KUWAIT: Kuwait Finance House (KFH) won two global awards in the human resources field for the year 2022 from Brandon Hall Group, a company specialized in the evaluation and performance assessment of banks, companies, and institutions around the world. KFH was awarded the silver medal in "Best Advance in Employee Engagement" category and a bronze medal in "Best Advance in Business Automation". Both awards affirm the quality of KFH's Human Resources and the advancement and uniqueness of its processes and applications as well as the consolidation of its efforts in adopting the best global standards, which have been commended by experts in the field.

Brandon Hall Group is a US-based research and analyst firm and the only professional development company that offers data, research, insights, and certifications to learning and talent development executives, influencing the development of more than 10,00,000 employees and executives from around the world.

The Human Capital Management (HCM) Excellence Awards was the first to recognize leading organizations for their learning and talent management, in addition to being the most reputable and reliable HR award worldwide.

The Group's awards are given based on several criteria, the most important of which are that the HR program fits the needs of the organization, with a distinctive design and delivery, measurable benefits, and overall impact on the organization.

KFH Group Chief Human Resources Officer, Zeyad Al-Omar said that the two awards confirm the advancement of KFH's HR practices and the particular importance the Bank attaches it to employee engagement and business automation, adding that due to the dedicated efforts of its employees in the HR department, KFH was able to successfully compete with the world's largest and significant organizations and attain the two prestigious awards. This recognition is not only a reaffirmation of KFH's leadership regionally but also globally as it is one of the first banks in Kuwait and the gulf to achieve this success.

He added that leading employee engagement is one of the pillars of KFH's strategy. Moreover, KFH is one of the first local and regional banks to implement the annual engagement survey in 2013 through which employees' satisfaction is measured under a transparent, professional and confidential process to enhance areas of strengths as per the survey results. The survey contributes to improving the work environment by setting and executing plans according to key survey indicators. The teamwork at KFH, at different levels, resulted in an increase of the employee engagement yearly index, compared to the years before and to other high-performing regional institutions.

Al-Omar noted that the success of KFH's executive plans was the result of the coherence of its employee engagement practices, saying that the Group Human Resources Department is dedicating its efforts towards employees' aspects, suggestions and needs, which directly enhanced employee loyalty by meeting their aspirations.

Al-Omar highlighted the importance of the annual engagement survey, which is prepared by one of the mega and well-established HR companies while maintaining employee confidentiality.  He explained that business automation with highly qualified staff is one of the key reasons behind the success of HR operations, stating that the systems and practices adopted are the most advanced in Kuwait and the gulf. He added that the qualified HR team is dedicated to overseeing the process, as well as improving the systems to better adopt with KFH's aspirations, noting that the HR team supervising the HR systems are considered as a regional reference not only for KFH but for other local and regional banks in seeking their expertise for the implementation and development of the HR operations.

He added: "These efforts have resulted in KFH's obtainment of the medal bronze in Business Automation, as ratified by Brandon Hall Group for the major development and the qualitative shift in automating and digitizing its HR systems which contributed to the efficiency and effectiveness of business outputs."

Al-Omar indicated that the awards are the result of the dedication and hard work of all the employees in the HR department, as well as the continuous attention of the Executive Management and the Board and their focus on providing the best benefits and improving the work environment for employees, saying that the awards are thus a motivation towards a further enhancement in achieving highest level of performance and recruiting more young national talents that are capable of taking the lead and maintaining the standing and development of KFH in Kuwait and the world.