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
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