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Metro Bank Creates Fans Amongst Customers and Employees
Joe Wiggins
Joe Wiggins, Author & Career Expert at Glassdoor | 7 Dec 2017
Metro Bank, Britain’s first new high street bank in over 100 years, wants to turn customers into fans. By the looks of it though, it has also managed to turn employees into fans as well, given that the bank has just been named a Best Place To Work 2018 in the UK, the only high street bank to make the list. This adds to the Highest Rated CEOs awards that it collected in 2017 and 2016. Here we speak to Danny Harmer, Chief People Officer at Metro Bank to find out what makes Metro Bank special.
Your employees love working here as we see the strong rating on Glassdoor - How do you make this a great place to work day in and day out?
It’s all about our people and our culture. We recruit people who are passionate about providing a superior customer experience. Then we give them the training, tools and resources they need and provide a supportive, encouraging environment.
We understand our colleagues are our biggest asset, that’s why we invest in them and their progression. Our in-house training facility, Metro Bank University, offers hundreds of different courses and training programmes to choose from. We very much focus on creating careers rather than jobs and last year we promoted over 25% of our colleagues who had been with us for a year or more.
Metro Bank has a strong mission and is disruptive - do you think that mission attracts a certain type of person to work for you?
Our culture and approach is distinct, while being highly inclusive. We focus on providing unparalleled levels of customer service and convenience. And who doesn’t want to help people, after all? We’re very clear from the very start that we do things differently at Metro Bank. Even our recruitment process stands out from the norm. We run an audition style interview for our volume roles called MFactor, which is structured so that candidates feel at ease, with an informal reception at the start, followed by role plays, then group and individual interviews. It’s all about getting the best out of people.
Once colleagues start, everyone – no matter where they sit within the organisation – receives two days of cultural training, before they begin their role-specific training. That way they really understand our model and purpose. Colleague one-to-ones, reviews, rewards and recognition are focused on how colleagues live our culture and deliver as a team against our purpose. It’s absolutely vital that all our people are committed to the banking revolution because that is what our customers experience and love about us.
What do you do to foster employee trust and engagement?
Everything about our culture means we’re open, inviting and non-hierarchical.
Colleagues are encouraged to play an active part in the banking revolution. We’re all frequent users of an internal social media network that allows colleagues wherever they’re based to raise questions or make suggestions and celebrate success. What’s more, our senior leaders run Revolution Updates throughout the year (‘town hall’ meetings) so that colleagues can share their views and keep up-to-date with different parts of the business.
How do you help build a great company culture?
Employ the right people, support them, give them permission to be amazing and then get out of their way and watch the magic happen. It’s really that simple.
Good leadership is not just one person - How do you work w/ your management teams to make sure employees have great leadership here?
All of our colleagues are guided by the same simple purpose and culture whether they’re the CEO or a new apprentice. Our leaders understand the privilege and responsibility that comes with being given a group of people to inspire and nurture. We train our leaders both on the tools and techniques of management, as well as leading in a Metro Bank way through a number of in-house leadership programmes.
What do you look for in informed candidates?
In our customer facing roles, it’s definitely passion for customer service and excitement about what we’re doing.
How do you recruit talent - what are some of your best practices?
We know that we have a responsibility to set people up to win and be at their best in any sort of selection process. That’s why we use approaches which, while helping us reach the right decisions, are warm and welcoming. We want to create fans out of candidates too, whether or not they join us as a colleague. Our recruiters brief candidates ahead of the various stages of any process so that people feel supported and well prepared. We have always tested for fluid intelligence as you do need to be smart to work out the best solutions for customers (and colleagues) and keep up with our pace. We are now looking at some interesting gamification solutions which we think will give us further insight on cultural fit as well.
How do you retain talent - what are some of your best practices?
We’re doing something that’s truly different at Metro Bank. We’re disrupting and shaking-up an age-old industry. People are genuinely excited to be a part of that and the career opportunities for those who want them are phenomenal. All of our colleagues are also part of our long term share option plan – everyone here is an owner.
What is the best part about working for Metro Bank?
It’s the people. Everyone here works together as a team for one purpose: to create fans. We all have the same aim, to revolutionise banking and we’re all succeeding together.
Joe Wiggins
Joe Wiggins, is an expert career author for the Glassdoor Blog. Read about Joe Wiggins' experience and latest published articles on their author profile.
Tags:Best Places to Work
