PILLAR 1: WORKPLACE RESPONSIBILITY – BEING AN EMPLOYER OF CHOICE (Human Capital)

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*Bank Employees only

Diversity in the workforce bringing innovation across the business and new ideas that challenge the status quo. It is also a means to increases happiness at work by working with individuals that celebrate being unique and share a different perspective.

Our employees are one of the most valuable stakeholders for the Bank. They play a key role in service innovation and value creation. AfrAsia continues to take positive steps towards becoming the “Employer of Choice”.

We believe that communication flow between management and employees is key to maintain and enhance Employee eXperience (EX). The spirit of such exchanges has been supported by specific actions during the year. Initiatives include enhanced use of internal communication function to share specific information with employees, a revamped induction programme covering both indoor and outdoor activities, people first meetings, regular catch ups with Heads of Departments (HoDs) by HR, engagement survey, pulse check surveys, the setting up of the A-Team to take forward actions from survey results. Training in soft skills has been an absolute success carrying recommendations provided by our employees. In order to strengthen employee engagement, awareness sessions on organisation values have been carried out across the Bank. Recognition is also key, we have been celebrating our people through instant rewards, press articles and on social media sites.

In addition, various initiatives have been implemented such as:

• Regular People First meetings are carried by the Head of HR whereby staff can express themselves and actions are put in place based on feedback received.
• Frequent Townhall events have been organised to share the Bank's performance & strategy.

Our focus for the coming years is to clearly identify our Talent Pool and to put in place development & succession plans in a more structured and transparent manner therefore providing the basis for a sustainable future whilst optimising ABL’s people potential within the organization.

The goal of AfrAsia is to achieve excellence in customer service, which goes hand in hand with the type of talent being recruited by the Bank. A robust recruitment process, in line with the resourcing policy and the local legislation is in place allowing the Bank to find the right profile for each job.

FY 18-19 recruitment’s strategy has been largely focused on the reinforcement on the support functions which in turn enhance the workflows. Additional human resources have been brought in for several reasons:

1. To address regulatory requirements (e.g. in compliance department)
2. To provide support to customer facing employees
3. To cater for future strategical needs and business development

In light with its strategy to attract top talents, we offer various financial and non-financial benefits:

1. Competitive remuneration packages
2. Healthy work life balance through flexible working schedule, work from home, flexible contract types
3. Housing loan 
4. Revamp of our car and personal loans for employees          GRI 401-2

Additionally, the brand of the organization is one of the main factors which attracts both new candidates and ex-employees. The Bank is looked upon as one of the most innovative and growing banks in the country, where there is a positive environment for learning, personal and professional growth. We have been awarded EMEA Finance’s African Banking Awards in 2018 as being the Most Innovative Bank Pan-Africa.

AfrAsia Bank is committed to investing in its people. Through constant skills development, a strong and high performing workforce is built, which ensures the Bank’s success in the long term. We offer various types of training to its workforce which caters for development of soft and technical skills. These include: induction, workshops, conferences, online courses and many more.

Employees leave the Bank for a variety of reasons such as further studies, better salary or benefits or perhaps embarking on new projects. However, in recent years, it has been noted that many choose to come back, stating that they enjoy the healthy working environment, as well as the positive team spirit and their deep belief in the Bank’s DARE values as the motivation for their decision to return. Last year, 4 ex-employees were recruited by the Bank.

Many employees have stated that they enjoy the teamwork and leadership style whereby people work together to achieve results. They also appreciate the presence of leaders rather than managers, guiding employees to be independent so they can enhance their performance, and in turn be rewarded accordingly. The Bank has supported a number of employees in their career & professional development while promoting opportunities to learn in line with their individual career aspirations.

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Employees, who were re-hired, have observed the positive changes made to improve the levels of engagement, such as the enhancement in the benefits being offered, the initiatives from senior management to get closer to people, the setting up of the A-Team that focuses on engagement drivers. All of these actions enhance the workplace environment by encouraging communication across the business. In addition, employees positively perceive the implementation of automation which has decreased manual work and hence increased satisfaction as well as efficiency and performance.