How To Solve For Dreaded Staff Shortages in Banks
In a nutshell 🥥 Bank staff shortages have significant impact on both employees and customers, as well as managers and others in leadership positions who want to equip their staff with everything they need to streamline operational efficiency, support bank deposit growth, and most importantly, provide a winning customer experience. But what can bank leaders do to combat the effects of being short staffed? By implementing smarter technology and using real data to drive staffing decisions, you’ll be equipping your branch staff with all the information, tools, and time they need to best serve your customers. Staff Shortages in Banks: An Ongoing Challenge Staffing shortages are a familiar story for most financial institutions. Picture it: It might be a Saturday morning and customers and members are piling into your branch. They’ve come after a long week of working to make deposits, ask questions about their financial health, and apply for loans for a new car, but there’s one problem—you’re understaffed. Phones are ringing, would-be customers are walking out the door without being seen, advisors are running behind, and frontline tellers are in dire need of a break. This chaotic scene, caused by staff shortage in banks and credit unions, is far too common across financial institutions today.  In fact, over the past few years, two-thirds of financial institutions see retaining their staff as a major concern. With the rise of fintechs offering remote work and a highly competitive job market, finding (and hanging onto) the staffing you need can feel almost impossible. “Recent surveys show about half of financial institution staff are considering leaving their jobs, largely due to outdated systems that bog them down with administrative tasks.” – The Financial Brand Bank staff shortages can quickly wear down the employees and advisors, and cause managers and others in leadership positions to feel like they’re grasping at straws. So what can credit unions and banks with staffing shortages *actually* do? The answer lies in embracing banking software tools, improving staff efficiency, and using data judiciously to plan for your branch’s success. Let’s take a look at some of the common pain points associated with bank staff shortage for employees, advisors, and management, and then unpack how they can be improved with the right set of solutions—and better data. Why are There Staffing Shortages in Banks? 4 Financial Industry Challenges A high-performing frontline staff is crucial to any financial institution’s growth. Amazing customer service leads to customer loyalty and retention, which in turn results in more products sold. But when employees exceed their bandwidth due to a bank staff shortage, the whole FI suffers along with them. Banking labor shortages raise many issues for your team, including but not limited to: Staff burnout Staff shortages in banks mean employees and advisors are left with a growing number of customers and members to serve—the lines, wait times, and handle times are longer, and the workload is tripled. This ratio also contributes to negative customer experiences as they aren’t given the time and attention they deserve. These issues also contribute to decreased employee satisfaction and high employee turnover numbers. For instance, as reported in 2024, “52 percent of managers and 49 percent of staff are contemplating leaving their jobs within the next 12 months due to low job satisfaction.” Tellers, advisors, and floating staff are burnt out, and retaining talent is getting even trickier. No prep time When a branch is understaffed, employees often have no time to prepare for customer conversations, which leads to longer handle times, longer queues, and a rushed experience for the customer or member. Constant schedule changes When employees are sparse, those who are available to work face a lot of unpredictability and inflexibility with their schedule. Requests for vacation days may be declined more frequently, and team members have to fill in for sick coworkers more often. To make matters worse, if the branch they’re working for has no appointment scheduling software in place, employees who are filling in have no clear view of the day ahead, leaving them feeling underprepared and overwhelmed.  Lower quality of service Overworked employees struggle to deliver high-quality, personalized service that can set a bank apart from its competitors. If staff aren’t equipped with a central system to store and access customer information, this problem is further exacerbated. Staff may need to spend ample time navigating between different tools to find customer details they need—i.e. who the customer or member has spoken to recently, products they already have, and new product recommendations that align with their needs can be difficult to pin down before a visit, especially when time is already short. This type of experience leaves the client feeling slighted and not prioritized. How can banks improve employee productivity? DYK? If you’re wondering how to improve bank staff efficiency and productivity, you should start by looking at the data. What are your advisor’s average appointment lengths? How many walk-ins does your branch see on average? What do queue wait times look like on a busy day? By answering questions like these, banks and credit unions can plan ahead for busy days, communicate better with employees, and adjust areas that might be lacking in efficiency. How Bank Staff Shortages Affect Leadership When a bank or credit union is short-staffed, disgruntled customers and overworked employees aren’t the only ones negatively impacted. Management and operations administrators are often faced with difficult problems as well. Scheduling advisors Figuring out the best schedule for your advisors can be difficult if you’re not tracking the ongoing activity of each branch. You might have advisors working from the afternoon until the early evening to catch customers and members getting off work—when what your branch really needs is a morning staff available to handle entrepreneurs and stay-at-home parents. This creates a double whammy of understaffing in the morning and overstaffing in the afternoon. Underutilizing floating staff Assigning floating team members to improve bank staff efficiency can feel like total guesswork. There’s nothing worse than ending up in an understaffed busy location while floating staff members twiddle their thumbs at the empty branch across town. Without branch-specific data driving