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Talent Development and Inclusion

Talent Development and Inclusion

We are dedicated to empowering our colleagues by building an inclusive organisation and providing them with professional development opportunities.

Respecting freedom of association

 

We respect our colleagues’ lawful right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. Our approach is to maintain mutually-trusted and respectful relations with employee unions. We hold regular meetings with union representatives to understand and to address their concerns and expectations.

In Singapore, we engage three unions, namely the Banking and Financial Services Union, The Singapore Bank Employees’ Union and The Singapore Manual & Mercantile Workers’ Union. We engage four unions in Malaysia (National Union of Bank Employees, Sarawak Bank Employees’ Union, Sabah Bank Employees’ Union and Association of Bank Officers Peninsular Malaysia) and one in Indonesia (Serikat Pekerja United Overseas Bank).

The collective bargaining agreements we have with the unions cover wages and working conditions such as working hours, retirement age and re-employment, shift work, allowances, transport reimbursement, leave benefits, medical benefits, insurance benefits and grievance procedures.

Colleagues who can be represented by unions include:

  • all employees in Indonesia;
  • Officer II or below in Malaysia; and
  • Senior Officer or below in Singapore.

Promoting diversity and inclusion

 

At UOB, diversity spans gender, culture, ethnicity, nationality, experience and skillsets. Creating and maintaining a supportive work environment in which every individual can succeed in their career is a critical part of our strategy in serving the needs of our diverse customer base. Under our Recruitment Policy, we practice non-discriminatory hiring, with all hiring decisions based on each individual’s merit and suitability for the role in accordance with business needs, job requirements and qualifications.

We value people who can contribute their skills and experience, as part of our inclusive people strategy.

 

Gig+U

Our gig employment model in Singapore, Gig+U, enables retirees and women who have left the workforce to take on flexible work that suits their needs and work-life priorities. Employees hired under Gig+U receive equal pay and enjoy the same benefits such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage as their peers with similar roles in the Bank, subject to their employment status.

 

UOB Scan Hub

Since 2013, we have been championing disability inclusion through the UOB Scan Hub in Singapore — our centre for digitising documents from various functions. At UOB Scan Hub, we hire persons with disabilities and create meaningful employment and career opportunities for them based on their abilities. We also partner the Autism Resource Centre (ARC) and SPD in Singapore on a structured training programme for persons with disabilities to ensure that work processes and office environments are suited for their needs.

Fostering a family-friendly culture

We foster a family-friendly culture by supporting employees who are parents. Our care measures (may differ in certain markets based on local requirements) include:
Leave

Leave

Maternity leave of up to 16 weeks; shared parental leave of up to four weeks, in addition to paternity leave of up to 20 days; and infant care no-pay leave of up to 12 days

Facilities

Facilities

Dedicated nursing rooms, which are fully equipped and include security access for greater privacy

Apparel

Apparel

Branch apparel that cater to colleagues with specific needs, for instance those who are pregnant or are required to don customary modest clothing

Ensuring training and development

 

UOB has in place several functional academies and provides a range of programmes to help our people develop the technical and leadership skills they will need to have successful careers.

These programmes include:

  • the Leadership Acceleration Programme, which provides high-potential high performers with leadership development and executive coaching, job rotations and strategic project assignments, senior management exposure and opportunities to accelerate their career within the organisation;
  • the UOB Leadership Academy, which delivers a blend of experiential and application-based learning for our high-performing talents in collaboration with leading global business schools such as Columbia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tuck;
  • the Better Manager: Lead the UOB Way programme to equip our people managers with core skills and competencies to lead effective teams;
  • the Better U programme, an upskilling programme accredited by The Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF) that is designed to equip employees with knowledge and competencies to stay relevant and thrive in an ever-changing environment; and
  • the Management Associate Programme, an 18-month programme that provides fresh graduates with opportunities to build their skills across the organisation.

We also support career mobility through our new Career + U initiative, which focuses on helping our people build long-term careers by bridging their aspirations and job opportunities within UOB. In addition, our Better U Campus in Singapore centralises our developmental resources by bringing together our various functional training academies under one roof.

Managing employee performance

 

UOB is committed to fostering a meritocratic and high-performance workplace culture. Our integrated performance management framework, PEAK (Plan, Engage, Appraise, Keep Track), reinforces our UOB values of Honour, Enterprise, Unity and Commitment.

 

The PEAK framework is designed to support career development by assessing and rewarding performance in an objective and fair manner. Using the PEAK framework, colleagues consult their managers to establish their business and personal development goals at the start of the year. Managers then hold PEAK performance discussions with their team members throughout the year to review their progress against agreed key performance indicators (KPIs) and to address their challenges.

Our PEAK process is supplemented by the Performance and Development Council (PDC), where senior management discuss employees’ performance and development needs in a fair and transparent manner, and 360˚ feedback, through which direct reports, peers and internal stakeholders provide anonymous feedback on the appraisee for important but hard-to-measure behaviours such as values, collaboration and employee development.

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Workplace safety, health and well-being

Workplace safety, health and well-being

We are committed to building a workplace environment that ensures our people’s safety, health and well-being.

UOB Code of Conduct

UOB Code of Conduct

Our UOB Code of Conduct lays down the principles of personal and professional behavior, including respect of human rights, expected of all UOB.

Modern Slavery Statement

Modern Slavery Statement

UOB’s Modern Slavery Statement reiterates our actions to mitigate risks of slavery and human trafficking within our business and supply chain.

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