You don’t need to work 9 to 5, five days per week to be productive

In the next in our series of Covid-19 interviews with Senior HR Leaders which are sponsored by Appian, our Founder & Managing Director, Peter Banks, talks directly to Justine Dinter, Chief People Officer at Breaking Wave – a relatively new start up which is part of the DB Group – acting essentially like a fintech inside the bank. Peter also talks with Birthe Mester, MD, Global Head of Performance, Engagement and Culture at Deutsche Bank.

DB was founded in 1870 and is the leading German bank with strong European roots and a global network. The bank focuses on its strengths in a Corporate Bank newly-created in 2019 it is a leading Private Bank, focused on investment and asset management, with over 90,000 employees across 60 countries.

Justine shares how she feels real pride with what Breaking Wave has put into place, in terms of their culture, behaviours and values, which they deliberately took time to design and that have proved a real success when dealing with this crisis. They are now looking at shaping what the new working pattern will look like, focusing on outputs, not time, and ensuring their Leaders continue to show real empathy and be truly transparent.

Birthe makes the point that when you put people at the centre of your attention, show them empathy, understanding and flexibility – but keep focused on what they need to deliver – they feel motivated and highly-engaged and, this for Birthe, has been a moment of real pride, but she stresses, it has not been an easy journey.

Peter Banks, Founder & Managing Director of theHRDIRECTOR commented: “It was interesting to move the discussion on from previous interviews and to speak with two Senior HR Leaders to see how their organisations are working together to manage this challenge and to create a better future for the group. As Birthe says at one point, the banking industry didn’t exactly cover itself in glory and they have been working hard to repair their reputation and change behaviours. They are enabling their employees to be their true self, to be motivated so they are as productive as they can be and they are being provided the tools and the learning to do just that.”

Peter adds: “By letting their employees know what is expected of them, by communicating to them regulary and being clear, is driving the right behaviours through these difficult, remote working times. What has been proven through Covid, is that you don’t need to work 9 to 5, five days per week to be productive and this must continue when people finally return to the office. What comes out loud and clear, as it has in many of the interviews thus far, is that managing with real transparency and trusting people to do their job is key.”

Watch the next in the series now as we continue to uncover a rich source of ideas, insight, strategy and new working practices to guide us through these challenging times. We are learning a huge amount from this global pandemic and as we are seeing, there is a real opportunity to return to ‘the new better’.

To watch the video interview Click here.

To watch all previous Covid-19 video interviews Click here.