Maybank Adopts Hybrid Work Arrangement to Prepare for the Future

Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) reviews its workplace strategy to adapt to the evolving work environment and expectations, given employees' eventual return to the office.

 

Maybank is adopting the hybrid work arrangement

Maybank said its office structure would include a blended arrangement with employees working either in the office, from home or at split locations. The bank will be the first financial institution in Malaysia to adopt a hybrid work environment. 

Maybank group chief human capital officer Datuk Nora Manaf said that the group is working thoroughly on a hybrid work environment, which will be permanent. She said that Maybank intensified its efforts towards a hybrid workforce due to the pandemic last year. It formalised the permanent work from home arrangement in September 2020, whereby employees who can perform their work from home can do so on a longer term. 

The hybrid work arrangement refers to employees with a flexible work structure where some may work remotely while others work from the office. 

She added that after the pandemic, the employees might return to the office following an arrangement that suits them. For instance, they may have alternate days of working from home and in the office. 

 

Adapting to the future

As of May 2021, Maybank has managed to onboard 2,559 mobile employees, making them 6% of the workforce across all working sectors in the bank. The group currently has 28% employees in the front, 18% in the middle and 54% employees in the back office.

Nora explained that Maybank is not looking to decrease its workforce in the face of the current pandemic to cut costs. Moving forward, she said that the bank would use some of the floors in their Menara Maybank headquarters as co-working sites that involve hot-desking and meeting rooms, suitable for collaboration and team discussion. 

According to her, Maybank is also researching new workplace designs at their alternate side apart from the headquarters. It will relocate some employees to the new workplace where they can access hot-desking and collaborative meeting rooms. 

Hot-desking is an office organisation system that involves multiple employees using a single physical workstation during different periods. 

The hybrid work arrangement allows employees to work in the office, at home and other locations.

Upskilling the workers

Last year, Maybank used a learning budget of RM95 million to upskill and train its employees.

It also moved its learning platform into a virtual one. Called #LearningNeverStops, the program runs weekly to help Maybank employees stay focused on productivity, sustaining their upskilling and reskilling endeavours during the lockdown. 

Nora also said that the bank has another programme that upskills over 360 of its non-clerical employees in Malaysia to become 'workplace enablers'. The training programme aims to provide non-clerical workers with new skills that enable them to speed up their career progression and take on bigger responsibilities.

In an effort to ensure its workforce readiness for the future workplace needs and support the transition to becoming the Digital Bank of Choice, Maybank has devised training and development programmes to empower its workers' industry knowledge skills. 

For instance, with over 300 workers receiving professional certification, Maybank had invested over RM100,000 in Islamic finance knowledge-building in 2020. 

 

How other banks across the world fare with the pandemic

A few banks across the world are looking to reduce their office space to cut costs. Some banks are also on the verge of closing down their branches because of the pandemic. 

OCBC Bank, DBS Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank are some of the banks looking to scale down the office space and may shut down some of their branches. 

According to reports, Standard Chartered said that it would shut down half its branches and cut office space worldwide by a third to save costs as lockdowns have significantly reduced the need for physical branches and offices. 

Singapore-based OCBC Bank said it would review its current need for office space and might close some of its branches. DBS Bank is also vacating several floors it currently occupies at the Marina Bay Financial Centre. 

Source: The Star

 

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