By Frank J. Diekmann
After the end of World War I there was a popular song that would have topped the charts if there had been charts at the time, “How You Gonna Keep ‘em Down on the Farm (After They’ve Seen Paree?).” The question was all about how so many of the American doughboys returning from Europe, who had never been out of whatever burg they were born in, would no longer be content returning to the lives they had been living in rural America after having visited some of the grand cities of Europe.
The song would lead to the phrase, “How you gonna keep them down on the farm…” in the American vernacular.
Why the history lesson? In a recent column I suggested the wholesale shift to working from home for so many Americans isn’t easily going to snap back to a, “Hey, let’s-commute-again-for-a-9-to-5-in-the-office" as soon as the stay-at-home orders are lifted.
Like so many other companies, credit unions had always viewed remote work as some sort of stop-gap for short-term emergencies, a hurricane or fire or some other natural disaster. It was common knowledge it obviously couldn’t work in the long term—communication wouldn’t occur, projects wouldn’t get finished (or even started), the backoffice would grind to a standstill, etc. Besides, the technology doesn’t exist and people won’t be able to figure it out even if it does, right?
Except that hasn’t happened. Nearly everyone I’ve talked to has said—almost bragged--the process to work-from-home has gone much smoother than they ever anticipated, “Zoom fatigue” notwithstanding.
Won’t Admit It, But…
In that column I had proposed that once stay-at-home orders are lifted credit union leaders are going to have to adjust to more than a few cubicles’ worth of employees saying they’ve learned to like working from home, at least for a few days a week, and are going to ask why they need to commute to work every day, especially in places like California or D.C. and other metropolitan areas where the drive can be an hour or more. I can envision a lot of Tuesday-through-Thursday at-work routines in the future for many people.
And then there are all the parents with kids in school—once school returns—for whom being home in the afternoon could mean big savings on aftercare costs.
The fact is that while being required to stay at home is grinding and has led to cabin fever and complaints, plenty of people have grudgingly learned to love some of the conveniences, whether their Instagram admits it or not.
For those reasons and others, I predicted work-from-home is going to have some long-lasting implications, including a rethinking how much space (and the related expense) a credit union needs for its headcount.
Think Bigger
But several readers emailed me to make another point, and that is I’m thinking too small. (This point is raised a lot, actually. Thanks, readers.) Why, they asked, wouldn’t a credit union in one of the high-tax states, particularly in the Northeast or California, either relocate workers or just hire people who could work from home in a low or no-tax state? Not only would their salaries be lower, there is also all the backup withholding a CU wouldn’t have to match.
It’s an interesting theory and I welcome your additional feedback.
I will just add that I also live in a no-tax state, Florida, and while one song unlikely to ever top the charts is, “How are you going to keep them down on the farm (once they’ve seen old Orlando),” please note we are currently completely full, so please don’t look to relocate anyone or move here yourself.
Thank you.
A CU That Knows the Value of Remote Work
I recently had the opportunity to have Amy Downs, CEO of Allegiance FCU, share her story with me of surviving the Oklahoma City bombing 25 years ago. It’s an extraordinary tale of survival, not just by Downs but by the credit union itself. Eighteen of the CU’s employees were killed and Downs herself was buried in the rubble for more than six hours. You can read the full story here.
Not included in that interview is how her credit union, like every other, has had to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic and those stay-at-home orders. Given that its offices were destroyed in the bombing, few CUs or CU leaders know the importance of being able to operate remotely more than Downs and Allegiance CU.
“We have been very fortunate,” Downs said. “I had made a push to (be able to) have all of our employees work remotely about five years ago. The reason was I wanted a couple of our call center workers to be at home in the event of some sort of disaster. Of course, I wasn’t thinking of a pandemic, I was thinking more like an ice storm. We had eight employees working at home and have now bought everyone PCs.
“Now, we do have our branches open and you can do all business through our drive-throughs,” said Downs. “If you need something from a safe deposit box you can make an appointment. We are closing mortgage loans in our parking lot and in people’s driveways. We have able to pivot quickly.”
Old Meets New
Hard to find a better example of “old meets new” than this. St. Mary's Bank recently held its 111th annual meeting—more than any other CU in the U.S.—by hosting the event virtually online with members.
Speaking of Math
At right, and I assume it’s the result of the coronavirus, I saw this sign while in a Home Depot in Florida. May this person not be involved in your ALM.
Other Duties as Assigned
Credit unions, CUSOs, corporates and organizations all over the world have had to pivot quickly to redeploy staff, both in physical location and job function. Example: Coastal Credit Union in North Carolina. Coastal is reporting that in response to member demand for its Member Assistance Program, which offers loan modifications and deferred payments for up to 120 days with no late fees, it had to scale up from four employees on its MAP team to more than 60 by redeploying staff from other departments.
Not Adding Up
A few months back I did a bit of venting about just how bad most credit union communications are. You can read more here and here.
Alas, the sloppiness continues, not just with the grammar and punctuation and syntax, but with some mind boggling stuff, such as this math exercise from a recent press release: “The survey found 34% expect to see at least some benefit, while 23% expect no impact at all. The remaining 3% believe it will actually harm their business.”
Alas, what of the other whopping 40%? We shall never know; maybe they are working at The Home Depot.
Separately, another CU sent a press release stressing it’s CEO felt a “morale obligation” to the community. That’s quite the challenge.
Frank J. Diekmann is cooperator-in-chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or @FrankCUToday.