Although the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive socio-economic disruptions across the country, we are proud to record that our workforce of 1,490 SDB employees scattered across the island hit-the-ground-running and ensured availability of all our services
to our customers. Adapting overnight to the work-from-home model, the dedication of our staff was instrumental to SDB bank’s exceptional performance in 2020.

With a nearly equal 50-50 split in terms of gender across the Bank and over 97% being permanent employees, our people are as diverse as the customers they serve and solidly committed to changing the lives and lifestyles of our customers for the better. As we enter uncharted territory in which a large proportion of our customer demographic was impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, our people ensured that our customers received the financial solutions they need and want.
They continued to serve with commitment and compassion – ever ready to go the extra mile.

Our Human Resources (HR) Department, oversees recruitment, assists with workforce planning and strategy, drives the employee engagement strategy, facilitates learning and development along with succession planning, looks after the employee welfare and contributes to management decision-making through reporting and analytics.

As at December 2020, the Bank had 1,490 employees. Growth in the number of employees is as follows:

Training and development

While the envisaged training calendar could not be implemented as planned, due to restriction on travel and gatherings in the COVID-19 environment, we are pleased to report that many of our planned training events were successfully conducted through online platforms. Nearly 45% of the technical training events for the year were held online, via Zoom and a six month coaching programme for the Corporate Management team of 25 managers and the CEO, was held during the year.

Our training and development strategy focused on technical aspects and the development of soft skills – all with the goal of meeting the needs of our key market segments: SME, Retail, Co-operative and Business Banking. During 2020, we also identified the need for specialised training in management development for succession planning and to support the Bank with the correct leadership skills required in the Bank’s journey of transformation. The types of training opportunities we provide for our employees are threefold: internal and external training and international interactions.

Technical training involves educating employees on how to identify the creditworthiness of businesses, potential areas of improvement, and prospects for income generation. Soft skills development includes how to empower customers and engender their long-term trust in the Bank.

Overall, we invested LKR 7.9 Mn. in training and development, providing employees with 11,284 hours of training across 88 sessions, covering many technical areas of banking and also in management skills development.

Employee engagement and culture

We are constantly striving to strengthen cooperation and engagement among our growing workforce, and following the survey conducted under the Great Place to Work programme in 2019, we commenced deployment of a more targeted and comprehensive employee engagement strategy in 2020. As our workforce is scattered across the island, and in some cases in far flung locations, the frequency and intensity of communications between the Head Office and branches was not uniform, which impacted the level of trust in the Management. Therefore, we launched an island wide programme to enhance communications and trust between the Management and all staff, among all our branches. The Corporate Management team reached out to the regional branches and engaged with regional staff, to address their concerns and receive feedback, and also clearly communicated the 2020 business plan of the Bank.

Another significant improvement was the appointment of an HR representative at all 94 SDB branches and establishing a Human Resource Committee with all 94 HR representatives attending, in addition to the central HR Team from the SDB Head Office. The forum is called “HRtogether” which implies that HR is a concern of every Team Leader and we have to do it together. Due to the extensive representation, the committee is able to discuss concerns specific to each branch and to develop solutions in a transparent and cooperative manner.

We shared information among teams through digital platforms such as Whatsapp and emails and ensured continuous and clear lines of communication were always open. Other forms of communication mechanisms included:

• Bank circulars
• Staff notice board
• Managers’ forums

Every year, we organise formal and informal employee events on a regional basis to improve engagement levels and cross-functional relationships. These events often combine environmental or social volunteering which serve the dual purpose of helping SDB bank to give back to the communities and environment within which it operates while also providing avenues for employees to engage informally with each other and the grassroots communities they serve. In turn such Corporate Social Responsibility projects contribute to our employees’ own feelings of self confidence and self worth.

While staff engagement events could not be held as scheduled due to Covid-19 restrictions, we continued to engage our staff through online platforms. For instance, the BetterU Whatsapp Group, which is a healthy-living platform, was utilised to convey vital health and welfare information from expert sources to our staff.

Other staff engagement programmes such as the Speech craft programme and LIFELINE – a programme to improve the quality of
life were also continued online.

Employee recruitment and retention

While we rely on an experienced, skilled, and dedicated team of employees at all levels, our perennial problem has always been attracting employees for higher-level positions as SDB bank’s position as one of the best micro-finance organisations in the country is not known to many. With current employees standing as examples and guardians of an enabling and empowering culture, the awards we have won, and the high-level employees that the Bank has attracted recently, the truth about SDB bank is becoming better known. We are now beginning to attract many high-quality candidates for higher levels. Attracting potential employees for other positions has never been a challenge.

We remain appreciative and supportive of our existing employee cadre – a true asset and the secret to our success. Although we are seen as a small organisation, our employee packages are above market average. Our employee retention levels remain relatively strong having continuous employment with the Bank. We take care to balance the retention and development of internal talent with a healthy infusion of external talent to ensure that our employee cadre remains diverse, holding a range of different perspectives and viewpoints which reflect those of our customers and contribute to the innovation for which SDB bank is becoming known.

Performance management

Performance evaluations of employees have hitherto taken place annually and are measured against three dimensions of employment:

• Business targets or key performance indicators
• Behavioural attributes
• Value propositions

The biannual performance reviews introduced in 2018, which linked performance with incentives, training and career advancement has proved to be good for driving employee engagement. We will be looking to improve this process further.

SDB bank is an equal opportunities employer, treating all its people and prospective employees with impartiality, irrespective of gender, age, race, or religion. This applies across all our processes from recruitment to career development and progression. We have also created provided profiles for key management roles so that we are able to groom employees to meet the expectations that the role requires. Each employee will now also be screened by Head of HR.

For managerial level positions and above the CEO will also assess them to ensure that all levels, all new hires with potential to be groomed for leadership positions. This will ensure that we are focused on the long-term.

Benefits provided to employees

Every year we enhance our employee benefits. In 2020, with the emergence of Covid, we made further improvements to our employee welfare facilities by adding a reimbursement mechanism for non-hospitalised COVID-19 confinements. This scheme will reimburse LKR 7,500 per day, up to 10 days, if an employee is diagnosed COVID positive but is not hospitalised. The Bank also conducted PCR tests for SDB branch employees, at the Bank’s cost and provided dray ration packages for staff in quarantine.

Other, existing benefits for employees includes:

• 21 days of annual leave
• Comprehensive medical insurance
• Employer’s contribution to EPF 14% (where minimum requirement is 12%)
• Medical leave of 14 days
• Unutilised annual leave of up to 7 days which can be carried forward
• Membership in the Welfare Society
• Special leave for critical illnesses
• Female employees with infants allowed feeding breaks during the first year
• Educational support: Honorarium payments for completion of banking exams an reimbursement of professional membership subscriptions
• Two years no pay leave for those who are pursuing their higher education abroad, subject to a signed bond between the employee and the employer

Industrial relations

Freedom of association – which covers three aspects: namely an employee’s right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the group’s right to take action collectively in the interests of its members, and the association’s right to accept or decline membership based on certain criteria, have long been recognised and respected by SDB. As an organisation Bank has made every endeavour to maintain industrial peace in the Bank.

Future outlook

During 2020, HR Policies were reviewed against the dramatic macro changes of the year, including the imperative towards a work-from-home culture. The HR policies were revised to include flexible and remote working procedures, which will be introduced in 2021, formalising a more flexible and modern employment framework for SDB to face any future challenges.

Looking beyond 2020, we will continue to emphasise development of human resources as a core component of the Bank’s transformation agenda. This includes investing in developing a highly skilled, professional and performance oriented team, across the wide extent of the SDB branch network, and also developing a leadership pipeline to sustain transformation and growth momentum into the future. Coaching, mentoring and counselling will be introduced, in addition to formal training, to nurture talent and leadership in line with corporate objectives. These actions will go a long way towards ensuring that employees at all levels pull together to meet the Bank’s goals. The traditional performance assessment through setting annual goals, will be replaced by a more proactive dynamic performance management process that will enable real time measures of performance on a continuous basis. These initiatives will drive the internal transformation essential for the sustainable growth of the Bank.