BT sat with Chief People and Intellectual Capital Officer at Mashreq, Hamda Al Shamali, where she shed light on the bank's distinctive approach to customer experience and its closely intertwined relationship with employee experience.
Chief People and Intellectual Capital Officer at Mashreq, Hamda Al Shamali
“Customer experience is a direct reflection of employee experience," Chief People and Intellectual Capital Officer at Mashreq, Hamda Al Shamali, told Business Today Egypt (BT).
BT sat with Al Shamali where she shed light on the bank's distinctive approach to customer experience and its closely intertwined relationship with employee experience. Grounded in a culture of innovation, consistency, and prudence, Mashreq is dedicated to uplifting the banking landscape through tailored customer offerings and empowering its workforce.
With an unwavering commitment to excellence, the organization delves into the core principles of its Employee Value Proposition (EVP) and the pivotal role it plays in driving the bank's success and industry leadership.
Through this insightful discussion, Mashreq elucidates how its unique EVP has transformed the workplace environment, bolstered employee engagement, and positioned the bank as an employer of choice, with a strong focus on talent development and inclusivity.
As one of the region’s leading financial institutions, Mashreq prides itself on its innovative, startup-like mentality. In fact, our entire strategy, since inception, has been built around a three-pronged approach of ‘innovation, consistency and prudence’ towards the customer experience. We aspire to be the leading provider of customer experience in all our markets, including Egypt.
Our dedication to customer-centric banking involves tailoring offerings to meet our clients' real-time needs, an ethos embodied in our new brand identity, 'Rise Every Day’.
'Rise Every Day' serves as a rallying cry, and reflects our deeply-rooted values of diligence and resilience, that have been our keys to success. At Mashreq, we're not just about creating products and propositions; we're about designing an ecosystem that offers enriching experiences adding real value to our customers' lives. Our mission is to shape experiences that uplift our customers' image and future, whether at home, with clients, or in their communities.
We believe that customer experience is a direct reflection of employee experience, and that we must deliver the best to our people in order to deliver the best customer experience. Our transformative journey involves empowering our employees to maximize their potential and create top-ranked products and services globally. At Mashreq, our people are our greatest asset. We understand the importance of building deep personal relationships with customers and how it is directly correlated to empowering our employees to unlock their full potential and build products and services that are ranked number one by clients globally. This is a strategy proven to increase primary customer revenue by up to 20%.
For us, talent, creativity, and hyper-personalization of products and services have been the key drivers of our success in our consistent. We strongly believe that employees’ professional growth and success are just as important as customer satisfaction. And hence, Mashreq has invested vastly in formulating and implementing a robust Employee Value Proposition (EVP). The Mashreq EVP is a comprehensive initiative that enhances our competitiveness in the talent market. We believe in celebrating our talent’s efforts, being deeply involved in their growth, and lending them an open ear, as these practices foster a positive work environment. This, in turn, deepens workplace relationships and further engages our employees.
Our talent forms the backbone of our innovative competencies; their commitment to innovation, consistency and prudence towards customer experience is what helps us retain our industry leadership and status as a digital disruptor and a challenger bank. Naturally, employee experience and success form the bedrock on which our success rests. As such, we have combined every aspect of our employee experience under one roof – the Mashreq Employee Value Proposition, which along with our continued efforts, maintains our competitiveness in the employee marketplace.
Our EVP is built on key pillars aimed at empowering our employees. They guide our efforts towards helping employees feel appreciated for the role they play in Mashreq’s success, nurturing their personal and professional growth, celebrating their achievements, encouraging decision-making with ownership and accountability at all levels and fueling our continued commitment to our employees' well-being.
We also emphasize the importance of teamwork and collaboration within our culture. In recent years, agility has been key in preserving this culture, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 crisis, when our employees were able to perform and deliver extraordinary results, even in challenging times. This led to the expansion of our remote working model from India to two additional markets, including Egypt.
In 2021, we launched the Mashreq Global Network, designed to foster a unique culture of innovation and collaboration. It leverages the expertise of top-tier employees from multiple locations, enabling us to tap into a vast talent pool that aligns with our strategic goals.
Additionally, we have launched several employee-focused initiatives that leverage the power of acknowledgment, encouragement, and open communication, as these practices significantly deepen workplace relationships and bolster positive employee engagement. These programs are designed to assist employees in building and fortifying all aspects that drive a contended and healthy lifestyle including physical well-being, professional well-being, financial well-being, community well-being, fun, and family. This comprehensive approach, in turn, contributes to a positive shift in the mindset and attitude of our employees, securing our position as a great place for work.
We believe in the power of collaboration. Mashreq’s success is not the work of a single person, but rather an accumulation of countless ideas and passions, all steered in the right direction by a company with a clear, unified vision.
We continuously work to provide a well-crafted and compelling unique proposition for potential and existing employees, highlighting the bank’s commitment to employee experience, career development, and creating a positive work environment. Providing training and encouraging growth and progression within a culture that values continuous learning and development, allows Mashreq to attract and retain top talent, differentiating us from key market players and positioning us as an employer of choice for prospective talent.
Our EVPs directly influence the initiatives we launch for our employees. For instance, we launched a variety of initiatives last year that demonstrate how we care for our current and potential employees. We launched the Mashreq Hope program, a flagship program to employ individuals, particularly women, who are impacted by catastrophes. Mashreq has also launched the 'Reignite' program across its network, marking a significant step towards inclusivity and diversity in the workplace. The program is meticulously designed to facilitate a seamless transition for employees resuming work after maternity or childcare breaks. They are provided with dedicated career counselors, workshops, and on-the-job training, empowering them as they re-integrate into the workforce. This initiative not only enriches the talent pool but also fosters a more inclusive work environment.
In addition, we have joined the UN Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs), whereby we aim to gain access to comprehensive framework that will support and guide us in our quest to further gender equality efforts and promote women empowerment in the workplace, marketplace, community and beyond.
Our combined efforts for employees across Mashreq globally reflects in the many recognitions we have been bestowed with, including being rewarded as one of the top 10 companies to work for by LinkedIn in 2022. When it comes to client experience, we have ranked number one in the UAE and the region for various offerings, voted by our clients globally, for several years in a row.
Mashreq, in addition to our Employer Value Proposition pillars, offers distinctive recognition platforms. These are established to acknowledge the high achievers within the bank, providing them with additional benefits and making their accomplishments visible to everyone within the organization, from entry-level employees to top management. We also have focused programs that are designed to incentivize and reward employees who exhibit customer-centricity, a global mindset, an innovation mindset, and steady leadership.
These initiatives underpin Mashreq's commitment to employee engagement and recognition, encouraging a culture of everyday engagement and driving a positive shift in employee mindset and attitudes.
