Post-Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has created one of the most widespread public health crises of our lifetime. Beyond the physiological effects of the disease, credit union leaders should consider the mental health impact of COVID-19 on their staff. A Filene report published this month by Dr. Hammad S. N'cho on "Trauma-Informed Services for Credit Union Employees" offers a wealth of information on crisis management, return-to-office (RTO) strategies, stigma mitigation programs, mental health promotion and growth after adversity. With actionable steps to guide the development of credit union policy, practices and decisions, this report provides a comprehensive discussion that addresses key challenges and informs next steps for trauma-informed employee policy and practices.

This is by no means small or easy work. For the past 16 months, credit unions have been tasked with identifying strategies for keeping staff and facilities safe, and with navigating COVID-19 and trauma exposures, all while maintaining high-quality service to members. Key tactics for an equitable, trauma-informed policy that promotes psychological safety and mental health include:

• The importance of flexibility, innovation and improvisation in identifying solutions;

• The benefit of having diverse, multidisciplinary groups develop those solutions; and

• The need for clear, transparent, two-way communication to distribute information about those solutions and collect insight into problems as they emerge.

Together, these elements create the foundation of a work culture that is safe, enables personal and professional growth, values ­collaboration and ultimately maximizes productivity.

A Better Culture, Future and Night's Sleep

What can credit unions do to help everyone sleep better at night? Start with looking at how you can create increased financial well-being for your staff. Accumulated savings, and the access to and confidence in borrowing, is a good metric to measure increases in financial well-being for your staff. First, take these steps, then measure increases in well-being:

• Provide a living wage: This is the most effective way to increase financial well-being for your employees. Calculate cost of living in your region and adjust wages accordingly. Make sure you provide benefits that help employees face bills without stress.

• Help employees save money: You can provide incentives to encourage savings, help employees pay down student debt and create products that build credit score.

• Help employees respond to emergencies: Consider offering employer-sponsored small dollar loans, enable peer to peer support, provide income advances, or create a hardship fund account and process.

What we all just went through wasn't the first and won't be the last economic and societal crisis we'll face in our lifetimes. Smart leaders and innovative organizations will begin preparing for future pandemics and other crises now. These practices can help create and future-proof a work environment and culture that will help carry your credit union through traumatic events:

• Lead with flexibility: Communicate transparently and as new information arises, be proactive with mental health and learn from others across the organization.

• Provide open, two-way communication: Create communication channels that can be used openly, honestly and without fear.

• Support sense- and decision-making: Cooperatively assemble knowledge across sources and expertise to arrive at novel and resilient solutions.

• Ensure mental health is a focus: Create policy that centers around mental health, safety, support, collaboration and empowerment while avoiding retraumatizing staff.

• Focus on staff from marginalized communities: Understand and surface specific needs of groups experiencing compounded stressors; tie them into DEI plans.

• Execute an RTO plan: Address differences that have an impact on successful implementation of a fair and equitable RTO policy and rely on staff supervisors for monitoring the impact of policy implementation.

• Work to reduce stigma: Ensure your work environment is free from negative impacts of COVID-19 stigma by integrating stigma-mitigating actions into your culture.

• Provide infrastructure to support mental health and well-being: Provide access to and training for mental health management. Use peer networks and incorporate mental health considerations into new policies and programs.

• Navigate the "new normal" with flexibility: Expect turbulence in the continued shifts emerging from new ways of living and working, and help staff recreate healthy structures and routines.

• Identify opportunities for posttraumatic growth: Approach the disruption and changes from the pandemic as a learning opportunity to identify organizational strengths and leverage them to catalyze positive forward transformation today, and in preparation for whatever comes next.

By working together to bring our leaders, staff and organizations to a stronger, more resilient position than where we were before the crisis, we can all get a better night's sleep.

Christie Kimbell (left), Chief Experience Officer and Holly Fearing, Senior Director, Marketing & Communications Filene Research Institute Madison, Wis.