Al-Ablani: NBK Group HR continued building a diverse and future-ready workplace in 2023
Support to educational infrastructure, women’s empowerment initiatives and sustainability vision
KUWAIT: 2023 marked another year of excellence for National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), by achieving strong growth and receiving prestigious awards, fostering its leading position in regional and international markets. Group Human Resources, being at the heart of NBK system, played a pivotal role in achieving success this year by accomplishing many goals, all of which supported the provision of a dynamic work environment and unlimited learning opportunities, in addition to an atmosphere that encourages innovation.
Commenting on this year’s recap, Emad Al-Ablani, GM – Head of Group Human Resources at National Bank of Kuwait said, “During the past year, we succeeded in achieving all of our interim goals, which aimed to continue promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace, as well as attracting and developing national talent.”
“Over the course of 2023, Group Human Resources team led initiatives to automate and optimize human capital management processes and utilize data to provide analytics to improve decision-making, in addition to developing the educational infrastructure and expanding career development programs. To this end, the bank invested KD 1.6 million in training programs organized in partnership with globally renowned universities and institutes,” Al-Ablani mentioned.
“In 2023, we worked to foster a work environment raising the slogan “More Than a Workplace” to promote employee well-being, in addition to working tirelessly to support the bank’s sustainability vision with many measures including intensive training programs with 3,000 training hours on sustainability awareness, sustainable finance, and climate risk management,” he noted.
“The strategic priorities of Group Human Resources are to build a bank that is always ready for the future by implementing many tools and plans, including the introduction of a new comprehensive concept for workforce management in response to customers’ changing needs and to promote corporate culture among employees,” he indicated.
Talent development
Talent management has effectively contributed to maintaining the path of human resources development and providing career development opportunities for employees aspiring to leadership roles by organizing many lectures and workshops in partnership with globally reputable universities.
The group also continued its initiatives to increase employee engagement, including the interactive “Your Voice Matters 2023” employee engagement survey, which saw the participation of more than 5,000 employees, scoring a response rate of 86 percent. The survey aimed to further improve work environment, and was followed by workshops to implement and discuss its results.
2023 also saw the launch of “NBK Tech Academy”, which is the first of its kind in Kuwait, focusing on digital and data technologies. It is a professional training program to prepare and qualify young Kuwaiti talents to join the banking sector. NBK Academy was established in 2008, and after 28 successful waves and more than 190 active graduates.
This year also witnessed the graduation of the first cohort of NBK RISE, a Global Women Leadership initiative designed to elevate talented women to more significant leadership roles. The cohort included 21 participants and achieved impressive success and powerful impact in the business community in Kuwait. Moreover, NBK organized a series of masterclasses for employees, covering several important topics, including innovation and leadership, effective communication and negotiation skills, as well as the NBK High-Fliers program.
Training and development
During 2023, Training and Development Department continued to develop the educational infrastructure by promoting an open and comprehensive training process groupwide, in addition to expanding and digitizing the capabilities of the new design of training, both general and functional, to ensure sustainable and effective knowledge management that opens long-term career prospects for all employees within the group.
During the year, NBK employees received a total of 190,000 training hours, with 3,000 participants. The Training and Development Department offers an advanced training process accessible to all employees, regardless of location or job title. The bank’s educational platform, Hub NBK Learning, provides a wide range of learning content spanning various behavioral and managerial topics. One key advantage of this platform is that it allows managers to directly observe the learning process and access the learning dashboard for their respective teams. Additionally, it provides supplementary training materials to assist managers in supporting their employees’ learning journeys.
Furthermore, Group Human Resources’ Training and Development Department completely revamped “Moody’s Credit Curriculum” program to keep pace with the latest changing business needs and trends. The duration was increased from 2 to 5 months, including around 1 month in the training halls, and 23 hours of e-learning courses, in addition to integrating workshops on the practical application of skills across the program to expand trainees’ knowledge and skills.
Talent acquisition
Guided by the firm conviction that building a dynamic workforce is instrumental to sustain its future growth and foster a sustainable economy, NBK continued its historic role in attracting, recruiting and upskilling national talent.
During the year, NBK hired 403 new recruits, 85.4 percent of them are Kuwaitis, with Kuwaitization ratio reaching 76.7 percent. In addition, the percentage of Kuwaitis in managerial positions increased to 69.2 percent of total managers.
NBK is an employer of choice that offers equal opportunities and embraces diversity in the workplace. In addition, NBK’s recruitment strategy is based on attracting, training and developing young national talent through the best-in-class programs to help them build a successful career that qualifies them to take on future leading roles in the bank. This makes NBK the private sector employer of choice for Kuwaiti fresh graduates.
Within its endeavors to uphold a high Kuwaitization rate, NBK participates in many career fairs, which reached eight career fairs in 2023. It also continues to prioritize hiring national talent, and making recruitment in some fields exclusive for Kuwaitis, in addition to partnership with many universities to provide training and development to national talent.
NBK’s participation in career fairs during 2023 represented a unique experience and revolutionized recruitment by making it more dynamic and suitable for the Millennials at the bank’s pavilion through NBK VirtuGate using the high-tech Augmented Reality (AR) technology to provide an experience that fully simulates the work environment at NBK HQ.
NBK also follows a unique approach to ensure equal opportunities, by offering all employees, with no exception, equal opportunities, as reflected in the female employment ratio standing at 44.3 percent of total workforce, and 29.7 percent of senior management positions.
Employee wellbeing
Reflecting its firm belief that employees are its most valuable resource, NBK places substantial emphasis on supporting employees and improving their physical and mental health. In this context, and to foster a healthy work environment, NBK provides a fitness gym equipped with the latest exercise equipment, which is open for employees, before, after and even during working hours for their convenience under the supervision of highclass trainers, aligning with the bank’s initiatives to raise health awareness and promote a healthy lifestyle.
NBK also provides a well-equipped clinic managed by Wara Hospital, which provides medical checkups, tests, and onsite visits by specialized doctors, as well as frequent awareness sessions to educate employees on various topics related to physical and mental health.
Furthermore, NBK provides many programs and activities focusing on employee wellbeing and care, and promoting a healthy lifestyle. It also allows flexible working hours and paternity leave, during which the new father is allowed to stay at home to bond with the newborn child. NBK stands among the select few organizations in Kuwait with a unique work environment, akin to international peers by continuously providing employees with exceptional career development opportunities. This includes training programs and practical experience, which aim to help fresh graduates to navigate their way into the labor market and develop their skills and expertise through partnerships with leading international educational institutions to emerge as qualified leaders of developing the banking sector in the future. This ultimately results in increasing employees’ loyalty and giving the bank the edge in a competitive labor market.
Prestigious awards
In 2023, NBK’s efforts were recognized with 5 prestigious awards, including 3 awards from MEED magazine for its distinguished efforts in initiatives supporting women’s empowerment and sustainable development of human resources. NBK also received the Bronze Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) for NBK Rise program.
Additionally, the bank received the coveted Brandon Hall Group Bronze Medal for its excellence in the “Best Advance in Compliance Training” category, acknowledging its outstanding training and development programs.
Social responsibility
Reflecting its dedication to delivering on its social responsibility towards all segments, particularly people with special needs, NBK organized an awareness seminar on banking transactions and methods of communication with people with hearing disabilities, in cooperation with the Kuwait Sports Club for the Deaf (KSCD) – Girls, which is the first of its kind in Kuwait.
The bank also organized a training program for officers responsible for overseeing the Anti-Fraud and Money Crimes Unit in the Ministry of Interior. This initiative demonstrates its dedication to enhancing collaborative endeavors in combating electronic fraud, in line with the “Let’s Be Aware” banking awareness campaign.