Many banks claim to put people first, yet few have walked the talk quite like Security Bank. Guided by its mission to enrich lives, empower businesses, and build communities sustainably, the institution puts customers and its own people at the heart of everything it does. 

With accolades like being on Forbes’ World’s Best Employers list (ranked #2 in the Philippines and #54 globally); HR Leader of the Year and Excellence in Workplace Wellbeing-Silver (HR Excellence Awards); Diversity Champion and Talent Insights Pioneer (LinkedIn Talent Awards); and Workplace Wellness Award-Philippines (ESGBusiness Awards), there's solid evidence that focusing on people has led to concrete outcomes.

To gain more insight into how they achieved this, we chat with Security Bank’s Chief People Officer, Nerissa Berba.

Berba explains that ”YOU matter” is the Bank’s employee value proposition (EVP). It reflects their commitment to ensure the well-being of their employees who deliver BetterBanking service to customers and other stakeholders.

YOU matter consists of six pillars: Listen, Flexibility, Appreciate, Care, Enable, Purpose. In pursuit of these, the Bank actively seeks ways to provide opportunities for employees to resonate with each one. Through these pillars, they instill confidence in their most valuable asset—the employees.

Enable

Berba came in during the peak of the pandemic in 2020. Driven by the need to maximize employee time when working from home, provide them value, skill them up, as well as improve Net Promoter Score (NPS), the Bank decided to invest in digital learning.

“We knew the pandemic would take longer. We needed to skill up our employees through a partnership with LinkedIn Learning. It started in 2020 but would roll out in 2021.”

Through its partnership with LinkedIn Learning, employees can handpick online courses, ranging in topics from professional to personal. The program grants access to more than 16,000 courses. There are courses to get to know the bank for new hires, mandated courses for all employees, professional and personal development courses, even some related to hobbies.

“Many liked it because they can choose to learn any time, any place. It’s available for all, with no distinction in rank,” Berba said.

In the last year, the Bank also launched HeRO (HCM Employee Resources Online), its employee platform. HeRO transformed the Bank by digitizing of manual workstreams and HR functions, enabling integration, simplification, automation, and mobility, which future-proofs the business. With its mobile functionality, it also allows easy access to frequent transactions and approvals on the move, making hybrid management easier. 

Listen

With these initiatives well-received, the company needed ideas on what to initiate next. Of course, who else better to hear from than their own staff?

“We also invested in Glint, Microsoft’s engagement platform. We use it to pulse our employees and get feedback. If you work in a local organization, it’s rare for employees to get a chance to speak up. This system allows them to respond to the survey anonymously and provide candid feedback. It also allows respondents to add comments if they want to provide more details regarding their score. This platform measures how engaged our employees are.” 

This system allows the Bank to assess the wellbeing of their employees and identify any work-related problems to solve. Because both Glint and LinkedIn are part Microsoft, managers who get at least five responses can access their own dashboard. Using artificial intelligence, LinkedIn Learning can recommend online courses that can help improve areas that score low or need attention. The company also diligently monitors the progress and status of issues. And the speed with which they’re addressed gives the employees more trust in the process.

Flexibility

If there’s one insight the pandemic provided, it’s the advantage of a flexible work arrangement. “We  have embraced a role-based, hybrid work arrangement not common for local banks. Employees based at our Head Office need not come to work every day given they can perform tasks at home, especially when they need to focus. However, collaboration is key across the organization, so there are days when people must come on premise to meet with their stakeholders. Of course, those that work in the branches must work on prem. Flexibility is one of the things employees look for—we’re proud to be one of those innovative companies operating in a hybrid environment,” said Berba.

Care

Employees’ physical health is vital. The Bank’s online learning library also includes various health and wellness topics. The company also operates a Viva Engage page where they can talk about health and wellness, related seminars, blood donation drives, HMOs, and even vendors for exercise equipment or classes to encourage employees to stay fit. 

The company also offers fitness classes, Zumba, yoga, and even discounted gym membership. There’s an annual on-site physical examination. The company even goes one step further by providing support in the event of personal loss with death assistance for employees and dependents, or assistance for medical expenses and losses from calamities. 

Such life events can also have deeper, unseen effects. As such, the institution offers employees ways to schedule a chat or call with a trained psychologist to process or even test for things, all of which are paid for by the company.

Appreciate

The positives don’t end there. Security Bank also hopes to more accurately tailor rewards and benefits to address individual needs and is currently working on offering flexible benefits. 

“Depending on your life stage, your needs vary. If you’re single, you may want to travel more; but if you’re married, you may need more dependent coverage. The employee will have the ability to choose which benefits will be more appropriate depending on his/her needs,” explains Berba.

Benefits provided will have a corresponding value. For example, each employee gets 15 days’ worth of leave. Rather than taking these leaves, an employee can forego four days’ worth of leave in exchange for buying an additional medical insurance. 

This allows employees to work toward something that may be more valuable to them than simply finances or time off.

“We have also recently introduced a reward and recognition platform we call Cheers. This allows employees and managers to give points to their peers or other members of the Bank. This is to ensure that we acknowledge and reinforce good behavior. Employees can convert points to items from Lazada, Shopee, and other stores.” 

Purpose

All these improvements geared towards employee satisfaction and well-being is in line with the Bank’s focus on customer-centricity.

“We want to be the Employer of Choice. You cannot externally announce you are a customer-centric bank if you are not taking care of your employees,” she says. “Our attrition this year is lower. Our value proposition, YOU Matter, our initiatives, and people practices, are making employees realize we’re one of the few who really look after our people.”

Take care of your people, and your people will take care of you, they say. It’s no wonder that Security Bank’s employee programs are strengthening the company’s brand. 

“Happy employees also result in referrals. They are our number one source for bringing in talent. We keep getting better because of feedback and employees appreciate the changes. Our ability to get awards is a testament that employees are saying good things about the Bank,” Berba adds.