Our People
At Sterling, we strive for positive employee management practices across our branch network and have won various awards that lend credence to these investments. These awards include the Great Place to Work award as the Best Bank in Nigeria, the most Agile Company in Africa by the Agility Organization among others. We are committed to adherence with all applicable labor laws and regulations (covering wages, working hours and conditions of service, gender equality, fairness, and equity). In line with international best practice, we have established policies and guidelines covering grievance resolution, disciplinary procedures, paid maternity and paternity leave, employee training and performance management, and employee welfare programmes.
- Work-life Balance: We have adopted the “Flexi-plan and Flexi-place” initiatives for staff to enable them to achieve a desirable work-life balance. This means staff can work from any location and can have flexible work hours. This has been especially beneficial for women who make up a significant part of our work force.
- We have also established a side-gig leave to enable employees take out time to establish and build their side hustle, hobbies and passion projects
- Paternity Leave: The Bank encourages male employees to take out time off work to care for their new bundle of joy and increase bonding with their families
- Extended Maternity Leave: New Mothers are allowed to take out additional time out to care for their little ones
- Volunteering: The Bank encourages employees to volunteer to add value to society in different capacities. These include but not limited to financial literacy training, mentoring, environmental cleaning initiatives and more to encourage a sense of fulfillment and personal positive impact for the staff.
- Creche Facility: The Bank has creche facility for employees at the Head Office to promote the convenience of the parents while caring for their newborns.
- Occupational Health & Safety: We value the health, safety and well-being of our employees and the communities we operate. In line with our commitment, we have established a Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) Policy, to ensure our premises, facilities, systems, and processes are safe. We have established a Health & Wellness desk to attend to all staff health issues and commenced several Health & Wellness programmes for staff such as:
- Office recreational facilities
- Doctor consultation channels
- Health Insurance scheme (HMO) to cover all staff.
- A well-equipped clinic facility at the Head office and annex to provide immediate health checks and services where required.
- A pre-natal club for all nursing mothers to educate them and eliminate challenges of maternal and infant mortality
We realize that for us to retain highly trained, skilled, competent, and motivated employees, we have to offer them opportunities to improve their skills and maximize their potential. In line with the Bank’s policy of Learning and Development, trainings are offered in our well-equipped training centers. These are complemented by on-the-job training and e-learning platforms. We also offer mandatory trainings to update employees of developments in the financial services industry, including anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism in banks, operational risk management, and sustainability.
We aspire to be as diverse as our customers. The more we reflect the diversity of our customers, the better equipped we are to understand and serve them. To realize the full power of diversity, our culture of inclusion values every employee’s talents. We go all-out for every Sterling Staff to be valued, included and able to perform at their best. In line with global best practice, we have established a diversity and equality policy which promotes female representation at all levels of management and prohibits discriminatory practices. Our policy on Diversity and Equality prohibits discrimination based on gender, colour, tribe or ethnicity, religion, marital status, or physical challenges. We also encourage our business partners, third party suppliers, providers, and contractors to embrace non-discriminatory policies in their business operations. The Bank actively promotes meritocracy. We maintain a policy which prohibits the discrimination against physically challenged persons in our recruitment, training, and career development processes. We encourage gender equality and offer equal opportunities to all personnel.
In line with government priority for supporting and promoting local content, we championed a Made-in-Nigeria campaign and declared a Made-in-Nigeria week during which employees across the network dressed to work in locally-made attire to promote Nigerian culture and creative enterprise. Various local fashion brands were adorned and promoted by staff of the Bank. This was a first in the Nigerian financial services industry.
These are some initiatives aimed at supporting local industry, farmers, and artisans as well as conserving the national treasury’s foreign reserves. In line with the national drive for promoting locally produced goods.
