2022 Best Community Banks to Work For Award

Be recognized as one of community banking’s best employers

In a tight labor market, companies need to do all they can to attract and retain the best and brightest. ICBA Independent Banker‘s Best Community Banks to Work For award is your chance to show job hunters and current staff why your community bank is an unbeatable place to build a career.

The first step is to nominate your community bank—you can do that by clicking the link below. If your community bank is chosen to move to the next step, your employees will be invited to complete a survey.

Questions? Please send a note to [email protected]

Rules and Methodology for Best Community Banks to Work For 2022:

The Best Community Banks to Work For award nomination period will be open from June 27th – July 19th, 2022. Eligible community banks should visit the nominations page here and complete the required nomination information. Entries must be received by 11:59 pm Central Time on July 19, 2022, in order to be entered into the award evaluation process.

Methodology: Once nominated for the awards, full-time employees of each nominated bank are requested to complete a comprehensive workplace survey hosted by Avannis, an independent research agency. Banks with a minimum participation rate of 40% are eligible to be evaluated for the award. The survey consists of scaled responses where positive responses earn the most points. For example, a bank whose employees select only the most positive responses would receive an index score of 100%. After sorting banks into 5 asset size categories, those with the highest index scores in each category are selected as the winners.

Survey Criteria: Employees of nominated banks will be asked to complete an electronic survey of approximately 50 questions related to the following categories:

Communication
Training and Education
Performance Standards
Recognition
Compensation and Benefits
Leadership
Working Environment
Culture
Hiring and Retention
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Eligibility: The award is open to the following community banks:

Must be an ICBA member bank in good standing.
ICBA Executive Committee and Board Member (Parent and Subsidiaries) banks are eligible to participate but are not eligible to win.
Winning banks from previous years are eligible to participate in the employee survey; however, these winning banks will not be eligible to win the top honors and be featured in consecutive years. There must be at least five years between awards.
The March 31, 2022, Call Report date will be used to determine asset size of the bank.
Independent Banker magazine reserves the right to modify winning category thresholds based on nominations received.
Other eligibility requirements may apply. ICBA and Independent Banker have sole discretion to determine whether entries are eligible.

By submitting a nomination and completing the survey, each entrant hereby irrevocably grants ICBA and Independent Banker the rights to use, publish, reproduce, edit, market, and store the award information in perpetuity for editorial, commercial, promotional and all other purposes.

General Rules: All nominated banks will be contacted via email on or about the week of August 1, 2022. At that time, information will be shared with the bank’s point of contact for further dissemination to employees of the nominated bank. It is the responsibility of the bank to ask employees to complete the comprehensive workplace survey. Employees will have from August 1-31, 2022 to complete the survey. Potential winners will be contacted by ICBA personnel via phone and/or email on or about the week of October 4, 2022.

Winning banks and entrants agree to release and hold harmless Independent Banker magazine and ICBA from and against any and all liability, claims, or actions of any kind whatsoever for injuries, damages, or losses to persons or property which may be sustained in connection with creation of or submitting a nomination or otherwise participating in or preparing for any aspect of the award contest, the receipt, ownership, possession and/or use or misuse of any award or any typographical or other error in these rules or the announcement or offering of the award or for any claims or causes of action based on publicity rights, defamation or invasion of privacy. Acceptance of award constitutes permission to Independent Banker and ICBA to use winning banks’ names and shared survey/interview information for promotional purposes (including any possible public relations opportunities) and in any/ all media.

Winning Bank Recognition: Winning banks will be recognized in the December 2022 issue of Independent Banker magazine and its digital properties, the 2023 ICBA LIVE annual convention, and through other ICBA social and media channels. Winning banks may be asked to share photos with Independent Banker and ICBA for further promotion and recognition.