By Laura Alix, Kate Fitzgerald, Joel Berg
November 9, 2021 12:01 AM
The Best Banks to Work For with under $3 billion of assets often have to do more with less, compared with their larger competitors. That can put a lot of extra stress and pressure on employees, especially amid all the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The banks in this size category highlighted efforts to maintain personal connections and workplace culture during a time when a return to normalcy was seemingly being pushed off into perpetuity.
Overall 90 banks earned a spot on the 2021 Best Banks to Work For ranking, with 57 of them being under $3 billion of assets.
Vista Bank
Dallas
Assets: $1.3 billion
Employees: 158
President and CEO: John Steinmetz
Tech-forward: Most Fridays at Vista Bank begin with a breakfast party, and group-bonding events include paintball wars and dance contests. In 2020, the bank hired a chaplain to help employees cope with the anxiety of the pandemic and brought in an 85-pound “Sheepadoodle” dog named Yogi to spread goodwill at the headquarters and operations center.
Liberal use of new technology, including artificial intelligence and robotics to process loans, has also made employees’ lives easier, according to president and CEO John Steinmetz.
“Post-COVID, there’s no going back on the digital transformation that has taken place in our industry, and it’s now allowing community banks to compete better with the big banks,” Steinmetz said.
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