The Best Banks to Work For — over $10 billion of assets

By Laura Alix, Kate Fitzgerald, Joel Berg

November 9, 2021 8:45 PM

The largest of the Best Banks to Work For are trying some new approaches to recruiting talent.

Several of the eight Best Banks with more than $10 billion of assets are looking to hire people outside of their market areas and broadening the types of candidates they are willing to consider instead of looking at only those with banking experience.

Enterprise Bank & Trust in St. Louis, Mo., for example, is recruiting talent in markets where it doesn’t have a physical presence, largely because executives there say they are now comfortable with employees working remotely.

Some of these banks are also ramping up their diversity efforts. First Busey in Champaign, Illinois, recently partnered with new human resources and recruiting platforms as a way to reach a broader pool of talent. It also sought out external search firms that prioritize diversity initiatives.

Another facet of its search for more diverse talent entails partnerships with other local institutions, such as the University of Illinois’ Disability Resources & Educational Services Department.

City National Bank of Florida, which is actively recruiting for roughly 100 jobs across its home state, has long been using partnerships with local organizations as part of its broader efforts to recruit and nurture the next generation of bankers.

The U.S. unit of Chile’s Banco de Credito e Inversiones has a 15-year partnership with the Center for Financial Training at Miami Dade College and CareerSource of South Florida. Together, they host the Future Bankers’ Camp, which offers hands-on experience for high school students interested in financial services careers.

Overall 90 banks earned a spot on the 2021 Best Banks to Work For ranking, with just eight of them having more than $10 billion of assets. The largest one by far is Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville, Tennessee, a mainstay on the Best Banks list.

Scroll through to see what other banks are on the list, where they rank compared to the others in this size category and what they are up to when it comes to workforce strategies.

More Best Banks coverage:

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Bell Bank

Fargo, North Dakota
Assets: $10.2 billion
Employees: 963
President and CEO: Michael Solberg

https://bell.bank/

A helping hand: No matter where you work, it’s always nice to get an extra day off. But at Bell Bank, it's extra nice.

A special extra day off Bell gives to its employees each year comes with a gift card to spend on family and friends. Full-time employees get $500 while part-timers receive $250.

A similar program helps bank employees extend the largesse to the community. Each year, Bell gives every employee money — $1,000 to those who are full time and $500 to those who are part time — and asks them to donate it to a charitable cause.

“Our reason for being is essentially to help people,” said President and CEO Michael Solberg.

Read more:

Pictured: Posing for photos with Bell Bank’s vintage parade vehicle, which shows up at events like employee appreciation day, is a popular tradition.

Pinnacle Financial Partners

Nashville, Tennessee
Assets: $35.2 billion
Employees: 2,662
President and CEO: M. Terry Turner

www.pnfp.com

Reducing risk: The ability to achieve work-life balance is part of the annual performance review for employees and managers at Pinnacle Financial Partners, and one of the bank’s goals is to support staff on that front.

“Our team leaders are quick to recognize potential issues and address them with one-on-one intervention, reconfiguring duties or schedules as needed,” said Pinnacle’s president and CEO, M. Terry Turner.

Burnout may still be possible, Turner acknowledged. But Pinnacle employees are less at risk due to their appreciation for their work.

“Balance, flexibility and making sure associates love what they do has always been part of our culture, and it’s why we’re well-positioned as a workplace of choice at a time when people’s expectations of work are changing,” Turner said.

Read more:

A small change to Pinnacle’s wellness program went a long way

Pictured: Pinnacle Financial Partners employees commemorate Veterans Day in Nashville, Tennessee.

Enterprise Bank & Trust

St. Louis, Missouri
Assets: $10.3 billion
Employees: 969
President and CEO: Jim Lally

www.enterprisebank.com

Casting a wider net: Enterprise Bank & Trust has broadened its horizons in terms of where it searches for new talent, partly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bank now looks for talent in geographic markets where it doesn’t have physical locations, President and CEO Jim Lally said.

The bank also recently launched its first business resource group for Black employees and elevated its diversity, equity and inclusion leadership council, giving it more authority over the bank’s diversity strategy.

“As we grow our footprint, we also expand the diversity of our knowledge and skills, enhance our leadership expertise and reinforce our strong culture to ensure our associates, from the newly recruited to the most tenured, experience a strong sense of belonging,” Lally said.

Read more about Enterprise:

The challenges banks face in diversifying their ranks

Pictured: Enterprise Bank & Trust employees present a donation to the Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families, a nonprofit that helps women and their children escape abusive situations.

United Community Bank

Greenville, South Carolina
Assets: $18.9 billion
Employees: 2,440
Chair and CEO: H. Lynn Harton

www.ucbi.com

Just checking in: United Community Bank surveys its employees every 18 months to understand what it can do better.

Feedback from its last survey, completed in December 2020, led the bank to make some changes for its entire employee base. It added childcare benefits to help with COVID-19 challenges and changed its benefit packages to lower costs for family coverage.

United Community also held a focus group with some of its Black employees specifically and decided to consider additional demographic variables when it analyzed compensation in job grades.

“At United, our first measure of success is to be a great place to work for great people,” Chair and CEO H. Lynn Harton said. “We believe that connection — both to each other and to our mission — is one of the largest drivers of employee satisfaction.”

Read more about United Community:

Anatomy of a smooth leadership transition

Pictured: United Community Bank employees present a donation to Ronald McDonald House.

City National Bank of Florida

Miami
Assets: $20.2 billion
Employees: 891
CEO: Jorge Gonzalez

www.citynationalcm.com

Creating future bankers: City National Bank of Florida pursues partnerships with local organizations as part of its broader efforts to recruit and nurture the next generation of bankers.

For instance, the bank has a 15-year partnership with the Center for Financial Training at Miami Dade College and CareerSource of South Florida. Together, they host the Future Bankers’ Camp, which offers hands-on experience for high school students interested in financial services careers.

City National, which is the U.S. unit of Chile’s Banco de Credito e Inversiones, is actively recruiting for roughly 100 jobs across Florida.

“We constantly recruit, promote, train, and motivate a workforce that reflects the communities we serve,” CEO Jorge Gonzalez said.

Pictured: Employees of City National Bank of Florida join CEO Jorge Gonzalez, live and virtually, for a town hall meeting.

Sandy Spring Bank

Olney, Maryland
Assets: $13 billion
Employees: 1,157
President and CEO: Daniel Schrider

www.sandyspringbank.com

Expanding its reach: Sandy Spring Bank finds most of its new hires through referrals from existing employees, but more recently its human resources team has started using digital tools to expand its reach outside its traditional footprint, said President and CEO Daniel Schrider.

The company has been conscious of creating a diverse workforce that reflects its communities and said that its workforce is currently 59% women and 37% ethnic minorities. It also considers diversity of experience in job candidates, not strictly limiting itself to people who already have banking experience.

“We want to be an employer of choice in the Greater Washington region — not just among banks — so we consider candidates from different backgrounds, industries and locations,” Schrider said.

Pictured: Sandy Spring Bank employees donate pajamas and books for its annual Season of Sharing event, which benefits kids in shelters.

First Busey Corp.

Champaign, Illinois
Assets: $11 billion
Employees: 1,370
Chair, president and CEO: Van Dukeman

www.busey.com

Reaching out: First Busey sees tech as key to reaching a new and wider pool of talent.

The parent company of Busey Bank has recently partnered with new human resources and recruiting platforms and sought out external search firms that prioritize diversity initiatives. In its search for more diverse talent, it also relies on partnerships with other local institutions, such as the University of Illinois’ Disability Resources & Educational Services Department.

“Busey has always been committed to attracting and retaining talent across a variety of backgrounds and experiences,” said Van Dukeman, the company’s chair, president and CEO. “A diverse team — one with varying beliefs and opinions — promotes productivity and creativity, while better meeting and exceeding the needs of a diverse customer base.”

Pictured: Marie Polk, First Busey Corp.’s associate development director, leads a diversity and inclusion training session in 2020.

FirstBank

Nashville, Tennessee
Assets: $11.9 billion
Employees: 1,865
President and CEO: Christopher Holmes

www.firstbankonline.com

Honing its strategy: FirstBank is intent on recruiting a wide variety of diverse candidates and, this past year, it created a diversity council to sharpen those recruiting efforts, President and CEO Christopher Holmes said.

Diversity is a priority even at the board level. FirstBank has been recognized by the nonprofit 2020 Women on Boards for having a board with women holding more than 20% of the seats.

Internal development is the cornerstone of the talent strategy at the bank. “Our performance conversations are forward-looking and focus on growth and career paths to ensure we’re offering the appropriate training and development opportunities for our associates,” Holmes said. “It’s important to promote from within when possible and we measure internal progression to ensure our success.”

Pictured: FirstBank employees pose for a photo unveiling the bank’s partnership with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.