Sterling Bank says it has come up with a policy that allows flexibility in work arrangement to promote work-life balance for its staff.
In a statement by the bank on Sunday in Lagos, the bank said the policy was meant to continue to explore ways to improve the work environment and to demonstrate its philosophy of enriching lives.
Sterling Bank said the introduction of Flexi-time and Flexi-place policy would continue to build a workplace that would elevate the culture of the organisation and enable self-actualisation.
According to the bank, the initiative complies with global best Human Resources practices, currently piloted in the bank’s Corporate Head Office.
The bank said that the Flexi-time arrangement allowed members of staff the opportunity to determine their own working hours by choosing a convenient time to come to work within the options provided by the bank.
It added that the Flexi-place package gave the staff the opportunity to choose a convenient location from which they could carry out their job functions.
The bank said it had started a pilot phase which allowed interested staff, particularly in the head office to select locations closer to their place of residence.
The Executive Director, Strategy & Finance, Sterling Bank, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, described the pilot stage as highly successful and optimistic that the initiative would enhance productivity of staff.
Suleiman also said that the policy would promote bonding among family members, reduce the stress, improve the well-being and ultimately promote work life balance among staff.
“Employees in the cities are faced with the tiring, yet elusive goal of maintaining work-life balance as they are confronted with the challenge of waking up very early to beat the traffic going to the office and also pass through same stress going home in the evening.
“We recognise that the fast-paced nature of cities is likely to continue to deprive workers from spending quality time with their families as they spend a lot of time commuting to and from work.
“With the staggered resumption time offered by these initiatives, staff will be able to determine preferred and more convenient work hours, ’’ Suleiman said
According to him, we believe with this initiative, they (staff) would be in a better position to spend quality time with their family, commute at more convenient traffic times and spend less on medical care and thus become more productive at work.
Suleiman said that appropriate structures and resources had been put in place to ensure the effectiveness of the workplace solutions,
“This time, we want to focus on the people who work tirelessly to implement these initiatives – our staff.
“The flexible work regime being introduced is one step in the right direction to achieving this desire,’’ the executive director said.