Business View Magazine | July 2022

126 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 7 among its employees, with many sticking around for decades. Stephen Gobel himself has been bank President since 1978. He acknowledges, “We’ve been pretty blessed with having a lot of employees who have been with us for many years and dedicate themselves to the bank and to the communities. It’s not uncommon to have 20-, 30-, or 40-year employees, and we really thrive by having that.” When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, more than half the bank’s staff were sent to work from home. That divide only strengthened the bank’s desire to keep a close familial atmosphere. “People had to wear a lot of hats and we had to communicate a lot and that was huge,” says Karen Whatman, First National Bank of Groton’s VP of Operations. “We had people from audit and HR and finance answering phones and we got to introduce some people to our customers that way. Our staff pulled together and we made it work and it was great. We had people working from home who would drop off food or snacks. It was great for morale. The whole bank pulled together and did what we had to do to get through it.” The pandemic came with other benefits to the bank, as well. It encouraged First National Bank of Groton to advance their technology sooner than they would have otherwise, providing even greater service for their customers. According to Andrew, “It pushed us forward a little quicker with regards to technology and implementing new products that make it easier to reach the customer than it did in 2019. Online loan applications and online account opening is one thing that we’re pushing to finalize this year. We also used DocuSign to be able to reach people when they couldn’t come in. Getting more cutting edge is something that we realized from the pandemic is what we need to do.” Senior VP Alan Christopher adds, “During the pandemic banks took in a lot of stimulus money. Customers were staying home and spending less.