“When you join as a teller, all you think is that you have to balance your books and do your correct transactions,” she said.

But there's more to it these days, she explained, especially when it comes to referrals. She said CDC FCU strikes the right balance in terms of empowering tellers and believes some other credit unions push tellers too hard to sell, which makes everyone uncomfortable.

“Trying to force people to open accounts or invest their money — that doesn't really work,” she cautioned.

2. Be fiercely competitive on pay and reward productivity.

The median annual salary for credit union tellers is $25,110, according to CUNA's 2016-2017 Staff Salary Report. That's well below the $36,200 average wage for all occupations in the United States, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics — even the highest-paid 10% of credit union tellers earn about $30,451 a year, according to CUNA.

Deen recommended frequently surveying teller compensation packages at local competitors' branches. That advice recently helped one FMSI customer uncover the source of its high turnover problem on the teller line, she said.

“They were able to see that was because they had the lowest pay rate in the kind of the area that they are in. They were frustrated because they were like, 'We're training all these tellers, and then they leave to go to other organizations!'”

Deen said another way credit unions can put the brakes on pay-based front-line turnover is to pay for productivity. Deen said she's seen several credit unions implement incentive pay programs that are based on transaction throughput rather than referrals. Credit unions get more efficiency, and proficient tellers get more money.

“We've had customers tell us that that makes the difference between [tellers] going to the credit union or bank across the street — because they have this opportunity to earn more,” she said.

3. Don't limit the hiring pool to young workers.

Older tellers may be more inclined to stick around longer, according to Angie Reed, who has been a teller for 19 years with the Ridgeland, Miss.-based Members Exchange Credit Union, which has $103 million in assets and about 17,000 members. Reed said a significant amount of turnover occurs because credit unions frequently hire lots of young tellers who often want to go back to school or are still unsure about career choices.

However, people age 55 and older comprise the fastest-growing segment of the workforce, according to a 2013 study by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago. It found that a full 82% of Americans 50 and older who work but aren't retired said they'll probably do some work for pay during their retirements. Or as Reed, who's now of a certain age, put it: “I don't want to go home and just sit.”

For Vaz, working as a teller is a way to maintain her financial freedom.

“My kids have been good, and they help out all the time,” she said. “But I don't want to be dependent on anyone. I just want to be independent.”

4. Hype benefits packages.

About a third of private industry workers did not have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans or medical care as of March 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Reed and Vaz, both said they have those benefits, as well as paid vacation time — perks they said they've valued over the years.

Reed and Vaz are both full-time employees. But offering benefits to part-time tellers (about a fourth of the country's teller population) can boost loyalty even more, Deen added, and cafeteria plans can help them pick and choose the benefits they feel are most important. “It just tends to be that that's the kind of thing that they're seeking,” she said.

Intangible perks can be extremely powerful, too, she said. Credit unions that offer flexible scheduling can keep tellers happier — and more loyal — by giving them schedules that suit their needs.

“The teller job is obviously not the highest-paid job out there, so making decisions about life and work balance is definitely something that comes into play,” Deen said.

5. Recognize that not all turnover is bad turnover.

Turnover isn't the only thing causing tellers to walk. Technology and branch consolidation are also shrinking the teller field. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the country to shed 40,000 of its 520,500 teller jobs between 2014 and 2024 — that's about an 8% decline.

But it's not all doom and gloom, Deen warned.

“Some of the turnover has not been leaving — it's been moving. Especially with the more universal model nowadays, a lot of times [tellers are] getting cross-trained and they're going more into the sales side. They even might move to other areas within the bank or move up into branch management,” she explained. “It's actually very common.”

But ultimately, it's a matter of supply and demand.

“If you make it attractive enough, people will stay,” Vaz said. “If they really want to go, you can't keep them.”