The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath upended the world of human resources in a variety of ways. The southwest was hit particularly hard, making employee feedback essential to retention.
“A lot of people were moving around and reevaluating careers,” says Cari Galati, chief human resources officer at Desert Financial Credit Union ($9.1B, Phoenix, AZ). “There was also a big salary war. Phoenix was probably one of the hardest hit areas in terms of talent and wage competition. We had to stay ahead of the curve.”
After joining the organization in 2020, Galati and her team had a clear set of areas to focus on: retention, leadership stability, and trust-building.
As a part of this effort, Desert Financial implemented a style of roundtables in which the credit union periodically gathers together different departments for open conversations — sometimes with the department leader and sometimes not.
A Conversational Approach To Employee Feedback
According to Galati, these meetings are more of an operational check-in designed to create an open dialogue about obstacles and workflow. The credit union holds them once per year, on average, and shapes the conversations around data it gathers during its biannual employee surveys.
“If we see low scores in a particular area, we start to ask questions like, ‘Is it technology? Processes? People? The leader?’” the HR executive says. “We tailor our roundtable questions from there but always in a conversational way. We don’t want it to feel too formal or forced. The goal is to get people talking so we can make things better.”
If employee feedback uncovers concerns, Desert Financial’s HR team elevates them to ensure they are addressed. The team also holds follow-up roundtables when high-stress circumstances arise, such as leadership changes, turnover spikes, and poor engagement scores.
“It helps us keep a pulse on how the team is adjusting,” Galati says.
For example, one Desert Financial department experienced a large shift in leadership and strategic direction when some long-time employees moved to other roles. The remaining team members reported high levels of stress.
“We stayed close to that group, to the new leader, and to the employees,” Galati says. “We helped them rebuild their team and culture. It took about a year to find the right roles, people, and mindset, but they’re thriving now. They’re happy and meeting their goals. It’s rewarding to see that turnaround.”
A Critical Step
Galati says facilitating these collaborative discussions is only half of the equation.
“The key to feedback is you have to respond,” she says. “If we can’t act on something, we communicate why. If you ignore the feedback, you lose credibility fast. You have to close the loop.”
Across the entire U.S. workforce, 86% of employees and executives cite a lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main cause of workplace failures. Meanwhile, similar data finds teams that communicate effectively can increase their productivity by as much as 25%.
CU QUICK FACTS
DESERT FINANCIAL CU
HQ: PHOENIX, AZ
ASSETS: $9.1B
MEMBERS: 483,885
BRANCHES: 50
EMPLOYEES: 1,350
NET WORTH: 11.82%
ROA: 0.67%
Galati says in addition to adopting these discussions, the credit union has coached leaders to hold weekly or biweekly one-on-one meetings that address tactical and developmental topics with their team members.
“We train them to naturally weave in the kinds of questions you might ask during a more formal stay interview, which helps create a better dialogue,” she says.
The goal is to create departments where leaders understand their team’s passions, strengths, dislikes, and motivations. That way, employees feel heard and are more likely to report positive levels of satisfaction with their role.
Happy Employees Are Motivated Employees
Galati and her team’s efforts have done just that.
By adopting this new process of gathering and responding to employee feedback, there’s a greater sense of trust and credibility among Desert Financial’s employees, and satisfaction surveys skew higher than before. Since 2020, the credit union has received several awards acknowledging its positive workplace, including being named a “Best Place to Work” by Phoenix Business Journal and “Credit Union of the Year” in Arizona.
“Most reports I’ve seen show a post-pandemic decline in engagement, but ours is rising,” Galati says. “I always say, my goal is happy, productive employees.”
In addition to impacting retention, Galati has also noticed an impact when recruiting. According to her, new hires regularly cite “brand reputation and community involvement” as their top reasons for joining.
“People are drawn to the good we’re doing in the community,” she says. “We get a lot of first-time professionals, especially in teller or call center roles, coming from retail or hospitality.”
Today, Desert Financial continues to focus heavily on its culture through volunteerism, team outings, and hybrid work schedules. Internal committees organize events like cooking classes, games, and school support activities, and leaders are intentional about face-to-face time with their teams.
“We want to double in size over the next 10 years,” Galati says. “There’s a ton of change and transformation, and that’s hard, but we’ve been focused on change management and transparent communication.”