5. EMPLOYEE LIFE CYCYLE AND RETENTION IN BANKING INDUSTRY.

5.1 What is Employee Life Cycle?

The banking sector's employee life cycle has unique characteristics, but it generally follows a similar path to other industries', including a range of phases from hiring to firing. In the banking sector, where professionalism, dependability, and trust are critical, efficient staff life cycle management is essential to preserving client pleasure, adhering to legal requirements, and general business performance.

Recruitment and onboarding are the initial phase of the employee life cycle in the banking industry. Because the banking business is highly regulated and requires specialised skills, hiring applicants with the appropriate qualifications and competences is generally a tough procedure for banks. This could entail focused hiring efforts, collaborations with academic institutions, and evaluation facilities to gauge applicants' fit for positions in customer service, risk management, compliance, and financial advising, among other fields. New hires go through extensive onboarding programmes to acquaint themselves with the policies, practices, goods, and services of the bank as well as legal and moral obligations.

Employees go through a performance management stage after onboarding, where their work is tracked, assessed, and improved. Due to the high stakes and emphasis on meeting sales goals, providing outstanding customer service, and abiding by regulations, performance management is especially important in the banking sector. Metrics pertaining to risk management, operational efficiency, regulatory adherence, sales performance, and customer happiness may be included in performance evaluations. Employees can attain their professional objectives and enhance their performance with the support of training programmes, coaching, career development opportunities, and feedback sessions, all of which contribute to the overall success of the bank.

Keeping up with technological improvements, regulatory changes, and consumer preferences is imperative in the banking business, and employee development is a crucial component of the employee life cycle. Through a range of activities, such as training programmes, certifications, workshops, and mentorship opportunities, banks invest in the professional development of their employees. These initiatives help banks stay competitive in a changing market by developing a culture of continuous learning and innovation in addition to improving the skills and capabilities of staff.

As employees look for opportunities for growth and promotion inside the company, career progression is a crucial step of the employee life cycle in the banking industry. In sectors including wealth management, investment banking, retail banking, and corporate banking, banks offer specialised responsibilities, lateral moves, and clear career growth tracks. To discover, cultivate, and retain top talent and guarantee a pipeline of future leaders, career advancement efforts are bolstered by leadership development initiatives, succession planning, and talent management programmes.

Given the substantial investment in hiring, training, and developing staff with specialised skills and expertise, employee engagement and retention are crucial throughout the employee life cycle in banking. Banks place a high priority on employee engagement by implementing programmes including wellness initiatives, employee recognition programmes, performance incentives, and avenues for feedback and decision-making participation. Banks may improve employee happiness, lower turnover, and develop a devoted and driven staff dedicated to providing outstanding customer service by creating a great work environment and a sense of belonging.

The banking industry's employee life cycle culminates with the transition and separation phase, during which staff members depart the company for various reasons such as retirement, resignation, termination, or other circumstances. Banks handle this process professionally and sensitively, encouraging knowledge transfer, conducting departure interviews to get feedback, and maintaining good ties with departing staff members. Banks may preserve their standing as top employers by implementing efficient transition and separation procedures that facilitate a seamless exit experience for both departing staff members and their peers.

In conclusion, the banking industry's employee life cycle is a dynamic, multidimensional process that includes different phases of an individual's career path inside the company. Banks can maximise employee engagement and productivity, attract, retain, and develop top talent, and create a competitive workforce that can adapt to the changing needs of stakeholders and customers in a banking environment that is changing quickly by managing each stage of the employee life cycle effectively.

5.2 Advantages of implementing Employee Life Cycle Strategy.

After evaluating customer experiences and journey of the employee, the company will benefit the followings;

•     Better talent retention
•     Reputation improvement

Effective allocation of resources and effort to reduce the turn over. This issue will reduce the employee turnover cost of the organization and the time. Simultaneously company reputation would increase.

5.3 Stages of Employee Life Cycle.

The employee life cycle, consisting of six stages, provides a framework for understanding and managing the various phases of an employee's journey within an organization:

Attraction: In order to draw in prospective applicants, the attraction stage entails building an employer brand and promoting the company. Promoting the company's values, culture, and chances to interact and appeal to potential employees are the main goals of this phase.

Recruitment: The company actively searches for and selects possible applicants to fill open positions during the recruitment stage. This entails finding applicants using a variety of platforms, including social media, job boards, recommendations, and recruiting firms, then vetting them to determine which ones best match the position's specifications.

Onboarding: Following selection, candidates go through an orientation phase during which they learn about the organization's values, rules, and practices. Good onboarding initiatives make new hires feel comfortable, knowledgeable, and prepared for their jobs right away.

Development: Offering employees the chance to improve their abilities, know-how, and competences is the main goal of the development stage. In order to encourage employee growth and career advancement, this entails providing training programmes, skill development initiatives, mentorship, coaching, and other learning opportunities.

Retention: The goal of retention, a crucial phase in the employee life cycle, is to maintain staff members' motivation, engagement, and satisfaction to remain with the company. This entails fostering a healthy work atmosphere, offering chances for professional advancement, honouring and rewarding staff members for their achievements, and attending to any problems or challenges that may come up.

Separation: Whether by resignation, retirement, termination, or other causes, the separation stage signifies the end of the employee's tenure with the company. In order to preserve a favourable employer brand, this step entails enabling a seamless leave process, conducting exit interviews to obtain feedback, and maintaining positive relationships with departing employees.

Stage	Description
Attraction	Raise Brand awareness. Be known to have a great culture. Offer attractive benefits and compensation
Recruitment	Ask for referrals from your existing team. Try out various recruitment platforms. Be specific about who and what you are looking for. Involve your employees.
Onboarding	Have a job description. Discuss the company’s vision and values. Outline your expectations clearly. Do follow-ups regularly.
Development	Encourage external learning. Assess knowledge and skills together. Encourage your team members to be responsible for their own development. Reward the employees who learn in their own time.
Retention	Hire the right people. Cultivate great relationships with your team members. Openly communicate your organizational mission and team aspirations. Seek employee feedback and measure team morale frequently. Understand what motivates your employees.
Separation	Understand the reasoning behind the resignation. Remain positive. Ask for honest feedback. Remind the team to keep looking ahead.

Poor culture of an organization will increase the high employee turnover and impact will be increased in replacement cost too. With the improvement of the “RETENTION” stage will increase the satisfaction among team’s career path in the banking industry.

Moreover, the Employee Life Cycle will visualize each stage of employee interaction with the company by providing insight necessary. Ultimately the company will attract and remain with a fantastic team.

5.4 Supporting and Encouraging Employees innovative tactics of HR.(Banking Employee Retention)

Maintaining the retention ratio, or how to keep your best employee, is one of the most difficult HR tasks.

As a fresh approach, HR might make use of the following:

• Dazzle them with visually appealing employer branding.
• Offer advantages when hiring new employees.
• Verify the rewards during the onboarding process. and complete them in the following stages.
• Allow your staff members room for personal growth.
• Establish personal professional opportunities.
• Take note of exits to minimize losses going forward.

All parties benefit from the employee life cycle when devoted, driven, and contented workers give their best efforts. A happy work environment and fewer departing employees enhance the company's reputation and serve as excellent references for potential hires.

References;

Gillis, A.S. and Kakade, S. (2023) What is the employee lifecycle?: Definition from TechTarget, HR Software. Available at: https://www.techtarget.com/searchhrsoftware/definition/employee-life-cycle (Accessed: 14 April 2024).

What is the employee life cycle? the 6 stages for HR leaders (2022) Personio. Available at: https://www.personio.com/hr-lexicon/employee-life-cycle-model-uk/ (Accessed: 14 April 2024).

Barr, E. (2022) The 6 stages of the employee life cycle • sprigghr, SpriggHR. Available at: https://sprigghr.com/blog/360-degree-continuous-feedback/the-6-stages-of-the-employee-life-cycle/#:~:text=The%20Advantages%20of%20Implementing%20an,talent%20retention%2C%20and%20reputation%20improvement (Accessed: 14 April 2024). 

Mizne, D. (2022) Working Retention into your employee lifecycle management strategy, 15Five. Available at: https://www.15five.com/blog/employee-lifecycle/ (Accessed: 14 April 2024).