The Bank's People

Our people strategy is to deliver excellence in customer service through ‘Engaged people who are empowered, motivated and skilled to deliver’. During the year, we have completed a number of activities as part of our people engagement strategy.

• Improvement in the Bank’s OH&S systems, to achieve a culture where workplace behaviours ensure the safety and health of all employees, contractors and customers, is a continuing priority.
• The Bank’s performance management system provides managers and team members with an opportunity to engage in regular conversations about job performance. The system has been aligned more closely with the Bank’s customer service and business objectives. Performance is measured against workplace behaviours as well as business outcomes. The relationship between individual and team performance and recognition and reward has also been strengthened.
• A program of process simplification is underway which draws on the techniques from ‘Lean Manufacturing’ and ‘Six Sigma’. These methods support employee engagement by encouraging staff participation in the improvement of work systems which can reduce cycle times and costs.
• The Bank has continued to use employee equity plans aligned to shareholder interests. One example is the Employee Share Acquisition Plan, which provides staff with a grant of up to $1,000 worth of free shares if the Bank meets its overall performance targets. In eight of the last nine years, an annual grant of shares has been offered to staff. In respect of the year just ended all eligible employees will receive shares to the value of $1,000.
• The Bank’s performance and remuneration systems are reviewed regularly to ensure good quality people continue to be attracted to the Bank and motivated to excel in customer service.
• Talent management systems have been enhanced. The role of the Manager one Removed has been simplified while executive reviews of talent have been broadened to enrich the assessment of potential high performers.
• The Bank’s leadership program has been comprehensively redesigned to support the Bank’s People Principles.
• As a committed Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer, the Bank has enhanced the quality and accessibility of its EEO resources. It has also introduced a specialist EEO investigations stream into the Fair Treatment Review system. The absence of a difference in responses from male and female staff in the Bank’s annual employee workplace (Gallup) survey suggests that the Bank’s people engagement strategies are contributing to an inclusive workplace culture.
• The Bank has conducted a twice yearly performance culture survey which measures progress against cultural aspirations which were defined as part of the Which new Bank program.
• The Bank has continued to support its extensive range of flexible working practices – for example, part-time work, job share, career break and 12 weeks paid maternity leave.
  

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