Becky Potts serves Marine Credit Union (MCU) as the Director of Human Capital, Payroll and Benefits. She explained, “I am in the game of insuring all employees are paid accurately and correctly, always trying to improve benefits and trying to enhance the employee experience.” She explained that it is important to her to do whatever it takes to enhance the employee’s life, health, and well-being and their families. “Employees are number one,” she added. “If we don’t have employees, we won’t have members.”
Becky said she believes that if they do not offer their employees everything they can, “they will leave and go elsewhere. She explained that we are experiencing the “great resignation” during this time in history. “It has affected all industries,” she said. “In January of 2021,” she explained that MCU made the decision to focus on employee experience. “We can’t hit our strategic plan to impact (our members) lives without our employees.”
“At the end of the day,” Becky added, “we need to insure our employees are happy and successful.” She explained that when their employees are happier, they are more productive and better able to meet MCU’s mission and impact our members.
How did Becky get here? “I am a boomerang to MCU,” she replied with a smile. She explained that when she was originally hired as the HR Administrator at MCU 16 years ago, there were only three people in human resources and about 230 total employees. “It was smaller and much different,” she explained. “It’s cool to see the evolution,” she added.
After working outside MCU for nine years, Becky returned when she saw MCU was changing. “Moving toward employee experience, I felt I could make an impact,” she added.
Becky also liked the idea of giving back to the community and she knew she would be able to help with the culture at MCU.
“I don’t do a lot with recruiting,” she said and added that MCU has a great team of expert recruiters. Becky explained that her impact comes with helping to improve employees’ lives regarding benefits, payroll, and the employee experience. “We have a great team of recruiters, but our employees are also amazing recruiters,” she said. “Nobody is going to refer you to come to a place they don’t like working for.”
Becky graduated with business degrees in business administration and HR management from Winona State University and her Master’s Degree is in management and leadership. Her and her husband Kevin live in the La Crosse area with her son Jaxton, who is eight and her “angel son” Jasper. She explained Jasper would be six, at the time of her interview, but he “will forever be 38 days.” She said, “I would never wish losing a child upon anyone, but my goal is to keep his memory alive.”
Jasper was born prematurely at 25 weeks. His name means “bringer of gifts,” and every year on Jasper’s birthday her and her husband take care packages to the neonatal intensive care unit at Gunderson Hospital in memory of him. “He was the biggest gift of all,” Becky said.
“I had to grow up at a very young age,” Becky continued. After a series of serious medical conditions in her family, she said that she “didn’t want to be a bother so I strived to be a perfectionist, do good in school and help people. I always wanted to make sure I was helping others.” As a young woman, Becky said she was driven to succeed and wanted to make an impact on large groups of people. “I just have always had a passion to help others,” she shared.
