Standard Chartered: Here for people

A Great Place to Work. This simple tagline neatly sums up Standard Chartered’s philosophy towards its human capital. Engagement is a key driver of its performance culture and the bank has a variety of programmes and initiatives in place to ensure that employees develop the capabilities to reach their maximum potential.

Standard Chartered’s HR focus is on providing the right employee experience, says David Thomas, the bank’s Global Head of Country HR. “It is all about creating a motivated and highly engaged, diverse and inclusive work environment that attracts the right talent for the right roles.”

The Bank has also been expanding rapidly, increasing its headcount from 35,000 to 85,000 in the past seven years. The market is getting tougher and there is a need to develop and retain good leadership talent, especially in emerging markets like India and China, Thomas adds.

Taking control

Employees who see a long-term future in their organisation are more likely to stay loyal and committed. However, staff development is not the sole responsibility of HR. At Standard Chartered, employees are encouraged to take charge of their own personal development.

Those working in the Consumer Banking division for example, have access to an online career planning tool called Excelerate, which features more than 140 career paths over 100 roles and 10 business functions. “It encourages staff to have a long-term view of their career within the bank, plan their development in line with their aspirations and have quality conversations with their line managers and regional HR managers,” Thomas says. It helps employees prepare for the required capabilities to assume both their aspired roles and the intermediate roles leading to them, when the opportunity arises.

In addition, the tool also enables line managers to drive performance by helping employees build the relevant role capabilities through available learning opportunities and coaching, Thomas says. “We show employees that they can follow non-traditional paths, pursue their genuine interests and use individual strengths.”

Grooming great managers

Research has shown that a line manager’s behaviour is often directly related to employee engagement, job satisfaction and performance. We are very aware that people leave managers, not organisations, Thomas says. “Therefore, it is important for us to ensure employee engagement is at the forefront of our minds and our focus is on helping them become the best leaders in the market.” Standard Chartered’s latest results on employee engagement have shown a consecutive increase for the past three years. “This is genuinely linked to the sponsorship and leadership of management teams across our markets, helping us to create a real competitive advantage,” Thomas says.

Standard Chartered introduced its Great Manager Programme in 2007 to improve the way people managers engage their teams for higher performance. Its main aim is to encourage managers to have conversations with their teams about their development, performance and strengths. The programme is applicable to all people managers regardless of their years of experience.

The programme is delivered through podcasts, workshops and online learning. Some of the topics covered include Developing People and Careers, Engaging for Performance and Making Performance Conversations Count. Almost 10,000 managers at the bank have attended the programme to date.

The Development and Networking Alliance is another HR initiative at Standard Chartered that aims to help high potential employees increase their leadership capabilities, through group mentoring. Led by senior leaders, the programme encourages employees to learn from each other instead of merely through formal training or on-the-job training. “Both mentors and mentees benefit and develop their leadership capability through getting inspired and learning from other alliance members,” Thomas says.

Lasting between six to nine months, this group mentoring programme also serves as a useful platform for development and networking across different business functions. “It widens an individual’s exposure and stimulates their thinking about work and life experiences through a series of self-driven interactive meetings,” Thomas explains.

Bringing in new blood

Attracting new talent into the organisation is another critical component of HR strategy and Standard Chartered is constantly on the lookout for the best and brightest in the market. Driving this effort is its International Graduate Programme (IGP) which seeks out candidates from a variety of degree disciplines for Business Functions across the organisation.

During the course of the programme, graduates receive the opportunity to work on diverse team projects, testing their ability to work with people from different backgrounds. They are placed on a series of rotations that exposes them to different areas within their chosen function.

During induction, graduates are also given the opportunity to tap into the experience of guest speakers from different geographies, industries and specialist fields to gain a better understanding of how the business works. “With any recruitment procedure, it’s not just about us finding the right fit for the bank. Future employees have the opportunity to ‘self-select’ and decide if our culture is the right fit for them,” says Thomas.

The IGP strongly encourages graduates to form international networks within the company. This can become useful, for example, when dealing with international clients at any level. Another example is the bank’s “Action Learning Project” (ALP), where Senior leaders invite and sponsor teams of graduates to conduct their own research and give ideas regarding any area of strategic importance for the bank. The winning team is given an opportunity to personally present to Peter Sands, Standard Chartered’s Group CEO and the bank’s Group Management Committee.