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When the employees who work there call 1st Choice Savings and Credit Union’s newest office “our branch,” they mean it. They helped design the 4,500-square-foot facility in west Lethbridge, Alberta, have helped pioneer its service delivery model, and even went door to door to invite neighborhood business people and residents to visit the new branch in the weeks before it opened.
Teller pods and “collaboration areas,” where staff and members stand or sit side by side, have replaced the counter and dedicated offices of a traditional branch, and all employers are trained as personal bankers to provide a full range of services, says CUES member Brian Kinahan, president/CEO of $460 million 1st Choice Savings & CU, which serves 16,500 members.
When members enter the branch, they are immediately welcomed by a greeter and can proceed to the tech bar equipped with iPads to check their accounts or even begin filling out an account or loan application if they are waiting for a personal banker.
The Westgate branch manager and employees, all under age 35, were hired before the design phase began so they could have a say “in how this branch was going to operate and what the experience would be when members walked in,” Kinahan says. Staffing the branch with younger employees and using their input in its design supported the goal of attracting members in the 25-49 age bracket.
Service delivery and technology remain a work in progress, and 1st Choice Savings & CU managers are studying which elements from the new branch, including its bold brand merchandising and personal banker model, can be incorporated into other offices. The Westgate office is bringing in $1 million in new deposits monthly and added another employee this winter.
Kinahan recalls an encounter with a member on the new branch’s “soft” opening, July 21, 2014. Like other visitors, the member entered tentatively, studying the novel layout. Directed by the greeter to the tech bar, the member perched on a stool and took in the new design and the staff’s enthusiasm. After a moment, she turned to Kinahan and said, “I’m going to quit my job and come work for you here.”
“It’s really the people who make the atmosphere,” he says. “The staff who work there were chosen for their willingness to be outgoing with members. There’s a big banner out front that says: ‘We hope you enjoy your experience with us today.’ It’s all about the member experience.”
Karen Bankston is proprietor of Precision Prose, Stoughton, Wis.
