Best Places to Work: Peoples Bank

Best Places to Work: Peoples Bank

Article sent successfully!

We were unable to send the article.

Peoples Bank, established in 1910, is a locally owned community bank headquartered in Magnolia.

Peoples Bank is set apart by the emphasis it places on the well-being of its employees. Executive management’s servant-leadership style cultivates an environment that facilitates teamwork among coworkers and the desire to serve customers, community and one another.

The importance Peoples Bank places on employee satisfaction helps foster a fun and friendly company culture for employees and customers alike. With its decorated lobbies, music, and occasional dance parties with customers, Peoples Bank is not a stereotypical financial institution.

Peoples Bank recognizes that employees have a life outside the bank and commitments that at times must take priority. Whenever an employee is experiencing a personal situation requiring them to miss work, the bank will accommodate whenever possible and also sends flowers and gift baskets in times of illness or loss.

Peoples Bank also has programs to promote physical fitness and overall health. Through the fitness incentive, employees can earn up to $300 a month by meeting daily goals, and the bank periodically hosts weight loss challenges. The money pool is shared among those who achieve their goals.

Mental and professional growth are encouraged through the PB University program in which employees read books, listen to podcasts, take online courses and participate in group discussions while on the clock.

The leadership team champions an open-door policy that empowers employees to share concerns, recommendations and ideas for improvements.

The bank’s extensive incentive plan includes profit sharing with shares based on the employee’s salary as a percentage of total salaries and the pool is comprised of a percent of net income and overdraft and loan collections.

CITY: MAGNOLIA

EMPLOYEES: 73

INDUSTRY TYPE: BANKING

PERKS

• Secret Pal is a Peoples Bank concept similar to Secret Santa, but is institution-wide. Participating employees are anonymously given a co-worker’s name and are responsible for spoiling their secret pals for the quarter. • To combat the unforeseen mental stress on employees, Peoples Bank allotted two mental health days for each employee that could be used at any time, no questions asked. • Peoples Bank offers Natural Disaster Compensation in which it provides employees with additional vacation days to cover those missed by natural disasters. Examples include the Arkansas snowstorm of 2021 and Hurricane Laura in 2020.

See more of this year’s BEST PLACES TO WORK.

A supplement to Arkansas Business

Google scraps plans to manage people’s bank accounts

Getty Images

Google is scrapping plans to manage the bank accounts of users through its mobile payments app, the company said Friday.

Last year, the search giant announced an overhaul of its Google Pay service, which lets people pay for things using their phones. The changes extended the focus of the service to online banking and saw Google partner with a handful of banks and financial institutions, including Citi and the Stanford Federal Credit Union, to create a “mobile-first” bank account called Plex, with no monthly fees or overdraft charges.

Google had promised a better user experience for mobile banking, relying on the company’s software chops and artificial intelligence to modernize the technology. Now the company is backing away from the project.

“Our work with our partners has made it extremely clear that there’s consumer demand for simple, seamless and secure digital payments for online and in-store transactions,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “We’re updating our approach to focus primarily on delivering digital enablement for banks and other financial services providers rather than us serving as the provider of these services.”

The shift in plans comes months after Caesar Sengupta, a Google veteran and key executive leading the effort, departed the company. In his place Google President of Commerce Bill Ready, former chief operating officer of PayPal, stepped in to head the project. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Google was abandoning the initiative.

The financial services sector has enticed many of the world’s largest tech companies, from Apple to Samsung. In 2019, Apple announced its own branded credit card, called Apple Card, launched in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The service offers daily cash back, a titanium physical card and no annual or late fees.

But Google’s retreat from banking underscores the difficulty Silicon Valley has had breaking into the market. Efforts from other tech giants, like a push from Facebook into cryptocurrency, have stalled as well.

Peoples Bank Theatre reopens

MARIETTA, Ohio (WTAP) - After shutting its doors to the public in March 2020, the Peoples Bank Theatre reopened Friday night.

Officials say the theatre is still operating with limited staff, but that everyone involved is excited to get back to work… including the performers.

Executive director Hunt Brawley says performers are ready to get back on stage after the pandemic put their livelihoods on hold.

Brawley says he’s most excited to see the effect the reopening has on the community.

“It was really nice, even though we were closed, to really get the sense that people felt this was a really vital part of the community,” Brawley said. He went on, “(People) really missed the live programming, so that certainly kept us going and we’re just happy to be back.”

Officials say they hope to see an increase in ticket sales after the success of tonight’s performance by the Marshall Tucker Band.Information about upcoming shows can be found at peoplesbanktheatre.com.

Copyright 2021 WTAP. All rights reserved.