Empowering Employees Through Technology: Lessons from the Frontlines of Credit Union Innovation

In an industry built on trust and community, credit unions are well-positioned to foster meaningful relationships with their members. But in today’s environment of rapid technological change, empowering frontline employees is essential—not just to improve operations, but to deepen member engagement and drive long-term value.

Across multiple episodes of Counting Change, guests from credit unions and CUSOs alike echoed the same insight: technology is only transformative when it enables people. Here’s what we learned from leaders across the industry who are not only embracing new tools but rethinking what it means to empower the people who make their institutions run.

“We ask them to be unicorns”

Traci Michel, PMP, Chief Operating Officer at Metro Credit Union, put it simply: “We ask [employees] to be unicorns… they have to be good at everything in order to be good at their jobs.” — Technology to Empower, Innovate, and Satisfy, with Traci Michel

Retail staff are expected to be operational experts, tech-savvy, regulatory-compliant, empathetic, and sales-driven—all while navigating legacy systems that often work against them. For Traci and her team, the answer lies in technology that lightens the load, not just adds new tools.

Traci describes how Metro Credit Union uses an internal “activity feed” to surface key member insights—like login lockouts or pending loans—so employees can proactively address issues. This saves time and builds trust.

Tech as a Human Multiplier, Not a Replacement

Jeff Barrage, CIO at United Solutions Company, reminds us that technology’s greatest value isn’t in replacing people—it’s in letting them do higher-value work. He shared a story from earlier in his career about manually running data processing scripts late at night and the risk that came with human error. Today, that’s fully automated:

Now it's lights-out processing… there's no human involved in that process.

Clean Data is Key: Unlocking the Potential of AI, with Jeff Barrage

The result? Employees aren’t up late manually entering dates—they’re analyzing insights and supporting members more effectively. It’s not about cutting headcount. It’s about elevating capacity.

Creating Space for Real Service

While Jeff and Traci spoke to operational change, Frank Wasson, President & CEO at CommonWealth One Federal Credit Union, widened the lens: employee empowerment also means freeing teams from outdated infrastructure and allowing them to focus on what matters—serving the community.

Credit unions unfortunately spend better than 40 to 50% of their budget just funding standard infrastructure… If we could tap into a platform that lets us spend just 10–20% on infrastructure, then 80% could be focused on better serving members.

The Importance of Community-Driven Innovation in the Approach of Credit Unions, with Frank Wasson

Frank argued that credit unions shouldn't be forced to compete on app design or backend complexity—but rather on their local impact. That only works if employees aren’t stuck wrestling with expensive, outdated, or disconnected systems.

We need shared platforms that level the playing field and let us compete on service, not tech budgets. That’s how we keep the bodega model alive—knowing your members, not just scaling your stack.

The Importance of Community-Driven Innovation in the Approach of Credit Unions, with Frank Wasson

The Path Forward: Empower First

Whether it’s automation, data visibility, shared infrastructure, or streamlined interfaces, the takeaway from all these leaders is clear: technology should empower your people first. That empowerment flows through to the member experience.

It’s not about having the flashiest tech—it’s about giving your staff the tools, context, and clarity to deliver extraordinary service every day.

And if you're not doing that? Someone else will.