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Sharing the bank’s best practices, Betty Lam, Managing Director, Head of Human Resources, DBS Hong Kong, encourages everyone to “test and learn”.
Inspired by her early career adventure in Shanghai, Betty Lam believes that stepping outside one’s comfort zone and accepting challenges can contribute greatly to personal and career growth.
As a 20-year HR veteran in the banking and insurance sector, having worked at HSBC, AIA, PepsiCo and Citi, Lam embarks on a new journey in DBS Hong Kongby stepping into the role of Managing Director, Head of Human Resources, Hong Kong in August 2022
Since then, she has gained first-hand experience of the efforts DBS makes in employee training and development and how this contributes to a good journey on board. As the bank’s head of human resources, she continues to work to empower the workforce with a comprehensive set of benefits, ensuring they feel supported, cared for, recognized and valued.
For example, the bank recently launched ‘Maternity Care’ to provide new parents with an extra fund to celebrate their bundle of joy, as well as a new enhanced ‘iOK’ benefits program to offer practical and emotional support to people and their dependents faces – the clock. Another key initiative to be launched in 2023 is ‘iFit’, which aims to promote wellbeing from protection to prevention by handing out extra wellness cash, namely ‘iFlex$’, to encourage DBS employees to unlock selected wellness goals, such as passing a -UPS health screening.
“We regularly review our benefits programs to ensure that support is competitive and can meet their diverse needs,” shares Lam. “I believe that with these various initiatives and programs, our people can thrive at work and in life.”
In this exclusive, the HR leader shares with HRO Tracy Chan a moment that made her who she is today, and she is equipping and upskilling her workforce for the future of work.
Q: Having worked in banking and insurance for over 20 years, what do you see as the trends and challenges in managing talent in these sectors?
As the job market has evolved, I’ve noticed that talent at all levels now seem to have more freedom and opportunity in their career journeys as well as in their personal lives, and place more emphasis on work-life balance. They are also more proactive and open to exploring different opportunities, such as job mobility, where we see more talent willing to consider working outside of Hong Kong.
All of this is leading to a new mix of demands and expectations from talent, which in turn means that businesses now need to be more thoughtful and flexible in their approach to both recruitment and retention.
We at DBS are particularly proud to be recognized as a future-ready and progressive employer, with effective hybrid working practices and a holistic focus on employee advancement and wellbeing.
In November 2020, we were one of the first organizations to introduce a permanent hybrid working policy where employees can work up to 40% of their time from home. We also offer flexibility for employees at different life and career stages. For example, parents with young children have the flexibility to work from home 100% for six months after paid maternity or paternity leave.
As a result of our efforts to create a positive and engaging journey for our employees, we have been able to attract and retain talent worldwide. Our reputation as a different kind of bank and a great place to work has been recognized across the industry and we were named ‘Best Bank in Hong Kong’ by four top financial publications last year.
Q: Can you share a moment in your life that made you who you are today?
Early in my career, I moved to Shanghai to work for a global FMCG company. Although they were my first and probably my last non-financial services employer, it was an inspiring and rewarding adventure.
Everything was new – the FMCG industry, competing for talent in one of the fastest growing markets in the world, speaking a different language and experiencing a different culture. This valuable adventure has allowed me to grow and develop both professionally and personally.
I believe that it is always most effective to learn a new language when you live in its native country. After living in Shanghai for a few years, even though my Putonghua was still not fluent, I was able to convince an experienced taxi driver to agree to my route recommendation.
My visit to China gave me the confidence to take on the challenge of my next job, which involved strategic development in the Pearl River Delta and Greater Bay Area.
My advice is to dare to step out of your comfort zone, try something new and challenge yourself. This will make you more prepared for your next endeavor.
Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
As a leader, my job is to set my team up for success. I encourage everyone to provide and receive candid and constructive feedback. I believe in the importance of being a role model and creating an environment of trust where people feel safe to speak up and are willing to take the time to listen to each other as well as understand each other. I truly believe in partnerships where we work together for the greater good.
I always tell my team – there are no stupid questions, please ask and speak up when you don’t understand or disagree. I don’t know everything and I’m always learning and giving up on my team every day.
Q: To better navigate the digital age, how are you upskilling your workforce?
Long before the pandemic, DBS began its journey of digital transformation in 2014 when we focused on cultivating a start-up culture among our employees. We wanted to make sure they were ready for the future by giving them the ability and resources to acquire new skills and knowledge to deal with the changing landscape.
In 2017, we launched DigiFY, a mobile learning platform designed to transform our employees into digitally savvy bankers. The program helps employees upskill for the digital age in areas such as working flexibility and digital technology – which became even more important when the pandemic hit. Since then, around 90% of our DBS HK colleagues have completed at least one stage of the curriculum.
We also organize events such as FutureForward Week, a regional annual event that aims to retrain and upskill our employees in all markets. During the event, leaders, colleagues from across the region and outside experts come together to share their insights and personal experiences on how to learn to thrive in the digital age.
We also have training roadmaps that are based on the forecasted future needs of various functions and businesses across the bank, designed to nurture the bankers of tomorrow. All this has led to a change in the skill set at the bank. Today, DBS has twice as many engineers as bankers.
With COVID-19 turning economies and societies around, we believe we must be able to anticipate and lead change so that our customers and the community at large can “Live Longer, Live Better and Bank Better.” -a little’.
By behaving more like a start-up, more like a technologist, more focused on sustainability and less like a ‘traditional’ bank, we believe we can be a bank for the times.
Q: Is there a phrase/attitude you think HR professionals should eliminate? And what to replace it with?
The quote “It’s nice to be important, but it’s important to be good” is always at the top of my mind. We all strive to achieve and expect to excel in our lives both personally and professionally.
While it is important to be successful, it is more important to treat everyone with respect and dignity.
I am glad to join DBS whose culture and PRIDE! values I really agree with. At DBS we are aware of “Ppurpose” of our business strategy and supporting functions. We deliver on our strategies and goals collectively through partnership and trust, which is “Relationship-led”. We encourage each other to be “Iinnovative’ and ‘eecisive”, especially in difficult times. By doing all this, we hope to achieve and achieve as we do “every funny”.
Q: Before we wrap up the interview, what is your vision to better prepare DBS for the future of work, the workforce and the workplace and to drive business forward?
Our vision for DBS is a positive, seamless workplace based on trust, with a strong supportive culture, with employees doing meaningful work while having opportunities for growth. We co-create new ways of working with our employees and aim to give them the autonomy to do the best work of their careers.
When it comes to making the future of work (FoW) a reality, DBS is a leader in creating effective hybrid work practices. Practices are driven by employee feedback, from which we use our data analytics and technical capabilities to distill insights. This approach was demonstrated in 2020 when it was recognized early on that the pandemic would massively disrupt traditional workplace practices, which is why we launched a FoW task force involving units from across the bank to understand the new working norms. We surveyed about 4,800 employees surveyed about hybrid work, then conducted telecommuting experiments with 2,700 employees. From these findings, we were able to confidently announce our 60/40 agreement in November 2020.
The above example also demonstrates DBS’s emphasis on “testing and learning”, which iterates and improves through a continuous feedback loop – data, insights and action, then rinse and repeat. We believe that having a “test and learn” approach is essential to optimizing as well as orchestrating the hybrid work experience of employees. Simply settling on an agreement is not enough to make hybrid work effective. Continuous improvement is important to ensure our approach takes into account new needs, attitudes and leverages opportunities specific to hybrid working.
For example, when we decided to create “idea spaces” to maximize the effectiveness of face-to-face brainstorming sessions, we had to research and understand why certain formats worked and why others didn’t through experimentation. Recent iterations of idea spaces have been very effective, with the quantity and quality of ideas increasing by 20%.
Some key lessons:
- The approach to the future of work, workforce and workplace must work uniquely for your company – there is no ‘one size fits all’
- There is no substitute for “test and learn”,
- Offices will never go away – physical space is unmatched when it comes to building connections.
This article first appeared in the fourth quarter edition of the Hong Kong e-magazine Human Resources Online. Check out the ezine here for powerful features and interviews with leaders from Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, the UK, India and more!
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