National 2019 Credit Union Compensation Forecast

The credit union industry continues to make significant progress toward moving away from the stereotype of human resources as a bureaucratic quagmire. Today’s human resources practitioners are creative, innovative, and tech savvy. We see clients devoting increasing amounts of time to organizational change (we’re getting bigger and more complex), skills shortages (we need to fill a lot of chairs), social recruiting (spreading the gospel) and dealing with disengaged employees (creating a meaningful employee experience). In other words, 2019 is the year of the HR Disruptor – reimagining the work to be done and how to do it.

For volunteers overseeing executive compensation and performance management programs, the landscape is definitely changing. We see more emphasis on succession planning and performance-based retention plans. Now more than ever, credit union boards are focusing not only what they are paying their executives, but how to most efficiently deliver pay. Many elements of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will be in full force in 2019. Specifically, the new 21% excise tax on nonprofits that pay compensation of $1 million or more to any of their five highest-paid employees. The increase in the standard deduction, the loss of personal exemptions, the cap of state and local tax deductions, a reduction on the mortgage interest deduction, and the elimination of the home equity loan interest deduction will most certainly impact executive recruiting and compensation as credit unions recruit nationally for the best and brightest talent.

This year marks D. Hilton’s 17th Annual Credit Union Industry Compensation Forecast. As part of its ongoing commitment to ensure that its clients’ executive and staff salary administration programs remain competitive, D. Hilton gathers annual research to forecast salary range and merit increase budgets for the upcoming year. The following document is designed to assist clients in preparing compensation and benefits budgets for 2019.