PETALING JAYA: The country’s largest lender is relooking its workplace strategy to adapt to the changing work environment and expectations in view of the eventual return of employees to the office.
Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) said its office structure will comprise a blended arrangement with employees working in the office, at split locations and working from home.It is believed to be the first financial institution in the country to have indicated that it would adopt the hybrid work environment.
According to Maybank group chief human capital officer Datuk Nora Manaf, (pic) the group is working conscientiously toward a hybrid work environment which it believes is here to stay.“Beyond the pandemic, the overall changing work landscape, in line with the global outlook, and the push towards being more inclusive, point towards a combination of the different work settings to adapt to the different needs of both the workplace and the workforce,” she noted.
“Our efforts towards a hybrid workforce intensified with the pandemic last year. In September 2020, we formalised our permanent work from home arrangement whereby the bank employees who can perform their work from home may do so on a longer term,” she told StarBiz.
Hybrid workforce refers to a team of employees that have a flexible work structure where some may work remotely and others from the office.
“We endeavour to manage economic effects of any kind of crisis, guided by our humanising mission and to do the right things. Post-pandemic, our employees may return to the office following a management model that works for them, for example, alternate days of working in the office and from home.”
As of May this year, Maybank has successfully onboarded about 2,559 mobile employees (6% of the whole group’s workforce) across all sectors and working levels in the bank (28% front, 18% middle and 54% back office).
Nora added that Maybank is not looking to reduce manpower in the face of the ongoing pandemic in a bid to slash costs unlike many banks worldwide as the ravaging Covid-19 puts further pressure on the global financial industry.
“Therefore, moving forward, we will be utilising some of the floors in our headquarters at Menara Maybank as co-working sites which involve hot desking and meeting rooms that allow collaboration and discussion with teams.
“Alternatively, we are also looking into new workplace designs at our alternate site (apart from Menara Maybank). Some employees will be relocated to this new workplace where they will have access to hot desking and collaborative meeting rooms,” she said.
Hot desking is an office organisation system which involves multiple workers using a single physical work station or surface during different time periods.
On a global scale, there are banks that are looking to cut down their office space to save costs and some are on the verge of closing down their branches due to the pandemic.
Standard Chartered Bank, DBS Bank and OCBC Bank are among some of the banks which are looking to scale down their office space and may close some of their branches.
Standard Chartered was reported as saying that it would shut down half its branches and slash office space worldwide by a third in order to save costs as global lockdowns have greatly reduced the need for physical branches and offices.
Standard Chartered was reported as saying that it would shut down half its branches and slash office space worldwide by a third in order to save costs as global lockdowns have greatly reduced the need for physical branches and offices.
Singapore-based OCBC Bank added it would review its current need for office space and may reduce the number of its branches. Its peer, DBS Bank, has been reported to be vacating a number of floors it currently occupies at the Marina Bay Financial Centre.
As part of its workforce readiness to navigate the pandemic, Maybank last year utilised a learning budget of RM95mil to further upskill and train its employees.
“Our learning platform also pivoted to a virtual one, #LearningNeverStops, which kicked off in early March 2020 – running weekly to help employees stay focused on positivity and productivity, in addition to sustaining their upskilling and reskilling efforts during the movement restrictions.
“Another programme which is possibly the nation’s first, is to upskill over 360 of our non-clerical employees in the country to become ‘workplace enablers’. The eight-month training programme is aimed to provide the non-clerical employees with new skills, which would enable them to accelerate their career progression and take on greater responsibilities,” said Nora.
To further ensure the group’s workforce readiness for the future workplace needs as well as to support the transition to become the Digital Bank of Choice, Maybank has designed training and development programmes to strengthen employees’ industry knowledge skills alongside its digital upskilling efforts.
For instance, she added that with over 300 employees receiving professional certification, Maybank has invested over RM100,000 in Islamic finance knowledge building, during the financial year 2020.