Chairs for Tellers

Posted By: The Banker

Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 02:34 PM

Our bank is located inside of a grocery store. I see cashiers standing all day long. I have a couple of tellers who love to sit and I felt it was making the cashiers look more professional than our tellers. Several months ago I removed all chairs from the teller line. However now I have an employee who is pregnant and she want a chair to sit on behind the teller line. I would like to accomodate her however I feel other tellers are going to be using the chair or will complain because she has a chair and they do not. Does anyone have any suggestions.
Posted By: Beagles22

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 02:47 PM

I would imply that concessions are made for many medical reasons and if the mommy to be can be kept on the teller line doing her job longer by allowing that concession, the other tellers will have to realize that it is a medical reason and not playing favorites. Professional would not be sitting at a teller line for the average teller, maybe point out that if one of them had another medical reason to make it reasonable (a broken leg/foot, a pinched nerve, ect) that the same courtesy would be extended to them to make them more comfortable.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 03:21 PM

You took their chairs away? Why? That is the shotgun approach, don't you think?

Yes, cashiers stand all day, but they are allowed breaks, often have a padded floor, and probably wear very comfortable shoes. A teller typically doesn't have a floor pad and may be wearing high heels.

We have several offices similar to yours and we established a policy that we will ALWAYS stand when helping a customer. A chair is provided for each teller, but when a customer approaches, we are to get off the chair and stand to help.

Give them back their chairs and you may not have any problems with the pregnant teller. Once you've done that, set some customer service and professional behavior standards. If you're worried that they look less professional than the checkers, it is time to review your dress code.

As for the pregnant teller, please make sure you meet her needs. If her doctor wants her to sit all day, then by all means, allow it.
Posted By: MackenzieS

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 04:01 PM

Quote:

You took their chairs away? Why? That is the shotgun approach, don't you think?

Yes, cashiers stand all day, but they are allowed breaks, often have a padded floor, and probably wear very comfortable shoes. A teller typically doesn't have a floor pad and may be wearing high heels.

We have several offices similar to yours and we established a policy that we will ALWAYS stand when helping a customer. A chair is provided for each teller, but when a customer approaches, we are to get off the chair and stand to help.

Give them back their chairs and you may not have any problems with the pregnant teller. Once you've done that, set some customer service and professional behavior standards. If you're worried that they look less professional than the checkers, it is time to review your dress code.

As for the pregnant teller, please make sure you meet her needs. If her doctor wants her to sit all day, then by all means, allow it.




I completely agree with Anonymous. We provide tellers with chairs too. I couldn't imagine making them stand all day. I wouldn't want to stand all day.

Your tellers only look unprofessional if they are dressed unprofessional, they are reading novels, eating at the teller station, etc...If you are having seperate issues with professionalism, deal with them, but I think you should give the chairs back.
Posted By: Pup

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 04:26 PM

I'm with Anon and Mack on this. We have very nice chairs for all our tellers. Personally, if you make me stand all day, my back is going to be in knots. It's a stressful job already, don't add to it.
Posted By: okstgrad

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 04:36 PM

As a teller, if I were told I had to stand all day I think I would quit. At my last bank our boss told us to sit more. He said there was no reason to stand all of the time. I agree with the above posters. If they don't look professional it could be because of the dress. Make a more professional dress code and enforce it.
Posted By: Pup

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 04:39 PM

Oh, and for the record, all of our branches outside the main bank and one drive thru location are also either in WalMarts or grocery stores as well.

Standing for hours, IMO, doesn't make one look more professional.
Posted By: Jasmine

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 04:40 PM

I am wondering if the original poster has ever been a teller and how the original poster would feel if they were suddenly required to stand all day!
I agree with the other posts that there are multiple ways a teller can appear unprofessional, and those are the issues that should be addressed.
Posted By: Retired DQ

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 04:43 PM

My guess is that the original poster did not expect to get so much heat from this topic.
But, The Banker, I would also give back the chairs, not only to the pregnant woman, but to all.
Posted By: Beagles22

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 04:50 PM

Our tellers don't sit at their windows. They have work space just behind the windows at a counter. They sit there facing the windows and work on whatever. We also have branches at the Wal Mart stores and there they sit at a back counter or in the offices, always facing the windows but never sit at the windows. Does she feel she needs to sit all the time? That was my assumption. If they are truly standing up all day, I agree that is unreasonable. Do your officers have to stand up all day? Give the president a higher desk and tell him he has to stand at it all day for 1 week and see how it goes That should get them chairs somewhere in the vacinity of their teller windows.
Posted By: sof'touch

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 06:46 PM

I have never understood why tellers appear less professional sitting down than personal bankers. Having been a teller, I had one position where I was allowed to sit all day (the chairs were raised to the level of the counter, so we were at eye level with the customer) and another where there were absolutely no chairs available, but we had mats. No human being should have to stand in one place for 8 hours a day. Allowances were made for one pregnant teller, and another with a medical condition, thank goodness. The practice of not allowing chairs leads to fatigue in the people who are the first line of security awareness in the branch, and the face that customers will associate with your bank's name. Please give them back their chairs ya big meanie!!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 07:28 PM

I think tellers should stand all day. We should keep our banks open 7-days a week. And if we really want to be like the Wal-Marts and grocery stores then we should keep our banks open 24 hours a day. We really should eliminate some of the holidays that we get. Most don't celebrate what they stand for anyway. After all for as much as we pay our tellers we should really get a lot more out of them. By the way...I am not a teller.
Posted By: Brandy Osborne

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 07:30 PM

and i really hope you were be sarcastic!
Posted By: CRAatBOK

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 07:30 PM

Quote:

I think tellers should stand all day. We should keep our banks open 7-days a week. And if we really want to be like the Wal-Marts and grocery stores then we should keep our banks open 24 hours a day. We really should eliminate some of the holidays that we get. Most don't celebrate what they stand for anyway. After all for as much as we pay our tellers we should really get a lot more out of them. By the way...I am not a teller.




I hope you are also not serious.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 07:41 PM

Of course I am serious...But then I am a union organizer and these type of changes in banks would make my job a lot easier.
Posted By: thomasj

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 08:36 PM

As a former teller who stood from 8 to 12 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week for over 10 years I feel bad for your tellers. At a branch where I worked, we had stools to sit on when we were not waiting on customers but they were taken away, because customers were complaining that some of the tellers looked "put out" to have to get off the stool to wait on them. A few years ago, we aquired several branches that had teller stools that the tellers sat on while waiting on customers, but they were ordered removed shortly after we took over. This caused a great deal of hard feelings during a very delicate time.

The Branch Administrator who ordered all of the stools removed has since retired and moved away. She talked with one of the tellers recently and told them she had taken a part time job where she was required to stand but had to quit after a short time because she could not stay on her feet that long. She said that if she ever hit the lottery she was going to buy teller stools for every window of every branch we had!
Posted By: zaibatsu

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 10:05 PM

I think I will file this one along with the president who wants to prohibit lotteries. Nothing like taking something menial away from employees to cause discord and discontentment. I'd give the pregnant woman a chair and put out a stack of employment applications because you are going to need them.
Posted By: Elwood P. Dowd

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/05/04 10:21 PM

I am going to treat this like a spoof because I don't want to think about the possibility that it isn't...
Posted By: sof'touch

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 12:20 AM

Ken, believe it. I still work for the bank that made me stand, and that is their policy to this day.
Posted By: zaibatsu

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 01:52 AM

Quote:

Ken, believe it. I still work for the bank that made me stand, and that is their policy to this day.




I think Ken may have been more skeptical that a bank would even think about making a pregnant woman stand than by having a policy that tellers must stand.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 09:10 AM

I am a Branch Manager for a small bank (4 branches). When we opened up our branch, there were chairs and mats ordered for each teller station. Because we are a small branch, foot traffic in the bank is slow right now and I would rather have my tellers sitting than leaning on the counters at their stations. Also there are many times that I have to work a station with a teller being out sick or family situation. I take some of my other work to the station with me and work on it during slow periods, I know that I enjoy sitting and working vice having to stand up and trying to get it done.

Before going and making knee jerk reactions, stand in the teller's shoes for eight hours (the pun was intended) .

Seadevil
Posted By: DawgFan

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 01:53 PM

I have to say that I agree, put the chairs back. The increased "professional image" you will get from having tellers stand all day does not outweigh the cost of the morale you will lose. Besides, I doubt if a customer cares whether the teller sits or stands, as long as they provide prompt service with a smile.
Posted By: Elwood P. Dowd

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 02:07 PM

*RANT, if you are going to be offended, skip it.

I've been a teller. If 30 years ago my boss had thought it was very important that I stood when I was waiting on someone, I would have thought I was working for a fool. The only difference is that today I would know I was working for a fool. If my co-worker was a pregnant woman who could not get some slack on the issue, I would downgrade my assessment of my boss two notches.

Today, I am just another customer when I walk into the bank, but I still notice things many customers would never notice. Nevertheless, I could not tell you whether the tellers were seated or stood at any bank where I have banked in the last ten years. A customer who has a life cares about whether the person across the counter is alert, attentive, and well trained, not whether he or she is standing or seated.
Posted By: Banknote

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 03:21 PM

I can't believe you took away their chairs!! That is really bad. We have chairs for our tellers and they look professional. I agree that chairs have nothing to do with looking "more professional". That's awful!
Posted By: EllenA

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 07:54 PM

When I was a teller, we were not allowed to sit but my branch had slow floor traffic and they allowed us to have stools so that we could sit at eye level to the customer but we were supposed to stand while waiting on them. If I am acting as a teller, even today, I stand while waiting on the customer. Just habit I guess. Oh, by the way, to tell you how old I am, if you were pregnant, you were not allowed to work on the banking floor. If there were no "back office jobs" -- bye-bye. If you were pregnant, and sick, no pay (even if you still had sick-time left). Thank God things have changed. Please, give them back the chairs.
Posted By: MackenzieS

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 08:34 PM

For the Original poster:

Did you give them their chairs back?
Posted By: carrieb

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 09:13 PM

As a former teller and a former cashier, I have to agree that the chairs should stay, although it is more justifiable to make a cashier stand because most of the time, cashiers are part-time and work shorter shifts. As far as the image goes, when a teller is exhausted from standing all day, they will not likely feel like dealing with customers, and the customers will notice. The morale issue should be addressed here. It is hard enough to stay positive for every transaction behind the teller line but when a teller is told that it looks unprofessional, it sounds like baloney. What other position in the bank requires standing all day? It's pretty common for tellers to not feel valued, don't add to the frustration when it is completely avoidable.
Posted By: Don_Narup

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/06/04 09:47 PM

If its professional to stand, then all bank officers should have their chairs removed. IMO its the level of service standing or sitting thats important. If the service is good or bad I don't remember, or care, if the teller was standing or sitting. I do remember if the service was good or bad.

As a customer I would not think to highly of an employer who makes employees stand all day for no practicle reason other than a supervisor thinks it should be so. If I were in charge then I would insist that the supervisor also stand along with the people that person supervises. A true leader does not insist others do what they are not willing to do.
Posted By: Princess Romeo

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 03:43 AM

WOW - I'm just thinking about all the varicose veins that are developing on the legs of your tellers.

Grounds for a class action lawsuit? I wouldn't be surprised.

http://veins.com/before_after/ba-vv-01.jpg

http://www.4woman.gov/faq/varicose.htm
What causes varicose and spider veins?
No one knows the exact cause of spider and varicose veins, but there are several factors that cause a person to be more likely to develop them. Heredity, or being born with weak vein valves, is the greatest factor. Hormones also play a role. The hormonal changes that occur during puberty, pregnancy, and menopause, as well as taking estrogen, progesterone, and birth control pills can cause a woman to develop varicose veins or spider veins. During pregnancy, besides the increases in hormone levels, there also is a great increase in the volume of blood in the body that can cause veins to enlarge. The enlarged uterus also puts more pressure on the veins. (Within 3 months after delivery, varicose veins usually improve. However, more abnormal veins are likely to develop and remain after additional pregnancies.)

Other factors that weaken vein valves and that may cause varicose or spider veins include aging, obesity, leg injury, and prolonged standing, such as for long hours on the job. Spider veins on the cheeks or nose of a fair-skinned person may occur from sun exposure.
Posted By: zaibatsu

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 01:54 PM

Maybe this can settle it once and for all. I assume that before you started debating whether to disallow a pregnant woman a chair, you did some medical research on the effects of prolonged standing on pregnancies. Here is one page of many that came up on a Google search of the phrase "prolonged standing pregnancy". I am sure that your bank already has this or some other similar research because no caring workplace would think about doing this to a pregnant woman without first doing their home work:

Pregnancy
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 05:14 PM

While in Europe last year, I noticed ALL cashiers were seated. The check out counters, teller windows, etc. were lowered to accommodate the personnel. I think this is a great way to treat your employees. It keeps them healthier and happier. I see no reason why tellers cannot be seated to do their jobs.
Posted By: RBanker

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 05:22 PM

Sorry that I'm jumping in late to this converstaion, but I have always had a stong feeling about this. To me it seems only a common courtesy that if your customer is standing than you should be standing, if your customer is seated than your may be seated.
I always allowed my drive tellers the use of stools as all of their customers were seated (in their cars).
I also allowed my lobby tellers to have stools, but I did ask them that they stand while they waited on their customers - maybe I'm just old-fashioned (late 30's is my old age, here) but again, I was always told that was a common courtesy.
In the instance of tellers that had medical conditions we NEVER forced them to stand while waiting on customers.
Posted By: Suzie

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 05:41 PM

Quote:

if your customer is standing than you should be standing, if your customer is seated than your may be seated.




I think you have hit the nail on the head. How about chairs for the customers! I bet they will love the improved teller line and I want the teller to be able to sit down!!!
Posted By: BBoyd

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 05:42 PM

As one who started as a teller 32 years ago, we stood when waiting on our customers, but had stools set back away from the window if we needed to sit or relax. My manager at the time threatened to pull them out from under us if she ever saw us waiting on customers while seated (she never did, nor do I expect she ever would have - the threat was enough). I really dislike seeing tellers slouching over a counter while waiting on customers. SIT UP STRAIGHT!!! I'm old fashioned, and also feel that if the customer is standing, I should stand. (And I agree that the pregnant employee deserves to be able to sit.)

Where I work now, most of our tellers (CSRs) sit behind desks. The customer comes up to their desk and may either stand or sit - but I still feel it's respectful for the CSR to stand and shake the customer's hand in greeting. Politeness has gone the way of so many other things - in a business office we should be business-like.

However - if you were to ask about whether or not everyone in the office should wear t-shirts on "business casual Friday" -- that's another topic!!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 06:02 PM

Put the chairs back ! CUT YOUR COST SOMEWERE ELSE LIKE IN THE FRONT OFFICE . CHEEP BASTARDS
Posted By: Retired DQ

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 06:14 PM

Anon, I am just curious, what's the front office?
Posted By: RBanker

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 06:32 PM

I would also like to know why the lovely person who HIDES behind Anonymous and likes to throw out some very nasty name calling thinks this is a cost cutting issue???? - I guess I didn't see that as the issue - Must be terrible to start off your weekend in such a foul mood - hope it gets better!

PS - as a manager, if I had a customer talk to my employee like that, I would sit them down and find out what the problem was - if they were just generally a foul person who liked to curse my employees out, I would probably close your account and ask you to verbally abuse someone else's staff. Clean up your language, please! And I'm reasonably confident a shot will come my way now - so go ahead!!!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 06:38 PM

I have been in banking for 24 years. I am the manager of a division for a $3 billion dollar bank, but I always proudly say that I began as a teller during college, progressing eventually to a branch administrator. Those were the days when the dress code mandated skirts for women along with hose and high heels. Those were also the days when no one could leave before the bank was balanced, which meant very very long days. There were 2 stools per every 8 tellers on the teller line, mainly provided for performing "back counter" responsibilities. I spent nearly 10 yrs in some sort of teller position. Zap ahead to the present day. From my days standing on the teller line in high heels, I have a permanent callous on the ball of each foot...so severe that you can drive a needle through and I won't feel it. Not the most glamourous post, but a real-life attestation that those tellers deserve - and need - chairs (and one per working teller). Forget ROA, loan loss reserve, etc....tellers have the hardest and least appreciated job in the bank. At least let them sit down.
Posted By: Topspin Chick

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 07:02 PM

This is one of the most bizarre things I have heard of in my 25+ banking years....taking teller stools away? I was a teller the first 8 years of my banking career and did indeed "sit"! To say that being seated somehow made me less "professional" dumbfounds me. I train tellers from time to time on "professionalism" and the issue of "to sit" or "not to sit" has not and shall not be on the agenda. Incidentally, I worked as a grocery store cashier during my college years and did not "sit". It is virtually impossible to do that job seated. But back on the issue of your tellers...I think you should be a little more concerned with things like their professional dress...calling of customers by name, smiling, making eye contact and thanking for the business...which all can be accomplished seated or standing!
Posted By: RBanker

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 07:07 PM

I love these types of discussions - Abner, I would take issue that Professional Customer Service can be accomplished seated or standing - I once caught a lobby teller slumped over the counter sleeping - if she didn't have a stool that could not have happened!!!
I always found myself to be more alert standing than sitting - even when I was in the drives and when we got swamped, on those loverly Fridays and 3rd's of the month - I had to stand - otherwise I couldn't keep up with all the customers. I think the other problem we faced was the stools and the counter heights never really seemed to match up, and for me (20 yrs ago) it wasn't the easiest way to work - just as well stand up and go at it!!!
And for those who think management thinks tellers are un/under appreciated - you have worked, like me, for the wrong banks - currently I work somewhere where we highly value what our tellers do - and we show it - we have staff apprecation days, we buy lunches, we take them out to the ball game, etc - Don't ever tell me I don't appreicate my teller staff - they are my front line - they keep my customers happy and they prevent fraud - AMEN
Posted By: Elwood P. Dowd

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 07:37 PM

Quote:

I once caught a lobby teller slumped over the counter sleeping




LOL. This person would definitely fail my "alert" test.
Posted By: RBanker

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 07:40 PM

And you know me - I couldn't just be nice about it, and tap her on the shoulder and say - Thank you for sleeping at Bank XXX, this is your wake-up call' - No, I had to pick up the text book she had been studying (which was another no-no) and slam it down on her counter - boy did she ever jump - I probably wouldn't do that again - she could have hurt me or herself - but at the time, as a young manager I thought it was funny.
Posted By: zaibatsu

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 07:51 PM

Quote:

Quote:

I once caught a lobby teller slumped over the counter sleeping




LOL. This person would definitely fail my "alert" test.




If you want to allow sitting but are concerned that the teller will not remain alert, use one- or two-legged stools I heard about a plant where the employees were dealing with Ether or something like that and it was very dangerous if they were over-exposed. They solved this problem with the stools. (I can't remember if the stools they used had one or two legs.) If an employee succumbed to the Ether, they would fall out of their chair. They might have a bump on the head, but they did not incur any long-lasting effects from an overexposure to whatever it was they were working with.
Posted By: Retired DQ

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 07:54 PM

Z, are you kidding us or what? That's sounds pretty dangerous in a teller environment.
Posted By: zaibatsu

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 08:25 PM

I really did see this on a television show, but I can't remember what the industry was. It was likely before the days of OSHA.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 08:41 PM

I have been on both sides of the aisle on this. At non busy times I have said sitting is fine as long as work can continue to be completed (side jobs). I have also had tellers abuse the situation which affected everyone. My advice is discuss with the staff and outline your concerns and see how it goes. Morral can be so important!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 09:05 PM

At my bank, the tellers and the customers sit. They always comment about how nice and friendly it is to come into a place where they can sit and relax for a second, as opposed to everyone being tense from standing all day.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/07/04 09:22 PM

Having chairs at the teller stations would give them a reason to STAY at their station and therefore facilitate prompt customer service. There is nothing worse than to go to the bank and having to WAIT for a teller to come to the teller line. Which can be a while if they are sitting somewhere ELSE working on something besides their PRIMARY reponsibility of waiting on customers (even if they CAN see the teller line). Many people are in a hurry when they are running their errands, and we should never make them wait, even for what might seem to us a short time. When you're uncomfortable or stressed out because of a sore back, legs or feet, then it will naturally show in your demeanor and your customer will pick up on it. If you want good customer service, make sure your front line people are given the tools necessary to give it.....give them the chairs while reiterating your expectations about how they service the banks customers. It's all in your "delivery"!

And without a doubt, you MUST give the pregnant woman a chair if she asks. You must make fair and reasonable accommodations or your setting yourselves up for a discrimination lawsuit - or worse if she has a miscarriage because you've basically asked her to choose between her health (and that of the baby) and earning money to pay the rent, health ins. etc.

Don't be foolish and unreasonable - - - it will come back to haunt you one way or another!!!! No, I am not a teller - - I am in a position of senior management at a bank where the tellers currently don't have chairs. I don't agree with the tradition of no chairs here, either!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/08/04 12:08 AM

I'm the Branch Administrator for a small community bank (4 branches)and our tellers had stools that they are allowed to sit on. I agree that the customers dont care if you are standing or sitting as long as they are waited on in a timely and friendly manner
Posted By: Hussam Al-Abed

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/08/04 12:12 AM

I remember at my bank (where I used to work….Not Own!) all Tellers had chairs , Kind of a “ Bar “ chair that levels up to the customer service counter and it gave tellers The bless of being able to reach their drawers , Phone , and facing the Customers at the same time .
Customers were always and still a priority, so no matter what the teller was Busy with, he is ready to serve the customer the minute he approaches his teller station. And those tellers were able to serve between 100 – 150 Customers per day (on average) for each teller.
Posted By: Gayla Sherry

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/14/04 08:14 PM

Hi,
I agree with others that encourage you to provide chairs for all tellers, require they stand when a customer approaches, and monitor for dress code and other professional issues.
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 05/14/04 09:03 PM

Z, I am the SVP that agreed with not allowing the lottery, but I am definately with you on the chair issue for tellers. Stand to wait on standing customers, but rest when not. At my last bank they had a sofa at every office for pregnant moms to relax on as they needed to.

No, I am not a woman, never been pregnant, but I definately have a soft spot for someone carrying an unborn child.

Give the chairs back!
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 06/03/04 09:06 PM

Look inside the President's Office - He has a great big gigantic chair.
Is he the most unprofessional employee in the institution?
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Chairs for Tellers - 06/08/04 02:11 PM

I agree with taking the chairs away, only if there has been a problem.

I was a teller before I became management and some branches had chairs and others did not. It seemed that the branches that were not so busy had chairs and the busy branches did not. The tellers at the slower branches got very lazy and would not get off their butts when helping customers.

As a manager I have instructed my employees that they need to always stand up when greeting a customers at the teller line and if they need a break, go to the back room and take ten minutes as long as someone knows were they are at.

I have just opened a new branch and we do not have any teller chairs. The tellers are all part time and do not have to stand all day. The longest shift is three hours. I do hear some complaints, however this branch is very busy and they do not have time to sit in chairs.

There is always something to do.