ABA Banking Journal 5/08 - (Page 20) Community Banking Take the experience of George Marx, at Copiah Bank, N.A., Hazlehurst, Miss. The bank has opened three new offices in the last four years, which has required hiring many new employees. (Cont’d.) About 60% of the bank’s workforce has been there for more than 25 years, and Marx said he felt considerable “culture shock” when hiring the loan officers and managers for the branches. The shock had to do with expected salaries—his expectations versus theirs. His top pick for one market, a highgrowth area, “was already making 30% more than any officer in my bank, except me,” he says. This led to a gut-busting internal struggle, he says. “How was I going to justify paying someone so much more?” than the bank’s current pay structure provided for, says Marx. As time went on, Marx had to swallow hard and pay up. And up. “I paid that guy $85,000 to start,” says Marx, “and I gave him some incentives.” That was three years back. Now, Marx continues, the banker is making $100,000, and, with incentives, has hit $120,000 in each of the three years he’s been there. Big numbers. “But he’s done a tremendous job,” says Marx. Likewise, Robert Jones, of United Bank, Atmore, Ala., has seen HR costs rise in the course of bringing five new branches on line. “With the mergers that have occurred in our region, we’ve been able to pick up some more experienced and seasoned employees from the larger holding companies,” says Jones. “So, actually, our applicant pool has been older than we traditionally see. That’s changed things considerably, because they’re coming in with a different expectation.” These seasoned employees expect not only more money, but more fringe benefits than do younger employees. They come aboard expecting the vacation time they earned in their old jobs, too. All of this means ever-greater HR expense, but Jones says it’s been worth it. “What we’re buying is experience, and we’ve seen it as a good investment,” he says. ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS Bankers taking part in the roundtable are members of ABA’s America’s Community Bankers Council. Frank L. Carson III President and CEO Mulvane State Bank Mulvane, Kan. $80 million-assets, 38 FTE Pat Glotzbach President and CEO New Washington State Bank New Washington, Ind. $212 million-assets, 87 FTE Stephen J. Goodenow President Bank Midwest, Minnesota Iowa, NA Okoboji, Iowa $450 million-assets, 160 FTE Blair Hillyer President and CEO First National Bank Dennison, Ohio $170 million-assets, 65 FTEs Ken Hughes President and CEO Merchants & Farmers Bank & Trust Co. Leesville, La. $200 million-assets, 80 FTE Robert R. Jones III President and CEO United Bank Atmore, Ala. $470 million-assets, 180 FTE John A. Klebba President and CEO Legends Bank Linn, Mo. $220 million-assets, 65 FTE George R. Marx President and CEO Copiah Bank, N.A. Hazlehurst, Miss. $130 million-assets, 61 FTE “We find it difficult to get the people we brought over from the JP Morgan Chases of the world to learn to be community bankers”—Ken Hughes President and CEO Merchants & Farmers Bank & Trust, Leesville, La. “Detraining” required Jones faces an additional challenge when importing these seasoned bankers, as well: corporate culture shifts. “We spend a great deal of time on ‘detraining’ them from the big-bank way of doing things,” says Jones. In part, their thinking needs to be adjusted, because, coming from larger banks, they tend to be more specialized, and Jones needs them to think a bit more like generalists. Corporate fit has been a challenge, as well, for Ken Hughes, of Merchants & Farmers Bank & Trust Co., Leesville, La. Merchants & Farmers has been branching into a market formerly covered only by a loan production office, and has, like Jones, been picking up officers from large banks. “We find it difficult to get the people that we brought over from the JP Morgan Chases and the Capital Ones of the world to learn how to be community bankers,” says Hughes. A major challenge has been getting these bankers to see that a community banker must not only get through the typical lender’s “to do list,” but also take on additional tasks that go hand in glove with community banking. And yet, attracting such talent takes dollars up front. “We’re paying more signing bonuses than we ever did,” says Hughes. The highest the bank has paid is $12,000, though Hughes expects to exceed that, going forward. Other man’s cash is always greener Money talks, but what it says to employ- 20 MAY 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.copiahbank.com http://www.mulvanestatebank.com http://www.newwashbank.com http://www.bankmidwest.com http://www.fnbdennison.com http://www.merchantsandfarmers.com http://www.merchantsandfarmers.com http://www.ubankal.com http://www.merchantsandfarmers.com http://www.ubankal.com http://www.ubankal.com http://www.legendsbk.com http://www.copiahbank.com http://www.merchantsandfarmers.com http://www.ababj.com
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