Workplace

Serving our Employees

2008 was a challenging year for the financial services industry in particular. As a result, Citi Asia Pacific had some workforce reductions, primarily due to the divestment of a number of noncore businesses.

Despite the difficult operating environment, Citi has continued to provide an inclusive, meritocratic, fair and professional work environment for over 50,000 employees in Asia Pacific.

Our workplace initiatives focus on:

Promoting diversity

Supporting work-life balance

Encouraging employee feedback

Providing extensive training and development

Facilitating employee volunteerism

Equal Opportunities

As an equal-opportunity employer, Citi’s Respect at Work and Code of Conduct Policies make it clear that Citi Asia Pacific does not tolerate any form of unlawful discrimination on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, transsexuality, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, colour, religion, belief, disability, marital or civil partnership status, age or otherwise.

This applies to all decisions relating to recruitment or employment, including job selection, work assignments, training, promotion, performance appraisal, career development, compensation and benefits, administration and terms and conditions of employment.

Over 23,000 Citi Asia Pacific employees, friends, families and clients participated in 276 community projects on Citi’s third Global Community Day on November 8, 2008

Asia Pacific Workplace Initiatives

Diversity

Gender diversity is a major focus for Citi Asia Pacific. In 2008, women represented 16% of Citi Asia Pacific’s managing directors and 26% of its directors, and we are constantly working to improve the number of women in senior management.

Our regional women’s leadership programme, ‘Coaching for Success’ provides career development support for high-potential female employees to help them develop the skills and experience needed for more senior leadership positions. Each of the 22 participants in 2008 had a designated coach – a more senior woman in the firm – for the duration of the six-month programme.

Citi Asia Pacific also ran its third senior women’s mentoring programme in 2007- 2008. Senior business leaders mentored 122 director-level women and 44% of the mentees have since been promoted.

Patricia Wee, Training Manager, CitiPhone Banking was one of more than 100 employees who took advantage of Citi Singapore’s ‘shadow-a-parent’ initiative in June 2008 so that her daughter, Rebecca, aged 5, can now relate better to her mother’s work.

In addition to gender diversity, markets such as Citi Taiwan have actively promoted the hiring of people with disability. In 2008, Citi Taiwan hired 23 people with disability, and now have a total of 44 disabled employees.

Work-Life Balance

Flexible Work Strategies (FWS) enable Citi employees to consider new ways to manage their workloads so that they can still fulfill their personal goals or family obligations. Specific arrangements include flextime, remote work, compressed workweek, job sharing, part-time or reduced schedule and leave of absence. In 2008, Citi Asia Pacific received 236 FWS requests across 18 markets, of which 228 were approved.

Several markets such as Hong Kong have launched Flexi-Day for staff to start and leave one hour early or later so that they can fulfill any personal needs or family responsibilities. After its launch in 2007, Flexi-Day became so popular among Citi Hong Kong employees that it was extended from once to twice a month in 2008.

Recognising that strong family relationships contribute to a healthy workplace, other markets such as Singapore have introduced a ‘shadow-aparent’ initiative. In June 2008, more than 100 Citi Singapore employees brought their children to work for half a day to enjoy fun activities including a tour of their parent’s workplace.

Voice of the Employee

Our annual Voice of the Employee (VOE) survey is a primary mechanism for employee feedback and to assess trends in the work environment and in management practices. The VOE is conducted anonymously and translated into different languages, including Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese.

The 2008 VOE was conducted in September during especially turbulent economic times. Despite the difficult environment, Citi Asia Pacific’s response rate was 90% and the results indicated overall employee satisfaction of 74% (compared to 74.5% and 70% in 2007 and 2006, respectively). In addition, Citi Asia Pacific’s response and satisfaction rates were both higher than the global averages.

Training & Development

Throughout Asia Pacific, Citi is known for its systematic provision of learning, development and career opportunities. In 2008 alone, Citi Asia Pacific employees received over 1 million hours of training including more than 374,000 instructor-led trainings and 461,000 web-based trainings.

In recent years, Citi Asia Pacific’s Consumer Bank Learning and Development (L&D) team has won several awards from organisations such as the Singapore Human Resources Institute. L&D initiatives that have received special recognition include competencybased training to master specific functional skills at basic, intermediate and advanced levels, as well as Citi’s Virtual Learning Academies.

Employee Volunteerism

Volunteerism is deeply embedded in Citi’s culture. Thousands of Citi Asia Pacific employees volunteer their time, knowledge and skills every year. This not only benefits local communities, but also has a positive impact on our employees ranging from team building to professional skills development.

On a corporate level, Citi supports employee volunteerism year round by giving all staff one paid day off each year to volunteer for a cause of their choice, and by coordinating a range of volunteer activities.

Many of the volunteering opportunities are aligned with our citizenship priorities and provide further support for our community programmes, for example:

Equipping teenagers in Taiwan with basic personal financial knowledge and skills

Delivering lectures as part of a university banking course in Hong Kong

Mentoring students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in Australia

Supporting Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards nominees with financial management advice in Indonesia

In addition, on Citi’s third Global Community Day on November 8, 2008, over 23,000 Citi Asia Pacific employees, friends and families, participated in 276 community projects in 18 markets. This represented approximately 29% of the total workforce and a 17% increase in participation over the previous year.

On Global Community Day 2008, over 1,000 Citi Indonesia volunteers cleaned up eight stations along Jakarta’s central railway line which are used by more than half a million commuters daily. Citi Indonesia also made in-kind donations including 40 trash cans, 1,200 bougainvillea and jasmine plants, and 100 railway signs.