Oshawa Community Credit Union Ltd

175 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 OCCU maintains a close-knit workforce, many of whom have been with the company for decades. Linda Treen, Administration Manager at OCCU, explains that its employees are the primary reason the credit union continues to operate smoothly with little challenges. “We consider ourselves a work family. I started here in my twenties, and I’ve seen people grow through various stages of their lives. We have built long-lasting, multigenerational relationships serving the credit union and community.” Remillard explains that working in the same location also helps foster this integrated employee approach. “We make all decisions in one location, which means all employees have access to a decision maker a few steps from their desk. While we have some from further afield due to their expertise, our board is mostly local.” Another unique aspect of OCCU’s employee approach is the absence of sales or performance targets, which helps in avoiding the cutthroat competition of other growth-oriented institutions. “We have no performance bonuses,” Remillard says. “We are paid what we are paid, including the CEO. This approach helps ensure everyone focuses on helping each person that walks through the door, instead of treating them like a performance target.” It is for this very reason that OCCU has maintained its original business model of running a simple operation that takes deposits and lends them to members. “Some are motivated by rapid growth and profit so they embrace a more profit-driven model, which pushes them into higher-risk areas such as securitization and broker channel strategies. We continue to embrace the pure values of being a cooperative, focusing on helping members meet their financial goals.” This focus has borne fruit. OCCU currently has over a hundred Google reviews, and an average rating of five stars, a significant departure from the reviews people leave for most other financial institutions. Another factor that differentiates OCCU from