Case Studies Centris Federal Credit Union Improves Retention and Boosts Team Building

Challenge

Centris Federal Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial organization that operates 15 full-service credit unions across Nebraska and Iowa. With a unique company culture centered around customer service, Centris FCU wanted to improve their ability to predict which job candidates would be most likely to exemplify their high standards.

According to Jana O’Flaherty, Human Resources Manager at Centris FCU, the ultimate goal was to “hire the best talent and retain them.” That included a focus on reducing involuntary turnover, as well as a focus on enabling their managers to better foster collaboration and communication within their teams.

Solution

Centris Federal Credit Union began to use Criteria’s pre- and post-hire tools to hire and retain the best talent.

Pre-Hire

Centris FCU used Criteria’s assessments to hire for every position within the organization. The assessments varied depending on the role, with the majority of roles taking the EPP and the CCAT:

1. The EPP, or Employee Personality Profile, is a general personality assessment that measures a wide range of behavioral traits associated with particular roles. For example, it can help identify candidates who are suited for customer service roles by measuring traits such as cooperativeness, conscientiousness, and patience.
2. The CCAT^®, or Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test, is a cognitive ability assessment that measures critical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to learn and apply new information.

For the EPP, Centris FCU worked with Criteria to establish custom benchmarks that aligned with the performance metrics that their company values. “We take a lot of pride in our culture and our core values,” O’Flaherty says. “So by benchmarking against our successful people instead of the market like we were previously doing, it really gave us key things to look for in that EPP. And it has been amazing, absolutely amazing.”

Post-Hire

Centris FCU leveraged the Team Personality component of Develop by Criteria (previously known as Talent Insights), an innovative talent development tool that measures, analyzes, and improves team performance. By analyzing employees' EPP results, the Team Personality feature provides valuable information about each person's work and communication styles. These personality insights proved invaluable in a post-hire setting, equipping managers and teams with the knowledge to facilitate better team building and communication.

Results

By using Criteria’s assessments and post-hire tools, Centris FCU has been able to move the needle on their hiring goals.

Lower Turnover

At the start of 2021, Centris FCU’s turnover was around 48.2%. They set a goal to reduce their turnover to 38.6% by the end of the year. Ultimately the organization was able to exceed their goal, achieving a turnover rate of 36.9%. This represents a significant decrease of 23%.

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Better Team Building

Centris FCU rolled out the Team Personality component of Develop to the entire company and has found that the insights provided by the post-hire tool has enhanced their culture by helping them facilitate better team building and communication. “The feedback is amazing, and our employees just really embrace it,” O’Flaherty says. Individual team members feel empowered by their results, enjoying the ability to view other coworkers’ profiles to understand how best to communicate with them and understand the overall team dynamic. Some team members even print out their results and hang them at their desks for their coworkers to see.

Powerful Insights for Managers

The Personality Insights have been especially useful for managers to coach and develop their employees. Managers are able to reference each team member’s results to better understand their personalities and work preferences. The information has been invaluable for managers to take a more strategic approach to coaching, as well as managing personality conflicts or disciplinary issues.

“We get nothing but amazing feedback from managers on an ongoing basis,” O’Flaherty says. “When those managers come to us about having some coaching or disciplinary action, they’ve already looked at it, and they’re saying ‘I think this is how my delivery needs to be.’ So they’re using it on a daily basis.”

Stronger Performance

Centris FCU also found that employee performance ratings across the board have increased by 1.25% over the course of the year. They attribute this increase in part to the critical thinking assessment that enables them to identify candidates who have the right skills and competencies to succeed in their given roles.

More Insightful Interviews

Centris FCU use the suggested interview questions from the EPP, and O’Flaherty says “my recruiter and some of my managers have told me that some of the best information that they’ve received from interviews now is by using the suggested interview questions. Those have been an opportunity for our managers to ask a question they’re not used to asking, and really learning more insight about the person in that interview.”