Federal Bank: Focused & Driven by 10 Pillars

Federal Bank offers various role-specific and skill-based training programs focused on continuous learning and development of employees. It ensures continuous innovation in pedagogy and delivery so as to maximize effectiveness of learning interventions. Ajit Kumar K K, President & CHRO at Federal Bank, highlights 3 unique programs in the current FY.

1. Infiniti for grooming limitless leaders: This is executive coaching with 1:1 and group coaching for senior levels, carefully curated and focussed on creating a strong leadership pipeline.
2. DAKSHA Webinar series: This comprises interactive virtual conversations with industry thought leaders and well-known c-suite members across the globe, facilitated exclusively for our employees.
3. Good to Great Series: Post-covid offline training across all roles and functions (1000+ employees trained on customer service excellence, core values, team building, etc) to align the front-line officers and back-office teams to the vision of being the most admired bank.

FOCUS & DELIVERY

At Federal Bank, the focus of all the training initiatives is to keep the multi-generational workforce agile and relevant in a VUCA turned BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear and Incomprehensible) digital world and to effectively and continually reskill/upskill/cross-skill the bank’s talent landscape in 3x-4x speed through smarter, faster, and better ways. Ajit explains that the training programs delivered through various channels are focussed on following 10 aspects:

1. To build a strong leadership pipeline for the bank, the bank has created carefully crafted coaching journeys like Infiniti and Lumineux for senior and middle level leaders. Add on to this is mentoring by c-suite executives.
2. Knowledge-sharing platforms like DAKSHA & Master Classes to enable cross-industry idea-sharing and social learning.
3. Instructor-led training (online/offline) to ensure continuous reskilling and upskilling in functional as well as soft skills. The Good to Great series to keep teams focussed on customer service excellence, rooted in our core value CARES. (Commitment to Excellence, Agility, Relationship-Orientation, Ethics and Sustainability).
4. A dedicated learning management solution, topped up with MOOCs tie up and a course library of 500+ courses focus on fostering a disciplined self-learning culture, through structured learning goals, with gamified dashboards and RPA based trackers.
5. Micro-certification programs under Microlearning, Mandatory learning and Role based learning focus on providing equal opportunities and options for employees across all roles to co-own their self-development journey.
6. Capacity building certifications support for building niche skills ensure the bank has a qualified talent pool.
7. Blended learning with mix of modes (self-learning + virtual training + classroom + proctored assessments) called E-academies and internal certifications-linked to career pathing, ensure a ready talent pool in various functional domains.
8. English language clubs focus on communication and language skills of employees.
9. Institutional training for networking and building cross functional expertise.
10. Induction training and an exhaustive Junior Banker Certification Program lasting 12-18 months ensures that new hires are groomed into professional bankers.

LEARNING PARTNERSHIPS

Federal Bank has the following learning partnerships:

• Coursera and LinkedIn for specific learning requirements.
• Microsoft platforms for content broadcast, learning interventions & evaluation.
• Moodle Certified partner for LMS.
• Certification programs powered by remote proctored assessment and interactive survey / assessment tools.
• Institutional programs at premier institutes including IIM, CAFRAL, IIBF, IDRBT, etc.
• Certification program providers like Moody’s Analytics.
• Content tie-up with PwC, EY, CRISIL, IIBF, Manipal Global, etc.

FUTURE PROGRAMS

Ajith details: “One of the core strategies of our L&D function is to build agile and bespoke learning journeys for the employees and keep it evolving as per needs of time. An Academic Council chaired by MD & CEO, meets half-yearly to guide and prioritize learning plans in tune with the strategic direction of the bank’s growth, skills gaps. This requires review and continual redesigning of L&D activities and the bank will keep launching new training programs on a regular basis.”

The bank’s strategy of moving from a traditional classroom push model to a pull-based hybrid model of learning, empowers employees with the choice of picking up and customizing their learning. Instead of pulling them up to a regular training program, this gives equal opportunities and options to choose areas where they wish to invest and build their skills to make themselves relevant to times. The bank facilitates this through a structured annual learning plan and rewards learning efforts through dedicated scores in PMS, due weightages in career progression, cross functional projects under initiatives like Nayi Soch, Good to Great, Infiniti, etc.

“Overall, our L&D journeys create a larger purpose and aspiration among employees to become Most Admired Professionals in the industry aligned to the bank’s vision of being the Most Admired Bank in the country and its philosophy of ‘Digital at the Fore, Human at the Core’. The fact that 98% of our officers actively participate in our self-paced learning programs is a testimony to how well our L&D strategy drives business and individual growth, because we strongly believe that the ‘Future of Digital is Human’,” concludes Ajith Kumar K K.

[email protected], [email protected]