Government shutdown: Stepping up for your members

As of the time I am writing this, we are now 19 days into the Government Shutdown.  While it’s true that the federal workers who are affected by the shutdown will eventually get paid, they are facing a very difficult time coming up.

According to CNBC, 78% of full-time workers in America live paycheck to paycheck.  Which means 78% of your members are living paycheck to paycheck. If any of those members are affected by the government shutdown, they are likely full of stress and anxiety right now.  So how do you step up for your members in ways that can be helpful? Here are a few suggestions that might work for your credit union.

1. Hold an informational meeting and guide them through the process.
2. Suspend their car and mortgage payments until they get paid.  I’m certain you’ll need appropriate paperwork for this, and a process that ensures that the member is clear on what will happen, and when the payment will be due, based on the government being funded again.
3. Be a resource.  Gather necessary information and be available to communicate it.
4. Identify a Government Shutdown Advocate. Someone internally who’s job it is to communicate with members, to stay abreast of the situation, and to be the go-to person in your organization.  This ensures that everyone at your credit union is funneling every member to this advocate. Additionally, information that is found online can be shared with the advocate so they can research it further.
5. Create a segmented email list of members who opt-in for communications from you specifically related to the government shutdown.
6. Go Live on Facebook and let your community know what you are doing, and how members can access the resources that you are putting together.
7. Move some of your marketing dollars into gas and grocery store gift cards, and provide those to members affected by the government shutdown.

I’m sure that there are many other things that you can think of to help your members who are affected in a negative way by the government shutdown.  Now is the time to be creative, innovative, and caring.

By putting your members first, you’ll be ensuring that you are first on their list when they are looking to refer a financial institution to their friends.