Singapore – The HR function at ABN AMRO is translating its talent plans into “concrete action” as the Dutch bank plans to double the number of private bankers it has in Asia within five years.
In order to help the business succeed in Asia, the HR function needs to establish the right corporate culture and focus on key areas such as workforce development. This is the advice Peter Schut, global head of human resources (HR) at ABN AMRO Private Banking, has for HR practitioners in Singapore.
“From there, you need to assume that you have your overall HR plan which includes your [organisation’s] business goals, and it is important to translate that into concrete action,” Schut said.
Schut said the bank has recognised that it has to “establish the highest standards of knowledge, skills and behaviours among private bankers” if it wants to “solidify trust and deepen” client relationships.
Schut said it was important to certify private bankers because it would help them better understand the financial delivery, culture and services they need to provide to clients.
ABN-AMRO aims to meet customer needs with a dedicated, fully-trained and thriving team of staff. It’s a lofty goal, but an attainable one.
Quality employee training should be a crucial aspect of every company’s expansion plans, especially for companies with a large client base, such as banks. In this day and age when many businesses are people-driven, HR managers will have to keep their employees on top of their game, with up-to-date skills and knowledge that helps them to rise above the competition in the saturated labour market.
But mass-training employees is easier said than done. A common complaint of employees would be that such training opportunities are already uncommon. On top of that, when a course is planned and vacancies open up, they are snapped up quickly because of delays in relaying the information to the administration and the time needed to process the application forms.
This makes mandatory employee training difficult, especially if there is a fixed quota of courses an employee has to attend each year, as there usually is in larger organizations. The sheer lack of accommodation in courses means many employees have to settle for courses they do not have an interest in just to meet the quota. This is unproductive and a waste of time, money and important human resource.
To ensure employees meet company goals, and to establish trustworthy standards of knowledge and performance, there has to be a human resource software or system in place to allow employees to be able to attend courses and training programmes that train them appropriately and competently.
Here’s the HR solution: a software system that allows employees to view company training plans, organizational needs, and a full schedule of upcoming courses that employees can sign up for without hassle.
This would bypass administrative lag, cutting down on the mismatch between employees and training opportunities. Employees are given the power of choice, and it would prevent a bottleneck in registration, where eligible employees are shunted to courses they do not find useful and hence are unable to grow from them.
On top of that, course outlines and objectives will be uploaded and included in the system, so that employees can prepare themselves for their upcoming courses.
Along the way, employees are also able to consistently check in with their superiors regarding their progress. Using learning evaluation forms, superiors can assess how much their employees have learned, and to determine the usefulness of the course in upgrading employees’ skills and knowledge.
This makes both employee and employer happy: the employee is given the opportunity to improve his performance, and to therefore be eligible for performance rewards, and he or she would also fulfill the mandatory quota for courses. Employer, on the other hand, would also be satisfied: successful mass-training of employees would mean one step closer to the thriving talent-driven company that would mean a world of difference to clients.
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