RED Empowerment

RED Empowerment

Since my internship started with DBS Singapore, there has been one occurring theme that has been resurfacing on a constant basis and that is ‘Empowerment’. "Empowerment is a human resources term that involves a power transfer from higher levels of employees to lower levels of employees within an organization." (Cunninggham, 1996). Hypothesis statements claim that empowerment has a positive impact on the job satisfaction and employee's commitment. Data was collected from 334 employees from the different branches of banks in Lahore proving that employee empowerment offers companies an invaluable and intangible tool to achieve organizational competitiveness (Aamir and Khalid 2011, 664)

As a person, I have never paid much attention to the term, not noticing the significant role it plays in the everyday lives of everyday people. However the importance and the impact this term can have on people jumped out at me especially after two events in work. One would be the ongoing project or internal branding campaign known as the RED portal (elaborated in the report) while another would be the townhall event. The townhall is a departmental informal meeting, which provides a platform for celebration and update sharing, visions, and plans for the future are also included. It is positioned as a fun and casual event where colleagues from the department can come and mingle and get to know each other, participate and also raise funds for a good cause.

As this year’s townhall fell in conjunction with the F1, the decorations, look and feel were designed and positioned just like F1. The head of our Technology and Operations (T&O) department, Mr Dave Gladhill, was no exception. Donned in a F1 driver’s bright red coloured race suit, he sashayed in with two cheerleaders at his side, bringing the hype to a whole new level. 

The theme of this year’s townhall was ‘Powering the Future of Banking in Asia’ and thus the various initiatives for future plans were presented and showcased. Current initiatives which have been a big part of helping the bank achieve its mission by achieving awards were showcased. For example, the recent award of the Singapore call centre winning nine awards, pitching themselves at a benchmark higher than all the competitors were highlighted among many others. This acted as a great motivation for the rest of the staff. Besides dwelling on the current achievements, plans in the pipeline to improve customer satisfaction and enhance the customer journey were presented. It was then that I really saw that it would take a visionary to come up with concrete plans like these. As it was published recently in the news, DBS has engaged ‘NICE Speech analytics’ which aids in speeding up the process of the call centres. This technology would be further developed in the near future to give customers the access to have immediate contact with the bank from any part of the world, at any time in a snap of a finger. A video was screened envisioning how realistic this technology was, showcasing its advancement and its ability that transcends boundaries and distance. This really empowered me, making me believe that I as a team member could play a small part in the development of technology and achieve that end point and vision (though very indirectly). I felt happy, eager and also very proud to be part of this whole amazing process and I am looking forward to see how this goal pushes on and progresses. Though not an easy task, it certainly empowered me, giving me a sense of power and pride to be part of achieving DBS mission of ‘Becoming the Asian Bank of Choice’.   

Lisa, 15066712, singapore