Sustaining Employee Morale and Productivity During Merger

Credit union mergers are tough proceedings, both for leaders guiding the process and employees who are anxious over potential outcomes. Employee anxiety can lead to loss of morale, engagement and productivity while the merger proceedings are moving forward. Take charge of the organizational change process during the merger and ensure that your employees are kept appropriately in the loop in order to enjoy sustained morale and productivity.

Communication is Key

Lack of timely communication is extraordinarily damaging to morale and productivity during a merger. While certain information cannot legally be disclosed during specific merger processes, you should plan to share as much information as is possible to share on an ongoing basis.

• Mix one-way and two-way communication. Some information is a simple recitation of facts, making the perfect inclusion for leader emails or employee newsletters. Other information, however, including future staffing plans and milestone dates, may be good to spark two-way conversation between leaders and hourly employees.
• Just-in-time communication is best. If the message you plan to share is already widely known, it can further demoralize by communicating it far too late. On the flip side, you may find it necessary to hold other key pieces of information until a later date, when more can be shared. Communicate just in time to benefit employee engagement with the organization.

Engage Employees in Merger Proceedings

Credit union leaders will naturally be leading the merger organizational change process. By involving frontline employees in various parts of the proceedings, however, morale and engagement can be boosted. Remember that your frontline employees know their workflow inside out – and that knowledge can be beneficial when preparing future staffing plans and outcomes. Likewise, hourly employees may be greatly impacted on a day-to-day basis by decisions made during the merger. Asking for their input can lead to better decision making and heightened employee engagement.  Tellers, Member Service and Loan Officers are also have direct contact with members, their engagement in the process can help sooth anxiety expressed by members.

Productive Mergers

When employees are so distracted by what is going on behind the scenes, productivity levels suffer. Good communication and engaged employee input are great ways to leave employees in a better frame of mind to perform productively. Other ways to up productivity during a merger can include:

• Ongoing question and answer sessions to connect leaders and frontline employees.
• Team building exercises scheduled to bring together employees from both credit unions and jump starting the working together process.
• Re-emphasized daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly goals. Sometimes, the best way to ensure continued productivity in the face of a distracting merger situation is to restate that the same goals established before the merger are still in effect.

When employees are reassured through information, engaged through involvement, and enthused by opportunities, they'll perform at the highest possible level and remain engaged with your organization. Plan carefully and the employee outcomes at the end of the merger's organizational change process will be terrific.