Well I went to the 'War for Talent' in Banking Conference a fortnight back, and I wasn't really given the impression that the audience were in battle mode. It was quite disappointing from that perspective. I had hoped HR staffers would be there talking about how they were finding advantages over each other, and who was leading the field; but nobody seemed to be using any tools or techniques worth a mention. I spoke individually to a number of senior recruiters and HR generalists to ask privately what challenges they were facing and how they were reacting....nothing, nobody home.
Shocking really, and I only hope that the Executives of those banks represented are aware at the lack of action being taken, or that there are actually steps being taken to be competitive but that nobody wanted to share their ideas. There were no stand-out employers except HSBC maybe who at least seemed to be going to good efforts to implement locally some of the international retention strategies in the local set up. Even these efforts though seemed to be limited to Opinion Surveys, Exit Interviews and Employee of the Month Awards for staff recognition.
It struck me that the HR Banking community doesn't fully understand yet how difficult it has got to hire great talent in the Middle East markets. Part of the problem I think is that Bankers, not unlike Hoteliers, see banking as something that runs through your blood. Therefore so long as you're a good bank, then you'll attract good bankers (as they won't want to work anywhere other than a bank). The finance markets are changing very quickly across the MENA region as they have in Asia; and corporate recruiters need to see it. There is a diversifying pool of jobs for bankers now more than ever; stock markets being born, Islamic Banking on a meteoric rise, corporate and infrastructure financing and IPO's abound. Banks need to start implementing tools and techniques that the rest of industry has been doing for a couple of years. General employer branding (wider than just targeting bankers) and targeted selection to develop talent pools in key skill areas. Using the Internet to develop relationships ahead of time with that talent.
Banking is so regulated and every risk has to be mitigated; hence training & development is always a mandatory measure.To compound this issue further for banks, is the very fact that have invested in Training so heavily (also as a retention tool) they are a good target for highly developed staff - which others will continue to feed off.
As banks in the region outsource and offshore more of the back-office functions, I foresee a huge crunch in talent shortages in the retained core banking areas; and very few employers in this sector are prepared for this.
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