SECTION A
Introduction
The Royal Bank of Canada is the largest bank in Canada, serving approximately 16 million people who have an account with them globally, and has employed the services of over 78,000 employees around the globe. The bank’s corporate headquarters are based in Toronto, the capital city of Canada. Founded in the year 1864, it has grown over the years to define and refine the banking industry not only of Canada but the world at large. This is made possible with its over 1,209 bank branches globally, ranking number 50 on the Forbes Fortune 500 list of companies, and coming out as the most profitable company in Canada. In the aforementioned current statistics and history of the bank, it plays a very significant role in the Canadian economy, therefore, a scrutiny on its human resource plays a major role in studying the current situation of companies across the world in relation to how it treats its employees, the benefits of being an employee of the company and various other human resource roles in the company. This paper will carry out a thorough analysis of Royal Bank of Canada’s human resource standing.
Human resource is a very vital department in every company, as it sets to determine a company’s revenue turn and growth in the sense that when employees are satisfied with their working conditions, they tend to be active and dedicated to their work as opposed to the ones who feel oppressed. It is in this regard that a company’s turnover is set to increase significantly over a given period. Royal Bank of Canada is deemed to have one of Canada’s best diversity employers, where diversity stands as its selling point in attracting the best in various fields while employing. It tends to grasp a diverse working environment and peaches it as its best human resource strategy. In a bid to analyze Royal Bank’s standing in the current corporate world on human resource strategy, four human resource practices will be thoroughly analyzed. The four human resource practices of The Royal Bank of Canada that will be put into scrutiny are; recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, and labor relations.
Training and Development
Training and development is a human resource practice that entails a company pulling together resources to ensure that their employees are given relevant training to carry out their duties at work as expected. This is offered despite an employee’s qualifications and job rank, as it is aimed at keeping the employees at par with the current job requirements which keep changing as a result of technological and economic growth due to the healthy competition that is experienced in the corporate world today. The Royal Bank of Canada in this regard has undertaken a training and development practice in its firm in a mission to ensure that its employees are up to date with the requirements of their role in the firm regarding the current stature of their job position. In so doing, The Royal Bank of Canada has put in place a professional training and development program that is aimed at providing their employees with the required expertise to build their futures.
In 2012, the company invested roughly over 151.2 million dollars for offering training and development skills to their employees. In 2010, 143.9 million dollars was set aside for the program, whereas in 2011, 162.7 million dollars was dedicated to the program. This is a sign that the bank is committed to ensuring that they have an ever skilled labor that has the capability to spur its growth. The 2012 training was one of the most effective training by the banking institution, as 517,729 hours were dedicated to an instructor- led training by the bank, 479,158 hours on web- based training, while 31,463 hours were dedicated to other various external training activities by the banking institution. Part of the institution’s training opportunities that were offered to their employees included; the global online learning system, a system that would provide their employees with training resources from both at home and at their working stations. This is a way of ensuring that their employees have a very flexible training and program development schedule that gives them a time allowance that ensures they carry their work promptly. In this undertaking, The Royal Bank of Canada incepted over 2,500 activities of training and development across all its branches globally. A more comprehensive and formal training and development program was incepted to assist employees in succeeding along their career paths. In this regard, approximately 3,500 employees of Royal Bank of Canada completed their training and development programs across the fields of accounts managers, client service representative, service representatives, and contact centers representatives. This shows great progress as it covered roughly over 20 percent of the total employee population of Royal Bank of Canada’s employees in just a year.
Training and development has numerous strengths that range from additional skills being instilled among the employees which ensure productivity as well as growth regarding career. It also ensures that the firm gets to pinpoint the extra skillful employees for promotions and extra duties at work. The major weakness of the training and development program is that it may contradict employees’ skills in the sense that they may not be able to relate to their teachings in school, or rather it promotes a contrary understanding of what may have been a norm in the previous workplace or school. Also, more skillful employees may look down upon their trainers in the sense that they possess less knowledge than their trainees, thus not be able to implement what is being taught to them.
Recruitment and Selection
Recruitment and selection is not only a vital part of any organization’s human resource department, but it is also the core duty in which it is expected to carry in utmost decency and openness to ensure it grasps the best in the market. It is viewed in the corporate world as an activity for building the future by creating an opportunity to engage the services of new talent more so from the younger generation that has been adamantly equipped with the current technological advancement in the education sector. It is in this regard that most firms recruit at least once a year in a bid to increase new talent and improve the output of its workers in carrying their day to day activities.
In 2012, The Royal Bank of Canada continued its internship program that offers opportunities to fresh graduates from universities and colleges as well as continuing students in their final year of studies. The Royal Bank of Canada liaises with major institutions of higher learning to offer internship programs to their students as well as employment opportunities during the summer break that eventually results in long-term opportunities after completion or upon graduation on most of the interned students. The institution in this regard introduced a new recruitment system that entails a simpler job search and process functionality that improves an applicant’s experience in their career field of interest. The banking institution has a newly improved website that integrates important videos and preview of the entire organization so that an applicant can familiarize themselves upon gaining interest in working at the institution.
The Royal Bank of Canada’s human resource department has integrated an ex- military recruitment program that involves the training and developing of an ex- military personnel with skills in various fields and the ability to be a leader and a team player. The program is solely based in Canada and the United States of America that tends to convert the military skill to a business setting as the company has identified this as a niche. Diversity, as mentioned earlier in the paper, has been the major focus of The Royal Bank of Canada in its application of the recruitment and selection practice. This has been implemented in the fact that the banking institution has ensured that there is gender parity in its total employee population. This is in the sense that women who are viewed to be the minority in gender equality at workplaces compose of 47 percent of the total employee population at Royal Bank of Canada, where 30 percent of them are in the middle management tier and above.
The recruitment and selection practice is a very vital practice to every firm globally and contains numerous strengths such as; it assists a firm in selecting a very skillful person that help steer the company forward as well as attracting new and fresh talent that will be a very vital asset to the company. The major weakness of this practice is that it may promote biasness among the employees charged with the task as they may be biased against candidates and give the job to the less qualified interviewee. This happens in that there is no set guidelines that is clear in carrying out this exercise.
Compensation
This is a very vital determinant among employees in choosing a firm they will settle in, in the sense that every person works so that they can make ends meet. In this regard, the net salary that one takes home determines their level of satisfaction and their input to any organization. At Royal Bank of Canada, they have a motto that defines their level of compensation, a practice implemented by the human resource department on behalf of the company to the employees. The motto states that; Employees value both monetary and non-monetary rewards. We recognize that no two employees have identical needs, so our Total Rewards program provides both flexibility and choice while promoting shared accountability for success.
The Royal Bank of Canada compensation package incorporates; basic salary, benefits program, performance- based incentive, wellness initiatives, savings and share ownership plans, discount programs, volunteer grant programs, retirement programs, learning and career opportunities, employee assistance program, workplace flexibility, and educational scholarship programs. In 2012 alone, Royal Bank of Canada spent roughly 9.3 billion dollars on compensation and benefits towards their employees in all their branches globally. The human resource department ensures that every single year they participate in over 100 externally- based surveys to ensure they remain competitive in the job market. They compensate their employees using the bonuses that are added to their salaries on a merit basis. They ensure that their compensation is fair all through as it is based on an employee’s level of job and the task they perform for the company. Higher level employees such as managers get a higher performance- based compensation than their lower level colleagues. The Royal Bank of Canada expound that their compensation philosophy is based on four guiding principles which revolve around; performance basis, shareholders’ interests, attraction and retaining of talent, and sound risk management principles.
Compensation is a practice that portrays the strength of motivation among employees as they tend to feel recognized and appreciated by the company, but the major weakness behind this practice is the fact that it may promote unfair competition and the employees who may not end up on the compensation list may feel unwanted, demotivated, and unappreciated. This is very bad as it may promote bad blood among employees leading low output of labor.
Labor Relations
The Royal Bank of Canada contains a code of conduct that brings a virtue if commitment that is aimed at promoting a level playing field for all employees. All the employees of the banking institution are subject to a non- discrimination and human rights rule in which they should follow to the latter. The Royal Bank of Canada also has a well laid out set of business policies in which all employees should abide by at all times. The hours of work policy set by the company ensures that their employees have a certain timeline in which they follow in a bid to provide quality service to their clients. This is so important since Royal Bank of Canada is in the banking industry that is a service- based industry in the sense that they have constant engagement with the clients who look upon them to deliver a world class service that peeps their opponents in the industry.
The banking institution boasts of having a very flexible plan for their employees where they provide a life and work program which provide various options for modified weeks of work. The Royal Bank of Canada’s motto is to ensure a workplace that is characterized by professionalism of the highest standards and respect for each and every individual, regardless of their sex, gender, race, color, age, sexual orientation, ethnic origin, disability, orientation, or religion. There are policies set in place to prevent vices such as retaliation, inappropriate and disrespectful behaviors, and harassment. The banking institution has also promoted the need for unionism among its employees in a bid to ensure that they are kept in check, and their rights are not violated. This is done by the top management having regular meetings with union officials to ensure that there is a collective bargaining agreement, and none of the employees is feeling out of place.
Labor relation is a practice that ensures togetherness, teamwork, and a sense of belonging among employees as its strengths. It also ensures a level playing field among all employees in the company as an added advantage. The major weakness of this practice is that it may make employees feel like they are subjected to a stern check by the management that may make them feel uncomfortable at their workplace and also tend to feel as if they are monitored so much.
Alignment of the Four Human Resource Practices
The above four human resource practices are very vital in any organization that is looking to having a cutting edge advantage in the market, more so a large corporation like the Royal Bank of Canada that is deemed to be the largest corporation in Canada, meaning that it has a lot of corporate responsibility to undertake. To undertake the corporate responsibility, the human resource department needs to be put in check as the law in the corporate world states that “every firm’s asset is its employees.” This means that a favorable working condition should be provided in adherence to the labor laws of the country and the world at large so as to ensure productivity and enhancement of growth and development in both the long term and short term goals of the firm.
The Royal Bank of Canada should ensure that all resources are put in place to carry out these four vital practices of the human resource department. The resources should be availed with a very comfortable budget in monetary terms as well as adequate time, in that they provide quality allocation to improve on a regular basis and not just yearly. The banking institution should also ensure that the impact of these four practices is felt by all employees in the company through carrying out of frequent surveys and signing of performance contracts.
SECTION B
Actions, Measures, and Issues to be addressed when adopting the Four Practices
Numerous actions need to be put in place as mentioned above to improve these four human resource practices that take the center stage of the success of a company. One of the actions to be taken is ensuring that all the employees are incorporated into the program. This is to be done using frequent surveys and signing of performance contracts after a certain period. A sufficient budget is also to be allocated towards the implementation of these programs so as to ensure that the relevant authority in the company has enough resources to implement the four practices.
In carrying out of the numerous surveys and signing of performance contracts after a certain period, will ensure that these actions are assessed for their effectiveness in the company. Employees after carrying out a program should also do an exam in the form of a questionnaire to be carried out randomly without notice by the human resource department. This will come in handy in assessing whether the employees have grasped the necessary knowledge being aimed for in the implementation of the four practices.
Implementing these four practices has been deemed to be a daunting task, which is not just a walk in the park, as it requires that each and every employee is integrated into the practice. The Royal Bank of Canada should review the guidelines on the four practices and ensure that they are free from bias and that they do not undermine any employee in their call of duty. They should also align them in a way that it will make all the employees feel needed by the company so as to boost their morale to become more productive in the company.
References
Royal Bank of Canada. (2012). RBC Corporate Responsibility Report and Public Accountability Statement. Community Sustainability, 66- 85.
Royal Bank of Canada. (2016). Code of Conduct. Governance, 5-9.
Shields , J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., & Dolle- Samuel , C. (2015). Managing Employee Performance & Reward: Concepts, Practices, Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
