Cheating spouses. Aging parents. A poor credit score. Insomnia. These are just a few examples of outside stressors that can affect bank employee performance.
In financial services, omnichannel isn't just a consumer lending strategy anymore — it's how many banks are approaching employees' mental health needs to account for the personalized nature of the topic.
Nearly every bank on American Banker's
Employees' mental and physical health has been thrust into the limelight this year, especially in the banking industry. The death of two Bank of America investment bankers in May has spurred a nationwide reckoning of the work culture at banks, resulting in
In the U.S.,
Broadly, bankers have a statistically significant increase in depression, anxiety and burnout when compared with the general working population, said Dr. Matthew Thiese, an occupational epidemiologist and a professor of occupational and environmental health at the University of Utah, who studies how work directly affects people's physical and mental health.
"In general, most of the evidence suggests that if there's additional interest and focus on promoting or maintaining mental well-being among your employees, you have higher productivity," Thiese said. He pointed to studies that demonstrate a range of 20% to 25% in increased productivity, noting companies that invest in this area also report a decrease of absenteeism and presenteeism, a phenomenon where people show up to work but aren't productive.
Leveling up the status quo
Some of the banks on this year's Best Banks list are making investments to level up their employee assistance programs. The Ruston, Louisiana-based Origin Bank takes a three-pronged approach that converges mental, physical and financial well-being.
"We try to look at the employee as a whole person, and not just as the worker bee," said Lonnie Scarborough, chief dream manager and talent development officer at the $9.9 billion-asset bank.
"We want to help [employees] in all those other areas of life, and when we do that, you're much more engaged. You're coming to work with a better attitude," said Scarborough, who is also an ordained minister.
Scarborough has run the bank's Dream Manager Program since 2019. The annual program, which involves a nondisclosure agreement, recruits participants through voluntary testimonials of past participants, with the goal to help promote mental, physical, spiritual and intellectual health among Origin's employee base.
"The reason it's called Dream Manager is we help them to bring back out of the recesses of their mind any goal or dream that they've repressed over the years," Scarborough said. "We help them to establish two to four of those [goals], and we help them build out a strategic plan to meet them."
More than 300 of Origin's 900-plus employees have participated in the program since 2019, averaging about 65 to 70 participants per year and ranging from front-line employees to executives, Scarborough said. Topics of discussion run the gamut from infidelity and dealing with ill parents to diet and scrolling habits at night.
Origin also employs a certified health coach, a move that has resulted in 4,000 pounds of weight loss, a 10% decrease in the use of nicotine and a 15% decrease in participants' use of alcohol, Scarborough said. In addition, the bank offers a financial wellness program called Smart Dollar through the Ramsay Foundation, and almost half of Origin employees have joined.
"We felt like we found the perfect trifecta between Dream Manager, Smart Dollar and our health and wellness coach," Scarborough said. "Those things are not inexpensive for us to offer, but if you look at our attrition compared to the national average… we're about half."
The national turnover rate in April 2024 was 3.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Chesapeake Bank in Kilmarnock, Virginia, takes a similar committee-style approach to mental health and well-being, and this year established an ICU (I See You) Committee to help destigmatize mental health.
"In this day and age, especially after the pandemic, we've seen an uptick in mental health concerns [such as] increases in anxiety, depression and things of that nature," said Amanda Sumiel, director of human resources at the $1.5 billion-asset bank. "A lot of people would hide that. So we have tried to meet people where they are. We really need to focus on and let people know that it's okay to not be okay."
The ICU Committee is composed of employees who volunteer to share personal stories of mental health struggles and serve as allies to others who may be going through similar situations.
The committee, which has the support of Chesapeake Bank's CEO, Jeffrey Szyperski, meets before and after work at coffee shops and libraries, with an open invitation for anyone to attend, Sumiel said. "We have a rough agenda, but really [the meetings] allow people the space where they can come and chat and share stories that they like, or just come and be a support for others."
Flexibility is key
Promoting strong mental health in the workplace isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, said Dina Krasikova, an associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio Carlos Alvarez College of Business. It requires flexibility to be effective, she said.
"COVID has definitely changed things. I think many of us have become more empathetic," Krasikova said. "Employers are more willing to give employees more flexible work hours. They don't care when and how you get the work done, as long as you get it done. If it's easier for your schedule to get it done at night, do it at night."
At Dyersburg, Tennessee-based First Citizens National Bank, a flexible work schedule is one of the hallmarks of the $2.4 billion-asset bank's mental health initiative, which is coupled with a wider health and wellness program offered by the bank's life insurance provider, said Kerrie Heckethorn, the bank's human resources officer.
"People can walk out of here for whatever reason — we don't have to know the reason," Heckethorn said. "I've been here for 39 years. You couldn't always walk out of here."
"We've tried to embrace the work-life balance," she said. "Our CEO [Jeff Agee] brought that out, and he lives it. He wants everybody else to live it."
Krasikova, however, cautioned that a flexible work schedule could have its drawbacks when it comes to mental health needs. "The dark side of that flexibility is that the work may never stop," she said. "The work needs to stop."
Good for the mind, good for the bottom line
Other banks address mental health needs in different ways. ACCESSbank in Omaha, Nebraska, and BankPlus in Ridgeland, Mississippi, extend mental health benefits to employees and their dependents.
The services available through the $995.8 million-asset ACCESSbank are "highly flexible, allowing employees to choose how, when, and where they access these services," said Lisa Kaiser, director of human resources. The bank also offers quarterly workshops on topics related to mental health, she said.
Busey Bank in Champaign, Illinois, offers flexibility for employees to engage in mental health initiatives in their own way, said Hope McAllister, Busey's executive vice president of human resources. The $11.9 billion-asset bank offers a wellness app provided by Virgin Pulse, which it switched to this year, she said.
Many banks are offering additional days off that are specifically earmarked for mental health days, including Centier Bank in Merrillville, Indiana.
"We incorporated mental health days in 2022 … to recognize what our associates were going through," said Michelle Maravilla, director of human resources at Centier, which has $8.9 billion of assets. "You've got to have some various channels for people to utilize, because it's not one size fits all."
At the end of the day, a robust mental health offering is good for banks' bottom lines, banking executives and psychologists agree.
"I'm a firm believer that everyone goes through a season," said Amy Wolf, senior vice president of human resources at Fargo, North Dakota-based Bell Bank. "The Bell bottom line is, 'Happy employees, happy customers.'"
