Wells Fargo 2015 Annual Report Download - page 7

2015 Annual Report| 
strong and deep as ever. Wealth and
Investment Management serves the
family’s personal financial needs, and
Wholesale Banking provides corporate
services such as credit, treasury
management, debt capital markets,
trust, and investment banking to the
Hearst Corporation.
The key to earning deep
and long-lasting relationships
is not only knowing our customers,
but also understanding how they
define financial success. We have
a sincere desire to help them succeed,
and we do so by working across our
many businesses to provide them
with the products and services
they need.
That certainly is the case in our
work with small business customers.
We appreciate the important role
that small businesses play in local
communities and the overall
economy. We have relationships
with approximately 3 million U.S.
small business owners, and in 2015,
we were the top lender of U.S. Small
Business Administration 7(a) loans
in both number of loans and dollars.
Our Wells Fargo Works for Small
Business® initiative, launched in 2014,
provides resources, guidance, and
services for small business owners,
and we are making strong progress
on our goal to extend $100 billion
in new lending to small businesses
by 2018.
One of the most rewarding aspects
of our small business relationships
is helping our customers grow and
contributing to their long-term
success. One such relationship is
with Deschutes Brewery. We provided
entrepreneur Gary Fish with an
initial loan to help open a brewpub
in Bend, Oregon, in 1998. His craft
beer quickly caught on, and today
Gary’s company employs 472 workers
and is 7.9 percent employee-owned.
As Deschutes Brewery grew, we were
with the company every step of the way,
providing capital, cash management,
and a variety of advice and ancillary
services. Now one of our Wholesale
Banking customers, the company
distributes beer — with the tagline
“Born in Bend, Oregon” — in 28 states,
and today is one of the top 10 craft
brewers in the U.S. “We have been with
Wells Fargo from the very beginning,”
Gary says. “They were the ones who
gave us a loan to get started.”
We are a relationship
company, but our
relationships with
customers are only
as strong as our
relationships with
each other.
Earning relationships
with our team members
We are a relationship company,
but our relationships with customers
are only as strong as our relationships
with each other. Products and
technology don’t fulfill the promises we
make to our customers, our people do
— people who are talented, motivated,
and, I believe, more energized than
our competitors.
Take Terri Steup as an example.
Terri is a bank store manager
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, who has
been with our company for more
than 40 years. Terri is a talented
relationship builder with her team,
and her enthusiasm is infectious.
“We are having fun; we are a family!”
she says about her team. Terri also
recognizes the importance of earning
relationships with customers.
Understanding the community’s
diversity, Terri’s team greets customers
in three languages — English, Burmese,
and Spanish — and Terri actively
recruits new team members from
among the Burmese, Vietnamese,
and Hispanic immigrant population
that her store serves.
We have always believed that
our team members are our most
valuable resource, and we want
them to be with us for the long
term. We invest in them by oering
competitive salaries, professional
training and development, leadership
opportunities, and benefits that
include aordable health care
options, work-life balance programs,
401(k) matching contributions,
tuition reimbursement, and
a discretionary profit sharing plan.
We want all our team members
to lead by bringing our vision
and values to life. That is a shared
responsibility — no matter a person’s
position in the company. As we say
in our Vision & Values, we define
leadership as the act of establishing,
sharing, and communicating our
vision, and as the art of motivating
others to understand and embrace
our vision.
Since our success depends on our
team members, we survey them each
year to hear what they think. This is
important because the more connected
team members feel to the company,
the more likely they are to form lasting
relationships with our customers.
In 2015, our overall team member
“engagement” score continued
to increase, measuring 4.25 out
of a possible 5, an increase over
our 2014 score of 4.22. The Gallup
Organization, which conducts our
annual surveys, named Wells Fargo
a “Gallup Great Workplace Award”
winner in 2014 and 2015, which
distinguishes the world’s most
engaged and productive companies.
This recognition is rewarding in that
it reflects our Culture of CaringSM
approach in the relationships our
team members build with our
customers and with each other.
A key part of that approach
is working together, using what’s
in our hearts, not just in our heads,
to care for and earn relationships
with our customers.
A recent letter from a customer
brought home to me the power
of relationships to change lives.
Five years ago, this customer
would regularly come into one
of our Portland, Oregon, bank
stores to cash his paychecks.
He gradually formed a relationship
with Store Manager Ruvim Kruzhkov.