Jackie Dunckley, SVP and Chief Talent Officer at OnPoint Community Credit Union

Supporting growth, and onboarding new employees during uncertainty with Jackie Dunckley, Chief Talent Officer for OnPoint Community Credit Union

For the latest episode of Think Beyond Space | The PDX Workplace Insider podcast, I was grateful to speak with Jackie Dunckley, Senior Vice President and Chief Talent Officer for OnPoint Community Credit Union. Started by 16 school teachers 90 years ago, OnPoint Community Credit Union has deep roots of community support. Jackie and I discussed leadership lessons from this past year, and how they are supporting employees while they go through a growth spurt with the opening of 20 new branches in 2021, and the organization approaches 1,000 employees. 

Supporting Growth: Onboarding and Recruiting New Employees During a Pandemic

With the aggressive growth plans OnPoint had in place for 2021, Jackie knew her team had to come together to create a supportive and inclusive strategy across the organization. “We have to ‘eat an elephant’ one bite at a time”, Jackie said about the undertaking. The learning and development team and the HR organization, which both report up to Jackie, created comprehensive growth maps to support the growth.

Jackie also knew the growth would be an opportunity to provide promotion opportunities for current employees in anticipation of the growth. “Over 50% of our promotions came internally, and 75% of those are female. It was an incredible opportunity to grow talent internally, as well as bring in new talent externally,” Jackie said, adding that, “it was an orchestrated feat of teamwork. The whole organization came together to support this.”

Recruiting New Employees During a Pandemic

As Jackie’s team worked on bringing new talent into the organization, their previous work in building an employer brand helped attract new employees. One of the ways OnPoint invests in young professionals who are just starting their careers is by providing tuition reimbursement. Jackie sees this as not only an opportunity for the organization to retain talent, but help employees develop a great career path with OnPoint.

With the rise of remote work as a result of the pandemic, Jackie’s team was also being asked by many candidates about OnPoint’s remote work policy. “There have been people who said they only want to be remote. With over 50% of our organization being member-facing, we’ve had to have some of those hard conversations and say we understand everyone has different comfort levels with COVID, but that’s not who we are. Part of who we are is that connectivity with our members and employees (at the branches). We really thrive on those in-person connections,” Jackie said. 

To listen to Jackie’s episode and to future episodes, subscribe to Think Beyond Space | The PDX Workplace Insider Podcast on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts,or wherever you listen to podcasts.