ABA Banking Journal
No Result
View All Result
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive
SUBSCRIBE
ABA Banking Journal
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
ADVERTISEMENT
Home Retail and Marketing

Creative Communications to Reach a Diverse Staff

May 22, 2019
Reading Time: 4 mins read
Creative Communications to Reach a Diverse Staff

By Mark Anderson

Today’s workforce is more diverse than perhaps any time in previous history. At many banks, it is now common to have four generations of employees working together, from boomers and Gen Xers to millennials and now, Gen Z. Overall, this diversification has been a boon to American business, as it has been shown to drive innovation and improve the customer experience.

The ongoing challenge for bankers is now to attract and retain the most talented employees. To achieve this, many institutions have made considerable investments in facilities and infrastructure designed to help them stand out as inclusive, accommodating and up-to-date. These days, the industry is seeing some banks beginning to look less like traditional retail branches, and as one banker in Colorado said, more similar to the work environments of modern technology firms. In fact, Goldman Sachs recently announced it was loosening its dress code in an effort to appear more attractive to younger staff.

Employee engagement beyond the mountain of internal email         

Perhaps most importantly, banks are seeing the need to modernize the ways they engage with staff. To ensure that all employees are fully invested in the institution’s corporate culture, the bank must be able to reach everyone, whether they’re onsite or remote workers, flex-timers, technophiles, traditionalists, clock-punchers or “always-on.” And just as bankers think about channel and content type when marketing to a diverse customer base, they must adopt a similar approach when it comes to internal communications.

Like consumers, a diverse staff will have a range of unique preferences for how they want to communicate—and within generations, certain channels are more effective than others. Ultimately, it’s the bank’s job to ensure it is meeting those needs. Otherwise, important updates, news and announcements may get lost in the day-to-day shuffle.

Relying solely on traditional internal communications channels is simply less effective than in years passed. While email may still reign supreme across many organizations, it is no longer the most effective tool for communicating with everyone, particularly millennials and Gen Z. Further, ensuring internal emails are opened, much less read and internalized, on a daily basis is a constant struggle for corporations.

Moving toward new channels

When considering the modern workforce, studies have indicated that baby boomers and Gen Xers tend to prefer print, phone, email and even face-to-face communications. While both groups, Gen X in particular, are technologically savvy, they still place great value in traditional mediums. Millennials and Gen Z, however, tend to prefer graphically-based content—blogs, videos and even podcasts—as their preferred communications mediums. Those emerging content types hold immense potential for engagement. Because they are often created from the perspective of someone at the executive level, they can foster a greater sense of interconnectedness within the bank.

To ensure these materials are front and center for employees however, banks must also centralize internal communications and collaboration. A well-designed intranet, for example, can host all of the above media forms and ensure they are the first thing an employee sees when starting his or her day. This puts the institution’s goals front and center in the employee’s mind and engages them with the bank’s efforts as a whole.

Managing the security issues

Of course, security is also an imperative when it comes to internal marketing and communications materials. Such information can serve as fodder for the competition, as well as a great tool for potential hackers or bad actors to gain insight into individual bank process. Once materials are developed, they should be protected by a document management system that segments who has access to what and restricts what can be done with them, such as saving, printing or editing.

Making it fun

A benefit of employing newer technology to support internal communications is that it frees up bankers to be more creative in communicating with staff. Washington-based Kitsap Bank, for example, has implemented a gamification strategy featuring a recurring scavenger hunt. At the beginning of each month, specific images or icons are hidden within pages of its intranet—pages that the bank wanted employees to visit more regularly. Now, employees are engaging with the content. And at the end of each month, the bank conducts a random drawing among all those who found the image, with a grand prize going to the winner.

Front line staff serve as the voice of the bank

Just as enhancing internal communications can significantly improve an institution’s ability to attract and retain talented employees, it can also serve as a way to support marketing and sales initiatives. According to Aon Hewitt’s annual Trends in Global Employee Engagement, a one percent increase in a company’s employee engagement translates to a one percent increase in overall sales. This supports the idea that centralizing and maximizing internal communications across all channels has a direct, positive impact on a bank’s growth over time.

The practical application of this is among front-line staff, who tend to serve as the voice of a financial institution. They are the ones interacting with customers day-in and day-out. By leveraging different channels and formats to distribute marketing materials and sales policies, banks can maximize their reach and create more effective campaigns to drive revenue and customer engagement.

Banks have made great strides in producing more creative content that supports the customer experience by better engaging consumers across a variety of channels. It’s time for that same approach to be taken internally with staff. By leveraging multiple forms of communications, bankers can ensure greater consistency of brand among staff. And they can do so in a way that helps retain their most valuable resource—bank employees.

Mark Anderson is CEO of Johnson City, Tenn.-based Banc Intranets, a leading provider of secure, web-based intranets and directors’ portals for financial institutions that centralize employee onboarding and training, streamlining day-to-day operations.

ADVERTISEMENT
Tags: Communications skillsEmployee communicationsEmployee engagementEmployee retentionGamificationRecruitmentWorkforce excellence
ShareTweetPin

Related Posts

Is deepfake technology shifting the gold standard of authentication?

Will fraud prevention ever be autonomous?

Technology
June 17, 2025

Anti-fraud systems are learning to anticipate fraud rather than merely react to it. Better anticipatory abilities inch systems closer to full automation.

Podcast: Old National’s Jim Ryan on the things that really matter

Podcast: Old National’s Jim Ryan on the things that really matter

ABA Banking Journal Podcast
June 12, 2025

Jim Ryan has led Old National Bank to 250% asset growth. On the podcast, the ABA American Bankers Council chair discusses the bank's growing profile and footprint, his views on deposit insurance reform and the experience of leading...

Bank community engagement: Yes, you can help bank veterans

Bank community engagement: Yes, you can help bank veterans

Retail and Marketing
June 9, 2025

AMBA partners with the ABA Foundation to recruit banks to provide our nation’s veterans access to safe, reliable and flexible financial products and services.

FHFA finalizes strategic plan for 2022-2026

Marketing Money Podcast: Why leadership matters more than likes

Retail and Marketing
June 6, 2025

For bank marketers, the value of being strategic is great.

Looking for trouble?

Podcast: What bankers need to know about ‘First Amendment audits’

ABA Banking Journal Podcast
June 5, 2025

"First Amendment auditors" have long tried to provoke public officials into stopping them from recording in public settings. Now, some auditors are targeting banks.

ABA: Proposed quality control rule for AVMs would overburden banks

Bank survey: Uncertainty weighing on prospective homebuyers

Community Banking
June 4, 2025

Roughly 60% of current homeowners and prospective homebuyers are uncertain whether now is a good time to buy a home, up from 48% two years ago, according to a recent survey by Bank of America.

NEWSBYTES

Treasury official outlines principles for Bank Secrecy Act modernization

June 18, 2025

Report: Bank merger activity continues at steady pace

June 18, 2025

CFPB proposes ending using civil penalty funds for consumer education, financial literacy

June 18, 2025

SPONSORED CONTENT

AI Compliance and Regulation: What Financial Institutions Need to Know

Unlocking Deposit Growth: How Financial Institutions Can Activate Data for Precision Cross-Sell

June 1, 2025
Choosing the Right Account Opening Platform: 10 Key Considerations for Long-Term Success

Choosing the Right Account Opening Platform: 10 Key Considerations for Long-Term Success

April 25, 2025
Outsourcing: Getting to Go/No-Go

Outsourcing: Getting to Go/No-Go

April 5, 2025
Six Payments Trends Driving the Future of Transactions

Six Payments Trends Driving the Future of Transactions

March 15, 2025

PODCASTS

Podcast: Staying close to clients amid tariff-driven volatility

June 18, 2025

Podcast: Old National’s Jim Ryan on the things that really matter

June 12, 2025

Podcast: What bankers need to know about ‘First Amendment audits’

June 5, 2025
ADVERTISEMENT

American Bankers Association
1333 New Hampshire Ave NW
Washington, DC 20036
1-800-BANKERS (800-226-5377)
www.aba.com
About ABA
Privacy Policy
Contact ABA

ABA Banking Journal
About ABA Banking Journal
Media Kit
Advertising
Subscribe

© 2025 American Bankers Association. All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Topics
    • Ag Banking
    • Commercial Lending
    • Community Banking
    • Compliance and Risk
    • Cybersecurity
    • Economy
    • Human Resources
    • Insurance
    • Legal
    • Mortgage
    • Mutual Funds
    • Payments
    • Policy
    • Retail and Marketing
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Technology
    • Wealth Management
  • Newsbytes
  • Podcasts
  • Magazine
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Magazine Archive
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Podcast Archive
    • Sponsored Content Archive

© 2025 American Bankers Association. All rights reserved.