Human resources
Our goal is to retain and attract outstanding employees and to help them grow professionally and personally. We aim to create a positive and motivational working environment and to support our employees. We strive to create equal opportunities and a results-driven workplace culture. Together we aspire to understand and meet the needs and expectations of our customers because their success is our success.
Our Remuneration Policy
According to the current remuneration policy, Arion Bank seeks to offer competitive salaries so that the Bank can attract and retain outstanding employees and to ensure that jobs at the Bank are sought after by qualified individuals. The remuneration policy should not encourage excessive risk taking but rather should support the Bank’s long-term goals and the healthy operation of the business. The policy is an integral part of the Bank's strategy to protect the long-term interests of the Bank’s owners, its employees, customers and other stakeholders in an organized and transparent manner.
Results-driven culture
Helga Halldórsdóttir, Head of Human Resources
Our people
Arion Bank employs a dedicated team of employees from a diverse range of backgrounds. The average age of employees is 41, and the average length of employment at Arion Bank is 10 years. At the end of 2023 the Group had 737 full-time equivalent positions, compared with 700 at the end of 2022. The gender ratio is 57% women and 43% men. Other genders are fewer than five individuals.
Age of employees
Gender ratio
Employees are free to choose whether to join a trade union and which union they wish to join, and most are members of the Confederation of Icelandic Bank and Finance Employees (SSF). The vast majority are also members of the Bank’s employees’ association, Skjöldur.
As stated in our human resources policy, we seek to attract outstanding employees and to help them develop professionally and personally. We risk assess the competitiveness of the workplace and ways of ensuring that our people have the necessary skills and knowledge. The results of the risk assessment indicate that the risk is insignificant.
We work closely with the universities and take on interns who come to work at the Bank on a temporary basis. They work on specific projects connected to their studies. Students have also completed their final assignments at undergraduate and postgraduate level in collaboration with the Bank. Every year we hire numerous students from the university community to work over the summer and some continue to work part-time over the winter. This aligns well with our goal of attracting promising and talented people to work at the Bank.
Equality
We have adopted a clear policy on equality and human rights and the CEO is responsible for implementing this policy at the Bank. The CEO serves on the Equality Committee alongside representatives of the employees. We continued to work towards the goals set out in the equality action plan in 2021.
The objective of the policy and action plan is to create an environment where people of similar education, work experience and responsibility have equal opportunities and terms, irrespective of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, origin, nationality, skin colour, age, disability or religion or other factor. The Bank’s action plan places greater emphasis on balancing gender ratios at the Bank, not just at management level but throughout different job families, committees and business units.
Vacancies at the Bank are advertised, and a close record is kept of equality related statistics in the hiring process. Regular analyses and audits are made of the gender ratio in each business unit and job family, the aim of which is to have a positive impact on gender ratios. The hiring process for management also takes into account the current succession plan which is updated on a regular basis. The aim of such a plan is to gain an overview of people within the company who have the potential to develop into key positions.
Gender ratio – management
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Arion Bank is a signatory to UN Women and UN Global Compact. These are international declarations and treaties under the auspices of the United Nations which companies and institutions can use as guidelines when implementing responsible working practices, irrespective of geographic location or sector and which primarily concern advancing gender equality. The Bank is also a signatory to the UN Global Compact initiative on corporate sustainability and is committed to working in accordance with the UN’s 10 principles on sustainability, including human rights. Arion Bank’s focus on equality supports the UN’s fifth sustainable development goal which concerns gender equality.
We have signed a declaration of intent concerning the Equality Scale, an initiative created by the Association of Icelandic Businesswomen (FKA). Organizations awarded the Equality Scale must all have achieved the stipulated gender ratio at the highest level of management, and the aim is for the gender ratio to be 40/60 at this level. We have also encouraged women to seek jobs in the tech sector, and to that end we have partnered with Vertonet, an association of women in IT. We also took part in the project Girls and Technology which was organized by Reykjavik University.
Regular surveys are conducted of our employee’s perception of the work/life balance. The results show that overall, employees can maintain a healthy balance between their work and their personal commitments, and the results exceed our targets on an annual basis. We believe that the policy of remote work and increased flexibility in our work environment played a key role here.
Work-life balance
Equal pay certification
Since 2015 the Bank has had an equal pay system and equal pay certification. The aim is to eliminate the gender pay gap and promote equality. In 2018 we became the first Icelandic bank to get the Ministry of Welfare’s equal pay symbol and a pay equity analysis indicated that the unexplained gender pay gap was 2.4%. Since 2022 we have sharpened our focus on this issue and introduced monthly pay analyses in addition to the review performed annually.
The review carried out in 2023 revealed an unexplained gender pay gap of 0.2% compared with 0.4% in 2022. Our target is for this figure to be below 1% and we are therefore extremely proud of what has been achieved in this area. Furthermore, the Bank has set the target in the 2021-2024 action plan that the median value of total wages paid to men compared to the median value of total wages paidto women will falls below 1.3. The median value of total wages paidto men compared tothe median value of total wages paidto women in 2023 was 1.28, compared to1.29 in 2022 and 1.43 in 2021. We also measure the ratio in different job families at the Bank.
Median value of men’s annual salaries compared with median value of women’s annual salaries
Median value of men’s annual salaries compared with median value of women’s annual salaries
Arion Index and work place audit
The Arion Index is a survey which is sent every two months to all employees of the Bank. The purpose of the Arion Index is threefold:
- To measure how employees experience their own work, working environment and well-being at work.
- To serve as the voice of employees to communicate ideas quickly and easily.
- To identify opportunities for improvements and to respond to problems quickly and securely.
The results of the Arion Index this year indicated that our employees are generally happy at work and satisfied with their working environment. The average Arion Index score during the year was 4.38 on a scale of 1-5. Every year detailed workplace audits and management assessments are performed, and participation is usually good.
Net promoter score (eNPS)
Surveys are also conducted among new employees and employees leaving the Bank. Employees have the opportunity to add comments and make suggestions in all surveys. Human Resources and the management team examine the results of surveys and make improvements where needed.
The net promoter score was also high during the year and there is a high level of employee engagement. This indicator states whether employees would recommend the Bank as a great place to work.The eNPS score is on a scale of -100 to 100. The results of the workplace analysis revealed that 93% of employees are satisfied with their place of work and employee engagement scored 4.27 on a scale from 1-5.
A healthy workplace
We endeavour to ensure that the Bank offers a safe and healthy working environment. Permanent employees are given the opportunity to undergo regular health checks, get the annual flu jab and the Bank also partners with professionals who can advise employees on how to improve their health. The Bank also promotes good health by providing grants, such as sports grants, grants to buy glasses and for sessions with a psychologist.
The Bank has adopted a health and safety policy, the goal of which is to improve the quality of life and the working environment of employees and to ensure full compliance with health and safety legislation.
Arion
Health Index
96,7%
Percentage of employees using
the sports grant
87%
Percentage of employees using
the travel allowance
29%
Main events
of the year were
23
Percentage of people who accepted offer to have health check
60%
Zero tolerance of bullying and violence
Communication at the workplace should be based on mutual respect and it should be ensured that employees feel comfortable. There is zero tolerance of bullying, gender-based or sexual harassment or other types of violence. The Bank has an anti-bullying team which is responsible for overseeing the Bank’s policy, procedures and training in connection with tackling bullying, gender-based or sexual harassment or violence.
Management and employees had to complete mandatory courses on tackling bullying, gender-based or sexual harassment or violence in order to raise awareness of the subject and to engender shared understanding of the concepts and processes involved. The next course is digital and will be held in 2024, and all employees will be required to finish the course. We also conducted a survey on this matteramong employees, and incidents of bullying, gender-based or sexual harassment or violence proved to be very low.
L&D and professional development
Our learning and development policy provides us with a clear vision on learning and development (L&D) and our L&D goals support the Bank’s overall strategy. The need to educate and inform changes over time and therefore policies and goals need to change to match the current zeitgeist.
Read more about our Learning and Development Policy
The Bank offers varied learning and development programmes, with both on-site and digital learning on offer. One of the Bank’s key targets is that all employees complete mandatory learning and development courses, including the code of ethics, information security, anti-money laundering and data protection.
During the year we applied gamification techniques to teach new employees the right methods to use the Bank’s CRMsystem. We implemented a new learning system which enables us to use gamification to eliminate inconsistencies in teaching methods and thereby enhance the success of learning. Gamification enables everyone to be taught how to use the Bank’s various IT systems in the same way and at the same time provides us with highly accurate statistical information on the results of learning.
We continued with our leadership programme, with 30 people undergoing training during the year. The programme generated several ambitious projects, confirming what a dynamic management team the Group has at its disposal.
We ran a mentor programme which was open to all employees, and a total of 25 people received mentoring this year.
Certain people at the Bank need to be licensed securities brokers in order to do their jobs. Being a licensed securities broker is also a very useful qualification for other people on the financial market and many people have gained this qualification, even if they do not strictly need it for their jobs. Licensed securities brokers are required to undergo regular continuing education so that they maintain their expert knowledge, professional skills and values. The Bank has supported people who wish to gain this qualification and pursue continuing education.
Stimulating learning and development courses are offered to new employees, with both on-site and digital learning available. A special management programme is available for all new managers. The Bank also provides grants to employees to study and go on courses, and employees can also apply for grants from their unions.
Highly experienced employees have joined the team producing digital L&D material for the Bank. Employees are also encouraged to attend conferences, courses and lectures outside the Bank and the Bank is a member of various professional organizations such as Dokkan and Stjórnvísi.
Professional development
During the year a professional development model was developed with the management team to make professional development in teams more visible to employees. Vacant positions are advertised internally, and employees can also apply formally to attend professional development courses. Human Resources keeps a record of these applications and goes over them at weekly meetings. A succession plan for key positions is prepared in collaboration with the executive committee at least once a year.
Learning and development
events available in 2023
193
Number of events attended by each person on average in 2022
9.4
Digital lectures in the bank's learning and development programme
379
Number of digital lectures each employee listened to on average