Workforce development is vital for economic growth and innovation as it enhances productivity, competitiveness and adaptability to evolving industries. Employees with updated skills boost company performance and employee satisfaction. Not surprisingly, workforce development serves as the primary foundation of DCB Bank’s human-resources strategy.
The bank extends invitations to students from various business schools to participate in its popular programme, The Top Recruit (TTR). It is a platform that provides post graduate students an opportunity to showcase their talent based on their practical skills in handling real-world tasks as opposed to solely academic knowledge. Those selected undergo hands-on assignments evaluating them on various parameters.
“Approximately 1500 to 2000 individuals participate in this programme, with registration numbers reaching as high as 5000. However, only one or two individuals successfully make it through the rigorous selection process,” reveals Venkattesh R, president, head – operations, technology, human resources and CIO, DCB Bank. The highest achiever in the programme receives a cash scholarship, and finalists are even considered for a pre-placement offer with the bank.
“We conduct an internal ESQ survey to evaluate each department’s performance against service standards. All this feedback is thoroughly discussed in the People Forum, where we analyse and contemporise our practices based on market trends and regulatory expectations.”
Venkattesh R, president, head – operations, technology, human resources and CIO, DCB Bank
The panellists, comprising business heads, evaluate and rank participants based on their performance during a live presentation. For instance, the finalists who presented and won in the previous year’s assignments were tasked with providing recommendations in the realm of business intelligence or the analytics vertical. They were specifically asked to enhance the effectiveness of the call centre’s cross-selling efforts by using analytics. The challenge was to identify customers with a higher likelihood of accepting products, optimising the call process. Participants were given synthetic data to work with instead of actual customer data to ensure the confidentiality of sensitive information. Their task involved developing models, conducting analytics and presenting insights. The selection process focused on aligning their recommendations with our internal analysis.
“We consistently provide such real-life business situations for evaluation, ensuring that the panel assesses scenarios relevant to their daily experiences. This approach allows for practical applicability, emphasising scenarios encountered in our institution’s day-to-day functioning rather than theoretical concepts with limited practical use,” asserts Venkattesh.
Another popular technique for building a strong workforce is the unique and distinctive practice of self-nominations for promotions. Deviating from the conventional practice of the line manager or business manager making recommendations for promotions, DCB bank allows employees to self-nominate themselves for promotions.
“We encountered situations where individuals claimed they were promised promotions that did not materialise, while some line managers asserted that no such promises were made. Though these instances were few, we recognised the need to ensure transparency in our processes to address such concerns. This led us to reconsider and reshape our approach to promotions,” reveals Venkattesh.
This initiative serves two primary objectives. First, it aims to establish transparency and eliminate any perception of bias or favouritism. Second, it empowers employees to make their own decisions and take charge of their careers. Additionally, while line managers can still recommend and offer support, the assessment process is entirely independent if the employee prefers it that way.
Coming to the assessment process, it encompasses an online test for promotions up to the senior manager grade and a behavioural event interview (BEI) for grades above. The interviews focus on evaluating role-specific competencies for promotions to the associate vice president (AVP) grade and below.
Importantly, the promotion panel deliberately excludes individuals from the candidate’s vertical line and works completely unbiased. Sharing an instance, Venkattesh explains, “If we are considering someone from corporate banking, there will be no panel member with a background in corporate banking. The panel operates independently, completely detached from the candidate’s or employee’s respective business unit, ensuring impartiality.”
This separation is maintained both during the application stage and the performance-evaluation stage, ensuring that assessments are solely based on the outcomes.
For better decision-making, employees are asked to highlight customer orientation or customer focus, and the second is result orientation in their submissions.
The entire process is then scrutinised by an extended ‘People Forum’ – a committee which deliberates and decides people decisions for the Bank, guided by the board and other subcommittees. “We conduct at least two full-day sessions to meticulously examine each promotion case in detail. This includes reviewing feedback, observations and the selection process for each individual, regardless of whether they were selected or not,” reveals Venkattesh.
During these two extensive days, the Forum is extended to include senior members and comprises 35 to 40 people, who review about eligible candidates people thoroughly, assessing all promotion cases to identify any challenges, gaps, or errors in judgment before the final publication.
Additionally, to maintain transparency, the bank provides a promotion-eligibility calculator for individuals to check and determine their eligibility. Moreover, the entire process is overseen by independent panellists or invigilators. During tests, camera settings and recordings are in place to monitor the examination environment.
The interview process involves two independent panellists conducting interviews nationwide, either digitally or through face-to-face meetings. Post process, we gather feedback on the transparency, any challenges faced, or potential biases. “In the nine years since the implementation of this process, we have encountered very few issues, with only isolated cases where individuals couldn’t participate due to health reasons. Instances of bias have been exceedingly rare,” enunciates Venkattesh.
The bank usually receives nominations ranging from 10 to 15 per cent of the total headcount of the bank, and it applies to all levels across the entire organisation.
The People Forum also helps the bank to conduct regular reviews and assessments to refine its self-nomination process to align it with the changing organisational needs, industry trends and employee expectations. Additionally, it conducts a ‘S-peak survey’, which assesses how supervisors are performing.
With approximately 1,800 supervisors, around 800 to 1,000 have more than three direct reports, and the bank obtains individual scorecards for each supervisor through the Speak survey. “We also conduct an internal ESQ survey to evaluate each department’s performance against service standards. All this feedback is thoroughly discussed in the People Forum, where we analyse and contemporise our practices based on market trends and regulatory expectations,” concludes Venkattesh.