Webinar on performance management

I'm grateful to Ma'am Faiza Tasneem(Associate CIPD) for giving me the opportunity to host a webinar on performance management. It took place on Thursday, May 19th 2022.

Shozab Abbas joined us as the guest speaker. He is a CFA Charter holder, currently working with Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai as the associate director - global markets. Prior to this he has worked at Dubai Islamic Bank, UBL, and several other organizations in Pakistan, UAE and some other GCC countries. He has around 12 years of experience in the financial markets. Shozab did his BSc in math and economics from LUMS, and CFA from CFA Institute.

The session was very informative. We started the discussion with the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the world, especially on the banking sector. COVID-19 has generated significant instability and high volatility in global capital markets. The financial sector has been one of the most affected, with bank valuations dropping in all countries around the world. The world went into lockdown and all business shifted online. A lot of credit defaults were happening at that time and some people took advantage of that, but it was short lived (3-6 months). UAE handled the COVID situation really well. The criteria for bonuses has not changed much. There’s an overall shift in how companies are thinking, in the sense that now a lot of other factors play a role, such as ESG, diversity, etc. Making the most money is no longer one of the primary drivers of businesses. The shift had been coming in for some time and COVID-19 simply accelerated it.

Employee motivation and engagement was also discussed. Team work is one of the factors of employee motivation. Due to COVID, a lot of people had to go on sick leaves and that’s when team work benefitted the employees. Many of them were working from home. Strong communication between them strengthened the team and made them more effective and efficient. Good performance is always rewarded. Employee motivation is defined as getting employees to achieve their best work. The conventional function of motivation, which was to persuade employees to achieve at their highest level of productivity, is rapidly changing. In order to ensure corporate citizenship, motivation has become increasingly vital. The modern business environment is influenced by fierce rivalry and technological advancements that affect what is important to an individual employee. Employers must recognize that a narrow portfolio of motivational reasons will not be enough to keep their personnel motivated. Standard Chartered Bank uses the modern function of motivation for their employees. Monetary incentives are given, promotions and job development opportunities are given. Performance appraisals and 360 degree review and feedback is also done which gives a very clear and fair picture of the employee’s performance. A performance management challenge faced by SCB is rewarding an employee not just for the work they’ve done but also rewarding them for the productivity they bring to the team. Previously, KPIs were based on revenue only, but now they are also based on ESG, diversity, doing the right thing, and your behavior in relation to the goals of the organization.

Fresh graduates are hired on not just the basis of their academic qualifications, but also those people are given preference who are a good fit for the culture of the organization, those who have done volunteer work and certifications, and those who can contribute to the revenue of the bank, and also the ones who make the bank’s culture better. The aim of SCB is to become better from a money making perspective as well as a global citizen perspective. A lot of learning took place during this webinar and I got to know how important of a role organizational culture plays in the motivation, retention, and engagement of employees. Overall it was a successful session.?