Employees are an essential component of any bank business plan. They’re the ones responsible for the day-to-day operations that allow your bank to meet the needs of each customer who comes through the door (or uses the drive-up) every day.
Without them, who would welcome and assist customers, ensuring they have a great experience at every visit?
Employees are also one of the most significant operating expenses for a bank, and perhaps rightly so. With the responsibility of providing great customer experience, employees shoulder a lot in terms of branch success.
While most owners understand both the importance and the cost of their full-time employees, there’s one thing they might not know: Bank design significantly impacts the number of employees required to successfully run a branch.
Banking Operations and Bank Design
Determining how a branch will operate is a big part of the design process. As customers flow through the main entrance, the design will lead them toward their destination.
And equally important is the workflow of branch employees. By designing with intention, a bank can reduce the number of full-time employees required for operation. It’s important to mention that the goal here is to reduce the number of required employees without negatively impacting the customer experience.
Starting a Bank with Fewer Employees
Reducing the number of required full-time employees is a big benefit for bank branches. If we estimate a full-time bank employee at a salary of $40,000 and figure another $15,000 a year for benefits and incidentals, you’re looking at a $55,000 annual operating expense that can be co-opted back into your operational budget. Sounds good, but how is it done?
At HTG, we determine how a bank's operations and its design will work together during the early stages of our process. Specifically, we accomplish this during Invision, Programming and Feasibility, which is a process we’ve developed and honed for more than 35 years.
Invision, Programming and Feasibility is a stage of the planning process that involves working with our clients to uncover a detailed picture of their project. It’s the process of deciding on all of the “pieces of the puzzle” that eventually go into the project and determining how everything will work together.
If we can determine a way to reduce the number of full-time employees required to run your branch — and we usually can — we’ll set that plan in place during this phase of the project.
Adapting HTG’s Process to Your Vision
While no single bank project is the same, they all have similarities just by being within the same industry. At HTG, we’ve been specializing in bank architecture and design since 1959. Over the years, we’ve been front-and-center throughout the many changes this industry has seen, and we’re well-versed in the trends and technologies that lead successful branches into the future.
