Driving positive culture change

THE IMPACT IN NUMBERS

Biennial surveys conducted with member banks since 2021

More than 10,000 employees shared their views during each biennial survey

Confidence in ethical practice, trust and pride to work in banking have all strengthened since the first survey

In a nutshell

We helped the Irish retail banking sector understand prevailing culture challenges. Our research, analysis and reporting showed where the working culture was great, and where it needed a little more focus. Then we offered guidance to help leaders plan their next steps.

The challenge

When new CEO Tufan Erginbilgiç took the wheel in 2023, he told employees that the engineering company is a “burning platform” that must transform to survive. For Rolls-Royce, a celebrated brand and beacon of engineering excellence, there were two options: slide into obscurity or rise from the ashes of the Covid-era aviation crash. Rolls-Royce chose the latter. Their regeneration required a complete reinvention, challenging them to redefine their culture and transform to meet their strategic ambitions. They needed advisory and tactical support to identify and embed a new purpose, rewire their behaviours, initiate change and cultivate a winning mindset. That’s where we came in.

The response

Culture isn’t always the easiest thing to quantify, so our first focus was on defining a robust measurement model that got to the heart of what it feels like to work within the Irish retail banking sector. We worked with the IBCB to define a survey questionnaire that explored themes of trust, psychological safety, ethics, customer focus, accountability, and shared purpose – all vital aspects of healthy culture in financial services. As this wasn’t a standard employee survey, it was critical to invest in engaging employees within the process to explain what the research was for, how would it be used, and how it differed from their own internal organisational surveys. We created a brand and engagement campaign for the survey, named éist, the Irish language word for ‘listen’. The campaign included a video animation to promote the survey and encourage completion, ensuring the programme delivered robust and representative data. As with any research programme, gathering the insights is only half the story – what matters most is how you use them to build a story that helps to drive change.

The impact

Rebuilding trust takes time, but thanks to the concerted efforts of the IBCB and its member banks, public confidence and bank employees’ pride is gradually being restored. The insights provided through the éist survey and research programme have encouraged: Collaboration. IBCB events and reports brought people together in a shared mission to improve the sector. Leaders and employees work side by side, co-creating solutions to improve decision making, accountability, inclusivity and the speak-up culture within banks. Celebration. After we shared what makes people feel proud to work in banking, the IBCB launched an annual awards ceremony, recognising how people are making banking a better place to work, every day.

We’d love to hear from you to discuss your challenges and to share our views on how we could work together to solve them. Get in touch today to discover what we can do for you.

GET IN TOUCH

Louise Breed CEO at Ipsos Karian and Box

Listening to and acting on the feedback from our stakeholders has been imperative for the IBCB since establishment. Only by understanding the issues that are important to staff, can we design initiatives to improve and enhance those topics. Providing an opportunity for staff to share their thoughts in an efficient and confidential manner has been crucial to this process. Working with IK&B we have been able to deliver a user-friendly, streamlined experience for staff to share their feedback and experiences, which has informed the areas of focus in our work programme and driven positive momentum across a number of key areas for the sector.

Jade McDonagh IBCB Deputy CEO

A MASSIVE thank you for all the time, creativity, thought, energy and passion that has gone into our new purpose and behaviours. It has been a long but really positive journey and all of you have contributed significantly. Thank you for your partnership and insight at every turn. It has been a pleasure working with you all.

Alice Hunt Group Corporate Communications Director at Rolls-Royce

This project has been a rewarding collaboration with the IBCB. Since 2021 we’ve been giving individuals across the Irish banking sector an opportunity to share their experiences through the éist surveys, providing deep understanding of the cultural strengths and challenges facing banking staff. It’s been rewarding to see the positive impact of the actions taken as a result, in genuinely rebuilding trust and pride across the Irish banking sector.

within Irish banking

The challenge

Trust in Irish banking was at an all-time low after the 2008 banking crisis. The Irish Banking Culture Board (IBCB) was established by the five retail banks operating in Ireland in 2019, to help rebuild trust and repair damaged reputations. It provides an independent voice focusing on promoting and measuring ethical behaviour within member banks, resulting in fair customer outcomes and greater support for employees. The IBCB knew that the key to making measurable improvements to the working culture across the sector was to understand the experiences of people working for the member banks. So, in 2018, a sector wide staff culture survey was introduced to provide these pivotal insights, with subsequent surveys taking place every two-three years to track progress.

Our analysis of the results provided actionable insights to the IBCB including:

The most important drivers and detractors of pride in the banking sector

The impact managers and team leaders have on creating an inclusive culture

How confident employees are in raising different types of work-related issues with their manager

How Executive Committee role-modelling has a tangible impact on organisational pride

The impact of whether leaders embrace change on day-to-day cultural experiences

We shared the findings at a sector-wide event hosted by the IBCB, which brought together leaders and staff from across the industry to share experiences and celebrate progress. Our team created a short animation to ensure the visual story of the results was brought to life in a clear, memorable way that put our research front and centre. In addition to delivering the publicly published sector report, (2023 éist Staff Culture Survey - Irish Banking Culture Board) we delivered reports and presentations to share each member banks’ results independently, supporting action planning and change at an individual organisation level.

Culture isn’t always the easiest thing to quantify, so our first focus was on defining a robust measurement model that got to the heart of what it feels like to work within the banking sector. We worked with the IBCB to define a survey questionnaire that explored themes of trust, psychological safety, ethics, customer focus, accountability, and shared purpose – all vital aspects of healthy culture in financial services. As this wasn’t a standard employee survey, it was critical to invest in engaging employees within the process to explain what the research was for and how would it be used. We created a brand and engagement campaign for the survey, named éist, the Irish for ‘listen’. The campaign included a video animation to promote the survey and encourage completion, ensuring the programme delivered robust and representative data. As with any research programme, gathering the insights is only half the story – what matters most is how you use them to build a story that helps to drive change.

3 biennial surveys of member banks since 2018

Confidence boost in ethical practice,trust and pride to work in banking results.

More than 10,000 employees shared their views in a survey across the member banks.