Financial Institutions are now using
alternative staffing solutions to address leave of absences, special
project needs, and work overloads on manager-level employees. The
following case history describes how a local bank, with a significant
loan portfolio, dealt with a disability leave situation by utilizing a
Schilling Professional Staffing commercial lender on a interim contract
basis.
Situation Analysis: Our client recently reorganized their
commercial lending units to better serve the banking needs of their
customers. This involved the reassignment of lenders and the transfer
of a large number of customer relationships. One lending unit in
particular was overwhelmed with new accounts, and at the same time,
their senior lender developed severe back problems and was
hospitalized. The unit manager could not determine the duration of the
disability leave. Hiring a full-time lender was out of the question due
to the lead time required and considering that the existing staff level
was adequate to handle the normal customer activity when the lender
returned.
What to do?: Past practice in dealing with
short-term staffing needs suggested the use of either temporary
administrative support or a let's pull together and tough-it-out
approach. In other words, bring in a clerical temp or get the
lending staff together, allocate the customer accounts, and require
everyone to work longer hours. Neither approach was appropriate in this
situation. The commercial lending staff did not have time to supervise
the temporary worker since loan officers were already doing double-duty
in conjunction with daily responsibilities and their new account
activity.
Considerations: Our client required an alternative
that provided additional lender resources without creating a
supervisory burden on the commercial unit staff. The client needed a
very experienced commercial lender who could handle all aspects of
customer contact, loan structure, documentation, and credit
underwriting. Time was of the essence, there was a backlog of loan
requests, and certain bank customers needed immediate attention.
Solution:
The individual assigned to our bank client was a 20-year commercial
lending veteran, with significant experience in the areas of commercial
lending and loan relationship management. This professional was able to
immediately assume lender responsibilities with minimal orientation
time and without the need for manager supervision.
Postscript:
Our interim lender provided that extra set of skilled hands, insuring
that bank customers received quality care and that the portfolio of the
returning lending officers was properly serviced. Our typical
assignment utilizes industry professionals with 20 to 30 years of
experience. We welcome the opportunity to provide client references.
Please contact us at (610) 874-1441, or email:
rick@schillingprostaff.com