8. Social media

Credit unions will continue to increase their social media presence. While it comes with risks, social media also carries the risk of opportunity lost if you don’t use it intelligently to benefit your credit union and its members. Most credit unions have an established presence on social networks, and many use social media to interact with members through blogs and chat.

Credit unions will fine-tune their use of social media in the next few years. Some are even replacing websites or portions of websites with social media sites. Cost and traffic are factors in the decision to move resources toward social media and away from websites.

9. Hiring and pay plans

Keeping overworked employees motivated and performing at peak levels will be the greatest human resource challenge of the next few years. To do this, employers will need to improve morale and engagement levels, and boost retention efforts.

Employers have grown accustomed to getting the job done with fewer employees. And employers that must hire additional staff are turning to part-timers or temporary workers until the economic rebound proves itself.

Credit unions have budgeted average wage increases of just more than 2% for management and nonmanagement employees in 2011. Only 39% of credit unions plan to initiate or maintain a pay freeze in 2011, down from about 45% in 2010.

10. Compliance

The sheer volume of new laws and revised regulations is overwhelming for most credit unions. About 75% of CEOs say it was “very challenging” to remain in compliance last year. And only 50% are confident their credit unions are actually in compliance.

Major regulatory changes during the next two years will fall into three categories: The Dodd-Frank Act, which includes the debit interchange rules and a new Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau; mortgage compliance; and NCUA actions.

Set aside ample financial resources to meet your credit union’s growing compliance burden. New rules will require changes to documents and processes, as well as
increased staff training.

All credit unions have been affected by the recession, but there are stark regional differences in the severity of the recession. Each credit union will have unique challenges and opportunities in the future.

But the next few years will test the ability of all boards and senior management teams to deal with thin earnings, low consumer awareness of credit unions, sluggish loan and membership growth, and a compliance burden that will only get heavier.