The use of part-time tellers appears to be shrinking, and credit unions and other financial institutions lose $2,204 every time one quits, according to a new study by scheduling-software company FMSI.
The study of more than 15 million teller transactions at more than 2,300 financial institution branches in March 2016 found that part-time tellers now work 27% of all total transaction-processing hours. That number was as high as 33% in 2010.
The study also found financial institutions incurred $652 of separation costs for things like time spent on exit interviews, paperwork processing and higher unemployment taxes, as well as $508 on replacement costs such as staff time spent on interviewing replacements, aptitude and drug tests and advertising job openings. Training replacements added another $284, and pay differentials, vacancy lags and time lost to the learning curve added $760.
"One would assume most financial institutions have had great success lowering their branch labor costs with their part-time employee programs. However, many struggle with finding and keeping good part-time employees leading to undesirable results," the study said.
Five credit unions appeared in the study's list of 10 institutions that had the highest percentage of total transaction-processing hours worked by part-time tellers. FMSI did not disclose their names but noted that one credit union ranked first on the list, with 84% of its total transaction-processing hours worked by part-time tellers. Another credit union ranked fourth at 67% and one ranked seventh at 62%. Credit unions also came in ninth and tenth at 58% and 57%, respectively.
Part-time tellers processed transactions 83% of the time they were at work, compared to 72% for full-time tellers. Paying part-time tellers more and/or providing them benefits, it said, would likely improve recruiting and retention efforts and mitigate the cost of underutilized or idle full-time tellers, the study noted.
"Some very qualified full-time tellers currently are only in a full-time role to earn benefits. Instead of having an excess of full-time tellers that drive up operating expenses, consider letting these individuals become part-time tellers and offer to let them keep benefits. This approach will place highly qualified and dedicated part-time tellers on your teller line, while removing excess full-time payroll hours," the study said.
FMSI also recommended ensuring that part-time tellers get the same training as full-time, offering retention incentives to part-timers and including part-time tellers in incentive pay programs to reduce turnover.
Lower branch-transaction volumes and higher salaries and benefits have increased the teller processing labor cost per transaction at credit unions and community banks by 133.3% since 1992, the study noted.
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