CU also incorporated a mobile computing platform into the office to make it easier for staff to access member information and work more naturally with members without “awkward” handoffs to other staff, or needing to log in and out of various fixed computer terminals.
Three Rivers FCU
Three Rivers FCU in Fort Wayne, Ind., designed a branch to help staff do things differently, think differently and decentralize decision making.
“The credit union removed hierarchy from the branch environment. The work spaces are now designed to support the work the employees are doing,” said Alguard. “So, instead of private offices there are ‘hotel’ offices where any employee can ‘check-in’ to the space and have a private member conversation.”
For numbers crunching and paperwork, the credit union added a common work area in the back of the office that employees share.
“In the physical building designs, the credit union removed walls, used lots of glass, and even more non-traditional curves and angles to convey both the feeling of openness and encourage out-of-the-box thinking,” he said.
Hapo Community CU
As CUToday.info reported, HAPO Community CU, Richland, Wash., worked with Momentum to design an office to help employees be healthier.
“WELL Certification is an independent, third-party organization certification that verifies the building ‘helps people work, perform, and feel their best,’” explained Alguard. “HAPO decided to certify their project because they wanted to stand out in a new market as an employer of choice, as someone who invests in their employee team.”
The building’s lighting system is designed to augment natural circadian rhythms throughout the day. The lighting has brightness and color changes that mimic the sun and helps employees be both alert but also prepared for rest at the end of the day, Alguard said.
Alguard said that Momentum also incorporated patterns from nature into the work environment.
“We took elements of the natural environment and incorporated them in to the interior design through finish materials like the tile flooring, furniture fabric and wall coverings,” he said. “There is a deep-seated psychological connection between nature and a person’s connection to their habitat and reducing stress and enhancing clarity of thought. They feel less fatigued and bored. There is definitely a science to this.”
Alguard said that focusing branch design on the needs of staff helps to attract and retain top talent, and is another way to compete against the higher pay of banks.
“But time and again we hear about credit unions recruiting away talented employees from banks,” said Alguard. “Credit unions are getting employees who want to enjoy what they do, and the branch is part of that, along with wanting the help members with their financial lives instead of making money for shareholders.”