Thanks to its wide portfolio of personal and commercial banking services, is a preferred bank across Canada and around the world. But its true competitive advantage lies in its 90,000 employees, affectionately known as 鈥淪cotiabankers.鈥� Every day at Scotiabank, employees are provided with cutting-edge learning and career opportunities that create a meaningful employee experience.
As a result, not only do customers prefer to do business with Scotiabank, but the company鈥檚 own employees see Scotiabank as an employer of choice too, according to Barb Mason, group head and chief human resources officer at Scotiabank.
Empowering Employees with Better Learning Experiences
Should employers hire candidates with a strong desire to learn, or try to nurture this quality in all its employees? According to Mason, it鈥檚 a bit of both. Too often, employees aren鈥檛 afforded the opportunity to learn on the job and grow their skill set 鈥� especially women and people of color.
鈥淔or us, it is all about ensuring that we have systemically equitable processes in the bank to allow everyone to have the same opportunities and understand what they need to do to be able to get these opportunities,鈥� Mason said.
Scotiabank embraces equitable hiring processes that set a standard for equity for the rest of the employee life cycle. This begins with diverse interview teams who strive to ask unbiased interview questions and follow other best practices for inclusive recruitment.
From the start, Scotiabank lets its employees know it is dedicated to providing next-level learning and skill-building experiences. Throughout the recruitment and interview process, HR leaders open the door to a world of on-the-job learning for candidates. With a modern learning experience similar to employees鈥� favorite video streaming services, Scotiabank鈥檚 workforce can tap into on-demand learning and training built on Blend by TalenTeam powered by聽.
Creating the Highest Performing Workforce to Date
Mason knows that learning doesn鈥檛 do any employees 鈥� or the business 鈥� any good if people don鈥檛 know how to access learning resources. In addition to making these resources readily available to employees as part of the company鈥檚 next-generation HR experience, Scotiabank also readily provides opportunities for experiential learning for directors and above.
During hypothetical scenarios, employees have the chance to tackle new tasks set at a level above their current role at Scotiabank. For instance, a mid-level bank officer may have to resolve a simulated customer challenge that is usually handled by a senior officer. Employees get to learn new skills on the fly, and the company gets to see employees鈥� aptitude for performing in a new role. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a pass or fail,鈥� said Mason. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an experience.鈥�
Meanwhile, the Scotia Inspire program, enabled by聽, empowers women in senior positions to participate in mentoring and sponsorship for the next level of women at Scotiabank. This begins at the very top, with women in the executive suite enabling leaders to mentor women in every other role across the business.
鈥淲e now have the highest caliber performance of women that we鈥檝e ever had in the history of the organization, and I don鈥檛 see that ever changing,鈥� said Mason.
To learn more,聽聽in an episode of Forward with Adam Grant.
Carolyn Judge Phillip is vice president of Corporate Marketing for 51风流SuccessFactors.
