Credit unions today are navigating complex workforce and service challenges as expectations evolve across branches and roles. This report brings together insights from multiple credit unions to show how WorkTango helps address these challenges with practical, people-first solutions that scale.
The challenges across the credit union industry
Credit unions have long distinguished themselves through their focus on people, both in how they serve members and support their communities. But even mission-driven organizations are feeling the pressure of a rapidly changing workplace. Labor shortages, shifting employee expectations and the demand for more modern, connected cultures are pushing credit union leaders to rethink how they engage and support their teams, with 65% reporting that talent gaps and shortages are already limiting their ability to meet goals, according to Wipfli.
From our work across the industry, we’re seeing clear and recurring challenges:
- Annual surveys are falling flat, often without action or accountability
- Employee retention and loyalty is declining, especially during periods of organizational change
- Recognition efforts are outdated or too manual to scale across departments, costing time, budget, and efficiency
- People leaders and managers are not equipped to lead culture, engagement, and performance at the team level
- The connection between employee experience and member service is breaking down
These patterns point to a larger industry shift, as credit unions work to meet rising expectations with limited resources and leaner teams.
Here at WorkTango, we’ve had the pleasure to work with some of the most forward-thinking credit unions in the industry. We’ve seen a clear shift in how these organizations are approaching these challenges. Strategies are evolving to prioritize employee experience as a way to strengthen member relationships, improve outcomes, and build long-term resilience.
How top performing credit unions are turning culture into competitive advantage using WorkTango
A growing body of research confirms that employee engagement has a measurable impact on organizational performance. According to D. Hilton Associates, high employee engagement in credit unions is linked to increased innovation, productivity, and bottom-line performance, all while helping reduce costs tied to hiring and retention.
Forward-thinking credit unions are already leading the way by transforming culture into a strategic asset. By recognizing their employees with intention, listening to them in real time, and equipping leaders with the right tools, they’re creating more connected, high-performing workplaces.
The following outcomes prove what’s possible when credit unions partner with WorkTango for Recognition & Rewards and Surveys & Insights. Here’s how they’re doing it.
1. Boosting loyalty and retention even during change or transformation
Periods of transformation can often test the trust of credit union employees. For businesses like Apple Federal Credit Union (Apple FCU) and Arrowhead Credit Union, shifts in operations and structure led to noticeable dips in morale and retention. But as people-first organizations deeply committed to their employees, they decided to take action.
They partnered with WorkTango for Recognition & Rewards to implement a consistent, visible approach to culture that drove measurable impact:
- Apple FCU achieved 91% supervisor and 85% employee engagement within three months
- Cross-departmental and cross-branch Recognition at Apple FCU rose to 52% participation
- Apple FCU employee loyalty surpassed pre-dip benchmarks by year’s end
- Arrowhead Credit Union had over 16,500 Recognitions sent across all age groups, departments, and locations
“Even though we had that huge dip in employee loyalty, when it came back up, it came back up higher than it was previously.”
Jenn Madden, Vice President of Talent Development at Apple FCU
How WorkTango helps drive successful change & transformation for credit unions
These credit unions adopted WorkTango to drive member and employee success during times of uncertainty. And with WorkTango, they were able to keep the momentum going long after the transition was complete.
Credit unions, especially those navigating change, require a consistent way to reinforce shared values, recognize employee contributions, and keep their people engaged even when there’s uncertainty. Where trust can falter and change feels abstract, WorkTango becomes a practical tool for credit unions who want to create connection, stability, and a more unified transition.
WorkTango’s Recognition & Rewards platform supports credit unions going through a change or transformation by offering:
- Built-in tools for manager, peer, and company-wide recognition
- Automated programs for milestones like service anniversaries
- Dashboards that show who’s being recognized and where gaps exist
- In-platform Incentives to drive participation in change initiatives
- Flow of work integrations through desktop, mobile, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Outlook
2. Streamlining recognition to reduce complexity, save cost, and drive ROI
Outdated, manual programs often create bottlenecks for HR teams and dilute the impact of recognition. Apple FCU’s paper-based rewards system created delays and unnecessary administrative work, while Arrowhead Credit Union’s recognition practices lacked consistency and reach across departments.
By partnering with WorkTango for Recognition & Rewards platform, both credit unions were able to simplify administration and scale appreciation organization-wide all while driving ROI:
- Apple FCU Eliminated manual recognition efforts across 21 locations, saving time and cost
- Recognition fully integrated with Apple FCU values, DEI, wellness, and team-building initiatives
- Apple FCU employees could send and redeem Points from any device
- Arrowhead Credit Union reduced Rewards spend by 40% by using WorkTangno
- Arrowhead Credit Union reduced turnover by 49% within the first year
- Recognition became a key part of Arrowhead Credit Union’s daily workflow
How WorkTango drives ROI for credit unions
These credit unions adopted WorkTango to reduce complexity and increase the efficiency of their recognition efforts. What began as a solution for simplifying processes also delivered long-term returns in employee engagement, retention, and program cost reduction.
Credit unions, especially those operating with lean teams and growing expectations, need a recognition platform that is easy to manage, financially sustainable, and built to scale. Without it, recognition often becomes inconsistent, difficult to track, and costly to maintain. WorkTango solves that challenge by helping HR streamline operations while delivering recognition that employees actually use and value.
WorkTango’s Recognition & Rewards platform helps credit unions drive measurable ROI by offering:
- Rewards delivered at full value with zero platform markup
- Centralized Rewards fulfillment and tracking
- Rewards Marketplace with thousands of meaningful reward options for employees
- Customizable Rewards that align with your credit union’s budget and goals
- Integration with wellness, DEI, and team initiatives
- Automated workflows for Recognition & Rewards
- Leadership Nudges to promote consistent Recognition habits
- Automated, robust, and easy reporting + usage insights for HR and leadership
3. Linking credit union member satisfaction to employee experience
Randolph-Brooks Financial Credit Union (RBFCU) noticed that inconsistent employee engagement was starting to show up in their member feedback. They realized this was due to recognition being limited to informal moments only, and top performers weren’t consistently acknowledged across branches.
Using WorkTango’s Recognition & Rewards platform, RBFCU built a structured program that tied recognition to service KPIs and created visibility for high performance at every level.
- Turnover decreased by 17%
- Recognition aligned with key member service metrics
- 68% more employees achieved high member satisfaction scores
- Member satisfaction scores continued to steadily improve
How WorkTango helps credit unions strengthen the connection between employee experience and member satisfaction
RBFCU turned to WorkTango when inconsistent engagement began to affect their member experience. By tying recognition to service metrics, they created clarity around what great service looked like and made it visible across teams.
For credit unions, member experience is only as strong as the teams behind it. But when high performance goes unnoticed or recognition depends on a manager’s memory, consistency breaks down. Credit unions need a way to reinforce service excellence through daily behaviors. WorkTango helps close that gap by making recognition structured, timely, and aligned with what matters most to members.
WorkTango’s Recognition & Rewards platform helps credit unions boost member satisfaction by offering:
- Recognition aligned with key service KPIs and core credit union values
- Configurable Recognition from all directions: peers to peer, managers, and branches
- Real-time visibility into engagement activity across locations, departments, and demographics
- Custom Incentives to encourage key behaviors from credit union employees
4. Driving culture change with an Active Listening & Action Strategy
Annual surveys often fail to capture meaningful, timely employee feedback. American Eagle Financial Credit Union (AEFCU) recognized that their 80-question, once-a-year survey was not driving the change their workforce expected. They needed a way to listen to their employees more continuously and respond faster.
By investing in WorkTango’s Surveys & Insights platform, they redefined how feedback translated into outcomes:
- Survey length was reduced from 80 to 20 questions and Surveys were sent more frequently, providing faster access to timelyinsights and clearer visibility into engagement trends across their credit union.
- Employee engagement increased by 12 points in one year (from 69 to 81)
- Action scores rose 23 points (from 43 to 66)
How WorkTango helps credit unions understand employee sentiment and drive action
AEFCU turned to WorkTango when their traditional surveys failed to move the needle. The shift to continuous listening helped them turn employee sentiment into success.
Credit unions operate in fast-paced, member-driven environments. But in order to drive member success, it’s critical that credit union managers and leaders understand what’s going on in the day to day workflow of their employees. They need better ways to listen and respond in real time. WorkTango’s Surveys & Insights platform helps shift engagement from a reactive event to an active, ongoing practice that drives culture forward.
WorkTango’s Surveys & Insights platform helps credit unions measure and improve employee sentiment by offering:
- Pulse Surveys that are short, frequent, and targeted
- Role-based dashboards that visualize team-specific trends
- Built-in action planning that links feedback to next steps
- Automated reminders to support follow-through
- Manager visibility into engagement drivers and gaps
- AI-powered Comment Summaries that interpret positive and negative sentiment and spotlight top themes
- AI-driven Survey Theme detection that categorizes open-text feedback by sentiment
5. Equipping leaders and supervisors to lead culture with confidence
Managers are one of the most important drivers of employee engagement and retention. But too often, they are asked to lead culture without the tools, visibility, or structure to do it effectively. From the credit unions we’ve partnered with, we’ve seen a consistent challenge: feedback may be getting collected, but it doesn’t always reach the people who are best positioned to act on it.
For many credit unions who made the switch to WorkTango, that shift started by rethinking how they supported leaders with real-time insights, guidance, and accountability. Instead of relying on HR to carry the weight of culture change alone, these credit unions used WorkTango to empower their managers as engagement owners.
With WorkTango’s Surveys & Insights and Recognition & Rewards platform, they gave leaders the tools to understand team sentiment and take action with confidence. That clarity translated into stronger results across the board:
- At AEFCU, 78% of managers completed a WorkTango Action Plan based on employee Survey feedback within the WorkTango Surveys & Insights platform
- Apple FCU saw 91% supervisor Recognition engagement within the first three months of partnering with WorkTango for Recognition & Rewards
- AEFCU saw a 100% improvement in leader follow-through after introducing WorkTango’s Action Plans
How WorkTango helps credit unions enable their leaders
These credit unions saw clear results when they partnered with WorkTango to give managers more visibility and ownership over engagement. They equipped people leaders with WorkTango’s targeted insights, built-in action guidance, and tools that made recognition and feedback easier to scale.
For credit unions, culture can’t be sustained without confident leaders at every level. They need a way to help leaders understand their teams, follow through on feedback, and recognize wins in real time. WorkTango helps make that possible.
WorkTango’s Surveys & Insights and Recognition & Rewards platforms help credit union leaders build stronger teams by offering:
- Role-specific dashboards with insight into team engagement and Recognition
- Recognition visibility across teams, locations, and reporting lines
- Real-time Nudges to prompt timely recognition and reinforcement
- Surveys come with guided Action Plans to help leaders respond more meaningfully
- Built-in coaching and follow-up workflows to support consistency
- AI Comment Summaries that give leaders a fast, sentiment-based snapshot of team feedback with clear next steps
- AI Comment Themes that help leaders spot emotional trends and act on what matters most to their teams
- AI-powered Recognition Leadership Scores that identify emerging leaders based on Recognition quality and impact
Why credit unions see stronger impact when Surveys and Recognition are connected
WorkTango helps credit unions create cultures where employees feel heard, valued, and supported every day. When Surveys & Insights and Recognition & Rewards are paired together, credit unions gain a full view of the employee experience and the tools to take action that drives impact.
AEFCU is a clear example. After employees shared feedback through WorkTango surveys, they launched a recognition program aligned to what their staff said mattered most. As a result, recognition favorability increased from 62% to 78% in just one year.
That’s why WorkTango drives more value when Surveys and Recognition live together. With a single login, unified data stream, and integrated tools, credit unions can reduce administrative lift while giving leaders the real-time visibility they need to take action.
The collective impact
These metrics reflect the key outcomes achieved across credit unions that partnered with WorkTango:
| Key Outcome | Result |
| Turnover | ↓ 49% turnover at Arrowhead, decrease at RBFCU |
| Engagement | +12 point increase at AEFCU |
| Recognition Participation | 87% platform engagement in first 3 months (Apple FCU) |
| Cross-Department Collaboration | 52% cross-department Recognition participation (Apple FCU) |
| Leadership Action on Feedback | +23 point increase in action score & 100% of leaders taking action (AEFCU) |
| Customer Experience Improvements | ↑ in employees hitting member service targets (RBFCU) |
| Budget Efficiency | 40% savings on Rewards budget (Arrowhead CU) |
Ready to see what’s possible for your credit union?
WorkTango partners with forward-thinking credit unions looking to build stronger cultures, improve employee performance, and deliver service excellence in every member interaction. As experts in Employee Experience for credit unions, we understand what it takes to support people-first organizations.
Discover why WorkTango is the employee experience platform of choice for top-performing credit unions. 👉 [Request a Demo]
