According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, salaried employees are with their employer an average of 4 years. At Farmers Bank & Trust, we’re celebrating an employee who has been with the Bank for 40 years! Denise Rogers is the Banking Research Officer and takes great pride in her unique role.
“I’ve never wanted to work anywhere else,” Rogers said. “There is nothing that I do every day that is too routine and gets boring.”
Denise helps the Bank customers and employees by researching extraordinary problems with almost any type of account.
“We have a number of customers who ask for Denise by name to assist with their issues,” Farmers Bank & Trust Chief Operations Officer Joe Pieratt said.
August 7, 1981
From her very first day at work with the Bank on August 7, 1981, Denise has worked in customer service. She graduated from Southern Arkansas University with a degree in Business Administration and a minor in Library Science.
“I started upstairs with a film machine,” Rogers explained. “When someone needed a copy of something that we didn’t have in the big filing cabinet, I would find it on the films, and I would mark it with a piece of tape and send it off to Little Rock to get a copy. Eventually, we got a machine that would make copies, and my library science background made it possible for me to use that equipment.”
As time went on, former CEO and current Chairman of the Board Bob Burns promoted Denise to Research Analyst in the late eighties. She developed the skills to analyze detailed reports and could explain why something happened on an account the day prior.
“I’ve always treated situations with customers the way I would want to be treated,” Rogers said. “I try to show people how to do things rather than just tell them.”
Denise is not only a tremendous help to the customers but her co-workers too.
Adaptability
“She is truly our ‘go-to’ person on a laundry list of topics,” Farmers Bank & Trust Customer Contact Center Vice President Judi Franks said. “She’s a fantastic resource for our department as well as other departments in the Bank. I often hear people say, ‘Let’s check with Denise to see what she knows about this.’”
The Bank’s HEART core values stand for Honor, Excellence, Adaptability, Respect, and Teamwork. Denise is a true representation of these and has been long before they were ever created. She has had to adapt to change over the years but said she is thankful to Farmers Bank & Trust for sticking with her.
“My longest relationship is with the Bank,” she said. “I worked here for 10 years before I met my husband, who was actually a customer. A co-worker at the time introduced us and we got married in 1991.”
She shared she will be 67 years old on August 24th, and fully intends to continue her work until she’s at least 70.
“This is definitely not a retirement,” she laughed. “We’re celebrating I’m still here!”
Farmers Bank & Trust will celebrate Denise with a private reception as a precaution to COVID-19.
