With bank lobbies closed to visitors by the coronavirus pandemic, bank staff have had to work hard to keep serving customers in new ways.

Around St. Patrick’s Day, The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod began encouraging customers to transact at drive-up windows, limiting lobby activity to appointments only. 

About a week later, that changed. Not only had Gov. Charlie Baker closed nonessential businesses and issued a stay–at-home advisory as the coronavirus spread, but the bank had its own scare. A business client who had just visited a branch lobby learned the next day that one of his employees had tested positive for COVID-19.  

“We’re trying so hard to continue to help clients, but we need to control the spread of the virus amongst our employees inside the bank,” said Lisa Oliver, The Coop’s president and CEO. “One of the things we’re really trying to manage is staffing and ensuring the bank can stay open, and for that we need healthy people.” 

Massachusetts community banks and credit unions have kept many of their branches open during the coronavirus outbreak. While financial institutions try to encourage customers to use online tools, front-line employees have kept branches operating across the state.  

A Key Role in Communities 

Like The Coop, Holyoke-based PeoplesBank began limiting lobby activity to appointments only on March 17, encouraging customers to use drive-up windows instead. 

Customers were confused when they found the door locked at PeoplesBank’s East Longmeadow branch, said Steven Gardner, assistant vice president and banking center manager there. A staff member then went outside to greet and direct them to the drive-up window.  

Traffic has been busier than usual in the branch’s two drive-up lanes, Gardner said, and the bank has taken precautions to limit risks for both customers and staff. Tellers wear gloves when handling money; microphones are cleaned frequently; and if customers need to sign something, they get to keep the pen that was sent through the tube.  

Employees feel protected and appreciate that the bank has limited their exposure to the public, Gardner said, adding that they’ve kept up their spirits and even changed the lobby music to more upbeat tunes.  

While doctors, nurses and other front-line workers receive deserved accolades for their work, Gardner said, PeoplesBank staff have been doing their part to help Massachusetts through a tough time. 

 “We’re a community bank, and we’re here to support the community in everything that’s going on and everything that takes place,” Gardner said. “I’m happy to come to work every day and make sure somebody is able to cash their check so they can go out there and provide for their family.” 

Customers have told employees at the drive-up window that they miss coming into the bank, Gardner said. And some have even shown their appreciation by having lunch delivered to the branch. 

Staying Compliant, Staying Safe 

After The Coop decided to keep only its drive-up windows open, staff had to figure out how to continue to do business while meeting all regulatory requirements.  

Transactions that took place exclusively in lobbies, like dropping off loan documents or getting a new debit card keyed in, now needed to be done at the drive-up windows. 

“I’m really proud of the team because, from an operational and from a procedural and from a regulatory perspective, they have been able to change many of those [procedures],” Oliver said.  

After The Coop decided to keep only its drive-up windows open, staff had to figure out how to continue to do business while meeting all regulatory requirements

Inside, employees also had to develop new ways to carry out necessary tasks, letting them focus on social distancing and keeping surfaces clean. Even opening a safe – a two-person task – is now done in a way that protects both employees.  

Three employees at each branch staff the drive-up windows, with people rotating shifts so no one has to go in every day. The Coop continues to pay all employees, with 90 percent working at home now, Oliver said. Those going into the branches receive time and a half pay.  

Like other banks, The Coop has been encouraging customers to use its online tools, and an initiative started last fall, the Tech Ambassador Program, put The Coop in position to help more customers bank online. 

After starting with eight employees designated to provide hands-on assistance to customers, largely an older demographic on Cape Cod, learning how to use online tools, The Coop now has 16 tech ambassadors who can still be reached by calling the branches. Call center staff also help customers use online tools. 

“We love to see our clients – our clients are very social, coming to the branch is part of a social activity – but what was great in starting [the Tech Ambassador Program] as early as we did is we have many clients already connected, reconnected, educated about the other channels that are available to them,” Oliver said. “I really think most of the clients want to learn that; they just didn’t have the help or that hands–on assistance to walk them through it.” 

Social Distancing in the Parking Lot 

One of East Cambridge Savings Bank’s busiest banking centers is in Inman Square, but it has no drive-up window.  

To keep branch services available, employees got creative with their limited space.  

Jim Tierney, the Inman Square manager, said employees try to find out ahead of time why customers need to come to the branch and then meet them at the door. Once the transaction is completed inside, a staff member returns to the parking lot, where customers often wait inside their cars.    

The branch has seen a steady stream of customers, including longtime neighbors who still use passbooks instead of debit cards, Tierney said.  

Diane McLauglin

The team, usually about five employees, meets at the end of each day to come up with new ideas for how to service customers, Tierney said. He added that bank leadership keeps in touch daily with other institutions to learn how they’re handling the crisis. 

Employees have seen customers, including restaurant workers, lose jobs in recent weeks, Tierney said, adding that they understand the bank’s responsibility to the community. 

“My main concern here is making sure that [employees] are appreciated and understand that the work they’re doing is valuable,” Tierney said “At the end of the day, we might not be in the ER or at the hospitals on the front lines, but we’re serving a different need, and it’s still important.”