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Best Places to Work Honoree 2022

Organization Name: Rockland Trust

Address: 2036 Washington Street, Hanover, 02339

Website: https://capeplymouthbusiness.com

Phone: (508) 827-1065

Contact Email: Melissa.Guimond@RocklandTrust.com

Describe in detail the culture of the company and a recent experience supporting that.

At the heart of our workplace is a culture of care and respect; and our colleagues are celebrated for the individual skills, backgrounds, ideas and perspectives they bring to work every day. We often hear our customers describe their experience visiting one of our branches or offices as “collegiate”, “friendly” or “accommodating”.
Recently, a legacy customer of the Bank introduced one of his friends, a non-customer, to our team. During their conversation, the customer said, “People don’t believe information, they believe people they trust, and Rockland Trust IS that bank, and from my business officer to my financial consultant to the tellers at any branch I go to; these people actually care.”
The atmosphere we create and the relationships we build are a direct result of hiring extremely talented and passionate colleagues who believe in our shared purpose.

Has the company/organization offered rewards or incentives for great customer service or a positive employee attitude?

We have several incentive programs that reward colleagues for great internal and external service. Our You Make a Difference Awards allow peers to nominate each other when they receive or hear about exceptional service. Our Shining Star Award recognizes colleagues that exemplify our core values, what we call our promises. Often, these colleagues go above and beyond by delivering exceptional customer service, service to colleagues, or their communities.

Does the organization offer training for levels of advancement? Is there room for growth?

Our training programs include retail banking, credit for our commercial lending group, and corporate to support professional skills and leadership development. In addition, we offer three career development programs: Rising Stars, STEP and Retail Managers trainee. Rising Stars provides career development, mentorship, and shadowing opportunities to high performing front-line colleagues. STEP is another career development program focused on supporting high performing Professionals of Color and elevating them to leadership positions. Our Retail Manager trainee program which prepares our high performing Retail Banking staff for Branch Manager Roles. All these programs have high affinity, track records of advancement, and foster a sense of loyalty amongst our colleagues.

Does this organization promote from within, or hire outside when looking for employees?

Rockland Trust has a strong track record of promotion from within. Our colleagues received roughly 400 promotions last year, that’s just under 1/4 of our entire colleague base! We offer opportunities for advancement and provide preference for strong performing internal candidates when positions are open. As a growing organization, we understand that diverse candidates with unique skill sets add value to our organization.

Provide an example of how this organization has recently gone above and beyond for an employee, team or client/customer.

Many of Rockland Trust’s more than 1,700 employees say that a highlight of working here is the opportunity to give back to their local community. At Rockland Trust, we foster a culture where our colleagues feel empowered to go above and beyond to build these meaningful interactions with one another and our customers. One example of this was a local branch team that recently visited a senior center to educate community members about the importance of credit and protecting themselves from fraud. Colleagues held individual follow-up meetings to support any needs or concerns. Through conversations, they uncovered a few more personal needs/challenges (outside of banking) and were able to build powerful relationships as a result.

Communication is key, how effective is the organization at communication with their employees and/or client/customer? *

Rockland Trust is thoughtful and strategic with its communications to both employees and its customers. Internally, we have a send communication ranging from our employee wellness program to emails sent to all colleagues to keep them informed of changes or happening around the Bank. One of these communication vehicles is a video series where our CEO, Chris Oddleifson, collects questions from colleagues at all levels of the organization and interviews leadership in the bank in a talk-show format.
Communications with our customers can be transactional, but for the most part, they involve our learning center content. We give all our customers the opportunity to let us know what type of topics they are interested in. From there, we create a personalized journey for them where we share relevant articles, videos, or infographics on a monthly basis.

In what ways does the organization give back to their community? Please provide an example.

For 115 years, Rockland Trust has continued its commitment to strengthen the communities it serves through financial services and education, grants, donations and volunteerism. Throughout 2021 and so far in 2022, Rockland Trust and its affiliated charitable foundations have given over $700,000 to over 150 organizations across Barnstable, Dukes, Nantucket and Plymouth County. During that same time, our colleagues have donated over 1,300 volunteer hours to organizations within those four counties. All colleagues are awarded two paid volunteer days each year to use, however they’d like to support our local communities. Many of our colleagues are involved with various local and national organizations serving on their board of directors and/or on multiple committees.

Are you actively hiring/recruiting outside your organization?