Community-chartered credit union modernizes its approach to recognition and communication to transform company culture

Back in 1953, SafeAmerica Credit Union (SACU) was formed when two separate credit unions merged. Today, it’s a $470 million community-chartered credit union that serves around 39,000 members in the Northern California Bay Area. With various employees working in different departments across six locations, the organization was faced with keeping its employees in the loop and showing appreciation for top performers.

The challenge

SACU is composed of both unionized workers and non-unionized workers – which means engaging both groups with relevant and tailored communications became a challenge. In the past, the organization used an outdated intranet that wasn’t reaching its people with the right information at the right time.

In addition to modernizing its offerings, the organization needed to make its mission statement top of mind for all employees, create a sense of belonging and work towards becoming a family-oriented organization.

The approach

The team at SACU realized the organization needed to adopt an all-in-one tool that included communications and recognition to meet its engagement needs. SACU partnered with Reward Gateway to launch its tailored and employer-branded employee engagement platform, called “The Hub.” The Hub is a place where employees can go to find anything they might need on a given day – including important HR policies, upcoming events and a page dedicated to the company’s mission and vision.

To reinforce the “family-feel” the SACU team is striving for, The Hub is a place that connects SafeAmerica employees to one another, no matter where they are or what their role is. The company uses the blogging tool as a central place to keep people updated on communications, updates and announcements to ensure all employees are kept in the loop. 

Although the organization uses various hashtags, there are a couple specific ones that have become go-tos. The first is called #SACUNews, which gives people insight into new company initiatives, such as product updates or internal events, like volunteering opportunities. The second is called #PeopleNews and this lets employees know about new starters, leavers or work anniversaries. Both of these are available on any device, at any time so dispersed employees can stay connected from any location, which is helping establish trust across the organization.

Improving reward and recognition meant revisiting its current offerings and giving employees a refreshed R&R experience. On The Hub, employees can send one another both performance-based eCards, including “Member Experience” and “Teamwork,” along with greetings-based eCards to wish others a happy birthday or congratulate them on their work anniversary.

The solution

On top of non-monetary recognition, SACU also put in place monetary rewards, called “You Rock Awards.” There are four different levels that employees and managers can nominate a colleague for, with different monetary values attached. Both the monetary and non-monetary recognitions live on a social recognition wall to improve visibility and employee relationships with public recognition. 

To round out its new offerings and make SACU not only a go-to source of information, but an exciting place to visit, the organization launched employee discounts. These discounts, which live on The Hub alongside R&R and communications, give employees exclusive offers on everyday savings to help their paychecks go even further for themselves and their families. Some perks include discounts from hundreds of retailers on travel, groceries, entertainment and technology, alongside generous cashback options.

With the modernized approach to recognition and communications, SACU is working towards building a culture of appreciation – a place where employees are excited to work and feel recognized for the work they do. In the first three months of launch, employees have sent 426 eCards, 119 awards and have published 108 articles. 

Commenting on the value of these new culture initiatives, Stefany Chadbon-Hooke, Vice President of Human Resources at SafeAmerica Credit Union says,

“People are at the core of everything we do at SACU – we all work hard and help each other along the way to make an impact on the larger community. While we’re focused on improving professionalism, performance and profitability, we’re also working with Reward Gateway to become a more transparent, collaborative and family-oriented organization to benefit both our employees and our members and to transform our company culture.”