Amid record-low unemployment levels, competition posed by Boston and New York, and a rapidly aging workforce, Rhode Island financial institutions are searching for the secret sauce to attracting and retaining employees.
At Citizens Bank, that sauce, quite literally, includes pizza sauce.
A wood-fired pizza oven creating customizable pizzas for workplace dining, or even to take home, is among the many amenities at the bank’s Johnston headquarters. The three-building, 123-acre campus off Route 5 in Johnston opened in 2018, boasting a modern and collaboration-focused work environment with seats for up to 3,000 employees.
Bank leaders say the headquarters was part of a conscious effort to recruit new hires and retain existing employees.
Across the state, banks and other financial institutions are grappling with how best to grow their pool of prospective workers and retain the existing ones amid a tight labor market and aging workforce.
Rhode Island’s workforce, like its general population, is increasingly made up of older workers, but the finance and insurance sector has been hit particularly hard. Data collected by the R.I. Department of Labor and Training indicates that the number of workers 55 and older in the finance and insurance industry increased by more than 50% in the last decade, from 3,919 workers in 2009 to 6,066 in 2019. At the same time, the number of workers 34 or younger decreased by 7%, with a 51% decrease in workers 22 to 24.
Financial companies are doubling down on workplace culture.
By comparison, workers 55 and over statewide increased 39% in the same time frame, while those 34 and under increased by 5%.
To address this, financial companies are doubling down on workplace culture, education and training programs.
Susan LaMonica, Citizens’ chief human resource officer, emphasized the bank’s strategy as one of investing in its employees’ health across all sectors: professional, financial, physical and emotional. The physical space is just one – albeit important – piece.
Even on a cloudy day, natural light floods the interiors of the Johnston buildings, with workspaces designed so that all employees sit within 40 feet of a window, according to Mike Knipper, Citizens’ head of property and procurement. A sprawling cafeteria houses the pizza oven along with other food stations manned by former Federal Hill chefs. The floor below includes a full gym, a wellness center where employees can go for everything from a flu shot to physical therapy and a laundromat service.
Workspaces are designed to foster collaboration, with low barriers between individual desks and clusters of seats available for group meetings. Each floor has a centralized garbage station, forcing employees to get away from their desks to throw out trash, reducing clutter and incentivizing human interaction, Knipper said.
Employees are encouraged to walk the trail that encircles the buildings, or take their work meeting outside for a game on the bocce courts.
The bank has also launched an array of programs for professional development, including an incubator to help existing information technology employees grow their skills and apps directed at digital literacy, career advancement and stress management, among other topics, LaMonica said.
Data collected by the bank indicates the work is paying off. The 2019 turnover rate among employees working in Johnston was 21% less than the companywide turnover rate, and 11% less than the turnover rate for Rhode Island the prior year, according to data shared by Citizens.
The much smaller Centreville Bank can’t compete with Citizens’ amenity-laden campus, acknowledged Mary Halpin, Centerville’s senior vice president of human resources. Instead, the West Warwick-based bank has tried to put its community-centered culture front and center, particularly when working with local colleges and universities.
Centreville offers internships and part-time employment to local college students, which has increased the speed at which the bank has filled entry-level positions, Halpin said.
The Department of Labor and Training in conjunction with the Rhode Island Society of Certified Public Accountants also recently began a training program through Real Jobs Rhode Island aimed at bridging the gap in “soft skills” for aspiring financial services workers.
“Students today who are otherwise perfectly prepared to come out of college don’t necessarily have the skills they need to score their first job in the banking industry,” said Scott Jensen, DLT director.
Jensen named proper interview attire, the importance of eye contact and how to network as skills addressed in the program, which has graduated its first cohort of 16 students.
DLT and RISCPA are also preparing another training curriculum for existing companies to address the increasing need for data analytics in the financial services industry. While data analytics has become an emphasis in all sectors of business, it is especially important in finance, according to Melissa Travis, president of the Rhode Island Society of CPAs.
“Compared to the actual functions of accounting and finance – [such as] audits, accounting and financial transactions – data analytics is everything better, faster and stronger,” Travis said.
LaMonica also emphasized the need for skilled data analysis at Citizens – not just among new hires but also existing employees.
“The skills required tomorrow are different than the skills required today,” she said.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.