At CIB, we know that people are our most valuable asset and the cornerstone of our success. Due to our commitment to integrity, innovation, hard work, and diversity, Forbes named CIB one of the best employers in the Middle East in 2021. To sustain this, we continue to seek the best calibers in the market to take our business forward, and we develop, empower, and invest in our employees to provide them with rewarding career paths. In the years to come, CIB will adopt digital tools and solutions in response to global shifts in the field of HR, allowing us to propose enhancements that will help us develop comprehensive strategic workforce planning.
2021 Highlights
Talent Acquisition and Career Mobility
Since the onset of the pandemic, CIB has transformed all hiring processes to virtual formats, including entrance assessments and interviews, internal promotions, and internal hiring—an approach that will continue into 2022. Despite the pandemic, CIB hired 1,030 employees, encouraged the internal mobility of 1,422 employees, and promoted 559 others, in line with its strategy to encourage career mobility within the Bank.
Despite social distancing measures, CIB continued to carry out HR activities and participated in seven virtual employment fairs and local events. We also held four virtual sessions under ‘Tawarny’ initiative, which began in 2018 to help university students practice mock HR interviews and provide them with tips to enter the workforce. Through this initiative, we reached out to 400 students across the country, identifying qualified candidates in numerous governorates to drive job creation and career development for Egyptian youth.
Business Enablement and Skills Development
In 2021, HR launched numerous training tracks for employees, including virtual training programs and specialized tracks to cover employees’ training needs and empower them to achieve their goals. HR was able to deliver more than 200,000 virtual training hours to 5,685 employees, in addition to more than 108,000 digital training hours delivered to 6,944 employees. Newly introduced digital learning tracks were utilized by more than 90% of CIB employees. HR delivered more than 40 e-learning modules, in the form of videos and slides, with an average participation rate of 78% during the year. Over 36 unconventional training programs, provided by international vendors, were offered to 6,000 employees to provide them with constant development and enhance their technical skills and abilities.
In 2021, specialized learning tracks were catered to various segments of the business, which included, but were not limited to, the following programs:
Control Functions: HR invested heavily in training programs dedicated to control functions, such as risk, audit, and compliance, in partnership with the CBE. Over 93% of employees in these departments received tailored learning tracks to boost their technical knowledge. CIB became the first bank in Egypt to award the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) certificate—the global standard certification in financial risk— to five employees in the Risk Department.
Information and Cyber Security: HR tailored a specialized learning track to upgrade employees’ cyber security capabilities, with 81% of employees in the Information and Cyber Security Departments now trained to protect customers’ assets, allowing the Bank to maintain a resilient cyber security environment.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Academy: In light of the global role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and their contribution to global economic development, HR continued to conduct its exclusive SME Academy; 40 trainers delivered modules to help the Bank meet its SME and business banking strategies. Three rounds of the track were conducted over 400 virtual training hours and delivered to 39 employees, including 40 assessments, and five role plays and engaging activities.
International Certifications: In 2021, more than 180 employees were offered international certifications in line with their business objectives, allowing employees to align their skills with the best international practices.
Furthermore, integrating competency evaluations with the performance management system was one of the Bank’s key priorities in 2021. The fundamental basis of the competency-based approach is to understand the key competencies within any role and within CIB as a whole, while looking at the settings in which some individuals perform better than others. This will take place by understanding what skills high-performers possess; taking stock of the behaviors they demonstrate compared to less highlyperforming individuals who fulfill the same type of work; defining the critical performance differentiators and setting them as the development template; and then helping develop and manage employees against a high-performance template.
Going forward, our skills development and talent management strategy will focus on linking all past efforts into one comprehensive system that interrelates all talent management initiatives. The strategy will set customized personal development plans, employ rounds of identifying successors, and identify high performers. As such, both HR and stakeholders within each line of business will be able to identify gaps and work on personalized development plans to create a solid talent pool.
Social, Sustainable, and Responsible Banking
HR developed several initiatives in 2021 to help CIB become a more socially responsible bank, including but not limited to:
Africa Expansion and CIB – East Africa Analyst Program: Following CIB’s targeted expansion across Africa, the HR division sought to replicate the success of its talent and development programs across the continent. HR established a development program for African professionals in the banking sector, exposing them to various development opportunities. In 2021, after a thorough selection process, 19 African delegates from Uganda and Kenya graduated from the newly customized “East Africa Analyst Program” that was introduced in 2020. The nine-month program was conducted mostly virtually, with two months of in-office training in Egypt held to apply learned skills into practice. Nine African delegates from the program were successfully hired in the Mayfair CIB Bank, which is a reflection of CIB’s commitment and dedication to the continent.
Sustainability Framework: HR tailored a dedicated training program to raise awareness about the importance of sustainability in the CIB Analyst Program and SME Academy, becoming the first Egyptian bank to integrate a sustainability session into its training programs, which engages employees in the process of sustainable growth.
CIB Summer Internship: As part of CIB’s social commitment to youth development, HR integrated financial inclusion modules into the 2021 summer training program. Despite the pandemic, the summer training program was successfully delivered virtually to 10,986 undergraduates from 60 public and private universities across 24 governorates. The program consisted of more than 100 virtual training sessions to provide a comprehensive view about financial inclusion, its products, and services. Participants were encouraged to use Meeza cards and smart wallets products to raise awareness about financial inclusion. Notably, 60% of the undergraduates who attended the training program were women.
Employee Engagement and Enablement
During 2021, CIB’s strategy continued to focus on promoting organizational effectiveness by improving engagement and enablement levels and enhancing HR’s value proposition through the following initiatives:
HR Help Desk and COVID-19 Vaccination Hubs: In 2021, the HR Help Desk continued to play a crucial role in CIB’s crisis management plan to ensure effective, accurate, and smooth communication with all employees during the pandemic as the sole focal point for HR-related inquiries. In coordination with the Crisis Management Team, the HR Help Desk played a significant role in coordinating and setting up CIB vaccination hubs, where approximately 2,000 employees and their families were vaccinated against COVID-19 to foster a safe environment for employees.
Employee Wellness Program: In line with CIB’s strategy to help employees manage their stress levels, improve productivity, and promote mental health, HR introduced a workplace counseling service. The service provides employees with integrated wellbeing and mental health support to promote a more secure environment and balanced work life.
Flexible Work Arrangement (FWA): In 2020, CIB introduced the FWA Program based on the Bank’s strategic direction to adopt a flexible workplace and adapt to the global digital transformation trend. The aim of the program is to ensure a safe work environment for employees; enhance levels of satisfaction, engagement, loyalty, and commitment; and promote gender equality. In the first quarter of 2021, the pilot phase of the program was completed, with 10% of eligible employees enrolled and a 97% satisfaction rate. A total of 46% of eligible functions/ employees were enrolled by the end of 2021.
Employee Effectiveness Survey (EES): In 2021, CIB launched the fifth Employee Effectiveness Survey (EES) with a 90% response rate compared to 92% in 2018. The engagement level, measured by employee loyalty, pride, and willingness to go the extra mile for the Bank, reached 67% in 2021 compared to 63% in 2018. The enablement level (measured by the degree to which employees experienced an environment that fosters engagement) reached 57% compared to 52% in 2018. Action plans for key focus areas were also developed to continue enhancing CIB’s effectiveness profile in the coming years.
Gender Equality Initiatives
At CIB, we are strongly committed to equality, inclusion, and diversity. We are keen to promote equal opportunities and ensure our employees are treated with dignity and respect. This allows us to attract and retain a diverse workforce and create a work environment where everyone feels valued and can perform at their best. We are currently focused on our gender equality initiatives, as they play a strategic role in promoting social development, expanding economic growth, and establishing a more stable and just organization.
Helmik Yehmena: Building on what was accomplished in 2020, HR launched the second phase of the program in 2021, consisting of an online developmental program. The program aims to encourage young female talents in the Upper Egypt and Delta regions to join the workforce. It supports women through short training programs, which first started in South Valley and Port Said Universities, to enable women to discover and expand their untapped potential and equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to become members of CIB. We met with more than 200 females, around 50 of whom underwent a selection process, with the top 12 selected to enter the program.
She is Back: She is Back helps mothers in their transition back to work after maternity leave. Women are informed of any external or internal changes that affect both the Bank and their own respective roles during their absence. In 2021, one round was organized for more than 20 women.
Egypt Gender Equity Seal (EGES): CIB completed Egypt’s Gender Equity Seal (EGES) certification by the National Council of Women (NCW) and the World Bank. The EGES certification process promotes gender equity in the private sector by building a series of practices in recruitment, career development, work-life balance, and harassment policies. It is guided by the World Bank’s Gender Equity model, which identifies the areas of focus and maps out the needed actions to accomplish the model’s objectives in each area.
Women in Tech: In 2021, CIB launched the second phase of the Women in Tech Program that was introduced in 2019. The aim of the program is to address the gender gap in the Bank’s technology departments and build up talented women to work in these divisions. 12 female graduates had the opportunity to join the program, in which they rotated in various technology-related departments: IT, Security and Resilience Management, and Global Transaction and Digital Banking. They were also introduced to big data analytics.
FWA for Women: Women’s empowerment was one of the main objectives of the newly introduced FWA program, which gives mothers with infant children the opportunity to work from home before applying for unpaid leave. This promotes gender equality, allowing a higher percentage of women’s representation in different levels in the organization.
Reward Management
CIB’s compensation philosophy is based on rewarding and recognizing exceptional performance. It reflects our commitment to present a unique value proposition to not only attain and engage employees, but to also attract the best talent in the market. In 2021, CIB maintained its competitive variable pay program, which links each department’s performance to how it contributes to the organization’s overall performance to ensure consistent distribution is aligned with the Bank’s strategy. This mechanism leads to a culture of transparency, reward appropriation, and fair compensation. CIB benchmarks its compensation and benefits offerings against local and regional players to strengthen its value proposition and enhance employee enablement and satisfaction.
Automation
On-going automation initiatives continued in 2021, with HR automating several processes, including, but not limited to, introducing automated tools to calculate employees’ annual taxes, accessing loan statements, and updating all mandated and required employee data to strengthen the Know Your Employee (KYE) program. CIB also introduced a robust HR ticketing system to help streamline operations to manage and resolve issues quickly, which enhanced overall employee experience and enablement. CIB will continue to build on these automation initiatives to adopt better, more integrated, and innovative solutions with functional capabilities to improve productivity and efficiency.