Navigant Credit Union Success Story

A streamlined compensation system that saves hours and delivers clarity

Navigant Credit Union is Rhode Island’s longest-operating, member-owned credit union, serving over 155,000 members across 26 branches. Founded in 1915, Navigant Credit Union has grown to become the state’s largest credit union with more than $3.9 billion in assets, known for its deep community roots and commitment to integrity. With 425 employees and a growing footprint, the company needed a way to modernize its compensation processes to match its scale and strategic goals.

Challenge

Outgrowing ad hoc compensation processes

Navigant Credit Union’s compensation program had historically operated without a formal structure, relying on spreadsheets, individual discretion, and a highly manual process. As the organization scaled, this approach became unsustainable. The introduction of new state regulations around pay transparency and pay equity in Rhode Island added further urgency, requiring consistent pay practices and clear documentation of compensation decisions.

Merit increases were budgeted but not guided by a structured matrix, and bonus decisions were loosely based on employee level and manager discretion. The organization needed a solution that could deliver structure, compliance, and efficiency—while supporting a transition to performance-based pay.

Solution

Automating compensation with beqom’s TCM solution

Navigant Credit Union selected beqom for its ability to manage compensation and performance within a single, integrated platform. The immediate implementation focused on beqom’s Total Compensation Management (TCM) solution, with a successful rollout starting in November 2024 and both the bonus and merit processes completed by March 2025.

For the bonus program, beqom enabled the company to execute its formalized plan driven by measurable outcomes. The plan combines corporate and individual performance metrics, including two key indicators for organizational performance, alongside individual employee goals and performance ratings. Employees are evaluated on a 1–5 scale across behavioral (“job essence”), functional (“job function”) competencies, and individual performance goals, ensuring a fair and structured assessment process that directly informs bonus calculations.

On the merit increase side, beqom replaced the traditional spreadsheet approach with a more dynamic, manager-friendly system. While Navigant Credit Union is working toward implementing a formal merit matrix to further standardize pay practices as the organization grows, for the 2025 merit cycle, the company provided managers with an average percentage increase for their teams. Managers were expected to stay within this budget, and with beqom’s system, they could easily track their team’s available budget pool, see how much had been allocated, and manage distributions in real time.

With beqom, managers can now:

• See individual employees’ compensation histories,
• View their team’s total available merit budget,
• Allocate raises per employee in real time,
• Monitor budget usage and remaining balance, and
• Route decisions through an automated approval workflow.

This intuitive experience removed the need for manual calculations and eliminated back-and-forth Excel file sharing between HR, managers, and senior executives.

Benefits

Greater efficiency, transparency, and strategic impact

Since implementing beqom’s TCM solution, Navigant Credit Union has achieved notable improvements across its compensation processes, including:

• Time savings: Merit and bonus cycles that previously required hours of manual input now take managers just minutes, freeing HR from spreadsheet preparation and reconciliation.
• Budget control: Managers can view and manage their compensation budgets in real time, simplifying allocation decisions and increasing accountability.
• Automation of complexity: beqom’s engine accurately calculates bonus payouts to the penny based on performance data and eligibility, reducing errors and administrative overhead.
• Manager satisfaction: The system has been well received by managers owing to the intuitive interface and elimination of manual work. Training engagement was high, with managers attending demos and using detailed step-by-step guides.
• Leadership visibility: Executives, including the CEO, appreciate the ability to see all compensation activity in one centralized system.
• Future-proofing: With goal-setting and check-ins already live through beqom’s CPM module, and automated performance evaluations in development, Navigant Credit Union is well on its way to completing its integrated pay-for-performance vision.

Together, these improvements have transformed compensation from a manual burden into a strategic advantage that supports Navigant Credit Union’s growth and compliance goals.