Jan. 3, 2012
Credit Union Management’s online-only “HR Answers” column runs the first Tuesday of the month.
Are you considering opening on Saturdays? Or need to reconsider your Saturday hours? Then this poll, posted on the CUES Net email listserve recently, will help Scott Duszynski, president/CEO of $127 million/10,100-member Keys Federal Credit Union, with 37.5 full-time equivalents in Key West, Fla., started the poll. See the questions in bold, with responses from other CUES members, below.
Would you be willing to share with us how you staff your branches for Saturday hours, what pay you offer, and whether you make any special arrangements for managers?
“We have approximately one-third of our front-line staff work on Saturdays,” wrote Tanya Peterson, executive vice president of $75 million/13,000-member Rock Valley Federal Credit Union, with 46 FTEs in Loves Park, Ill. “Some employees work every other Saturday and others work two and are off one (so they typically work three of the four in a given month). Employees that work on Saturday are given time off during the week so everyone stays within their normal hours worked (no overtime, no additional pay).
“We have four management staff that each work one Saturday a month and that person is the manager on duty for all three locations but we have other ‘lead’ staff in each location,” Peterson added. “Exempt managers do not take a specific partial day off when they work on Saturday but we allow flexibility for them to take time off as needed to compensate for their Saturdays in the office.”
“We staff the branches like a payday Friday/transaction-heavy day on Saturdays,” responded Judy S. DeLucca, CCUE, CEO of $140 million/20,000-member New Orleans Firemen’s Federal Credit Union, with 74 FTEs in Metairie, La. “We are currently open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., but are considering changing this to 8 a.m. to noon due to member feedback.
“All Saturday workers receive a special incentive, from $50 to $150 depending on the position. Hourly employees are given extended lunches or early dismissal times to prevent additional overtime charges. Salaried employees receive the higher incentive since they get no overtime or comp time. We have recently made the decision to minimally staff back office to support the branches as well; this includes accounting, loan central and member solutions center.”
“Tellers, member service representatives and supervisors are assigned Saturdays as one of their five workdays per week, with Saturdays rotated so they are assigned off during the week if they work Saturday,” wrote Richard T. Webb, president/CEO of $95 million/10,250-member Atlantic Financial Federal Credit Union, with 28 FTEs in Hunt Valley, Md. “Saturday is a six-hour day but they’re paid the normal eight hours.”
Are you making Saturday hours available only for certain branches or for all your branches?
“We have three locations and all are open on Saturday,” replied Peterson.
“Only our three largest branches are currently open, but we are probably adding two more by year end. We have a total of eight branches. We utilize staff from closed branches to staff open branches on Saturdays in a rotation format so no one is working every weekend,” added DeLucca.
“We have Saturday hours for two of our four branches; it used to be at every branch but there was not enough volume to warrant keeping them open on Saturdays,” wrote Ray Lancaster, CEO of $80 million/8,800-member Pyramid Federal Credit Union, with 32 employees in Tucson, Ariz.
“While I like to say we have over 4,300 branches (via CO-OP Shared Branching www.co-opfs.org ), we operate two,” responded Webb. “One is in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and is not open on Saturdays; the other is in Hunt Valley which is just outside of Baltimore’s beltway . . . easy to get to without any problems with parking and a ‘Towne Center,’ or mall, across the street.
What hours are you open on Saturdays?
DeLucca: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Peterson: 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. for both the lobbies and drive-through windows.
Lancaster: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and “it’s usually busier toward closing time.”
What type of business is usually done on Saturdays?
“Mostly teller transactions, some new accounts and member service,” replied Peterson. “Loan closings are pre-arranged and we take new loan applications. There are no mortgage services on Saturday.”
There are “lots of loan closings, heavy drive-up and checking account activity” at New Orleans Firemen’s FCU, according to DeLucca. “Also we are members of a shared branch network, and we service a large number of guest members.”
Webb said his Saturday branch sees a lot of shared branch members, as well: “Everything with a full schedule of loan applications. NOTE: At least half of the activity is from shared branch members.”
Is there any support needed from back-office staff on Saturdays?
Peterson: “We have one of our staff of four on duty. That department works one Saturday per month, rotating. They assist members with everything from online access problems to debit card issues.”
DeLucca: “Yes. We tried going without it for a long time, but it caused frustration for members and branch personnel.”
Lancaster: “Initially we did not, but the lack of back-office support created some service issues so we provided additional training to branch employees to help them resolve any issues.”
But Webb wrote: “We tried that and found it wasn’t necessary nor worth the scheduling problems.”
Is there anything else that we should consider?
Peterson: “We are in the shared branch network. It’s good for everyone. Start with limited hours and expand if you need to. We’ve extended our hours from 9 to noon. It’s easier to give than to take away!”
DeLucca: “Our members utilize our sites heavily on Saturdays. We stay open until 6 p.m. on Fridays, but member feedback showed they wanted Saturday access as well. It is expensive, though, and scheduling is time consuming. We had staffing problems until we initiated the Saturday incentive pay. Now we have plenty of volunteers.”
Lancaster: “When we hire employees, we make sure they know that they are expected to work Saturdays (even if their branch is not open on Saturday). Generally the Saturday work is rotated among the available employees.”
Webb: “Become a shared branch if you aren’t.”
Theresa Witham is a CUES editor.
