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Teller Issues -- A Q&A

by Honey Shelton

In this article, we've put together answers to some of the questions submitted by tellers -- and teller supervisors.

Question: What do you do or say when you request ID from a customer and he/she becomes very offended?

Answer: First, acknowledge they are offended. ?I can see you?re upset or annoyed by my request.? Then, simply explain and offer appreciation. You don?t have to apologize for doing your job. If it is an inconvenience to the customer, apologize for that. ?In order to do my job I need to validate your signature and that is what I do with your ID. Thank you for your cooperation.?


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Question: How do you handle it when an officer of the bank overrules your decision?

Answer: It is best when an officer overrules a teller that they walk the customer back to the window and say, ?Mr. Jones, I am glad I was able to approve your transaction and I am glad our tellers are well-trained and stay within the confines of our guidelines. Good job, Mary, and thanks for your business, Mr. Jones.? If your officers don?t know to do this then I suggest you share this Q & A with them!

Question: Most of the tellers I work with feel as though they are "just a teller." Any suggestions on how to improve their attitude about their job?

Answer: Encourage them to consider that they will never have a job when they are any more responsible for affecting the impression people have of a business. They are way more than a teller -- they are impression managers!

Question: What advice would you offer to raise the status of the teller in a bank to help reduce employee turnover?

Answer: I would recommend goal performance pay that is tied to training, attendance, customer opinion/perception, ability, accuracy, balancing, referrals and cross-selling. Spell out expectations, install tracking systems and reward people who excel at being a teller.

Question: I am a branch administrator/compliance manager. Tellers that start with my current bank usually start at about $2 more an hour than I did 18 years ago, but their responsibility is so much greater today than it was for me back then. I hate their pay, but it is standard with the industry. What do we do to help change it?

Answer: It is very contradictory what we pay tellers and what responsibilities we give them. The answer above regarding goal performance is the key to improving and elevating teller salaries. You can show upper management the contribution of exceptional tellers and justify exceptional teller bonus pay.

Question: I started a "formal" teller training program for us about 2 years ago. I have a "lead" teller trainer but also utilize other employees to train. They use a checklist for training a person. How do I evaluate my training program to see if I am covering all the bases and whether it is effective?

Answer: Utilize follow-up testing and feedback on your trainers and from your trainers. What are trainees and supervisors saying about their performance, training that was helpful, training that was missing? Track this data for a year.

Question: How many days of formal training per year should a teller receive?

Answer: I don't think days would be the way I would calculate it. I would have a topics list, testing opportunities (the teller could test out of the topic or the teller could perform certain tasks, skill sets) and a checklist that would be my indicators of how much training a teller should receive.

Question: Should tellers wear name tags or have name plates?

Answer: I do think they should use one or the other.

Question: Do we have to cash or sell savings bonds to noncustomers because we are an agent of the Fed, or can we set a dollar limit on the transaction to noncustomers?

Answer: You are not required by the Federal Reserve to sell or cash savings bonds for noncustomers. If you elect to cash savings bonds for noncustomers the Fed has a limit of $1,000. Noncustomers can send their bonds to the Fed to be cashed. If they elect to do that the signature/endorsement must be guaranteed or notarized.

First published on BankersOnline.com 5/30/05

First published on 05/30/2005

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