By Ruvini Jayasinghe

The Covid 19 Virus which initially erupted in the latter half of 2019 in Wuhan, China, reached pandemic levels in 2020 leaving a trail of death and destruction behind as it ravaged its way across the globe. Our country too reeled under this unexpected destabilization of life.

Now, in mid 2021, nearly two years after the first wave of the pandemic devastated the world’s economies and health systems, countries have responded with a new normal way of life with digitalization and social distancing redirecting the planet’s equilibrium.

When the pandemic hit Sri Lanka in March 2020, shutting down normal life, Goverment of Sri Lanka (GOSL) facilitated the functioning of many essential services to bring back a new normalcy to a nation struggling to survive in a curfew or lockdown status.

BMD spoke with the Bank of Ceylon’s (BOC) Senior DGM HR, Mr. K. E. D Sumanasiri on how the country’s leading commercial bank with over 8,000 employees and a 646 branch network faced this unprecedented crisis.

“The lifeblood of any economy is its banking sector and we had to act fast and lead the way,” Mr. Sumanasiri said. The bank became a virtual role model, during the initial stages of the pandemic on implementing complete health and safety measures for the protection of their thousands of customers and their staff in keeping their doors open for daily transactions.

Three key factors played a major role in reorganizing BOC operations to cater to its corporate and retail customer base. “Some of our customers have no access to ATMs and live even as far as 50 km away from the nearest BOC branch, but we were successful in reaching out to them all, during the lockdown,” Mr. Sumanasiri said.

No doubt the bank’s digital platform, played a key role in catering to their client base who were already using the bank’s digital applications. “Our digital usage increased threefold after the lockdown,” he said.

No doubt the Bank’s digital platform, played a key role in catering to their client base who were already using the bank’s digital applications. “Our digital usage increased threefold after the lockdown,” Sumanasiri said.

But the Bank’s threefold commitment to their staff in an overall HR policy introduced by the Bank’s management long before the pandemic hit the country created the platform for BOC to harness the complete cooperation of their staff and operate smoothly during the lockdown periods.

“Our Bank’s HR policy is aligned with our corporate policy,” Sumanasiri explained. “We firmly believe that a happy employee will attract more customers and more returns to the Bank,” he added.

“We firmly believe that a happy employee will attract more customers and more returns to the Bank”

“This is our corporate policy on which we based our loan vs deposits ratio targets.”

“Creating happy employees is the responsibility of the HR management,” he said. The HR practices which protect and motivate all employees throughout their career and ensure financial security in their retirement, paid off in the commitment and confidence of staff to work under extremely trying conditions during the frequent lockdown periods.

“Some staff who were required to report to work daily went into self-quarantine when they went home, using separate rooms and washroom and isolating themselves from their families,” Sumanasiri said.

The Bank also undertook all expenses for staff who had to go into quarantine using well equipped centres in Koggala and Mt. Lavinia for them.

Simultaneously, the bank implemented all health guidelines in all branches for staff and customers and the use of 10 mobile banking units throughout the provinces. “Imposing strict safety measures minimized the fear factor and created the confidence on both sides to enter all Bank branches which were open during the lockdown periods, some with extended hours,” Sumanasiri said.

As an essential service the BOC was compelled to open all branches during lockdown and mobilize a percentage of their staff in all branches to maintain smooth operations. The Bank arranged transport to all staff who were rostered to report for duty.

BOC went into overdrive to support their borrowers who were severely affected by the intermittent lockdown periods when business came to a near standstill. Loans had to be rescheduled, interest rates revised and new loans scheduled on revised interest rates, all of which required a considerably large staff component to work. “It was mainly the IT sector who were able to work from home. Most of the others had to come to work on roster basis,” Mr. Sumansisri said.

The Bank quickly adapted and empowered staff heading their branch network to make their own decisions in day-to-day operations without approvals from Head Offices.

The BOC’s Human First HR approach prepared the people-centric Bank to face the crisis with fortitude as they braced themselves to the monumental task of catering to their clientele and protecting their employees during this ongoing pandemic.

“BOC’s Strategic HR efforts ensure strength amid the ongoing pandemic and continuation of its Human-First HRM Outlook,” Sumanasiri said.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: What is the Bank’s Human–First HRM Outlook?
Drawing from BOC’s culture of smart delegation, a core component of its HRM and operational philosophy, we have persisted with purpose-designed HR plans implemented at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The bank has managed to ensure a safe and dynamic environment for the successful mobilization of staff, plus continued provision of services, despite ongoing restrictions and safety concerns.
At the very beginning of the pandemic, BOC’s HR function proactively engaged all employees, drawing on a novel method of delegation, recognizing it as the most effective and efficient way forward in handling an unprecedented situation posing similarly unforeseen challenges.

Q: What were the key components of your mobilization strategy?
Empowerment, trust and confidence were the key to our successful mobilization of a team exceeding 8,000 staff. The initial months of the global pandemic, required the bank’s HR department to give trust and confidence to all employees across the organization, in their capabilities and decision-making power. The system adopted was driven by empowering staff, where managers and employees at every level were instructed to take decisions in their respective positions, using their discretion to act and delegate.

Q: With the largest retail and corporate customer base among banks in the country, how did you ensure the safety of all your customers and staff?
BOC adopted a two-tiered strategy, where the primary objective included the protection of all employees, and secondly ensuring business would go on as normal even with the restrictions. Employee adherence to all Health Department enforced regulations and orders remained a key HR goal, complemented by its own initiatives to drive employee safety and continuity of operations.
The Bank continues to bear all costs for quarantine procedures and PCR tests for employees. Besides essentials like providing PPE for all employees, BOC also adopted a roster system and offered free transport to mobilize their 8,000 strong workforce to facilitate the progressive resumption of work.

Q: What measures did the Bank adopt to ensure the staff’s mental well-being and commitment to their work during the pandemic?
The bank has given continuous importance to its unique HR culture and history.
Affording our employees freedom and demonstrating our concern for their safety and well-being has paid rich dividends as many staff volunteered to work at their respective branches and offices.
With the HRM outlook the Bank has carefully tailored over several decades, the core focus has been keeping employees happy and nurturing an environment for them to prosper, parallelly implementing safeguards for proper discipline, while continuously tending to their future security.
BOC practices a culture of closely understanding people and their problems, plus offering continuous skill, career and life development opportunities to their employees.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

BOC practices a culture of closely understanding people and their problems, plus offering continuous skill, career and life development opportunities to their employees.

Q: How far has digitalization assisted the Bank in operations during this lockdown period?
Accounting for the many impacts of COVID-19 on the bank’s HRM function, BOC has adopted numerous changes in its delivery of HR services including digitalization. From unique methods of showing appreciation to employees in overcoming challenges, to meeting in person, remote hiring and recruitment with video platform-based interviews to save time and ensure safety, to restructuring of time-off policies and leave and to reflect government provided guidelines, the Bank’s HRM department has been keen to create an environment conducive to high-impact work and growth.
Towards this end, BOC has afforded much focus to ensuring a strong work-life balance for employees, in line with the increased need for work-from-home and flexible work arrangements organization-wide.

Q: How has the Bank’s philosophy on HRM been effectively applied in this crisis?
The notion that HR and HRM differ is widely based on the institution where it is being applied, has been a key component of the human resources approach of BOC almost from inception. Staying true to HR fundamentals, the Bank, operating as a State Bank first and foremost, understood that they had to align their HR principles with their primary objectives.
With a focus on eradicating financial issues at the ground level and uplifting the economy therein, the Bank, though liberal in their approach to HR, recognized that certain HR freedoms could not be afforded to their employees, to preempt issues of resource misuse.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

BOC adopted a two-tiered strategy, where the primary objective included the protection of all employees, and secondly ensuring business would go on as normal even with the restrictions. Employee adherence to all Health Department enforced regulations and orders remained a key HR goal, complemented by its own initiatives to drive employee safety and continuity of operations.

A major part of our unique HR outlook therefore involves recruiting and nurturing employees whose congruence has strengthened and uplifted our HR philosophy.
The Bank actively develops employees to acquire multi skills and professional development to add value to their careers while serving the Bank and its overall vision. Towards this end, BOC affords greater importance to discipline and behaviour, which serves primarily as a protective mechanism to ensure continued employee betterment and safety, while also protecting the Bank’s image and offering confidence to customers in our trustworthiness and dedication to them.
BOC’s HR function’s emphasis on tending to and improving employee health across six aspects, from physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual, to economic health, represents a novel approach to employee wellbeing and career motivation, driven by numerous dedicated programmes.

Q: How does the bank, with a sizeable retail customer base retain its human touch in a swiftly changing scenario of digitalization?
In a unique stance, despite the growing trend of digitalization to streamline repeat HR processes and tasks, even within the BOC setup, the Bank emphasizes on the need for the human touch in HR. It is what lends the all-essential organizational component of human capital, now being actively pushed worldwide as a quantifiable contributor to business success and humaneness. This actively reflects BOC’s HR outlook, which has allowed it to successfully manage the ongoing pandemic and continue its human plus employee-first approach.