Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

OVATION Awards Winning Entry
Communication Management
Employee, Member or HR Communication
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Entrant’s Name: Scott Windsor, Vice President, Corporate Communications
Organization’s Name: Meridian Credit Union
Title: Meridian Announces Amalgamation with Desjardins Credit Union: Internal Communications
Division/Category: 1 – Communication Management/ 8‐ Employee, Member or HR Communication
Time Period of Project: March 1, 2011 – December 31, 2011
Brief Description: A multi‐phased communication program designed to effectively communicate to employees
Meridian intentions to amalgamate with Desjardins Credit Union.
Business Need/Opportunity:
With more than 220,000 customers (Members), 1,000 employees, 44 Branches and eight Commercial
Business Centres in the Niagara Region and across Central Ontario, Meridian Credit Union is the largest
Ontario credit union. On March 1, 2011, Meridian announced that, subject to the vote approval of their
respective Memberships, Desjardins Credit Union (DCU) would be joining Meridian and operating under
the Meridian banner. This proposed amalgamation would expand Meridian’s operating network by
43,000 new Members, 19 new branches and 180 new employees.
Employee communications would play a key factor through the entire amalgamation process. First, as
Meridian employees are Members too, they would have a vote in determining if the amalgamation would
be approved. Plus, as front‐line staff, branch employees played a key role in communicating the benefits
of amalgamation with other Members and answer any questions they may have.
Upon the amalgamation vote approval (in late April 2012), internal communications played a key role in
creating a cultural integration plan for the former DCU employees to introduce them to Meridian and
helping them understand Meridian’s approach to superior, personalized service. More importantly, as the
full system conversion (integration of technologies, products, processes and culture) from DCU to
Meridian was expected to take nearly a year to complete, corporate communications would play a vital
role in helping streamline information and ensure new staff members are not overwhelmed with constant
change and information.
To ensure a successful amalgamation of both credit unions, Meridian created a two‐phased approach to
effectively communicate the news to its current 1,000 employees while ensuring the new 180 former DCU
employees felt welcomed at Meridian.
Intended Audiences:
Two primary audiences were clearly defined. The first audience was the current Meridian employee base.
The second audience was the new Meridian employees (former DCU employees).
In communicating with the first audience, Meridian’s current employee base, past internal
communications audits found that employees preferred communication to be leader‐lead; meaning
managers and senior staff would deliver key pieces of information, face‐to‐face to ensure a two‐way
stream of conversation.
For the second audience, new Meridian employees/former DCU employees, an informal communications
audit found that there were no formal streams of internal communication to staff outside of the
company’s intranet. As Sean Jackson, Meridian’s CEO and President, stated in an interview with the Globe