Material Topics & SDGs
Employee Engagement and Satisfaction
SDG 4, SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 10
Equal Opportunity and Diversity
SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 10
Capacity Building and Talent Management
SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 10
Ratio of Female Employees
50.51%
Female Employees' Average Seniority in Years
11 years
Average Training Time per Employee (Hours)
46.54
RISKS
Employee complaints regarding performance management and remuneration processes
Failure to ensure the effectiveness of occupational health and safety practices
Dissatisfaction among employees regarding equal opportunities and diversity issues
Problems in organizational backup plans for critical positions
Increasing competencies with new training and development programs
OPPORTUNITIES
Being preferred by new graduates
Increasing employee engagement and satisfaction with in-house activities
Proactive risk management approach
A work environment that preserves the balance of work-family life so that employees can benefit from career opportunities equally
Filling top positions through the in-bank promotion process
Increasing competencies with new training and development programs
Promoting personal development
SDG 4, SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 10
The most important asset we have is people. This understanding guides us in our efforts to boost employee engagement and satisfaction. Within this scope, we conducted our annual Employee Engagement Survey also this year to enhance employee experience at the Bank.
Our Employee Engagement Survey helps us measure employee engagement, satisfaction with their job, ways of doing business, and work-life balance, in addition to their perception of the Bank's brand, performance, remuneration, career, reward, and recognition systems. We then analyze the data obtained from the survey and formulate road maps to improve the matters expressed in the survey. 13,316 employees from among our Bank's personnel, as well as the staff of Vakıf Finansal Kiralama A.Ş., Vakıf Faktoring A.Ş., Vakıf Yatırım Menkul Değerler A.Ş., Vakıf Gayrimenkul Değerleme A.Ş., Vakıf Pazarlama San. ve Tic A.Ş. and Vakıf Gayrimenkul Yatırım Ortaklığı A.Ş. under the umbrella of VakıfBank Finance Group have participated in the 2022 edition of our employee engagement survey. We continue our efforts non-stop to plan actions and monitor improvement in light of the data obtained from the survey.
We are aware that high employee engagement also contributes to a low employee turnover rate. Our employee turnover rate was 2.89 and our voluntary employee turnover rate was 2.66 in this period. We will determine the areas where our employees want investment, their sentiments and thoughts, and the issues they want to be improved by studying the satisfaction variables that impact engagement within the scope of the research, and we will make progress in these areas. In addition, we aim to increase employee engagement and satisfaction by closely following employee opinions and thoughts through the platforms that we have implemented.
We are always driven by our sensitivity toward employees' happiness. Backed by our approach focused on employee experience, we continue introducing practices aimed at contributing to their engagement and satisfaction, boosting their motivation, and making them feel the privilege of being a VakıfBank employee. In 2022, we deployed Employee Experience screens where we analyze data provided by them as part of our analytical HR activities. It is thanks to these analyses that we know, see, and understand our people better and take action accordingly.
We create employee journey maps to evaluate employees' perception of our Bank, improve their experiences, increase our points of keeping in touch with them, and offer the best end-to-end experience to them. We have created 14 employee journey maps in 2022. Thanks to employee journey maps, we look into their experience acquired throughout their life cycle at our Bank to identify win points and pain points before developing our action plans.
One cardinal goal for us is to pursue an employee-focused approach, stand by employees for every step they take, and to prioritize their expectations and needs in parallel with changing trends of business life. In 2022, we held one on one experience talks with our employees as we intended to be in close contact with them in our communications. We continue Employee Experience visits with a perspective built on employee-oriented improvement and communications.
We think that one of the important factors affecting employee satisfaction is the quality and efficiency of the relationship they establish with other departments in the same organization. We value measuring and evaluating employee satisfaction in terms of the service employees receive from Headquarters units, executing the processes between units with which we have business relations more accurately and quickly, increasing the Bank’s internal customer satisfaction, differentiating the Bank from its rivals, and supporting the Bank’s continued development. We have attained 79.54% participation in the Internal Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted in 2022 for the effective management of employee satisfaction. The internal customer satisfaction score stood at 74 in this period.
Our employees can communicate ideas and suggestions that they think will add value to our Bank through the Suggestion Platform. We also continue to work towards the implementation of suggestions. Through the Suggestion Platform, we directly designed 39 out of 3,343 suggestions submitted by our employees in 2022. We also subjected 577 suggestions to a feasibility study. In addition to our Suggestion Platform, we consider employee suggestions and views we collect during the discussions we held. This way, we develop new projects tailored to customers' views, requests, and expectations in light of the data we derive. In the upcoming period, we plan to produce projects that will contribute more to sustainability, expand our in-house social responsibility projects, benefit more people, and continue our collaboration with volunteering ambassadors by increasing our colleagues' participation in our projects.
As part of the effective management of human resources, which constitute the most important component of our Bank, we have taken the requirements of coming periods into account for all functions and conducted comprehensive studies throughout the year by tapping into various methods including one on one meetings, data analyses, measurement, and assessment to ensure optimization and address varying and changing permanent staff requirements across units. We have also reached the final stage of our efforts for daily AI-backed calculations of the number of permanent staff at branches.
We have undertaken Internal Social Responsibility activities in collaboration with "Goodwill Ambassadors" made up of 100 staff who work voluntarily in these activities.
We organized activities in education, environment, arts, and sports in 2022 as part of our internal communication strategy to support our employees in contributing to social life. Under the Goodwill Box, a volunteering movement we initiated, we addressed the needs of students in village schools in different cities; and their needs from stationery to clothing, from sports equipment to musical instruments were met.
We acknowledge that there is a positive relationship between our colleagues’ and our customers’ happiness. Therefore, we continued to actively use our internal communication channels as in every period, to make them smile and feel valued.
We have also organized VMeets events through online meeting applications to inform our Bank staff on issues such as banking, innovation, leadership, administratorship, personal integrity, Türkiye, and the World agenda.
We offer a business environment where employees will feel happy and safe to ensure that they look confidently to the future and experience the privilege of being a VakıfBank fellow. In the upcoming period, we plan to produce projects that will contribute more to sustainability, expand our in-house social responsibility projects, benefit more people, and identify our volunteer ambassadors by increasing our colleague’s participation in our projects.
2022 events
GRI 3-3, 403-6
SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 10
Within the framework of our sustainable banking approach, our goal is to establish a modern workplace that respects human rights and disseminate this understanding to raise employees', customers', and stakeholders' awareness.
At VakıfBank, we exert our best efforts to deliver on the requirements of the Labor Code, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the key principles of the International Labor Organization, as well as other international treaties of which Türkiye is a state party. Pursuant to our Human Rights Policy, we do not finance those operations prohibited or restricted under national laws and international treaties that Türkiye is a party to. We also do not extend funds to the operations or projects of individuals and organizations determined to have employed children or violated human rights. Accordingly, we demonstrate an inclusive and fair approach for all by protecting and promoting human rights. We place human rights at the heart of everything that we do, from operations and supply chains to our relations with stakeholders.
We provide equal opportunity and rights to employees in parallel with the importance we attribute to equal opportunity and diversity. In this regard, we take the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights principles, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the International Labor Organization (ILO) as guides in our human resources practices that value people.
We are a signatory of the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs).
As we are also a signatory of the Equality at Work Declaration pioneered by the Turkish Ministry of Family, Labor, and Social Services in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, we support women's participation in all aspects of social and economic life actively and enjoy equal rights. We also encourage women's participation in labor, as can be seen with the women employed at our institution, while taking necessary measures to guarantee their health, safety, and well-being, and striving to maintain a working environment underpinned by equality and peace of labor. Accordingly, 50.51% of our employees are women at our Bank, and the ratio of women at executive levels is 23.6% as of 2022.
We take care to provide equal opportunities among our employees in both recruitment and career development applications. While female employees constitute 54.1% of our employees who rose to a higher title in 2022, we aim to ensure that our female employees, who are mothers, continue their career path after maternity leave and offer them to benefit from the career opportunities equally, thus ensuring a work environment that maintains their work-family life balance. In this context, 99.8% of 471 female employees who had maternity leave in 2022 returned to work.
√ It has been subjected to limited assurance by the Independent Audit Firm.
In addition to maternity leave, we also offer our female employees the option to take up to one year of unpaid leave and to work part-time until their children are five years old. In 2022, 402 female employees who requested unpaid leave due to childbirth took advantage of the right to unpaid additional leave granted by our Bank in addition to the legal period of 16 weeks. In cases where employees' unpaid leave exceeds six months due to childbirth, health, etc., we provide the same ratio to them when remuneration is raised. Moreover, in the provinces with 150 and more female employees, we provide daycare assistance to all our male and female staff who have nursery children. With all of our practices in this regard, we aim to offer mothers the opportunity to continue their careers from where they have left, after their maternity leave.
Our principles include creating an inclusive working environment for all and preventing all forms of discrimination on the grounds of, inter alia, ethnicity, age, disability, social status, or familial situation in working conditions and assignments. We offer employees equal opportunity and rights. In this respect, the elimination of discrimination, marginalization, and prejudices in the daily functioning of the institution is closely linked with the tone and words chosen in communication.
Our comprehensive policies and procedures as well as practices reinforce our approach aimed at a working environment free of any discrimination against employees on the basis of their personal traits and inclusion in relations with business partners and society. The Harassment and Violence Procedure we issued in this fiscal period is intended to help us preserve a pressure- and violence-free working environment underpinned by respect and trust, prevent all forms of harassment and violence that may take place within the institution, and define a road map that will be followed to tackle such incidents.
GRI 3-3, 401-2, 404-3
We determine our remuneration policy within the bank following the risk and responsibility assumed at all levels, pay fair remuneration, and provide fringe benefits by considering our employees’ fundamental rights.
We determine the wages of our managers and employees at all levels by regarding the effective remuneration policy and budget possibilities of the Bank, the job description and responsibility level of the employees, individual performance, competencies, and compliance with the internal and external legislation of the Bank based on our bank’s compliance with ethical values, internal balances, and strategic goals. We pay our employees “principal wage,” which is the primary wage excluding fringe benefits such as compensation, allowances, subsidies, etc., and “executive seniority fees” for employees who are executive candidates and employees who are in the position of manager. We also pay additional duty indemnity to our employees, taking into account the roles and responsibilities they undertake. Additionally, we observe sectoral developments, analyze data, and evaluate our sector’s position according to the banking sector wage survey results carried by independent institutions.
Furthermore, we determine wage and salary increases for our in-scope employees with the Collective Bargaining Agreement made with the Bank Finance and Insurance Employees Union and our employees who are out of scope with the board of directors’ decision. In 2022, the ratio of employees under the scope of a CBA is 84%.
Apart from wages, we offer opportunities related to basic needs such as bonuses, performance bonuses, dividends, health insurance, and various leaves. In doing so, we implement a wage policy based on merit, adopting a corporate culture, competitive, rewarding and balanced in terms of performance goals, while also encouraging sustainable success, motivation, and fairness. We also contribute to our employees within the Employer Contributed Private Pension Plan framework and the opportunity to be included in the private pension system. We raise our daily food allowance in line with the conditions of the day and make sure employees have better conditions in access to lunch services.
Taking Türkiye's economic conditions into account, we introduced a raise, slated for November 2022, above the ratio specified in the collective bargaining agreement, enabling employees' income to be impacted by inflation at a lower degree. In addition, we cover the heating costs of employees, a practice we initiated in December 2022.
GRI 3-3, 401-2, 403-6
With our Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Policy, we consider offering our employees a safe and healthy work environment as one of our fundamental responsibilities. This framework adopts the essential requirement to comply with International OHS Standards and legal requirements. We succeeded to be the first bank in Türkiye to establish the Integrated Management System (ISO 9001-ISO 14001-ISO 45001) and to receive the certificate after the Integrated Certification Audit by obtaining the ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety and Management System certificate. We successfully passed the 2022 interim audits and ensured the sustainability of the Integrated Management System.
For OHS-related matters, we work in coordination with the Career Management and Employee Experience Department. Our Bank's Occupational Health and Safety Policy is available at https://www.vakifbank.com.tr/Default.aspx?pageID=2788
We guide all employees, including the staff at our Bank, as part of support services under the Occupational Health and Safety Policy. We take European Statistics on Accidents at Work-ESAW methods as a reference to track OHS performance indicators. We regularly provide in-class and e-learning training to raise OHS awareness across the Bank. We ensure that every newly recruited employee joins a one-day OHS in-class course within the scope of orientation training. In 2022, we provided in-class OHS training to a total of 210 participants. In addition, the Occupational Health and Safety Data Bank, which we have prepared for our employees, is among our publications on the corporate portal.
We mapped our OHS risks with a proactive risk management approach. We categorized them over approximately 120 control issues in our annual branch-department visits. Thus, we identify risks in advance and take the necessary measures. Accordingly, we prepared a Risk Assessment Report and Emergency Plan for 369 branches and departments in 2022. Thus, we have completed the Risk Assessment Report and Emergency Plan in all our departments and branches except for 594 branch units. Within the scope of our service procurement, we care about OHS processes, and we supervise 100% of all our employees as part of our practices, including our subcontractor workers. We aim to maintain 100% compliance with the control issues at all locations in the upcoming period and realized over 120 items once every year by maintaining the Integrated Management System’s continuity (ISO 9001-ISO 14001-ISO 45001).
Regarding Intrusion Alarm, Fire Warning, and Security Camera Systems; we continued our activities of installation and elimination of malfunctions in existing systems and their regular maintenance, meeting the needs for new fire extinguishers, replacing the necessary ones with new ones and their regular maintenance in new branch openings and branch renovations in line with the reports of workplace safety specialists regarding “fire safety”. Within the scope of the improvement and development of electronic security measures; to eliminate the risk of the alarm system being disabled as a result of the failure to enter the alarm password during the closing of our branches or forgetting to enter the password, we started the application of sending an e-mail to the branch manager and text message to the branch security guard.
We migrated the job request processes concerning physical security (security guard), electronic security (alarm and security cameras), and fire extinguishers to the system so that requests are met more effectively and quickly. To ensure that the installation, maintenance and repair, and progress payment control processes of the electronic security system are systematically, flawlessly, and rapidly carried out, we made improvements and advancements to the software installed at our bank’s locations in line with user feedback.
Number of Employees Participating in OHS Training
* The Occupational Health and Safety Training we offer online consists of 26 training sessions.
GRI 3-3, 403-1, 403-2, 403-3, 403-4, 403-5, 403-6, 403-7
SDG 5, SDG 8, SDG 10
In a period when everything is changing rapidly, our Bank has adopted the philosophy of continuous development with a human-centered approach to achieve our strategic goals, keep up with the change and gain a competitive advantage. We are taking steps on a path that boosts employees’ motivation by considering their needs and expectations in line with our human resources policy.
In this context, we seek to manage our human resources effectively and efficiently, meet our employees’ personal development needs, and support our Bank’s corporate development through the career management studies we conduct.
At VakıfBank, we ensure that corporate strategic goals are transformed into individual goals with the Performance Management System to provide for our employees’ corporate and personal development with an innovative approach and continuous learning, increase solidarity and cooperation, and support their focus on corporate strategies.
We continue to improve our employees’ competencies to reach our goals and become the sector’s pioneer. Our performance evaluation system makes a behavioral-based competency assessment for our employees’ career planning once a year and analyzes their training and development needs based on the evaluations. While implementing this system, we support continuous change and development with the innovations we make every year so that our managers can make a healthy evaluation and advance the process with an objective approach.
In 2022, we included all our bank employees in our performance system and completed a successful period in which our employees made a difference with their performance. We presented performance achievement awards to our employees by evaluating individual performance objectively and transparently.
2,073 of our employees were promoted to a higher title as a result of the assessment of the provisions governing promotions of the Regulation About Career and Wage Management System and the Regulation About Specialized Staff. As part of our career planning efforts in line with our vision as a bank that trains its own executives, we promoted a total of 12% of our employees, 54% women and 46% men among them, to higher positions.
We continue such efforts aimed at identifying employees with a manager potential to play a key role in the Bank's future, providing a fair competitive environment in career development, supporting their skills and competencies with training and development programs, and utilizing such skills effectively and efficiently. As a result of the work we have carried out this year, we are making a transition to a promotion model in our career planning system where personal competencies and performance will play a more salient role.
While developing our performance system, we work to ensure that our data is processed with advanced algorithms and used effectively with artificial intelligence technology with a progressive analytical approach for use of technological opportunities in our targeting methodology. As part of our digitalization journey, we have completed our activities in 2022 by strengthening our system’s technical infrastructure, including the entire performance management system, and providing our users with reporting screens that offer them the chance for interactive and straightforward use. In this respect, we have deployed the Corporate Performance Management System on three key modules including Regional Directorate and Branch Performance Module, Employee-Based Unit Performance Module, and Competency Management Module, to measure and monitor all employees' performance.
Our goal is to complete the organizational succession software and implement it in 2023 in an attempt to facilitate business continuity, determine the future requirements for managers from today onwards, and ensure an easier tracking method for employees who meet such requirements.
With the Human Resources Reserve Management Project, we aim to ensure business continuity throughout our Bank and to reduce the dependence of processes on individuals to avoid any disruptions in ordinary and extraordinary situations. In 2023, we will also create a structure enabling us to monitor the Successor Management app, which is defined in our Career and Wage Management System, via the Bank's Human Resources module.
Thanks to this project;
Additionally, in line with our organizational goals, we effectively conduct our Bank’s Norm Staff activities to provide an optimum employment number according to the workload. In addition, we closely monitor such employees by creating talent pools to meet the workforce needed in the short-, medium-, and long-term with high-performance and potential employees within our Bank.
Changes within the organizational layout of the Head Office in 2022:
√ It has been subjected to limited assurance by the Independent Audit Firm.
GRI 3-3, 404-3
We support and promote employees' occupational, technical, and personal development and thus contribute to sustainable business efficiency in line with the human resources policies that our Bank pursues. We provide in-class, live virtual classroom, e-learning, and video-based training on the subjects determined as a result of the training needs analysis conducted as part of the competencies expected from our employees.
We provide training programs under five main headings:
In our training processes, we use a mixed-learning model that also includes the next generation of digital learning experiences. We collaborate with universities and training companies in the design of educational programs. To monitor and evaluate the development of our employees, we conduct an evaluation test on the training portal at the end of the training and measure the training results.
In addition, taking one step ahead of standard training models, we have deployed the AI-based V-Coach project aimed at providing the support/training any employee may need in that particular instant, i.e. during the task that they are performing, on the customized Core Banking Application Screen they are using. We developed an AI-based model to help employees unlock their potential, boost performance, and make sure their learnings are lasting.
Owing to this project, the Bank was deemed worthy of:
Training duration per employee increased by 40% in 2022.
We increased the duration of our training courses per employee by 40%, ensuring employee participation in 46.5 hours of training courses delivered on average made up of 12 hours of in-class and 34.5 hours of digital courses.
To make sure Head Office employees track development in their field and assist them in continuous development, we facilitated some 1,000 employees' participation in courses, conferences, and seminars organized by external organizations and institutions, primarily including the Banks Association of Türkiye (TBB) and Interbank Card Center (BKM).
We Launched our Digital Library
We have launched the Digital Library that carries book summaries, articles, and audiobooks as well as podcasts accessible by employees 24/7 to support our learning culture in addition to the training and development opportunities our Bank offers to employees.
We will focus on employees' learning and support their development by tapping into customized developed journeys and refresher practices in 2023. We will also diversify digital learning channels with e-learning, video courses, and live virtual classes, contributing to employees through hybrid learning models.
OUR HIGHLIGHTED EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES IN 2022
Sustainability
We organized various training courses with different target groups as part of our strategic goal for sustainability.
Data and Analytics School
We undertake activities aimed at improving employees' data analytics skills with the Data and Analytics School. Accordingly, we have organized courses at different levels by considering employees' differing levels of preparedness.
Certification and Development Programs
Other Good Practices
√ It has been subjected to limited assurance by the Independent Audit Firm.
GRI 3-3, 403-5, 404-2
In recruitment processes, we aim to carry out our activities effectively with our optimum number of employees and employ young and competent candidates who will bring dynamism to our Bank. Accordingly, to meet our Bank’s increasing workload and the need for employees in IT departments, in 2022, we recruited 659 new employees. As of year-end, our employees’ number reached 16.961 with the recruitments we made throughout the year.
We have prioritized ensuring that the onboarding and adaptation process for new recruits is carried out more effectively. Through our Onboarding Representatives, we seek to facilitate the onboarding and adaptation of our new employees, increase employee belonging throughout the organization, and better convey the Bank's corporate culture, mission, and objectives to newly recruited employees.
Meanwhile, we have participated in national career events with a view to introducing young talents to our Bank and providing information about our career and internship opportunities in 2022. Intending to enhance our Bank's visibility, explore new talents, provide information on our internship processes, present our career opportunities, and earn new graduates for our Bank, we attended exhibitions organized and led by the valuable universities of Türkiye including Ondokuz Mayıs University, Karadeniz Technical University, Atatürk University, Fırat University, Gaziantep University, Çukurova University, Erciyes University, Süleyman Demirel University, Ege University, Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University, and Bolu Abant İzzet Baysal University.
In addition, we attended a series of events in a variety of cities including Gaziantep, Konya, Antalya, Adana, Kayseri, Samsun, Erzurum, Diyarbakır, Van, and Istanbul as part of the "Government Incentives Promotion Days" organized under the auspices of the Presidential Directorate of Communications. At these events, we carried out interview simulations to help students acquire interview experience and assist them with dealing with their anxiety. Offering the experience of an interview made up of structured questions, we then provided them with feedback on how they could more effectively express themselves and convey their competencies to interviewers.
In addition, we granted internships in our departments/branches to help university students gain work experience and some insight into the banking profession. As part of the “National Internship Mobilization Program,”Mobilization Program, carried out under the coordination of the Human Resources Office of the Presidency of Türkiye, we recruited our intern students from among the candidates who applied to the “Career Gate” platform. We approved the application of 865 students to do internships at our Bank’s Departments/Branches for the internship calendars we have created on the Career Gate, with the work we have carried out as part of the “National Internship Mobilization Program.”
At the end of Bootcamp, which we organized for the first time this year, we offered the candidates selected by the Bank the chance to start their software careers under the roof of VakıfBank. This way, we presented an important opportunity for young people wishing to lead a career in the field of software.
GRI 3-3