Do You YP?
A lot of businesses have young employees that have the ability to help out an organization tremendously. Most credit unions are searching for ways to bring their average membership age down. Tapping into your young employees is a great place to start. You have these people at your disposal to ask questions and get them involved in your company. Getting your young employees involved in your state’s Credit Union Young Professional program is a must. You help eliminate turnover, you get raw talent right out of school, and you are able to groom them into the leaders you want them to be later on in their career.
Gen Y employees work off of being acknowledged and being a part of something. Getting your young professionals involved is an easy way to help those employees feel this way. They are now a part of something that not everyone in your organization can be. With most of the groups ranging from ages 35-under not all employees have that luxury of being part of something like this. Best Advantage Credit Union in Brillion, WI has five active young professionals on staff out of 30 employees. Best Advantage Credit Union’s average member age is 37 years old. These young professionals bring new ideas from college, from things happening on social media, and new and different ideas that engage younger members.
Allowing your young professionals to attend conventions and YP meet ups is very important. They start to establish great relationships with other YP’s from other credit unions and have a large professional network to help them and your credit union with any ideas moving forward. You may have some young professionals on your staff right now that are just collecting a paycheck instead of living and breathing the credit union movement and philosophy. Having them become engaged with other credit union employees brings on a whole new light. They want more and work harder to become part of something great.
Wisconsin’s young professional network has been extremely successful. They have an established YP Advisory Board with five members to help facilitate meet ups and events. They have two YP’s that sit on the League’s board of directors, and have started some really great things, such as giving YP’s throughout the state a chance to “Crash” events such as convention and GAC . This gets them to see what the industry is all about and gets them pumped to learn more about it. They have created events called “Boot Camps” that have become extremely popular. These Boot Camps are held quarterly in different parts of the state to host all YP’s from the state. They have breakout sessions, speakers, tips on how to be more involved in your CU, and chances to ask CEO’s questions about how to be more involved in their own CU. Each time a credit union or credit union affiliate hosts the event. The first one was held at Citizens First Credit Union in Oshkosh, WI and had over 75 people statewide show up to network and learn different things about the industry. The next one was held at CUNA in Madison, WI and had key note speakers talking about CUNA Management School, DE, and much more. They even had the chance to get a scholarship to CUNA Management School. The events have become all day events due to the growing number of people showing up and the fun and interesting things that are done during them.
YP’s come back from these “Boot Camps” energized and full of new ideas on how to improve their shop and full of energy to get started on the next step in their career at your credit union. The admission to these events are free and don’t cost your credit union a dime. That is an investment you cannot refuse. You may have some of these employees sitting at your credit union right now and it only takes a little bit to unleash that talent and energy they have ready to help your credit union grow and be more successful.
