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).