BRANCH NEWS

New Mequon branch to open doors August 19

The new Mequon branch, 11317 N. Port Washington Road, officially opens on Aug. 19. The new location has an open work environment with office sliding doors for privacy, and a video teller to provide extended service hours through an easily accessible drive-up.

Sue Doyle, SVP of retail banking, said the new branch, with its modern space and extended hours with the video teller, will be a welcoming hub for customers, employees, and the community.

“We are excited to open our doors and look forward to providing exceptional service to our customers at this new location,” Community Engagement Manager Farrah Mason said.

It’s exciting new chapter in Mequon!

 

FROM HR

Employee voices heard: Update on suggestion box ideas

By Molly Schissler, Chief HR Officer

As you may recall, back in November, we challenged employees to submit 100 suggestions by the end of the year in honor of our 100th anniversary. We actually received 117 submissions!

You may be wondering what has been happening with all of these ideas. While there were many that we could not act upon for various reasons, plenty more have been implemented in some way (or we may plan to in the future).

Here are a few suggestions we received and their outcomes.

Suggestion: I love how easy North Shore Bank’s website flows. I like all the helpful videos on each page. My suggestion is to do a video series on the website for digital security. We hear daily about new scams, and it would help if we could shed some light on some of the more common ones. We could also offer suggestions when situations come up where customers would be uncertain. This could help deter fraud by educating customers so they don’t feel victimized and humiliated.

Reply: Thank you for your suggestion to improve the visibility of our digital security content on our website. We recently consolidated all of our website content on fraud into one section, making it easy for customers to access. The Fraud Prevention Resource Center can be found under the Learning Center main navigation menu: https://www.northshorebank.com/about-us/fraud-and- theft-prevention.aspx. Take a look and let us know what you think! We’re excited to bring this comprehensive set of resources and tools to our customers.

Suggestion: All North Shore restrooms should be fitted with Dyson Airblade hand dryers. We could get a bulk rate; they will pay for themselves while offering a hygienic, cost-effective, environmentally friendly way to dry your hands. No one will have to order and refill paper towels. They are fast and hands-free.

Reply: We looked at proposals to install these. However, the cost of running the power to all units is cost prohibitive, and there are serious concerns about the noise they make, cleanup around them, etc. Therefore, we are not going to move ahead with this idea.

Suggestion: Implement communication to the branch for any servicing/maintenance scheduled visits. For example, a worker from Ideal Air stopped by to check our furnace, but the branch was not informed he was coming. With the rise in fraud, we were cautious but wish for further communication in the future so we are aware.

Reply: This information is available on Ask Seymour, and monthly notices of planned
maintenance are sent as reminders.

Suggestions about customer info updates: A few people suggested direct access to update customer information (such as address/phone/email) or to reset online banking access.

Reply: While we would love this from a customer perspective, additional steps are needed besides updating Cleartouch for the changes to extend to online banking, debit cards, and other platforms. These processes will stay in the hands of our experts in operations.

Suggestions about teller processes: Several suggestions were made about the teller process, such as reducing paper slips, installing scanners at each teller station, and more.

Reply: Some of these are not possible from a technical standpoint, and some will be reviewed during this calendar year and considered from a cost-benefit perspective. Stay tuned.

Suggestion: Many employees have very long commutes. Granted, that is their choice, but maybe we can help facilitate a ride-share program as a low-cost benefit for the bank. I think there is software where people can input their interest, route information, and schedule. The software then matches people who have similar routes. After initial set-up, it would be great if the program would kind of “run itself.” Doesn’t Enterprise have some software like that, or maybe we can build it?

Reply: We reached out to Enterprise and conducted an in-depth analysis based on where our employees reside. A map was created to show where van pools might make sense. From this, we reached out to several employees in these areas to gauge their interest. At this time, there was insufficient interest in using a van pool. We can revisit this in the future if it makes sense to do so.

Obviously, many more ideas were generated, and this is just a small sample. In some cases, suggested solutions are already in place or a solution for the suggestion is under consideration and the person making the suggestion was simply unaware. Everyone who submitted a suggestion was responded to, in some way, by an individual with oversight for the topic or area involved.

We were thrilled to receive so many great ideas, and even though we couldn’t act on all of them, many are still “on the radar,” and some may be implemented further down the road. Thanks to everyone who took up the challenge!

Suggestions are always welcome!

Still have a suggestion? You can always submit them via Employee Voice, found in the web links on Ask Seymour or at the top of the landing page of Bucketlist (Seymour Salutes).

 

BANK ON KINDNESS

Sister Bay employee appreciates coworkers with sweet awards

Marlese McEvoy, Sister Bay branch teller, recently delivered a sweet surprise to her coworkers—hearts with special messages for each person. Marlese called them the “Heart Felt Awards,” and you can see from the smiles on the faces of her coworkers how much they are appreciated!

The award for Branch Manager William Cole said: “It is one thing to be a boss, another thing to be a mentor, but a completely different thing to be a leader. We are proud to be led by a boss, mentor, and leader like you!”

Will said he received the award from Marlese and the team when he had just returned from a brief staycation with family and felt “overwhelmed by joy and emotion.” Will started in banking management right as the pandemic started and fought feelings of imposter syndrome for a while, which made receiving this award even more special.

“I really try to avoid stressing my team out and they return the favor, always,” he said.

The awards for coworkers Dawn Glassmyer, Deb Proto-Maring, and Kathy Freund said: “Chance made us colleagues, but the fun and laughter we share made us friends!”

“Marlese is always doing little special things for all of us,” Dawn said. “She is a great coworker, person, and friend.”

Marlese said she was motivated to get the awards for her boss and coworkers because she’s grateful for their friendship. “It’s nice to work with a group of people where we all get along and help each other,” she said.

District Manager Kerri Collins shared Marlese’s kind gesture, calling it out as another outstanding example of the “great culture” at North Shore Bank.

 

GOOD WORK, NORTH SHORE!

Dog-gone good deed: Employees help reunite lost pup, family

Members of the Business Banking team noticed an adorable—but unusual—visitor to the Corporate parking lot on Aug. 1. A dog with a leash attached but no tags was wandering around, clearly lost.

Jacob Verhaalen, Tyler Kebis, Patrick McKenna, John Stollenwerk, and Maria Baumer went out to catch the friendly dog and gave him some water. 03332 Jacob and Patrick then took the dog to the Elmbrook Humane Society.

Once there, the vets found a chip and notified the grateful family, who picked up their pup within an hour. A paw-sitive outcome all around!

 

BANK ON KINDNESS

Pulaski branch hosts SAGE for an evening celebrating art

The Pulaski branch was excited to continue our summer of spreading kindness by hosting SAGE, an artist advocacy non-profit based in Green Bay, for an after-hours event celebrating local arts and artists on July 30th.  SAGE and several of its contributing artists joined the event to present an evening showcasing the impact arts and culture have on a thriving, socially engaged community.  It was a packed evening that included:

• Five local artist vendors selling their original works
• An exhibit of art to be displayed in the Pulaski Police Department
• Unveiling of a new graphic design for the Police Department’s “Paws of Pulaski” – an initiative to help raise money for a new K9 Officer
• A hands-on community art mosaic project
• Appetizers and wine samples provided by community partner Karcz Liquor

 

The event also gave SAGE a platform to share a big announcement—they are expanding the Open Studio program into a few rural Wisconsin communities, starting with Pulaski! To assist with SAGE’s free community programming in Pulaski, North Shore Bank is holding an art supply drive at the branch through the month of August. To kick off the donation drive, we were pleased to present SAGE with a financial contribution of $500.

This event was part of our Bank on Kindness™ initiative, which kicked off in Pulaski earlier this summer with the unveiling of the giant “BE KIND” letters.

 

BANK ON KINDNESS

Rescue Gang gratefully accepts Oak Creek branch’s donation

The Rescue Gang, a Milwaukee area nonprofit that helps dogs find new homes, was grateful to receive a donation presented by Heather Somers, Oak Creek branch manager. The branch used $300 from its Random Acts of Kindness fund to donate, and the money will be used to help reduce the adoption fees for two dogs that have been at the shelter the longest—Arvin and Bartleby.

 

Customer Loyalty Tip of the Week

Use neutral statements like “I didn’t receive the information” rather than “You failed to send us the information.”

 

COMMUNITY CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Discover events and activities in and around your community

• Music at the Pavilion in Germantown | Thursday, August 15| Gehl’s Performing Arts Pavilion at Fireman’s Park | Germantown, WI
• North Shore Bank Shorewood Feast| Saturday, September 14 (12 PM) | 4200-4400 blocks of Oakland Avenue | Shorewood, WI
• Golf For Gear Supporting First Responders in Door County | Friday, September 20 (12PM) | Idlewild Golf Club | 4146 Golf Valley Drive | Sturgeon Bay, WI