Bank Hikes Employee Retention and Customer Sarisfaction in Tough Market
Copyright 2005

The subject of this case study was a credit union for the first 17 years of its existence. It became a federally chartered bank about five years ago. The bank operates in one of the nation's most competitive banking markets and has been recognized as being well-managed with a strong asset base. In the early years of the new century, the bank's success led it to open new branches. By the end of 2002, it had doubled its employee count. In this process, the bank hired at virtually every level, from vice president to teller. To compete as a bank, management endeavored to hire in a different model from what was described as a “credit union mentality”, looking for new hires who were more driven by sales success and profit than by the warmer and less competitive values of their old organization.

Near the end of 2003, the bank reviewed its successes and failures in making these changes. The review revealed a rash of job failures toward the end of 2003, concentrated in the employees who had been new hires during their expansion. Examining the failures, the bank identified three major contributing causes, in order of declining frequency:

Working with their Profiles assessments representative, the bank developed a Strategic Hiring System, based on data collected from employees who had succeeded in their positions in 2003. Launched in January 2004, this system is a “hiring funnel” in which every applicant considered for interview completes the Step One Survey II (SOS2). They are then interviewed, using the Step One Survey II (SOS2) as a guide. If selected for continuation in the process, based on the assessment, the interview, and their application information, candidates complete either the Customer Service Perspective (CSP) or the Profile Sales Indicator (PSI). If they score above a criterion match to the success pattern for their prospective job, they complete the Profile XT (PXT). Finalists are selected and interviewed based on the information from all of these inputs and an offer is made to those selected. Average elapsed time from receipt of application to hire is 27 days, which usually includes two weeks notice to the previous employer. Assessment sequence cost per hire is $280.

Results of the initiative for 2004 are in. The employment market generally saw more job opportunities and higher turnover over the year, but this bank’s turnover rate dropped from 29 percent to seven percent year-to-year!

In addition to the obvious reduction in costs of failure, the bank has experienced increased customer satisfaction, reduced absenteeism, better adherence to required banking procedures and reduced personnel actions.

With one challenge under control, the bank has now turned to the next step, insuring their managers are up to the task of getting the best from their job-matched employees. The CEO and his management team have all enrolled in the Checkpoint 360° /Skillbuilder management development program!