Many banks ignore the organisation change that can come about when digital transformation is embraced, writes John Barber of Infosys Finacle

As consumers and businesses tighten their belts in an increasingly difficult economy, renewed questions are emerging within the banking industry.

How do you compete with Big Tech and purpose-first brands to win the tech talent race? How do you retain and give back to those that stay loyal? How do you use technology to empower your workforce and rekindle employee engagement?

Here are some tips for a bank to maximise the potential of its teams over the coming year, and in doing so emerge stronger than ever before.

Train to Retain
It’s well-documented that the pandemic drove banks to accelerate their digital transformation. The period of rapid digital adoption and growth-at-all-costs has resulted in many employees forced to run before they can walk – lacking key digital skills and the self-confidence that comes with that.

While banking CEOs acknowledge that these skills and talent shortages threaten their growth prospects, the pain of this will be felt all the more clearly in an economic downturn.

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Banks today urgently need cross-disciplinary skilling programmes. This means mapping competencies across and between functions to find skills shortages, and tackling those shortages using tools, processes and platforms.

On-demand contextual learning platforms can help the entire organisation to be continuously upskilled and reskilled and strengthen the more agile workforce model.

One more consideration here is that it’s not enough to teach new skills – you have to keep them within the company. Typically of banks, by the time an employee has acquired expertise in a given skill, it’s time to promote them.

As the employee moves up the career ladder, new management responsibilities can take them away from domain-related work where often the innovation happens.

Technology can help training programmes account for this loss through their ability to bring structure, agility and scale.

Automate to Liberate
The term ‘quiet quitting’ has gained much traction in recent months alongside the Great Resignation. While much debate surrounds the idea, the fact remains that a significant portion of the tasks that managers assign their employees just isn’t very interesting.

Monotonous, unfulfilling responsibilities do the banking sector no favours if it wants to attract and retain the best talent. This is where a technology-augmented workforce comes into play, using both humans and machines.

Automation is key for freeing up employees from the manual and non-creative work that inevitably drives staff towards either boredom and/or burnout.

Organisations can automate using both traditional and emerging technologies, such as open APIs driven automation, robotic process automation (RPA) that automate repetitive and rule based human processes, as well as through blockchain-powered private, permissioned networks for payments and trade finance.

Crack the Gen Z code
Among Gen Z globally, half worry they won’t be able to cover their expenses, while a third don’t feel financially secure. In fact, saving money on expenses such as commuting is one of the leading reasons that many Gen Zs prefer remote or hybrid work.

Other key reasons why Gen Z chooses to work for their company include learning and development opportunities and positive workplace culture, while a third say they have rejected a job and/ or assignment based on their personal ethics.

A recent study by the Edelman Trust Barometer saw ‘My Employer’ as a category beating a number of institutions to be seen as most trusted.

Banks as employers must fulfil their duty of care to their workforce, rather than alienating the next generation of talent.

To stay fulfilled and values-aligned, people want to see their employers acting on driving societal impact, creating a diverse and inclusive environment, and taking climate action.

Many banks still believe digital transformation is about automating a couple of processes, or adding another channel to reach customers, or making other minor changes to enhance operations.

They often ignore the organisation change that can come about when digital transformation is embraced. Technology is well-embraced among many banks by now, but a cultural shift needs to take place alongside a digital one.

The coming year will be difficult for everyone, but technology-powered banks have a lot of ways to get their workforces to punch above their weight.

Technology can empower the workforce through introducing more effective training and coaching, eliminating unfulfilling work and enabling remote working.

The bigger question for banking leaders, and one that technology cannot solve alone, is this: what kind of values, mission and relationship are important for you to share with your employees?

New and future generations of talent will remember those that took the right step.

• John Barber (pictured) is VP & Head of Europe, Infosys Finacle