UK community bank Metro Bank has 4,500 colleagues and offers retail, business, commercial and private banking services, and currently has more than two million active customer accounts. Its network of 78 stores are open seven days a week and 362 days a year, with UK-based contact centres open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and online access through internet banking or its mobile app.
The bank was ranked best for service in-store for business customers in the Competition and Market Authority’s Service Quality Survey earlier this year.
Like many other organisations, Metro Bank introduced and amended existing employee benefits, as a result of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.
Carol Frost, chief people officer at the bank, explains that staff already had access to a range of benefits and wellbeing support such as an employee assistance programme and private medical insurance, but its benefits providers wanted to go further. “Our existing benefit providers reacted flexibly to the pandemic and developed new partnerships to better support our colleagues, for example introducing a partnership with Peloton to allow colleagues to exercise at home. Our providers also ran a calendar of virtual events covering nutrition, fitness, resilience and mental health,” she says.
Frost adds that the bank also enhanced its benefits offering during the pandemic to reflect the changing needs of staff. “For example, we introduced a free meditation app shortly after the first lockdown. We also created a health and wellbeing hub of resources recommended by colleagues so that they benefited from across different categories, such as mental health, physical health and fitness, financial health and family,” she comments.
Regarding future plans for the business’ reward strategy in the future, Frost states that it is always front of mind. “We review our reward strategy on a regular basis to ensure it meets the changing nature of the business and our colleagues’ needs,” she says.