Hard work, dedication and excellence. Those were the buzz words as Republic Bank continued its celebration of excellence at the annual staff gala and awards event at the iconic Concorde Experience.
Seven members of staff were nominated by peers and managers as worthy candidates for the Managing Director’s Spirit of Republic Bank Award across two employment categories. According to Managing Director and CEO Ian De Souza, these employees live the Republic Bank Core Values and perform all aspects of their jobs at a very high standard. Nominees must all have an excellent record of punctuality and attendance, consistently go above and beyond the call of duty and make significant contributions to their branch or department achieving set goals and objectives.
In his remarks about the Bank’s performance, De Souza commented on the joy of leading a team that is in a word driven. “I stand here tonight as one proud CEO. Everything I have asked for, you the staff of Republic Bank Barbados have delivered,” he said. “We remain number 1 in the delivery of customer service, the industry benchmark for staff engagement is 67% and yours is at 66%. We came up with a wonderful mortgage campaign and you decimated the target and you have already achieved the target set for our Christmas loan campaign!”
From a field of five candidates performing nonsupervisory roles, Donnah Drakes and Karen Alleyne, both Tellers, and Reginal Drax-Williams, Security Officer all of the Broad Street Branch; Elroy Yearwood, Software Administrator, Information Technology department and Sadrian Maynard, Customer Service Coordinator, Limegrove Branch were selected as finalists with Yearwood emerging victorious.
Carlos Beckles, Senior Analyst in the Bank’s Corporate and Commercial Credit Unit was announced winner in the Supervisory Management category ahead of his sole competitor from the Information Technology department, Elon Richards, Senior Network Analyst.
Awards recognising excellence in performance - Unit of the Year and Branch of the Year - were won by the Human Resources department and the Wildey Branch respectively. Both branches and units were judged on customer service, overall attendance and business achievement. Competing against three other departments, the Human Resources department emerged Unit of the Year based on its achievements with respect to reliability and consistency, staff awareness, staff development, industrial relations, staff empowerment, business facilitation and cultural revitalization initiatives.
The Branch of the Year was keenly contested by three branches. A very close race, with consistency of performance over the year playing a significant role in the decision, the Wildey branch recorded the best performance of actual loans to budget, and a loan growth performance at 14% above plan representing 55% of the total retail growth.
“This year has been particularly rewarding. Through the dedication and hard work of you our committed staff, on top of all that we have achieved, we have been awarded the enviable Bank of the Year Barbados 2016 by the Banker magazine! You make me proud to be your leader,” said De Souza.
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