By Molly Schissler, SVP, Human Resources & Compliance

For the seventh time, North Shore Bank has the honor of being named to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s list of southeast Wisconsin’s Top Workplaces. Thank you to everyone who contributed by taking the Top Workplaces survey. This recognition is important for us, as it helps us attract and retain top talent. (Plus, it just makes for a better overall work environment!)

In the chart below, we can see how we compare to other commercial banks whose employees participated in the survey. It shows that we’ve moved up since last year’s survey, and that we score higher than many other banks, as well. But certainly, there’s always room for improvement. That is why we take the time to read through all of the comments on every year’s survey — we take the good with the not so good, the praise along with suggestions on how to do better.

Below, I share a few of what I think are noteworthy comments from the survey, along with commentary where necessary. Once again, thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey!

New ideas
Here is a response to the survey question “What gets in the way of new ideas at North Shore Bank?”

“I believe employees have many fresh and new ideas. There doesn’t seem to be interest in listening to them or explaining why we have things the way we do.”

In response to this, I highly suggest employees take advantage of our EmployeeVoice system, because we are very interested in listening. You can get to EmployeeVoice through the “Website Links” button on Ask Seymour (found under “Other Websites”). This is one of the best ways to put forth your suggestions and ideas. EmployeeVoice submissions all come directly to my attention, and I then contact and work with the most appropriate employees and managers to determine how to respond and proceed. While we can’t put every idea into action (or at least can’t always do so as quickly as someone would like), I do make every effort to respond to employees about what is happening with their ideas. Sometimes it takes longer to implement a suggestion due to timing with other bank-wide projects and the need to prioritize key initiatives, or due to system limitations beyond our immediate control. Other ideas are pretty easy and straightforward, so we try to move quickly on those whenever we can.

Health coverage caps
One commenter wrote:

“Health coverage cap is a concern. Any serious illness, the coverage wouldn’t last long.”

This comment concerned me, because there may be a misunderstanding of how our medical plan coverage works. When you have questions like this, it’s best to go directly to someone knowledgeable about our benefits: benefits and payroll manager Cindy Lohrey.

But to address this comment in particular, it’s important to note that our medical plans have NO ANNUAL OR LIFETIME MAXIMUMS on covered claims. Years ago, medical plans carried an annual and lifetime maximum cap (such as $100,000 a year and $200,000 lifetime). But this changed a number of years ago. So if the worst case does come to pass with critical medical issues, you should not have to worry about a maximum or cap on what’s covered, annually or over your lifetime. (While the plans do have some annual limits for certain types of claims, in general there is not a lifetime cap on claims.) There may be some confusion about the plan’s various deductible, out-of-pocket maximum, and coinsurance costs. We want everyone to have a solid understanding of the very good benefits provided to North Shore Bank employees, so please reach out to Cindy if you have questions about the healthcare plan.

“I love my job because…”
There were many wonderful responses to the survey item “I love my job because…” Here is one that stood out:

“I love my job because of the support I get from my peers and managers. I feel like I am heard when it matters and appreciate the guidance I receive from everyone in my department. My work/life balance is the best it has ever been for me in any job. I feel like I can be truly myself and open/honest to my manager.”

We’re happy that you feel this way! Watch for more updates from the Top Workplace survey results in future issues of Shorelines.