TRAINING: INDUCTION TRAINING

The bank has hired its ideal candidate. Now what?

It is not just a matter of showing the employee their place of work and then expecting full productivity overnight. There is training to be done. Every bank has its rules, systems, processes, and particular ways of performing tasks and it must ensure that employees know how to do their jobs in the most effective way.

Besides providing a proper understanding of how to deliver the bank’s promises to its customers and stay up to date with the market, regulatory changes and new technologies require the bank to provide training to employees and enables people to progress in their careers.

To perform all the above, a bank must as a minimum have a set of basic training modules covering:

• Induction
• Technical requirements and processes
• Specialised activities.

These are the three most widely used forms of training.

Induction Training

Induction training (also called On-boarding Training) is the first training a new employee will have at the bank. Normally, it has two parts, one general and one specific. The general training applies to all newcomers to the bank.

General Induction Training should include:

• Presentation of the bank to the new employee – introducing its history, mission, values and goals;
• Presentation of the bank’s culture and expected behaviours (for example, whether or not work attire is formal);
• The company’s wider benefits to employees;
• Key employment processes and contacts;
• An explanation of the general appraisal process;
• Details of the bank’s basic safety rules within the premises.

Specific Induction Training will present what is expected from the new employee, covering:

• Systems and tools used to do their job;
• Processes to be followed;
• Key deliverables expected of the job;
• Rules on appraisal;
• Management hierarchy within the area;
• Key contacts in the area;
• Main questions and answers related to the job;
• Job responsibilities.

General Induction Training is usually conducted by HR and covers the intake of all new employees, often from different departments, which helps wider integration.

Specific Induction Training is normally undertaken within the specific area where the employee will work and is closer to on-the-job training. A one-to-one approach is often used, where a senior employee partners with the newcomer for a specific period to go through the Specific Induction Training content.

Finally, due to the increased complexity of bank activities and the scrutiny that they are under, some minimum basic knowledge about legal and compliance legislation, such as anti-money laundering, has become mandatory to all employees; specific training is provided during the on-boarding of new employees.

In the post COVID-19 world some of the above training is done via video conferences or webinars.