Page 38 - BusinessWest January 23, 2023

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AST
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has been impacted by an ongoing workforce crisis, Billy said, adding, again, that success in this business is directly related to the quality and consistency of the people doing the work.
“It’s a super-competitive, time-sensitive, money- sensitive industry that changes on a dime in many cases,” he told BusinessWest. “You need to have a staff that’s dedicated; you need to have a staff that’s used to hearing the word ‘no,’ because they hear it a lot; you need to have a staff that understands custom- er needs and understands which customers can be a little more flexible and more reasonable at times, and which customers can’t be because of the nature of their business. They need to be thick-skinned because it’s not always pretty.”
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“In this environment, especially, we take care of our staff in every possible way.”
Indeed, many in this business, including AST, are looking for help right now, he went on, adding that, over the past several years, and essentially from the beginning, AST has made itself into what he consid- ers a good place to work — and grow.
“In this environment, especially, we take care of our staff in every possible way,” he said. “We have some benefits that are quite outstanding, especially
robust charitable giving program known as the Giving Tree, which reflects the bank’s commitment to making a difference in the neighborhoods it serves.
“We try to give back to all the communities we’re in, and we pointedly give back to those in need, things like food insecurity, for both children and older folks,” Sosik said. “The objective of the Giving Tree cam- paign is around $1 million a year — giving that back to the communities we serve and trying to make a dif- ference for those who truly need it.
“Food insecurity is a year-round problem,” he
for a company our size, and we’re proud of that. As a result, generally, our people are with us for a very long time; very few people leave, and we’re proud of that, too.”
Elaborating, he said that, because of tight dead- lines and the need to deliver, there is pressure on employees, something the company’s managers work to alleviate as best they can.
“We have some fun every day — at different times, you never know when it’s going to happen,” he went on. “And there are days when the fun doesn’t come very quickly or very often because you’re right to the wall, morning ’til night. But we try to lighten things up when we can and in whatever way we can.” BW
went on, “but we turn our focus on it a little more at the end of the year and make that the key part of our campaign.”
Looking out his window, Scully noted a $35 mil- lion project the bank financed. “That makes a differ- ence for the property owner, but we want to make a difference for everyone in our community,” he told BusinessWest. “All community banks do a tremen- dous job with community giving, and we’re not cutting back on our giving. Our earnings may change, but we’re committed to our level of philanthropy.” BW
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Banks
ing nonprofits through direct donations and volunteer efforts.
“In other parts of the country, this isn’t a thing,” he said. “But up and down 91 are all these good, local, community banks, and we’re all doing what we can do for the community. Obviously, we want to make money; that’s how we stay in business and give raises to our employees and hire new employees. But when Western Mass. does well, we all do well.”
bankESB recently announced that a fundraising drive raised $35,000 for local food pantries, part of its
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38 JANUARY 23, 2023
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