‘There’s more to employee satisfaction than a paycheck’

When schools shut down early on in the coronavirus pandemic, many parents who didn’t have the option to work from home had to scramble to find child care. Those in rural areas faced the additional problem of unreliable internet connections at home and worried that their children could not keep up with online learning.

So United Bank in Atmore, Alabama — which is one of the 2021 Best Banks to Work For — came up with a solution for its employees. Empty offices were set up with laptops and made available for employees’ children to use for schoolwork. About half a dozen workers in the bank’s two Monroe County locations and a few more in the bank’s headquarters in nearby Escambia County took United up on the offer, said Michael Vincent, its president and chief executive.

“It allowed employees not to have to find someone to stay with their children; it helped the children have a place where they could attend school; it helped keep offices open and kept business transactions flowing and just worked all the way around for everybody,” Vincent said.

The arrangement was temporary, and by the time schools reopened in the fall, the parents on staff at United had figured out alternatives. But it’s one example of how executives at the $1 billion-asset bank try to think creatively about how to make employees' lives a little bit easier.

“When you talk about retaining employees, I believe there’s a lot more to employee satisfaction than a paycheck,” Vincent said. “Pay is what puts food on the table, but there are other things that we try to do to recognize employees and promote work-life balance.”

In another example, United has several active Army Reservists on staff, and it has found ways to help them manage their own competing demands. When one of those employees recently deployed overseas for nearly a year, the bank enlisted a landscaper to keep his yard of several acres in good condition, so his wife had one less thing to worry about while caring for their three children.

That kind of support could be critical for United even after the pandemic ultimately ends. Americans have been quitting their jobs in record numbers recently, and economists expect worker shortages to persist.

The Best Banks to Work For consistently got higher marks from their employees on a variety of factors related to career development and work-life balance than banks not on the list. But one of the biggest differences between the Best Banks and others is in whether employees feel like executives care about their well-being, according to analysis done by Best Companies, which compiles the annual ranking for American Banker. Among the Best Banks, an average of 93% of the employees agreed that the leadership cared, versus an average of 83% for employees at other banks.

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• Leaving the morale-crushing tasks to 'robots'
• See all 90 banks included in the Best Banks ranking this year

United recently expanded by acquiring the $130 million-asset Town-Country National Bank in Camden, Alabama. Adding more front-line retail banking staff is critical to United’s growth plans, but these are tough times for recruiting, especially for roles the bank most needs to fill, Vincent said. Fewer people have been applying than in the past, and the best candidates often have more than one offer. “It’s very competitive out there,” he said.

Investing in talent is a priority for Vincent, who became interim president and CEO in July, after Bob Jones retired, and was officially named to the top job in September. Vincent had previously been the United’s chief credit officer.

The bank is putting increased emphasis on career development internally and is creating a new position to oversee and coordinate training efforts across the organization. That role will be filled early next year by a 20-year employee who is currently a branch manager.

“We’ve sent people to seminars and banking schools and the like,” Vincent said, “but we really want to do more professional training that you can’t necessarily get from a classroom setting.”

Some early priorities will include implementing new internal credit analysis training as well as a development program to help younger bankers polish their so-called soft skills, such as conversing with customers, he said. By investing in employees’ careers, the bank aims to deepen employee engagement and, in turn, keep turnover low.

“We want to invest in our communities and invest in our employees,” Vincent said. “We want this to be a challenging and rewarding place to work.”