Case study: How Bangkok Bank promotes employee development
Bangkok Bank is a leading commercial bank in Thailand, providing a complete range of financial services. Seeing employees as invaluable human capital and a vital factor for elevating the Bank’s capabilities, Bangkok Bank places great importance on empowering employees with the knowledge and skills necessary for achieving future business growth Tweet This!, by providing regular training and development for employees in every position, in every department.
This case study is based on the 2018 Sustainability Report by Bangkok Bank published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Bangkok Bank seeks to make sure its employees are quality personnel equipped with the skill sets, knowledge and expertise to cope with change and provide the foundation for the Bank’s sustainable growth. In order to promote employee development Bangkok Bank took action to:
- provide a digital learning platform
- launch the Transformative Leadership Project
- organise the Knowledge Day Forum
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Bangkok Bank has identified;
- How Bangkok Bank proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Bangkok Bank to promote employee development
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2018 Sustainability Report Bangkok Bank identified a range of material issues, such as customer satisfaction, economic performance, data protection and customer confidentiality, responsible lending. Among these, promoting employee development stands out as a key material issue for Bangkok Bank.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Bangkok Bank engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Shareholders and investors
| · Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting · Disclosure of information in the Annual Registration Statement, Annual Report, and Sustainability Report in print or electronic form · 55 meetings with investors and stock analysts in 2018 · 123 conference calls with investors and stock analysts in 2018 (including calls made after announcement of performance results) · 15 meetings with investors in 2018 |
| Customers | · Conduct customer satisfaction survey every year · Organise activities throughout the year to promote relationships between the Bank and its customers · Organise training and seminars to provide knowledge and financial advice regarding savings, trade and investment throughout the year · Visit customers in accordance with year-round appointment schedules to strengthen relationships and accommodate their needs · Receive complaints and provide services through the Bank’s Phone Banking Centre or website, 24 hours a day |
| Employees | · Organise orientation for new hires · Organise an annual meeting with executives from units nationwide to announce the Bank’s policy · Conduct an annual survey on executives’ satisfaction levels with the performance of the Human Resource Division · Assign a team of staff members to represent the Bank at scheduled weekly meetings with the Bangkok Bank Managerial Officers Union, and Bangkok Bank Workers Union · Disseminate information to all staff in the “Our News” internal newspaper · Disseminate daily announcements, news, and information about interesting activities on the Bank’s intranet “BBL Connect”, internal e-mail, and public address system · Evaluate the performance of staff |
| Counterparties
| · Meet with new vendors (or with existing vendors when new contracts are signed) to listen to their suggestions and clarify protocols for working together · Communicate in writing to inform vendors of every significant change to the Bank’s relevant rules · Hold meetings with vendors at least once a year to hear their opinions and give suggestions for improving their products and services |
| Creditors
| · Disseminate accurate information on a regular basis · Communicate about the Bank’s products and services through mass media and advertising with comprehensive coverage · Receive suggestions and complaints through the Bank’s call centre or website, 24 hours a day |
| Industry peers
| · Participate as a member of the Thai Bankers’ Association, and gain opportunities to exchange opinions with other member banks every month · Participate as a member of various associations and clubs |
| Community, society and environment
| · Produce weekly television programmes to share knowledge of financial and business management with the general public and with businesses · Continue to organise community, social and environmental activities · Receive suggestions and complaints through the call centre or website, 24 hours a day |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Bangkok Bank surveyed stakeholders, including shareholders and investors, customers, counterparties, creditors, communities, society, environmental interests and industry peers, using a questionnaire and obtaining 292 responses.
What actions were taken by Bangkok Bank to promote employee development?
In its 2018 Sustainability Report Bangkok Bank reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee development:
- Providing a digital learning platform
- Bangkok Bank seeks to build a culture of Learning Agility for Bank employees through the “Professional Living through Agile Learning” project and a self-learning, skills-building process on a digital learning platform, in order to be ready for intensifying competition in the banking industry. Accordingly, the Bank has selected 900 employees from all functions to undergo online training on a digital learning platform that provides more than 400 courses. Participants can take courses and repeat the same courses for better understanding as often as they want. To promote learning in this project, the Bank has conferred recognition awards on participating employees with the highest training hours and number of courses, and to employees who review their lessons, learn constantly and share the knowledge earned with others the most.
- Launching the Transformative Leadership Project
- Bangkok Bank has initiated the Transformative Leadership Project to encourage managerial employees or team leaders to initiate or try new things given the environment they face and the resources they have, while building morale, enthusiasm, and commitment to make changes in the team in order to achieve desired goals. The project includes a wide range of activities, such as training, workshops, presentation of projects designed to drive behavioural change in the team to achieve goals, coaching by experienced people, project monitoring, experience sharing, and giving feedback.
- Organising the Knowledge Day Forum
- Bangkok Bank organised the “Knowledge Day Forum: Cultivate Innovative Thinking” event for managerial and operational employees from all areas of the Bank. The Forum’s purpose was to learn about the concept of creation and how to use innovation from experts and successful entrepreneurs, create awareness of innovation, and stimulate the creative thinking and enthusiasm of employees in suggesting ways for improving working processes or creating new products and services. The event was held during September 13-14, 2018, with 1,365 participants. The Bank invited innovation experts and successful entrepreneurs to share their knowledge and experience, with participants also joining a gamification activity, a technique for learning by playing games. Additionally, Bangkok Bank organised training for 120 executives and staff to build awareness and understanding in sustainable development as well as in the Bank’s role in enhancing and supporting undertakings to uphold sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. Content from the training was further developed into an e-Learning curriculum, so that it was widely accessible to employees.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee
2) Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs
Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
- Business theme: Employee training and education
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
- Business theme: Gender equality
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Business theme: Employee training and education
Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Business theme: Employee training and education
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Bangkok Bank, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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