One Employee Speaks Out Against His CU’s Name

An employee of Maine State Credit Union says in his blog that "people should be able to see your credit union’s name and know if they are eligible for membership, without ever opening your membership brochure." This is especially important, he adds, if you expand your field of membership.

So he takes issue with his employer’s choice to switch from ‘Maine State Employees Credit Union’ to ‘Maine State Credit Union’ when it got a community charter – in only two Maine counties:

"When we expanded our field of membership we dropped the ‘Employees’ from the name…who do we serve now? Looking at the name it would be easy to think we served the whole state, but I’d be wrong. We now serve the Kennebec and Somerset counties, but our name doesn’t tell me that. I have to search through the membership brochure to find out what towns are included in our coverage. I don’t like that."

He also offers this advice: Credit unions shouldn’t drop the term "Credit Union" from their names (by replacing it with "Financial," for instance). It robs them of a key point of distinction, he reasons.

Key Question: Do you know what your employees are saying about your organization online?

Bottom Line: Google Alerts. I found this post through my Google Alerts. If you set up the right Google Alerts, you can stay abreast of just about everything that concerns you and your organization. "Fine tuning" your Alerts to eliminate irrelevant garbage can be frustrating, however.