EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN THE BANKING SECTOR

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN THE BANKING SECTOR

 


Banking is a critical service industry in the country, having experienced exponential development and expansion. Becker (2009) shows that no corporation can become a market leader without managing human capital through its research. The researchers may adopt novel statistical tools to understand better the employees’ commitment and motivation (Danish et al., 2014). Committed staff members generate the customer tales that lend credibility to the brand (Sharma and Dutta, 2016).

The workforce, or the people who perform the work, is the only thing that provides a sustainable competitive advantage and hence a positive return on investment, firm value, and long-term strength. Additionally, when it comes to people, research has consistently shown that engaged employees outperform disengaged employees. Engaged employees are the result goal in the struggle for competitive advantage, in which employees serve as the differentiator (Carnegie, 2013).

 


Banks must make an effort to maximize employee engagement at work since this will help the bank’s performance. Apart from keeping them focused on the objectives, employees must also be given some attitude to demonstrate their abilities on the job. Employee engagement assists them in establishing trust and increasing their level of devotion to their work since they serve as a link between the bank and its clients. Banks’ success and failures are mainly dependent on their personnel; people are viewed as assets by the bank, and banks should place a premium on increasing employee engagement and dedication to work (Aishwarya, 2020).

Video: 01 – Employee engagement in the banking and finance industry

Video: 01 explains that the new world is drive-through digital concept’s and it explains what is required to adapt to the challenges. With the new standard work methods (Pandemic concerns), people play an essential role, and they should be engaged, motivated & should show high performance. Employee engagement drives through emotional connection, sparks a flame of pride and positive energy, & builds performance culture. Recognition drives engagement & engagement drives performance & finally, performance derive positive results (AchievementAwardsGroupSA, 2021).


Example: 01

NDB Bank has consolidated its position as a similarly powerful, all-pervasive influence in Sri Lanka’s economy. NDB Bank is a comprehensive banking and financial services organization devoted to clients with a selection of simplified, accessible, and inclusive financial solutions that help them through each stage of their life journey. NDB Bank immediately reacted to new work realities by implementing roster-based, work-from-home arrangements, split shifts, split locations, and flexible shift-based arrangements. Whenever possible, all training and engagement efforts have been relocated to digital platforms (NDB BANK PLC, 2020).

Example: 02

Hatton National Bank (HNB) is a renowned commercial bank in Sri Lanka that prioritizes employee engagement as a critical human resource strategy. With the advancement of technology and in light of the ongoing epidemic, the company creates online channels for workers to communicate and interact. The advancement of technology is an employee motivating practice since it demonstrates the bank’s dedication to engaging with and building good connections with the employees. The bank has an open-door policy, which enables staff to communicate with senior management. Additionally, HNB has a designated employee engagement officer responsible for liaising with the management on staff issues. The bank’s employees will communicate via email, newsletters, circulars, SMS, and newly developed digital techniques such as webinars, social media, and Microsoft Team (HATTON NATIONAL BANK, 2020).

Example: 03

Seylan Bank is another organization that is praised for having reasonable engagement procedures within the bank. Each year, Seylan Bank conducts various programs and activities to keep staff engaged and encouraged to engage in interdepartmental social networking. Apart from its standard employee engagement measures, Seylan Bank has launched a new employee engagement campaign dubbed ‘Heroes of the Heart.’ Under this new campaign, Employee engagement has focused on recognizing and inspiring people who have worked during this pandemic. As per the annual report statistics, 1,109 employees have been recognized as “superhero employees”, while 1,943 employees have been recognized as “heroes employees” (SEYLAN BANK PLC, 2020).

 

References

AchievementAwardsGroupSA (2021) Employee engagement in the banking and finance industry - YouTube. AchievementAwardsGroup SA. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS3Ko-pEgwo&ab_channel=AchievementAwardsGroupSA (Accessed: 19 November 2021).

Aishwarya, J. (2020) ‘An Empirical Study on Employee Engagement in Banking Sector’, IJESC, 10(2). Available at: http://ijesc.org/ (Accessed: 19 November 2021).

Carnegie, D. (2013) EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY. Available at: www.dalecarnegie.com (Accessed: 19 November 2021).

Danish, R. Q., Saeed, I., Mehreen, S. and Aslam, N. (2014) ‘Spirit at Work and Employee Engagement in Banking Sector of Pakistan’, The journal of commerce, 6(4), pp. 22–31. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269409724_Spirit_at_Work_and_Employee_Engagement_in_Banking_Sector_of_Pakistan (Accessed: 19 November 2021).

HATTON NATIONAL BANK (2020) THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATIVE BANKING. Available at: https://www.hnb.net/2020#integrated-report-2020 (Accessed: 19 November 2021).

NDB BANK PLC (2020) EVERYONE EVERYWHERE. Available at: https://www.ndbbank.com/investor-relations/reports (Accessed: 20 November 2021).

SEYLAN BANK PLC (2020) CONNECTING THE POSSIBILITIES. Available at: https://www.seylan.lk/about-us/ (Accessed: 19 November 2021).

Sharma, S. and Dutta, Hi. (2016) ‘Employee Engagement in Indian Banking Sector: A Review of the Literature’, International Conference on Management & Information Systems. Available at: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=International+Conference+on+Management+%26+Information+Systems+2016+sharma+and+dutta&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart.

 

Comments

  1. hi nirmika, agree with you, adding to your points, employee engagement can be achieved through the creation of organizational environment where positive emotions, such as involvement and pride are encouraged, resulting in improved organizational performance, lower employee turnover and better health(Robinson, 2006).

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    1. Hi Dineth, Thank you for your feedback. Adding more to the comment, Job challenges, opportunities for development, autonomy, feedback, variety, fit, rewards, and recognition play significant roles in applying the employee engagement concept (Crawford et al., (2013).

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  2. Hi Nirmika, this is a wide topic. You are given the fullest details where everyone can understand. We can also say banking Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices in an organization. Job number one to increase engagement is to make sure that bank strategy is perceived as authentic to the bank culture, composed of a mosaic of employee ideas and values, and reflective of the needs of the marketplace and communities served. Thoughtfully aligning these elements will breathe new life and energy into bank culture as a foundation for increasing employee engagement.

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    1. Hi Ijaz. Agree with you. Many employers or managers now view performance management as an ongoing cycle of activities that links the organisation’s culture, business goals and strategies to individual performance and contributions (John Mattone,2013).

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  3. Hi Nirmika. Perfect article. Job happiness, employee commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior are all notions that are based on the basis of employee engagement (Markos, 2010). Snell (2009), states that, most of the businesses realize that the effective employees are people who are intellectually and emotionally invested in their company. As well as Employees that are engaged, go above and beyond their job descriptions, aware of how their jobs help the company achieve its goals.

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    1. Hi Gihan, Agree with your comments. Furthermore, According to Cooper-Thomas, Paterson, Stadler, and Saks (2014), Employee engagement can be improved by frequent performance reviews and establishing high expectations; therefore, Organizations are finding ways to reduce cost and increase productivity to manage the shortage of resources (Osborne & Hammoud, 2017).

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  4. Interesting blog. Has any of the Sri Lankan banks measured employee engagement? As you know there are tools for that. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) (Schaufeli & Bakker 2003) is one such tool, which comprises 17 items to measure work engagement, including vigour, dedication and absorption. The results of regular engagement assessments can inform higher management to develop new strategies to engage employees.

    Schaufeli, WB & Bakker, A 2003, 'Utrecht work engagement scale', Occupational Health Psychology Unit Utrecht University, vol. 1.

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    1. Hi Ravi, Thanks for the addition. Measuring employee engagement can be a challenging task since it is an activity that requires evaluating human feelings and emotions (Robinson et al., 2004). The most commonly used tool for measuring employee engagement is a survey. These surveys help gauge the intensity of employee engagement and evaluate the relationships between engagement and key business results. The findings from such surveys often provide critical information on the effectiveness of HR practices of the organisation and provide insights on where changes are needed (Vance, 2006).

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  5. The Covid 19 pandemic period affects the level of human health and economic activity, one of the financial activities affected by the Covid pandemic is economic activities in the service sector, such as banking, tourism, and other service companies (Pohan et al., 2020; Sembiring et al., 2020; Yanti et al., 2020), According to that, Well explain how does the employee engagement change with the Pandemic & how does the Banking industry changed there HRM strategic accordingly.

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    1. Hi Shazna. Thank you. Further, employees can be more passionate about this pandemic. Employee engagement became a very popular managerial construct during the past two decades. Organisations use different engagement building tools to stay competitive and improve performance (Situation.D Dajani, MA Zaki - 2015).

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