Credit unions hunt for toptalent.

The term “war for talent” was coined by a McKinsey & Companyconsulting team who documented and described the “increasinglycompetitive landscape for recruiting andretaining talented employees.” The original study wassparked by the go-go 1990s and the associated new economy. TheMcKinsey consulting team then published a book on the same topic in2001 after the dot-com bust predicting “because of enduringeconomic and social forces, the war for talent will persist for thenext two decades.” Now we are in the midst of that second decadeand the war is still raging, especially for credit unions. Untilthe robots take all of our jobs, one can predict the war tocontinue well into the 21st century, especially forknowledge/specialty industries like consumer finance.

Thanks to cutting-edge research at Filene's Center of Excellencefor the War for Talent at the University of Texas-Austin, inaddition to field-based innovation projects, Filene ResearchInstitute is helping illuminate the way for credit unions to wagethis critical battle. Below are a few insights that can potentiallyhelp your credit union win the war for talent.

Use Your Physical Workspace as a Differentiator

In an upcoming research project, University of Texas professorSekou Bermiss will explore “Workplace Design as a StrategicRecruitment Tool.” Bermiss claims as professionals in the modernworkforce spend less time in the office due to widespread adoptionof telecommuting and other off-site working arrangements, one mightexpect that the physical workspace becomes less significant. But infact, it is just the opposite: Time spent in the office becomeseven more important. For this reason, physical working environment(PWE) design should be a central strategic concern for creditunions.

Past research looking at the relationship between PWE and theworkforce has largely investigated how workspace factors impactemployee productivity and satisfaction. In this report, we haveshifted the focus slightly to think about how PWE can shape theability for a credit union to attract new employees. Focusing onone specific characteristic, workplace flexibility, we find apositive association between PWE and candidate attraction.

In the organizational attraction context,employees encountering thephysical working environment of a credit unionwith evidence of flexibility in choice of work spaces may perceivethat physical working environment to be of higher quality comparedwith those with limited choices in work spaces.

Tune Up Your Recruiting Tactics

Bermiss also worked with Filene on the study, “How Employee Attraction Impacts EmployeeRetention,” which examines specific forces that might enablecredit unions to attract higher-quality applicants. The studyexamined one credit union's historical applicant pool data to teaseout correlations with the credit union's employee retentionexperience.

While the results of this study were specific to this one creditunion (you'll have to read the report!), a key insight was creditunions can glean valuable information from tracking their own HRdata, such as turnover rates for specific groups within theirorganizations. This data can provide meaningful insights suggestiveof possible larger human capital issues within theorganization.

Tap Your Alumni Networks

A novel idea raised at a research meeting held at the Universityof Texas-Austin identified former employees (or alumni) aseffective recruitment resources. Alumni groups are commonlypracticed; LinkedIn, for example, hosts over 118,000 alumni groups,very few of which are officially linked to an organization, whichmeans users are creating them voluntarily. Alumni networks canoffer many benefits to credit unions, including hiring assistance,sourcing useful information/talent, referring members and servingas brand ambassadors.

Develop Your Innovation Competency

Outside of research, Filene has learned a great deal abouttalent development through our field work. Our best-knowninitiative is the Filene i³ program. This unique programidentifies high potential credit union executives, providesprofessional development training on emerging skills such as newproduct development, agile methodologies and strategic doing, andthen sets them loose on a variety of consumer, industry and/ormacro problems in consumer finance.

After 14 waves of i³'ers we've noticed a significantproportion – more than 30% – of program alumni go on to becomecredit union CEOs (and a few go on to start their own businesses,too). While we have to be careful about cause vs. correlation, wehave heard from Filene i³ alumni (there's that wordagain!) that developing competencies in “innovation” has helpeddifferentiate themselves as leading talent in their credit unionand industry. Now would be a good time to mention that we arerecruiting our 15th wave of i³'ers, so if you areinterested in developing your innovation competency, now is thetime.

Nurture Your Young Professionals

Another Filene project, The Cooperative Trust, has taught us agreat deal about the war for talent. The “Trust” is best known forits collection of conference crashes whereby young professionalscan attend (or “crash”) a variety of industry meetings at no chargethanks to a host of industry sponsors. The crash events enableprofessionals early in their career to gain exposure to theindustry's influential players, critical issues and futureneeds.

This may not sound like a ground-breaking concept forindividuals later in their career, but the exposure crash eventsprovide to young professionals is transformational. Don't take myword on it, listen to what Antoinette Morton, an accounting managerat Educational Systems Federal Credit Union, had to say about herrecent experience at one such event: “The best word to describe theentire experience is: Transformational. When I arrived at my firstcrasher session on Saturday, I had no idea what to expect. I knewwe were there to learn about advocacy and to network, but theexperience went beyond those expectations. I gained knowledge aboutthe credit union industry. I learned more about being a leader andmy role in the credit union movement. By the end of the week, Ialso had a deepened sense of purpose.”

That's powerful stuff for “just attending a conference.” Inaddition to crash events, The Cooperative Trust has an active,online community of 1,000 credit union professionals where theydiscuss issues ranging from operational issues to member servicetopics.

The war for talent is only similar to a real war in that ittakes a strategic approach to win. But it is a bit of a misnomer inthat it is not a gruesome battle where one side walks away a winnerwhile the other side loses. By being purposeful with all yourassets and resources, understanding your desired talents' needs,and giving back as many opportunities as you're looking to gainthrough the top talent on your team, credit unions can write theirown chapter in the book published nearly 20 years ago, detailingfor other industries just how well they did win the warfor talent.

George Hofheimer

George Hofheimer is EVP/Chief Research and DevelopmentOfficer for Filene Research Institute. He can be reached at608-852-4632 or [email protected].