Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 12

70 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 12 service and reassurance to their customers. “There were 35 employees working from home during the high point of COVID,” says McGuire, “and we had to figure out how to make that work. What’s nice about this management team, and the fact that we’re all located in the same place together, is that we are able to make very quick, nimble decisions about what’s best for the bank and implement those things right away. That is invaluable. I’ve worked in places where it’s not easy to move quickly, and that is definitely not the case here. It was a big reason why we were successful with our approach, taking guidance from all of the different regulatory bodies that we had to deal with and implementing quick decisions to continue to serve our customers and to keep our employees safe.” Fostering a pro-employee approach, Citizens Bank promotes longevity, with long term employees making up more than 50% of the bank’s 125 members. Ruth Christopher, CFO & Executive Vice President, explains, “We have an quite a while.” The PPP loans also offered an opportunity for Citizens Bank to update some of its processes, relying on email signatures and copies of loan documents when our doors were closed, and automating the entire process so customers could receive the funds they needed. “One thing we did that very few banks did in our community,” says Hargrove, “was to offer PPP loans to customers and non-customers. Several banks in town only allowed existing customers to apply. We created a considerable amount of new business just because of our willingness to help non-customers. They brought applications to us, and we were able to submit them to the SBA in a matter of minutes.” Keeping the employees of Citizens Bank healthy and safe was a priority during the early days of COVID, while the bank adjusted operations, separating teams and adapting to working virtually, while still providing a high level of