Performance Management Of Qatar National Bank

Qatar National Bank: Profile

Discuss about the Performance Management Of Qatar National Bank.

Performance management is an integral part of an organization in terms of growth and success. The HR policies and practices play a major role to assess the performance of the employees. Recruitment process, employee engagement & retention, grievance handling and training & development play an important role to manage the performance of employees. The report would thus, examine the approach of a Middle East organization Qatar National Bank towards performance management.

Qatar National Bank is the first commercial bank of Qatar that was set up in the year 1964. The bank is owned by Qatar Investment Authority and public members with a 50 percent ownership structure. In short span of time the bank has become one of the largest banks of Qatar and one of the renowned financial institutions of Middle East and Africa region. The bank witnessed a net profit of QAR 6.2 billion in the year 2016 that surged by 12% from the last year (QNB Group, 2017). The assets of bank increased by36% as compared to 2015 to become 692 billion that is the highest value ever attained by the group. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have given one of the highest rated to the bank (QNB Group, 2017).

The vision of the bank is “to help businesses by offering total financial relationship that is built on exceptional personal service and sincere interest in their success”  (QNB, 2017).

The mission of the bank has also been strategically developed and revolves around customers, employees and shareholders. The strategic mission of the bank is:

1. To prioritize customers with bank’s excellent services and help them to achieve their financial goals (QNB, 2017).
2. To support the employees to achieve their personal and professional successes (QNB, 2017).
3. To assist shareholders to attain their complete ownership (QNB, 2017).
4. To benefit the communities through bank’s corporate citizenship (QNB, 2017).

The bank has been able to achieve its vision and mission through valuable services in the Middle East and Africa. The bank was also rated as world’s strongest bank by Bloomberg markets.

Recruitment process is the most vital process of any organization because it facilitates to hire skillful talent from pool of candidates (Aguinis, 2013). Most of the organizations thrive to develop effective HR practices and policies to recruit and retain the competent employees.

Qatar National Bank recruits the most talented people who can demonstrate their competency skills at the workplace. The bank has an efficient recruitment system to assess the skills, abilities and core competency of the candidates. Recruitment system involves application, HR interview and final selection. The bank may also conduct psychological and competency tests to assess the suitability of the candidate depending upon the profile and position.

System and Process

The bank advertises for the vacancy through different channels including job portals, company website and social media networks. HR manager manages the different CVs received for different position. The HR manager of the bank assesses the CV of all the received candidates to filter out the candidates with appropriate experience, job knowledge, skills and abilities and core competencies. The selected candidate is called for the interview by the HR manager of the bank. The HR manager assesses the attitude and competency skills of the candidate.

The bank has an effective induction program for the new employees. It is the responsibility of HR manager to brief the employees on HR practices and policies of the organization so that they can comprehend the values and culture of the organization (Al-Masri, 2015).

Training and development advances the employees in their career by equipping them with the latest industry trends and knowledge (Aguinis, 2013). Employees also seek continuous learning in an organization to evolve their skills and abilities and grow their career (Sung & Choi, 2014). The HR manager conducts training and development on frequent basis to train the employees on latest and advanced technology and the latest industry trends evolving in banking sector.

The training could be carried out through several methods including coaching & mentoring, conducting seminars and workshops, frequent meetings & discussions, employee feedback and constant supervision. The candidates are offered an opportunity to enhance their managerial skills, leadership skills and core competencies by the Management Development Program of the bank (Qatar News Agency, 2016).

Employees are the assets of any company and therefore, it is very important to retain them within the organization (Alias, Noor & Hassan, 2014). In order to retain employees, it is important to ensure employee satisfaction. Employee engagement plays a very important role to satisfy the employees and retain them for a longer period of time (Aguinis, 2013). QNB conducts social gathering and activities for the employees to create trust and affection among the employees.

The bank offers numerous benefits and incentives to retain its employees for longer duration. The employees receive the insurance for medical, dental, life, vision and disability. They are also given paid holidays and vacations to enjoy their family time. The bank also has dedicated accounts for pre-tax dependent care and medical care reimbursement. The employees also enjoy free and discounted banking services along with stock purchase plan. The employees supporting their families are also given tuition fee for their children.

Recruitment Process

Grievance handling is one of the challenging issues of HR. When people work together within an organization, conflicts are likely to arise because of ego, jealousy and competitiveness. The HR manager at QNB thrives to bring consensus among the staff members to ensure smooth flow of operations in the bank. HR manager conducts individual meetings and discussions and counseling sessions to resolve the conflicts among the employees and increase their competency skills.

Meetings and discussions are effective when the manager has to address the entire workforce for a single concern, for instance the employees may not be happy with the introduction of some new HR policies and are unwilling to work. The HR manager would make them understand the significance of the policy and how it could be beneficial to them.

Counseling sessions are deployed by the manager when an individual or a group has some conflict. For instance, an individual is depressed because his family member is suffering from a sickness and is not able to perform at bank. The HR manager may offer his support by giving him flexible working hours and showing his concern for his loved ones.

Standard and measurement indices help to evaluate the performance of an organization. Qatar National Bank has implemented effective policies to monitor and control the overall performance. The performance is monitored through key performance indicators. Key performance indicators help to evaluate the performance of employees by assessing their contribution to the organization (Parmenter, 2015).

The bank has very strategically developed its key performance indicators to assess the performance of its employees. The HR manager regularly monitors the performance of employees and reviews their performance every six months as well as annually to assess their contribution towards the organization growth. Following are the KPI that bank uses to assess the employee performance:

Customer Lifetime Value: Customer lifetime value helps to look at the longevity of the customers instead of quantity of customers and is an effective KPI for bank (Ekinci, Uray & Ülengin, 2014). It is challenging to retain the existing customer instead of attracting new ones. According to marketing rule, 80% of the business revenue is achieved from 20% of the customers who are loyal to the company (Krasteva, Sharma & Wagman, 2015). The sales officers and relationship managers are responsible for retaining the customer through excellent services. When HR manager evaluates the performance of the employees, he/she looks at the customer lifetime value instead of new customers.

Sales Target: Every sales officer has sales target to achieve for every month. The manager reviews the target of sales officers to calculate their salaries and incentives. The employees receive incentives when they attain 75% of their sales.

Customer Satisfaction: For a service based industry, customer satisfaction is of vital role. The employees of the company hold responsibility to satisfy customers through their dedication and going extra miles to achieve customer delight (Mahmoud Al-jazzazi & Sultan, 2014). The company looks at the record of employees to assess their dedication and commitment towards the company.

Performance appraisal helps to assess the performance of the employees and gives them the opportunity for their growth and career advancement. It helps the HR manager to assess the potential of the employees and provide them relevant feedback based on their past performance (Bernardin & Wiatrowski, 2013). The manager is also able to identify the strengths, weaknesses, skills and core competencies of the employees and may offer them suitable roles and responsibilities through promotion and rotational jobs (Pulakos, 2009). The employees benefits from performance appraisal in form of compensation, incentives, promotion and other employee benefits (Cardy & Leonard, 2014).

Qatar National Bank reviews the performance of its employees on annual and mid year basis. The performance is reviewed to analyze the past performance of the employees and manage their track record for revision of their salaries and compensation. The HR manager of QNB revises the salary and pay structure of employees every year to assess whether the pay structure is in alignment with their performance and behavior.  The manager reviews the track record of the employees while revising the pay structure and if the employee has been performing consistently over the past year and has made a great effort to contribute towards the success of the organization, he is appreciated for that through salary and pay structure revision. The employee may also be promoted for showing his consistency, dedication and great achievements.

Further, there are other forms of appraisals including incentives, rewards & recognition. One of the sales officers was awarded for handling the customer who lost his debit card on weekend. This motivated him to show his commitment and dedication in future. He was excited and thrilled to receive the reward for the company and even recommended others to join the bank for its amazing culture and practices. Further, when the sales officers achieve their deadlines and targets, they receive incentives for their hard work and dedication. One of the new sales officers was also given incentives when he achieved 75% of his target.

Conclusion

The report construes that Qatar National Bank has very effectively incorporated HR practices within its system to increase the performance of the employees. The company has effective recruitment system to source the best pool of talent. The employees are retained through bank’s employee engagement programs and retention policy. Further, the HR department also ensures productivity of the employees through its rewards and recognition system.

Standards and measurement metrics of the bank ensure that the performance of employees is in alignment with the bank’s goals and objectives. Customer lifetime value and sales incentives are regularly monitored to assess employee’s performance.

Further, the HR manager revises the performance of employees within every six months to give them performance appraisal through promotions and incentives.

References

Aguinis, H. (2013). Performance management (3rd ed.). NJ: Prentice Hall.

Alias, N., Noor, N., & Hassan, R. (2014). Examining the mediating effect of employee engagement on the relationship between talent management practices and employee retention in the Information and Technology (IT) organizations in Malaysia. Journal of Human Resources Management and Labor Studies, 2(2), 227-242.

Al-Masri, S. (2015). Nowhere To Go But Up: Hiring Practices In The Middle East. Retrieved from: Nowhere To Go But Up: Hiring Practices In The Middle East

Bernardin, H. J., & Wiatrowski, M. (2013). Performance appraisal. Psychology and Policing, 257.

Cardy, R., & Leonard, B. (2014). Performance Management: Concepts, Skills and Exercises. London: Routledge.

Ekinci, Y., Uray, N., & Ülengin, F. (2014). A customer lifetime value model for the banking industry: a guide to marketing actions. European Journal of Marketing, 48(3/4), 761-784.

Krasteva, S., Sharma, P., & Wagman, L. (2015). The 80/20 rule: Corporate support for innovation by employees. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 38, 32-43.

Mahmoud Al-jazzazi, A., & Sultan, P. (2014). Banking service quality in the Middle Eastern countries. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 32(7), 688-700.

Parmenter, D. (2015). Key performance indicators: developing, implementing, and using winning KPIs. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

Pulakos, E.D. (2009). Performance Management: A New Approach for Driving Business Results. MA: John & Wiley Sons.

Qatar News Agency. (2016). QNB Holds Ceremony for Employees Graduating from Management Program. Retrieved from: https://www.qna.org.qa/en-us/News/16040915480023/QNB-Holds-Ceremony-for-Employees-Graduating-from-Management-Program

QNB Group. (2017). About QNB group. Retrieved from: https://qnb.com.tn/en/about-qnb.html

QNB. (2017). QNB Mission. Retrieved from: https://www.qnbbank.com/about-us/qnb-mission

Sung, S. Y., & Choi, J. N. (2014). Do organizations spend wisely on employees? Effects of training and development investments on learning and innovation in organizations. Journal of organizational behavior, 35(3), 393-412.