6 Tips To Keep Your Bank Employee Training Relevant
Strict regulations, tech disruptions and high staff turnover are the order of the day for the banking sector. And with digitization taking the world by storm, banks are facing an impossible challenge: to plan for jobs that don’t yet exist and eliminate many of the jobs that do.
This dangerous cocktail of disruption and uncertainty, hiring and firing, has left many banks wondering how to stay in a game where the rules keep changing. And, although corporate compliance training still remains a large part of their employee training, it’s not nearly enough anymore. If any of this sounds familiar, you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for the top bank employee training tips coming up next.
Foster Loyalty Through Growth And Reward
For anyone working in the banking sector, every day brings new changes and challenges. Some roles become automated, and employees lose their jobs to machines that learn. The structural changes and loss of team members that come with this are bound to put a ‘downer’ on your corporate culture. And that, unfortunately, often leads to staff turnover.
So, how do you earn the loyalty of top talent in the midst of a disruptive working environment? More importantly, how do you maintain (or even create) a culture of engagement and enthusiasm that will keep your staff happy?
Motivate employees with opportunities, and then reward them for their progress. With Millennials growing into the majority share of the job market, employees today are looking for challenge, recognition, and growth. So, provide them with regular opportunities to learn skills that will either see them promoted, or equipped for a new role altogether.
This way, employees who are ready and willing to adapt and grow with the company won’t only feel recognized; they’ll want to stick around, too.
Upskill And Reskill Tech Talent
In a recent study, 62% of senior leaders in the banking industry said that the gap between supply and demand for people with digital expertise is getting wider [1]. Now, knowing that machine learning is slowly replacing the roles and functions of many jobs in the banking sector, this statement might confuse you.
But while automation is a reality which banks need to face, it doesn’t always lead to role extinction. Sometimes, automation even has the effect of job creation, roles we never had imagined or predicted. How is this possible? Let’s take an example.
In the mid-1990s, ATM machines started landing at every mall and gas station. Just about everyone (including bank managers) expected ATMs to eliminate the human bank teller. But they didn’t. In fact, not only did teller jobs increase, but also new jobs like ATM maintenance jobs were created.
Invest in bank employee training to upskill and reskill staff in preparation for tech jobs that don’t yet exist. Ensure that your staff are ready for the future, and you’ll avoid having to let employees go when today’s jobs become irrelevant. Plus, you’ll save time and resources by not having to recruit new staff to replace them.
Train The People Who Will Lead And Manage Change
The waves of change are rolling into every bank door in the world. And managing that change will require the help of all employees, from the basement floor to the corner office. In other words, the days of command and control are over.
So, how do banks train their employees to lead, manage and promote change in the company? By giving them the skills of Project Managers and the values of adaptive leaders.
Provide company-wide training for bank employees, which teaches them how to be visionaries. Develop soft skills like empathy, resilience, and agility. And give employees the support and tools to cope with stress and uncertainty. Stress management training is one of these tools, of course, but they’ll need manager support and forums to voice their concerns, too.
Create A Culture Of Innovation And Problem-Solving
If your bank employee training is going to prepare your staff for the future, it must focus on people as much as it focuses on roles. After all, a workforce of agile, creative problem-solvers stands a far better chance of surviving new challenges than a workforce highly versed in yesterday’s job tasks, don’t you think?
So, to create this future-proof workforce, foster a culture where employees feel comfortable with risk, appreciated for their ideas and respected for their feedback. Give bank employees the training they need to develop creativity and problem-solving abilities, and then let them opt into team assignments about real problems (banks tend to have a lot of interesting problems that need solving).
Make sure to develop a culture of diversity, too. This means equal hiring and recognition across age, gender, race, and geography. It also requires safe spaces, like online forums, where all employees can share ideas and feedback. The resulting wealth of experience and perspectives will help prevent the groupthink that financial industries are so well known for.
Do It All Through eLearning With An LMS For Financial Services
With all of the change and disruption your staff deals with today, it’s important that training not become another stress for them. In fact, continuous learning should be an exciting and fulfilling perk of working in the banking industry. But, to achieve this, you’ll need to move your bank training online.
That’s right. Learning Management Systems are for the banks of the future. Why? Because they encourage continuous development by enabling employees to learn wherever and whenever they choose, even on their mobile phones on the train to work. How convenient is that?
Plus, with features like advanced data encryption, SSO, and two-factor authentication, you don’t have to worry about security. Then, there’s the ability to use videos and quizzes, making bank compliance training more engaging. The only catch? Finding the perfect LMS for your needs.
Conclusion
Don’t let the importance of compliance training blind you from the bank employee training you need to prepare for the future. Yesterday’s already gone, and tomorrow will be too late. Start preparing with the agile thinking, technical-savvy, and change-bringing skills your staff needs, today!
References:
[1] The Digital Talent Gap: Are Companies Doing Enough?
