FNB Bank Invests in Next Generation with Modern Solutions

The Challenge

FNB has been a staple in Kentucky for nearly a century and a half. “We have a really rich history and have always been very involved in our local communities,” says Senior Vice President and HR Officer Crystal Balentine. “Everyone knows each other. We call people by name, and they aren’t just a number. It feels like family.”

But this small-town bank faces some big challenges, particularly when it comes to recruiting. “One of the biggest challenges is bringing in the younger generation and letting them know we have opportunities here, as well as keeping them engaged,” says Crystal. Many industries share in FNB’s struggle to attract the next generation as Gen Z now makes up a quarter of the workforce.

In 2020, another challenge popped up with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. “We’re an essential business, and so we’re open,” says Crystal. “We’re a smaller company, and we want to take care of people.”

The Approach

COVID-19 presented unique challenges for businesses and HR leaders alike, but it has also presented an opportunity to introduce positive change. During the height of the outbreak, FNB changed their mobile policies. In the past, they had leveraged Paylocity’s geofencing technology to allow employees to clock in at the bank, but with more people working from home, they focused on ramping up communication. Crystal turned to Community, Paylocity’s internal communications and social collaboration tool.

“It was extremely helpful for us to leverage Community,” says Crystal. “I was able push alerts, and people would get them on their mobile devices. We could ensure they were getting the communication, especially for our hourly employees who do not have access to their company email outside of the bank. We were able to get information out quickly.”

The coronavirus pandemic brought up a lot of new concerns in addition to communication. “Scheduling has become challenging. We’re trying to keep the same groups of people together and limit the number of people in the building at a time,” says Crystal. “The majority of our employees are in the Paylocity app every single day and can check their schedule from wherever they are. With Paylocity, everything they need is in one stop. That has been helpful. Our employees have used Community and Impressions, Paylocity’s peer-to-peer recognition platform, as a way to encourage and build each other up. We all need a bit of that right now.”

As a member of the executive leadership team, Crystal has relied on data to provide their board of directors critical information. During one board meeting, she was able to leverage the Demographics Dashboard to account for diversity and generational information within the company and provide it to the shareholders within minutes.

“Being in those meetings, I can pull data immediately and that informs better decisions. With our previous provider it was nearly impossible to pull data. With Paylocity, anything I am looking for, I can pull out for customized reporting.”

Attracting the younger generations has been tough for FNB on top of having an extremely manual onboarding process before Paylocity. With FNB’s previous provider, each step in the employee journey required manual data entry, but as an early adopter of Paylocity’s Recruiting and Onboarding, they saw how transformative an integrated platform could be. “One of the great things about Paylocity is that everything rolls over into each module, from Recruiting to Onboarding to Payroll and so on.”

As part of this early adopter experience, FNB was also able to see their feedback impact the product. “Once we started using it, there was no way I was going back,” says Crystal. “When I hire a new employee now, it is completely paperless. There is not one document I need to print. It’s not even the same tool as where it was when we started as a beta user to where we are today. It truly has been life changing in the role of the HR department.”

Crystal is ecstatic they aren’t fumbling around with forms and papers on employees’ first days. “It is a much better experience. It makes us look good because we are more efficient, and they can focus on getting to know their new team.”

Another area where Crystal saw improvements was the integrations with Paylocity’s Benefits. From 401(k) to flexible benefits, FNB had a more seamless experience. “It makes it so much easier.”

The Payoff

FNB’s transition to Paylocity has been smooth and allows the team more time to focus on their customers. In the midst of the pandemic, Crystal was able to get the resources she needed from her partnership with Paylocity. “The Families First Coronavirus Recovery Act (FFCRA), and extended FMLA, trainings, webinars and podcasts and really all the resources put out by Paylocity have been extremely helpful for us,” says Crystal. “I think I was on some kind of a webinar every day in March and April (2020).” 

But it isn’t just the time savings and the seamless integrations that tell Crystal they made the right choice in switching providers. Customer service is key for a good partnership. “We’re on a first name basis with our account manager. I love her! She is top notch, and we get the best service that we’ve ever had with any provider.”

Sometimes Crystal needs a little more insight, and she has found success with the Paylocity team, even outside of her daily contact. “When I attend Paylocity’s Elevate Conference, I get to speak with subject matter experts and have one-on-one conversations with the product developers. It’s been a wonderful experience.” 

Finding the right fit in candidates and freeing up time to focus on reporting and analytics has really helped the team drive more strategic decisions and a more informative and inclusive culture. “Paylocity made our department better, more efficient and more professional. We focus on the people aspect more because we aren’t bogged down with manual tasks.”