Zone Z1
Lobby & Teller Line
The zone where presence does nearly all the work and interaction does the rest.
Selection happens before entry
A branch is chosen days in advance, usually after someone has walked in as a customer. A visible officer during that reconnaissance changes the assessment more than anything that happens on the day.
Position for sightlines, not for symmetry
The officer should see the entrance, the teller line and the queue simultaneously, without standing in the customer flow. On most branch floors there are one or two positions that achieve this and several that look sensible and do not.
The job is mostly customer-facing
Directions, queue management, helping someone who is confused or distressed, and dealing with the occasional angry customer at the counter. Officers are selected for how they handle that, because it is what they do all day.
Duress devices your staff can actually reach
We check reachability from a seated position at every station during the survey, and we check that staff have used one in the last year. A device nobody has ever triggered is an untested device.
Queue behaviour is the tell
Someone who lets others go ahead, who is dressed for weather that is not happening, or who is watching the teller line rather than their phone. Officers are briefed on the specific patterns, not on vague vigilance.