• KFH tops banks in nationalization and has the largest number of Kuwaiti employees in the private sector

 

• KFH has accelerated the transition towards a smart environment, digital transformation, and operations

 

• Employment benefits of KFH Group are the highest offered to employees compared to competing banks

 

• KFH is dedicated to train and empower its human capital and has the highest training budget among competing banks

 

• KFH Group HR overseas nearly 17,000 employees across the Group in 12 countries after the acquisition

 

• Effective and competitive objectives have had a sustainable impact on the business environment and added value to the Bank's performance

 

• KFH is the first bank in Kuwait to implement the Oracle Fusion HCM Cloud system

 

• In 2022 KFH continued its journey towards diversity and inclusiveness
• KFH has launched the Digital Academy in 2022
• KFH won two global awards in the HR field for 2022
• GCC states honored KFH for the Manpower Nationalization and qualification program at the private sector level in Kuwait

 

• KFH has successfully completed a training program for people with special needs for the second year in a row in collaboration with Kuwait Society for the Handicapped

 

 

 

 Kuwait Finance House (KFH) Group Chief Human Resources Officer, Zeyad Abdullah Al Omar said that KFH has achieved several milestones in human resources during 2022. HR Department achievements ranged from winning prestigious global awards, implementing new systems, or even to concluding new agreements to enhance this vital sector.

Al Omar added that KFH attaches great importance to Human Resources by raising employee performance through best training and development policies, in addition to implementing digitalization strategy and recruiting national talents and competencies, empowering them to enhance their experiences, refine their skills and enrich their knowledge to achieve professional success and career development.

For the sake of its strategic goals success, KFH has accelerated its plans towards shifting the bank into a smart work environment and digitalizing operations, in addition to raising the efficiency of electronic transactions inside departments as a step to minimize paper-based work completely.

Al Omar said: “perhaps the competitive and effective goals set by the Human Resources Department had a sustainable impact on the work environment and added value to KFH's performance during 2022. These goals were based on the dedication and participation of employees in addition to providing a comfortable, fair, and positive work environment.”

 

Largest nationalization entity

Regarding nationalization, Al Omar commended KFH’s long record of hiring and developing national talents. He indicated that the successful execution of recruitment and development of national talents has resulted in KFH having the highest number of Kuwaiti employees at the Kuwaiti banks and private sector level. The nationalization ratio reached 78.7%, and the Kuwaiti recruits’ ratio reached 99.6% in recent years.

Employee engagement

With respect to employee engagement, Al Omar stressed KFH’s efforts to reach outstanding results at the market level compared to high achieving institutions and banks. The employee engagement ratio at KFH-Kuwait level reached 84% and 83% at Group level.

Global recognition

Thanks to its long record in the field, KFH was recognized globally and won various prestigious awards including: two global awards in the Human Resources field for the year 2022 from Brandon Hall Group, a company specialized in the evaluation and performance assessment of banks, companies, and institutions around the world through studies, research, and surveying opinions of experts in learning and development fields. KFH was awarded the silver medal in “Best Advance in Employee Engagement” category and a bronze medal in “Best Advance in Business Automation”. The awards are another affirmation of the quality, exclusivity and advancement of the HR practices and applications, as well as the consolidation of efforts in adopting the best global standards which were key reasons behind scooping the awards despite the international competition.

KFH’s recent record of achievements has been commended by surveyors and experts in the Human Resources field.

Furthermore, the Council of Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs in GCC States honored KFH for its distinction and excellence in the execution of the Manpower Nationalization and qualification programs at the private sector level in Kuwait, in a special honoring ceremony held in the Saudi capital Riyadh under the patronage of the Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs in GCC.

The Bank also received the AUM Corporate Award 2022 during a ceremony organized by The American University of the Middle East (AUM) in the presence of several local, regional, and global institutions.

First bank

Al Omar stated that KFH is the first bank in Kuwait to implement the new Oracle Fusion HCM Cloud to replace its highly customized on-premises legacy Oracle business systems.

The recent go-live will help standardize business processes on a common data platform, enabling KFH to provide a consistent employee experience across teams and more easily manage and scale their services across their subsidiaries.

At KFH, digital transformation in compliance with the Central Bank of Kuwait is vital towards enhancing HR business efficiencies for sustained growth and building the workforce of the future that is free from manual and repetitive tasks and instead focuses on delivering high productivity and enablement.

 

Training programs

Al Omar noted that KFH has been keen to invest in training and designing specialized programs through professional digital platforms, as KFH believes that human resources are important assets and key drivers for the success of the organization, raising performance, and improving efficiency, pointing out that KFH’s training budget is the highest compared to competing banks.

Al Omar also mentioned that KFH has launched a training course addressed to employees holding accounting and financing degrees with the aim of guiding employees to have more ad hoc skills. KFH has also launched a training program for people with special needs for the second year in a row in collaboration with Kuwait Society for the Handicapped (KSH). In the second edition of the program, KFH has successfully trained 6 male students and 4 female students with special needs in different departments at KFH.

 

Digital Academy

Al Omar indicated that KFH has launched a Digital Academy during the year with the aim of building and developing employees’ digital skills according to global standards.

He added that the idea of the digital academy is in harmony with KFH’s tendency towards digitalization and building an infrastructure of fully trained and qualified human resources to serve KFH strategic goals.

KFH Digital Academy is an advanced preemptive step highlighting KFH continuous endeavor to develop digital capabilities of the human capital (employees) and prepare young leaders and generations to cope with the technological developments linked to various fields of business. This process involves the utilization of highly qualitative and specialized programs prepared according to the most modern methods of practical and theoretical training in the fields of modern and advanced fields of technology, to develop the capabilities of talented and creative personnel in digital skills, which will subsequently be reflected positively on the work environment and performance.

Scholarships and certifications

KFH is continuing the scholarships program it launched in 2013. Many Kuwaiti employees have benefitted from the program that proved its effectiveness in raising employees` scientific and practical efficiency. The program provides full financial support and comprehensive employment care for highly qualified employees in pursuing their studies, along with the many benefits offered by the Bank which help employees balance between their studies, work, and social life. This year, KFH has enrolled eight employees in the program to obtain their master’s degree in local universities. The Bank has also increased the number of seats granted for bachelor and master scholarships starting from 2022, in addition to several scholarships granted each year to employees, and practical training programs for national trainees from different local and international universities throughout the year.

Further, KFH’s Talent Management has created a culture of continuous learning which supports growth mentality by encouraging employees to self-learn using Oracle Fusion HCM Cloud.

Elite universities

Al Omar said that as part of the Bank’s focus on developing current and future leaders, KFH has implemented a series of programs for skilled and talented employees in cooperation with reputable educational institutions such as Headspring, IE University, Financial Times and INSEAD.

Al Omar pointed out that the collaboration agreements with global well-ranked universities aim to train and qualify employees professionally based on international technical and professional competencies. The is done through a qualitative training that is relevant to job requirements and international standards providing opportunities for employees to obtain accredited certificates of competence and join the most prestigious international institutions.

During 2022, KFH celebrated the graduation of a cohort of its employees who participated in the Harvard Executive Leadership Development Program, which was titled (Leadership in a Transforming World). The program is part of (Kafa’a) initiative launched by the Central Bank of Kuwait in cooperation with local banks and under the supervision of Kuwait Institute of Banking Studies.

Job fairs

KFH has participated in many career fairs in various colleges and universities. A team from KFH human resources represented the Bank in the job fairs, where they received CVs of many applicants and answered questions from students, graduates and those interested in part-time jobs.

KFH’s participation aims to attract the employment of young national talents and utilize the Bank’s capabilities to support the youth in different aspects of society.

Moreover, the Bank participated in the academic opportunities fair in furtherance of its strategy aimed at supporting young national competencies and the educational process as well as achieving social responsibility towards the welfare of students and the advancement of education and youth.

Diversity & inclusiveness

Al Omar said that in 2022, KFH continued its journey towards diversity and inclusiveness, indicating that KFH recruitment programs and plans focused on more variety, with women accounting for 20.2% of new employees during the year.

Qadha program

As part of its continuous efforts to support and encourage its employees believing they are the real wealth of the bank, KFH celebrated its distinguished employees under "Qadha" program, which was launched as a gesture to thank and appreciate their contributions to the advancement of the organization and achieving the highest levels of customer satisfaction.

Qadha program covers all aspects and departments and is based on the latest relevant studies and the best global practices to reward employees for their distinctive hard work on monthly or quarterly basis, or even on spot. The program is an extension of the “Qadha” initiative which was launched in 2021 aiming to continue raising customer service level according to the highest calibers of service excellence and achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction.