Five Star Bank employees are warming up to the bank's new Amherst office.
About 150 employees are assigned to Five Star's regional office in Amherst, and around 100 of them have been coming into work there at least three days a week, said Laura Wisniewski, Five Star's director of corporate planning and facilities.
Wisniewski thinks it's more than just the novelty of the new location that's been drawing employees since the transition in late July.
"They're loving the space," she said. "Some people don't have as nice space at home. So now they're coming in, they're seeing how open it is, they're getting a lot of daylight, and they get to meet their colleagues."
Five Star, a subsidiary of Warsaw-based Financial Institutions, has grown its presence in the Buffalo area. The bank decided to move its regional offices into a bigger location, including space for its SDN Insurance Agency. Courier Capital continues to have its own offices in Buffalo.
Martin K. Birmingham, Five Star's president and CEO, said the new Amherst offices – named Five Star Bank Centre – reinforce the bank's commitment to the area.
"It was designed to be our destination for our associates to collaborate, network and better serve our customers, in bold and innovative ways," he said.
Five Star Bank CEO Martin Birmingham at their new offices in Amherst.
Birmingham mentioned Five Star opening two more Buffalo branches last year, SDN acquiring a firm, and the bank continuing to hire local talent as other examples of its deepening ties to the area.
This is a competitive region for banking, with M&T Bank and KeyBank dominating deposit market share and plenty of other competitors in the mix. But Five Star is determined to make greater inroads in the Buffalo region.
"We consider this a primary growth market, whether it's the large scale in terms of the (metro area), the businesses here," Birmingham said. "We've only just scratched the surface here."
The layout of the new offices goes hand in hand with its effort to have a bigger presence in Buffalo. At the Sheridan Drive building, Five Star had an opportunity to overhaul the offices, to update the location to the way people are working in 2022.
Birmingham recalled how the interior looked before the renovations: "When I walked through, it was vintage late '80s-early '90s."
Five Star signed a 10-year lease for 30,000 square feet on two floors and kicked off a $2.8 million capital investment, with the project led by Wisniewski and her team.
Lots of companies are rethinking their office space needs nowadays, based on how and where their employees are working. Five Star has a mix of remote, hybrid and in-person workers, with the idea there is no "one-size-fits-all" way of working, Birmingham said.
Anthony Pitnell, left, and Christine Platek, right, work at their desks in the new Five Star Bank Centre in Amherst.
"We have no proscribed 'three days in, two days out,' whatever," he said. "We're open to what works best for our teams and our managers. That is a work in process."
Employees who come into Five Star Centre at least three days a week have their own assigned desks. Those who come in less often can reserve a desk. Five Star is launching an online reservation system for that.
The new layout features lots of open space, with offices and conference rooms moved to the middle of the room. That gives employees more access to daylight while they work. And company leaders sit at workstations among the employees, rather than tucked away in private offices.
All of the conference rooms have videoconference capability, to connect with workers who are off-site, clients and business partners. There are sit-and-stand desks throughout the building, and a wellness room for new mothers. The glass on two of the conference rooms can turn opaque, with the flip of a switch.
In a nod to the changing landscape in financial services, Five Star Centre has a presentation room devoted to "banking as a service." It's a more-informal spot for Five Star's tech and digital employees to meet with representatives of fintechs.
The lobby of the new the Five Star Bank Centre in Amherst.
Birmingham said he views fintechs as potential collaborators, rather than threats, as some banks do. The way Birmingham sees it, the fintechs and Five Star can benefit from each other.
"Fintechs have a lot of great ideas, but they don't have a banking charter, and they're not going to get banking charters," Birmingham said. But a bank like Five Star has the right culture, technology and personnel "to engage and be nimble with them," he said.
As Five Star employees get settled into the new space, the company will send out a survey after about 90 days to get their feedback.
"If there are minor tweaks and changes that we can help to have them be more productive or efficient, we're looking at those inputs and trying to help those employees as much as we can," Wisniewski said.
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Anthony Pitnell, left, and Christine Platek, right, work at their desks in the new Five Star Bank Centre in Amherst.
Five Star Bank CEO Martin Birmingham at their new offices in Amherst.
The lobby of the new the Five Star Bank Centre in Amherst.
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