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#205020 - 06/28/04 03:37 PM Sunday Hours
Anonymous
Unregistered

Company is considering Sunday hours & was lax to casually mention this to tellers prematurely. Of course this has caused an uproar. If this happens, tellers are saying that they will all site religious reasons for not being able to work on Sunday's. Many of these people are not religious but will use this as an excuse. Is this viable? I know many banks are open on Sunday's now, did you have any problems staffing? I understand that you cannot go against any religious beliefs. Thank you.

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Human Resources
#205021 - 06/28/04 04:49 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Don_Narup Offline

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Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 3,708
Las Vegas Nevada
IMO they don't have to prove a religious belief. Nor is it right for anyone in the bank to decide who is religious or who is not. Don't be sidetracked by a non issue. The issue is your employees don't want to work on Sunday.

You didn't say if the entire bank will be open or operate with just a few employees.

Management has a leadership task to perform, and as unpopular as the idea is, there are steps to take that can make this happen without total staff trauma.
1. Management has to gain staff acceptance, begrudging as it may be, of the idea. Lay out the plan and a good business reason why this is being done. The reason doesn't have to be entirely understood by the staff, but they need to get an impression that this is not some half baked ill conceived management idea.

2. Show empathy to the staff for not wanting to work 7 days a week. Either present a plan of staggered hours, time off, extra pay for Sunday work ( what ever) and ask the staff what their ideas are in getting this to happen Emphasis that anyone can say why it won't work so please tell what it will take to make it work.

3.Management must participate in the work. Forceing the staff to work on Sunday while management is home with family isn't going to win staff hearts and minds.

4. There is a lot more to motivating staff acceptance than what I have written here, but thats a start.

5. Just my thought but I hope someone in management has done an analysis on the cost vs benefits to do this? I can't imagine it being worth it. An ATM machine is a lot cheaper.
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#205022 - 06/28/04 08:29 PM Re: Sunday Hours
pookiesgirl Offline
Junior Member
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 29
New York State
We just started Sunday hours at selected branches, and have encountered fewer problems then anticipated. First, we ensured that the total number of hours worked by the tellers didn't change. Second, we asked for volunteers. We were surprised by by the response. Many students and parents would rather work weekends and have off during the week.

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#205023 - 06/28/04 09:08 PM Re: Sunday Hours
bam Offline
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 419
Kansas City, Mo
You might consider paying a premium for those willing to work on Sunday. Money does talk.
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#205024 - 06/28/04 09:36 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Anonymous
Unregistered

Isn't it a shame that banks are becoming like the 7/11's of the world. But then it is not just banks but society in general that no longer has the values of our forefathers. All that is now important is the almighty buck and that is not who I want to get down on my knees to.

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#205025 - 06/29/04 01:07 AM Re: Sunday Hours
Andy_Z Offline
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Sunday hours are well received by the customers the bank serves. If it is not and there is no business they will stop.

Enployees working Sunday's, in my experience, are given time to worship. One of my old banks had 7-day banking and one branch was open 7 AM to 11 PM. Yes there is turnover and staffing headaches, but it works with good people at the helm.
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#205026 - 06/29/04 01:01 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Gayla Sherry Offline

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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 114
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
As an organization, you have the right to establish work hours to accommodate the needs of the business and your customers. Your case can be stronger if being flexible to accommodate different hours was discussed in the initial interviews with applicants. Regardless, it's a good lesson going forward to clearly make the point about the need for flexible changing hours during the interview process.

There is clear employment law that prevents discrimination against employees for religion, as well as other issues. However, as long as you require everyone to work Sunday hours, and not just those that claim they attend church on Sunday, you are well within the law, in my opinion.

As a practical matter, most banks that I've worked with have found methods for scheduling that accommodate an employee still being able to attend a church or worship service on Sunday and still be able to work at the bank. Because many employees are accustomed to not working at the bank on weekends, a rotating schedule would be helpful. As an alternative, you could ask for volunteers as well - some employees may be motivated to work Sundays, especially if there is a weekday that is off time, or if they have the opportunity to earn overtime by doing so.
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#205027 - 06/29/04 01:07 PM Re: Sunday Hours
RBanker Offline
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RBanker
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,675
Austin Texas
Several years ago I managed an office that was open 7 am to 10 pm, Mon - Sat and 10 am - 6 pm on Sundays. Sundays were not a problem with staffing, we staffed only with part - time tellers (both Sat & Sun)and I can probably count on one hand the number of non-health related absences I had.
I think one thing that helped is that I usually came by for at least 2 or 3 hours each day, or my asst did. I've always felt if I was willing to be in there alongside my staff that they would give me more, then if I set myself above them - seemed to work.
I congratulate Anon for being able to work for an institution that evidently doesn't have to keep up with competition and its customer's demands - I agree that the hunt for the almight dollar is not a good thing, but if your customers leave you, etc because another bank has better hours - what do you do? Close and lay off your employees - with altruism needs to be some realism.

Cheers y'all!

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#205028 - 06/29/04 04:03 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Anonymous
Unregistered

Quote:

Isn't it a shame that banks are becoming like the 7/11's of the world. But then it is not just banks but society in general that no longer has the values of our forefathers. All that is now important is the almighty buck and that is not who I want to get down on my knees to.



From a customer's standpoint...I believe more banking hours (beyond M-F 8-5) are needed to accomidate those families where both spouses work typical day hours. I purposely selected a bank that has evening hours and is open a few hours on the weekend.

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#205029 - 07/01/04 02:51 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Wore Out Offline
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Wore Out
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 543
Kentucky
I managed a branch for 7 years that had Sunday hours. It proved to be difficult at times. However, we rotated management and paid an extra premium for those that worked on Sunday's. Volunteers were not hard to come by.
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#205030 - 07/14/04 09:42 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Anonymous
Unregistered

Sundays big deal we are going around the clock till 12am and seven days a week huge success lobbys are hustling at 11pm at night , go figure

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#205031 - 07/15/04 05:00 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Anonymous
Unregistered

Personally, in this day and age of internet banking and so forth - why should bank's be asked to open 24-7? There will always be one more customer to whom the hours are not convenient!

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#205032 - 07/15/04 05:05 PM Re: Sunday Hours
1 Peter 5:7 Offline
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1 Peter 5:7
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 1,339
TX
Quote:

huge success lobbys are hustling at 11pm at night




This statement begs for details. Anon . . . ?
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#205033 - 07/15/04 05:49 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Anonymous
Unregistered

come down in miami

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#205034 - 07/15/04 06:00 PM Re: Sunday Hours
1 Peter 5:7 Offline
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1 Peter 5:7
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 1,339
TX
what?
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#205035 - 07/15/04 06:03 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Retired DQ Offline
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Retired DQ
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 40,766
Turnpike Exit 10
Quote:

Personally, in this day and age of internet banking and so forth - why should bank's be asked to open 24-7? There will always be one more customer to whom the hours are not convenient!




That's my feelings exactly, and I am not a branch person. ATMs, debit cards, ACH, internet banking and bill pay... I haven't been to where I bank at since I stopped working there; except for once, on a Saturday, to get my passport out of my SDB.
Now, if somehow there could be an SDB in cyberspace...
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#205036 - 07/15/04 06:18 PM Re: Sunday Hours
Retread Offline
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Retread
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Posts: 2,548
Southeast
A Florida bank recently announced that it had gotten over 300,000 new customers since it started Sunday hours about 2 years ago. Somebody must like it, but I'm with Maria, I rarely see the inside of a bank lobby.
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