What Do Other Bankers Do?

In 1987 First American Bank of Maryland was having a problem trying to fill a growing number of teller positions. They had decided that part time (or as they named it "on-call") tellers were a better answer to their needs than full time tellers. Using a totally new approach for the banking industry, they started a recruiting program for older workers.

The results were that 36 of the 44 new tellers that were hired are age 50 or older. And some of the new-hires have switched to full time after a few months.

Because of the success of the bank in Maryland, the First American Bank of Washington, a sister institution, started the same older worker recruitment program in the fall of 1989.

The banking industry has been faced with cut-backs, rather than hiring problems, in the past year. Older bankers are often pushed into early retirement through the offering of "packages" which encourage them to leave.

But in an industry that depends so much on customer service, our personnel and hiring officers are learning a harsh lesson. Older workers in certain positions are more desirable than younger people. And the younger employees who were retained, generally do not stay with the institution for long.

Days Inns of America was the first major industry to recruit older workers. They were unable to attract younger people, and they were desperate to fill positions in the company's reservation department in Atlanta and Knoxville. So they started hiring retirees to handle the phones.

According to their personnel officers, the results have been "spectacular".

Absenteeism has dropped from 30 percent to 3 percent. The length of the telephone conversations dropped from 235 seconds per call to 175 seconds. (Which translated to a savings of $1.8 million a year!)

The figure that makes bankers most envious, however, is that of their turnover. Since the company began hiring older workers in 1987, almost no one-of any age-has left!

Experts attribute this to the fact that older workers have a different work ethic. The financial institutions utilizing them report that older employees are strong in loyalty, experience and dependability and are positive in outlook and attitude.

Do good bankers, like fine wine, improve with age?

Maybe so!

Copyright © 1990 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 1, No. 9, 9/90