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Citi’s two slogansChua says Citi has two slogans that guide all of its HR strategies.

“One is ‘Career of a lifetime’ and the other is ‘Building bankers of the future’,” she says.

“When we talk about building bankers of the future, we do not only look at Citi within the organisation. We look at how we partner with universities to develop students so that it feeds the industry.”

Hence, she explains there are specific programmes that Citi has in place, such as the Citi Student Mentoring programme and the Citi Banking 101 Foundational programme, to develop transferrable banking skills.

These two programmes were launched by Citi in 2013 to address the needs of the under-served first and second year students from local universities.

In addition, Citi’s Legal Internship programme was also launched recently (see: boxout).

“Besides that, we also partner with universities like the NUS Business School to develop a transaction banking course,” Chua explains. So, where we see a gap, we will intervene and we will work with campuses to help the industry at large.”

As for the notion of ‘a career of a lifetime’, Chua says Citi wants to ensure that all of its employees grow personally and professionally within the organisation.

“So, we do have these talent development programmes such as the Leadership Enhancement and Accelerated Development (LEAD) programme and the INSPIRE programme for emerging successors,” she explains.

“On top of that, we provide staff with lifelong learning and career development opportunities.”

AT A GLANCE Total number of employees at Citi (Singapore): close to 10,000

Size of the HR Team (Singapore): about 50

Key HR Focus Areas:- Employee engagement and employer branding- Talent development and pipeline building- Promoting a culture of diversity

Grappling with key HR issuesDespite Citi jostling with other big players in the banking industry, Chua zooms in on several critical issues afflicting all organisations.

“If we look at the banking sector and in fact, across all of the various industries, succession planning is one of the key priorities for any organisation because primarily, it addresses the future leaders’ pipeline and how we develop our talent on the whole,” she explains.

The second point, she highlights, is the greying population in Singapore, as well as the need for millennials to take up leadership roles.

Chua says an appreciation of generational trends as well as differences is critical.

“People leave organisations because of leaders, and it’s important for organisations to develop their leaders right from the get-go, when they are being appointed as junior managers and so forth, to ensure there’s sustainability,” she elaborates.

“Another principle issue is the notion of driving diversity,” says Chua. “Primarily, when we talk about driving diversity, we talk about different forms such as gender or generational.”

“This is to ensure we have a diverse workforce that represents the diversity of our clients.”

Last but not least, Chua reveals that the much-publicised SkillsFuture initiative in recent months is something that resonates firmly with Citi.

“Over at our end, what we are doing is developing local talent in every market that we operate in,” she says.

“While we need to import talent to ensure that we have the necessary knowledge in the workplace, we also need to ensure that the local talent are being trained and developed as well.”

Championing employees

Sham Majidsham@hrmasia.com.sg

Despite being a global banking conglomerate, Citi works hard to ensure all its HR policies are deeply employee-centric, both on personal and professional levels

Evangeline Chua, Head of HR for Citi Singapore, is unflinching in

her organisation’s belief in employee development, saying it is a crucial component of any HR framework.

“We do not chart out a specific roadmap for every single employee because we want to give them that flexibility. Along the way, their career aspirations may evolve and they may want to develop their career in different manners,” she stresses.

“We encourage our employees to move across disciplines.”

According to Chua, Citi staff always reaches out to their HR department “to be their sounding board and to seek advice”.

“There is a lot of sharing and counselling from that perspective. Hence, we do not restrict our employees to just one roadmap,” she says.

“There is a world of opportunities in Citi.”

Indeed, from offering development programmes to female employees, to promoting a culture of innovation through its two innovation labs at the Changi business hub, to engaging through its various diversity initiatives, bountiful platforms are available to all employees at Citi.

at all levels

Citi:

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itself solely to local talent, during talent reviews, managers will be challenged to see if there’s anything the company could do for locals and whether there are any roles Citi can push their locals for.

“Our CCO gives a very strong mandate in this space because we strongly believe that we have to develop local talent in every market that we operate in,” says Chua.

Besides being renowned for its innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, Chua also says Citi creates a work environment where diversity is embraced.

She points to generational diversity as an example of this concept.

“The new generation workforce has

different demands, because we are talking about four generations of workforce in any organisation,” she explains.

“It calls for a holistic approach to address the different generational workforce needs.”

Citi has three key diversity councils: Citi Singapore Women’s Council, Generational Diversity Council and the Pride Council.

“For example, right now, we are doing a benefits review,” reveals Chua.

“We engage with our various diversity champions, be it, gender, pride or generational, to ensure their respective needs are addressed.”

Filling the talent ranksPerhaps one of the worst-kept secrets in HR is the fact that competition for talent is at its fiercest in the banking sector.

Chua readily acknowledges this fact, but she says that for example, with heightened regulatory controls, there is a particular scarcity of talent in the risk and control space.

“Everybody is hiring in numbers in terms of these functions, ranging from roles such as compliance and internal auditing,” she says.

“So, we are all vying for the same talent and when we talk about the local talent in the market, I don’t think it’s sufficient to feed the increase in demand.”

In fact, Chua says Citi has actually engaged with universities to suggest they

develop compliance-specific curriculum.In order to entice the best graduate

talents, the company developed six Citi Management Associate (MA) Programmes that cater to different needs. (see: boxout)

Internally, Chua says Citi strongly encourages cross-mobility across functions.

She adds that Citi prefers its employees to be versatile. The organisation promotes internal mobility across functions and across the business.

“Even when we do a talent review, we not only look at it in silos. We always question if there is anybody in the other business that could fill this role,” she says.

“So, we make sure that we encourage cross-fertilisation.”

Training nuts and bolts Chua says Citi has robust leadership training, ranging from individual leadership courses all the way to the highest levels of bank management.

Interestingly, the organisation also oversees specific training for women in banking.

“We call it the Citi Women’s Leadership Development Programme (CWLDP) and primarily, it’s good for women to network within the organisation,” says Chua.

“We also train women to have a voice of their own, hence, empowering them to put their hand up when a role is made available.”

Two other programmes for female employees include the Women Leading Citi programme and The Women in Risk programme.

Chua also explains the organisation makes risk training an instrumental part of its training initiatives.

“Risk training is very key to banks,” she says. “So, we have a full suite of risk training for our employees as well.”

Citi’s operations also include two innovation labs in its Changi headquarters.

“One is for consumer banking, while the other one is for transaction banking,” says Chua.

“They are research and development

facilities. We have to constantly innovate; otherwise we will definitely fall behind the competition. So, it’s basically Citi’s way of supporting a culture of innovation.”

In fact, Chua states that employees in the innovation lab rotate between different businesses as well as across the innovation labs.

Citi EngagedWhile a majority of organisations possess employee engagement initiatives, Citi has structured its own unique “Citi Engage” model, which aims to “engage minds, empower lives and connect Citibankers.”

Citi Engage, comprising of 12 employee engagement groups with over 80 members, was set up in Singapore last year to run activities to promote cultural harmony among employees.

“There are eight pillars in this whole employee engagement,” says Chua.

The eight pillars comprise of Flexi-Work Strategies, Diversity, Wellness, Career Management and Development, Appreciation and Recognition, Corporate Social Responsibility, Family and Celebrations and “Fun @ Work”.

“This is how we shape our employee engagement,” adds Chua.

Offering a total rewards packageAlthough Chua says Citi was one of the first

Chua says during Citi’s yearly performance review, the organisation takes each employee through an Individual Development Plan.

“We strongly encourage all our employees to articulate the kind of development plans they want to put in place for themselves,” she explains.

“This process helps to ensure that our employees actively manage their growth in the organisation.”

An inclusive cultureCiti’s open and relaxed corporate culture is perhaps best epitomised by the organisation’s mantra that allows everyone, including the Citi Country Officer (CCO) of Singapore, to be addressed by their first name.

“Anyone who has worked in Citi would be able to attest to that,” says Chua.

“People are promoted on merits and there is basically no hierarchy in the organisation, so we break down all these barriers and protocols.”

Furthermore, Chua says Citi is committed to being a company where the best people work and where opportunities to develop are openly available.

“Whenever there is any job opportunity within Singapore, we will blast it on a weekly basis to all our employees to make sure that this position is opened internally,” she explains.

Nevertheless, while explaining that Citi as a global organisation cannot restrict

EVANGELINE CHUAHead of HR for Citi

Singapore

ALVIN NGHead of Recruitment,

Singapore

NADIA MOHAMADSenior HR Generalist, Institutional Clients

Group, Singapore

CINDY DERMAWANHead, Talent and Learning Management, Diversity

and Inclusion, Singapore

ROSALIND MARKHead of Compensation and Benefits, Singapore

MARCELA MIHANOVICH

Senior HR Generalist, Consumer Bank, Singapore

WHO’S WHO IN HR

employers to implement flexible benefits, over time, employees’ expectation of the organisation has shifted.

“We question ourselves on whether we have done enough in terms of the benefits space,” explains Chua.

“We reward people, pay for performance, so that’s pretty much it in terms of how we compensate our employees from a monetary perspective.”

Acccording to her, “money is always the hygiene factor and we need to ensure that our employees are equitably paid.”

“If they feel they are underpaid, they would be extremely unhappy,” says Chua.

“That is why we offer Citi Engage – it is almost like a total rewards package.”

Of course, rewards are not only about money.

“I think they are looking for recognition; for career development within the organisation and how the organisation nurtures them and develops them,” she says.

Chua says there is always a competitor who is willing to pay the employees what they want.

“Let’s not kid ourselves about that,” she says.

“However, in Citi, what really retains the people is the culture. I think that’s really important, and how we engage them is the other important aspect.”

Citi’s budding lawyersCiti unveiled a first-of-its-kind legal internship programme in Singapore this year.

This programme is an inaugural partnership between Citi, the National University of Singapore’s law faculty, and law firm Rajah & Tann.

It attracted 80 applications from NUS Law, with nine students being selected this year. Students who are accepted into the programme are attached to a senior counsel and gain exposure to the role of the in-house legal function at Citi.

This internship requires students to make a three-month commitment, during which they are exposed to global financial regulatory trends, product developments, and even contract negotiations.

In addition, all interns are granted a guaranteed interview opportunity with Rajah & Tann. The best performing intern of the year, as determined by Citi and Rajah & Tann, will be awarded a training contract with the law firm.

Up to 10 law students will be accepted into Citi’s legal internship programme each year.

Citi’s Management Associate Programmes• Citi Cross-Franchise Management

Associate programme• Citi Consumer Banking Graduate Associate

programme• Citi Investment Banking Analyst/Associate

programme• Citi Markets Analyst/Associate programme• Citi Technology Academy programme• Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions Analyst/

Associate programme