ALPHARETTA, Ga.—A new study shows that as brick-and-mortar traffic is declining, so too is the productivity of branch employees.
The study's author, FMSI, says it is imperative that credit unions look closely at their offices to evaluate scheduling practices, the role of front-line personnel and even branch design.
Meredith Deen, COO, said that in comparing FMSI's 2011 Branch Workforce Utilization Study with the report released this year, workforce utilization—the percentage of employees' work time in which they are effective—dipped to 79% from 82% for tellers in the study's top-performing shops.
FMSI's latest study reviewed data at over 1,000 financial institution branches—the majority being credit unions—covering more than 10,000 employees.
What is causing some of the productivity drop, said Deen, is not only declining branch traffic but changes in member traffic patterns due to the rise of mobile banking.
"People continue to bank in new ways," said Deen. "They have a smartphone or a tablet and can manage their finances from their desk at work, or even when they are at a restaurant. That certainly changes how they use the branch. Lunch at the credit union is not what it used to be."
What FMSI has seen among its clients is a flattening of branch traffic patterns, both in the time of day and the day of the month. That is making front-line scheduling a much more difficult task for the branch manager, making it harder to discern the right times to deploy part-timers or move over additional staff.
Deen said the effective use of branch staff is becoming a higher-level conversation at credit unions due to the higher costs for branch transactions, and the growing use of remote delivery channels.
The average financial services employee, according to Deen, grades out at 78% workforce utilization. She said CUs that are the most effective at deploying staff are using analytics tools to uncover branch traffic patterns and drive up staff effectiveness.
"We found they schedule better. They better manage the productive time of their employees as well as their non-productive time," said Deen. "These credit unions do better at implementing tasks and cross-training."
What, too, is helping, added Deen, is implementing self-service technology, such as cash recyclers, and changing branch design to optimize traffic flow and staff effectiveness.
More CUs, as well, noted Deen, are using front-line staff to handle outbound marketing during downtime. But she said it's not always a heavy sales pitch from the tellers.
"Much if it is just a welcome call to a member who has just come on board, giving the credit union another touch point, letting the member know the credit union is there and willing to help if needed."
