KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) announced a remarkable success of the campaign it launched over the past months to encourage its employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, with the percentage of employees who received one or two doses of the vaccine reaching 82 percent of total employees, reflecting the high responsibility and awareness of the bank's employees to combat the pandemic.

According to the results of the bank's recent surveys, the last samples showed that 8 percent of total employees are willing to receive the vaccine or already registered in the vaccination platform, whereas 10 percent are undecided, unwilling or from the categories that should not receive it.

The survey about the level of employees' awareness of and confidence in the precautionary health measures taken by the bank under the work resumption plan showed a significant increase in the level of employees' awareness of the precautionary health measures taken by the bank to 94 percent, as well as an increase in the level of employees' confidence in these measures to 88 percent.

The Executive Management thanked the bank's employees for their strong sense of responsibility towards their colleagues, families and society as shown in the noticeable interest in receiving the vaccine or registering for it as soon as possible, in order to eradicate the pandemic and return to normal life.

Emad Al-Ablani

On this occasion, Emad Al-Ablani, General Manager of Group Human Resources at National Bank of Kuwait said: "Since the beginning of the pandemic, NBK has been making unwavering efforts to ensure the safety of its employees through several initiatives and campaigns to ensure a safe work environment and help contain the spread of the virus."

As the largest private sector institution, NBK has a national responsibility to act as a role model, as the bank is one of the first private sector institutions to launch a program to encourage employees to receive the vaccine to actively support the country's national vaccination drive, he added. Ablani pointed out that the bank's employees showed high awareness and responsibility to speed up the process of achieving herd immunity and accelerate the pace of social and economic recovery by ensuring to get vaccinated.

"We are always urging our employees to maintain their health and safety through the awareness messages regularly published on the bank's various digital platforms, and posters displayed at its headquarters and branches. Additionally, as part of our social responsibility, we publish and support awareness campaigns on social media, with a view to encourage people to get the COVID-19 vaccine, in support of the national efforts to eliminate of the virus and return to normal life," he mentioned.

Ablani noted that the bank ensured a thorough sterilization process of all its facilities, as well as applied health controls at all its branches, in addition to conducting many surveys to assess employees' awareness of and confidence in the precautionary measures implemented by the bank.

Direct communication

Over the past months, the bank enhanced direct communication with its employees and provided them with reliable and credible information about the safety, effectiveness and side effects of available vaccines, including information about approved vaccines and how to register for the vaccine, in cooperation with the concerned authorities in Kuwait.

In addition, through its social media platforms, the bank held several discussion sessions with doctors and leading public health figures to share scientific information and answer employees' inquiries about the effectiveness of the vaccine, and how it contributes to returning to normal life. Moreover, the bank's executive management and different department heads shared their vaccination experiences through videos published on internal communication channels with a view to support vaccination efforts and encourage employees to get vaccinated.

A key supporter

In addition to encouraging its employees to receive the vaccine, NBK continued its initiatives to support the national vaccination drive over the past months. In this context, the bank donated shelters and outdoor waiting areas, as well as fridges for vaccination centers in all the governorates of Kuwait, in addition to the main vaccination center in Mishref. NBK's donations also included providing golf carts to transport people receiving the vaccine to and from the car parks at the Kuwait Vaccination Center located in the Kuwait International Fairground.

Over the past months, NBK participated in campaigns aiming to boost the volume and diversity of available sources of information about COVID-19 vaccination and combat misleading information. NBK also donated KD1 million to procure ventilators and a fully equipped mobile hospital. NBK recognizes the importance of improving the health and safety of its key stakeholders, including employees and customers, as an integral part of its sustainable development approach. To this end, the bank continuously updates its health and safety policy developed based on regional and international best practices in relation to health and safety matters.

The bank also raises the motto of "employees' health and safety first" in all measures and decisions that have been taken since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. This is manifested in launching many programs and activities that focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle and raising awareness on the importance of conducting medical examinations for the bank's employees to avoid physical and psychological exhaustion during the pandemic.