China Bank’s strength and resilience through the years are largely because of our partners in success – China Bankers. We take good care of our employees by treating them fairly and equally, helping them reach their full potential, and building a good working environment to drive productivity and earn their loyalty.
In 2023, China Bank was recognized as the Employer of the Year in the Philippines by the prestigious People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), besting 32 nominees. We are proud to be the only bank to win this coveted award in the last 30 years, a testament to our remarkable people management practices. This award is a testament to our commitment to the wellbeing of our employees, to the best practices in human resources management, and to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
We believe in creating a safe and inclusive work environment where diversity in its many forms is respected. Thus, in both recruitment and career advancement, we offer equal opportunities to all potential and current employees based on their qualifications and suitability. We have introduced Days of Significance to celebrate diversity and inclusion in the workplace (International Women’s Day and Month, PRIDE Month, and International Men’s Day) as part of our DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) education campaign.
We aim to attract top talents from a variety of sourcing platforms, including professional networks, search firms, top colleges and universities, social media, employee referrals, and recruitment events. In 2023, our Internal Recruitment Drive, which rewards current employees who successfully refer their friends and previous colleagues to join China Bank, continued to be the top source for qualified candidates for our vacancies. A total of 187 officers and 402 rank-and-file personnel were hired through this program, equivalent to 26.53% of the total employees hired in 2023.
The Bank’s high regard for human resources is reflected in a sound compensation policy anchored on the principles of fairness, transparency, and performance-based reward. We provide fair and competitive compensation, consistent with industry standards, and comprehensive benefits.
In 2023, various salary reviews were implemented to ensure our compliance with the series of regional wage orders released across the country. Only 78 rank-and-file employees or 1.2% of our nationwide rank-and-file population were impacted by the regional wage orders and their salaries were adjusted accordingly.
We are committed to the best labor practices and recognize the importance of employee unions in upholding the rights of employees. Over the years, we have maintained a positive working relationship with our employee unions. China Bank’s new five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was signed in 2022.
In 2023, a total of 5,521 rank-and-file employees, which is equivalent to 51.48% of our total workforce, was covered by CBA.
We recognize the potential each employee brings to the Bank and help them realize this potential to the fullest. From our refreshed and engaging orientation and training programs, we are building a culture of continuous learning and development. Employees have access to a wide range of role-specific and general courses to enhance their hard and soft skills or learn new ones through our online learning platform powered by LinkedIn Learning, Learning EDGE (Empowered Talents Driving Growth and Excellence), and the China Bank Academy.
We also sponsor employees’ external training. The total investment for training and education reached P65 million in 2023. We recorded a total of 565,317 training hours, which translated to 53 training hours per employee.
We encourage our employees to constantly strive for excellence and empower them with the requisite tools, training, and support for their professional growth. Roles, responsibilities and expectations are clearly defined, so each employee works purposely, productively, and is well guided in meeting performance standards.
Our Performance Management System ensures that promotions are based on meritorious performance. Meanwhile, our Succession Management Program ascertains that we have a pool of potential successors for our future leadership needs ensuring a strong bench for sustainability. We conduct periodic reviews of the talent pipeline and promote Talent Mobility through our Internal Career Fairs. We also implement individual career development plans to support the progression of Chinabankers.
In 2023, a total of 1,602 employees were promoted.
We constantly engage with our employees to motivate and energize them to stay with us and do their best work every day. All our human resources policies, strategies, and programs are aimed at making our people feel valued, that they are doing work that matters, and that we understand and respond to what matters to them.
In 2023, we implemented a Staggered Regular Work Shift (SRWS), allowing employees to choose from different work shift schedules. We also implemented a pilot run of the Blended Work Arrangement (BWA) within our IT Group, wherein officers can work from home for two days per week. These helped improve turnover rate from 19.9% to 17.1% and allowed us to hire competitively versus employers with flexible work arrangements.
We care about our employees and their wellbeing, and provide a healthy and safe work environment at all our offices and branches in line with industry best practices and occupational safety and health standards. As part of our Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) awareness campaign in 2023, we released the OSH policies e-learning suite to provide employees easy access to OSH training.
Also in place are health and safety policies, emergency procedures and evacuation plans in case of fire or other significant incidents, and wellness programs aimed at preventing accidents, managing stress, and minimizing cases of work-related ill health. Employees have access to confidential and professional counseling with an in-house psychologist.
Some of the programs implemented in 2023 were: