Farmers & Merchants Bank of Timberville, VA has been serving the banking needs of Northern Virginia since 1908.  With 14 branches and almost 200 employees, F&M Bank has been a client of the Employer Solutions practice of Net at Work since 2016 and was a client of Dresser & Associates for several years prior. They have used Sage Abra Suite and are currently utilizing Sage HRMS.  Recently, Mark Boutilier of Net at Work spoke with Melody Emswiler, SHRM-SCP, SPHR, Senior Vice President & Director, Human Resources of the bank about the role of HR and her thoughts on building the business case for a Human Capital Management (HCM) system.

Building the Business Case

As Melody reviews her current system and looks for ways to improve it, she knows that she will need to build a case for the investment in time and money.  She is looking not only at the hard cost savings in time and effort a new system can bring, but also at the possibilities that an improved system offers to better drive results across the bank as a whole.

Be More Efficient

We began by discussing ways that their HCM system can make HR more efficient, including proposing a more inclusive model for their HCM that brings all the elements of HR and the employee life cycle together. For the bank, that means a move toward paperless processes and electronic forms to create a more frictionless exchange of data between employees, managers and decision makers.  A member of Melody’s team in HR has recently joined from a larger corporate environment where digital systems are the norm, and she has been a strong advocate for updating their systems.  Enabling digital tools to manage employees will allow HR to take on a more strategic role in the bank and spend less time and effort on transactional activities like entering and checking data.

Strategic Changes Coming for the Community Bank

Melody pointed out that Human Resources was changing at the bank.  As she says, there is a need to “focus on the whole person”.  HR can help the bank to create a workplace where employees are comfortable bringing in outside-of-work issues – positive or negative.  Like many organizations, F&M Bank recognizes the importance of engaging their employees and better understanding how employee concerns at home – child or elder care, financial and health concerns – can have an impact on the employee’s performance at work.  To be effective, Melody says, HR needs to have the tools to offer support to employees.  That means they need to be quicker and more efficient to address the day-to-day tasks.

Developing Human Capital is Key to Success

F&M Bank is fortunate to have a relatively low turnover, with some employees having over 40 years of tenure.  The strategic need, according to Melody, is to develop the team that they have.  Using analytics from her HCM system, she can look at training career paths, succession planning and finding and retaining talent within the organization.

Education is Critical to HR Success

Early on in her career at the bank, she told me, Melody attended a school for HR Professionals in banking.  The curriculum was designed for bank professionals who were moving into HR positions as well as HR professionals like Melody who were coming into banking environments.  The result was a deeper understanding of the operation of the bank for her.

As she says, “[HR] has to learn the business.”  Understanding the needs of the other departments of the bank has enabled HR to be more responsive to their needs for learning and employee development, which their HCM system can help to measure and manage.

How Net at Work Has Helped

Melody is a regular attendee of the webinars Net at Work offers, including our recent series by Ed Krow, “How to be a REAL Leader”.  Net at Work webinars offer participants insights into current trends and emerging issues that help make our clients better at their jobs.

She also utilizes her Account Manager, Nicole Johnson, as a trusted advisor for HCM systems.  And she has relied on the Employer Solutions consulting team for support for her current system.

Changes Ahead for the Bank

F&M Bank continues to grow and with it the responsibilities of HR to find good candidates to “fill the seats properly and add value”.  Recently, the bank topped $1 Billion in assets – a significant milestone.  According to Melody, that will probably bring more scrutiny of the bank operations, including HR.  It may also involve changes in staffing patterns and required skill sets.

It will be vital, in Melody’s eyes, to maintain and grow her HCM system to respond to these new initiatives – to allow her HR team to be able to manage the day-to-day HR activities easier and more effectively – so that she can focus on the strategic needs of the bank.

If your company is growing and you are looking for a new HCM system to grow with it, join us for this webinar:

  Upcoming Live Webinar:
Guide to Building a Business Case for HR Technology
Date: August 20

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