Molly Schissler

Hard to believe, but it has been a year since our last employee engagement survey (conducted through Allegiance), as well as the survey we participated in for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Top Workplaces. We will be launching our next Allegiance survey soon — please watch your email. The next Journal Sentinel survey will be available sometime in October; we will keep you posted as we learn more. As always, we appreciate everyone who provides us with valuable input and feedback about North Shore Bank!

Over this past year, there have been a number of things happening in terms of evaluating and responding to the results from both surveys. It is important that we look not only at what improvements we might be able to make, but also try to capitalize on what employees feel we are doing right.  While some activities have been more “behind the scenes” or subtle, the engagement leadership team has been sharing the results, particularly from the Top Workplaces survey, with their department managers and employees. If you haven’t heard some of those discussions, please be patient, as not all managers have had the opportunity yet to share some of this information.

Positive outcomes

One area of our engagement survey focuses on aspects of “feeling accepted,” and one statement in this area is: “Employees share a common bond of beliefs and purpose about this organization.” The engagement leadership team views this as one element critical to our goal of continuing to receive Top Workplace recognition. What is this common bond, this common purpose? From our perspective, we view this as “living our brand.” While everyone should know that our brand tagline is “The Bank of You,” we wondered if everyone knows how that tagline was developed and why it really represents the core of who we are. Additionally, we felt it was important to try to better define — and provide a brand statement or tagline for — our own internal employment brand.

We will be offering a number of online conferences and teleconferences over the next few weeks for all employees, which will explain the development of “The Bank of You” and also introduce everyone to our employment brand, represented by the tagline “The Bank of You — Together Achieving More.” Watch for details in an email from me and the engagement leadership team regarding these sessions. We hope that it helps form an idea in everyone’s mind of what our common bond of beliefs and purpose are at North Shore Bank. You are each vital to our mission and purpose at North Shore Bank!

A second, but certainly no less important, focus area was the category of “feeling respected,” part of which includes the statement: “My company regards employees as the most important asset of the firm.” There are many different ways in which we hope to convey our appreciation and respect for all employees, such as working regularly with managers and supervisors to try to convey our philosophy of fair dealing in employee relations matters; encouraging employees and managers to use the EmployeeVoice and Thanks.com tools to share recognition and appreciation; and continuing to assess our total compensation approach (this includes pay, incentives and benefits).

While an ongoing analysis of most positions is under way, we have begun with a particular focus on our highest-turnover positions. As a result of both the engagement survey analysis and a comprehensive market review of pay rates of CSRs, we are implementing a new approach to their pay. CSRs will now be eligible for pay reviews on a six-month step basis through their second anniversary. We recognize that turnover has been higher within a CSR’s first 18 months of employment, which represents a significant loss in terms of trained employees whom our customers have come to recognize and rely on. Of course we realize that these step increases alone will not eliminate all turnover; nor do we see this as the only way in which we demonstrate how we value each employee’s contributions. However, we do see this as a positive action toward attracting and retaining the top-quality CSRs our customers are looking for, as well as just one way to affirm that you are the “important asset” that helps everyone achieve more.

I hope you will continue to see the value of your input to the employee surveys, and encourage your participation when you receive the request.