Attracting the next generation of talent is crucial to banks’ future success, which is why UBS works hard to achieve this.

Axel Weber

When asked which industry they would most like to work in, a significant proportion of younger talent typically nominates the finance sector in employer ranking surveys. Banks have maintained a strong position in preferred employer rankings worldwide in recent years – but it was not that long ago that the finance sector was the consistent leader.

While the sector’s attractiveness as an employer has not fully returned to its pre-financial crisis levels, many factors in its reduced appeal to the younger generation are closer to being resolved. Many banks are now opening a new chapter in their histories.

Being a top employer is crucial to securing banks’ competitiveness. What makes this task more difficult is that we are no longer just competing among ourselves to attract the best and brightest talent, but also against the largest names in technology as well as start-ups. At the same time, banks are becoming true technology companies with digitalisation, and are driving innovation and competitiveness through technology, which will become even more important in the future.

Next-generation employees

To also succeed in the future, we need to ask ourselves the questions: are we doing all we can to innovate and offer our clients, at every age and life stage, added value? And are we interacting with them according to their needs and in the most effective ways? While there is much to be said for the value of experience, younger talent plays an important role in helping answer these questions and in developing innovative solutions. That is why it is key for leaders in banking to meaningfully engage with the younger generation of employees.

One of the most compelling reasons to engage with young employees is that this can help us understand the needs and preferences of our evolving client base. Millennials are set to benefit from the largest intergenerational wealth transfers in history – their global net worth could reach $24,000bn by 2020.

We know that even in their banking behaviour, millennials do many things differently than earlier generations. For example, wealthy millennials want to do well, but many of them also want to do good while doing well. They have a much greater interest in the sustainability of their investments and they also look for increasingly innovative ways to use their wealth for the public good. 

This means that it is no longer just about the quality of advice that younger clients receive – although that will always be important – but also the ways in which they receive it and how it relates to their broader goals. It is also important for this new generation of clients to work with advisers that understand their needs and can relate to their objectives and ambitions. Furthermore, young employees can help identify the products, services and communications channels that our evolving client base will demand in the future.

Attracting quality

Equally important to understanding what drives our customers is understanding what drives, and attracts, high-quality employees. Banking is a service industry at the core, and people are what make this business. Banking is also an international and cosmopolitan profession: mobility, agility and the ability to adapt are hugely important, as are client focus, integrity and the ability to work together. Younger talents can help us to better understand what we need to do to continue to be an attractive employer in the future.

Certainly, a deciding factor in the attractiveness of firms in any industry is organisational culture. Banks have come a long way in establishing stronger corporate cultures since the events that overshadowed the younger generation’s attitudes about our industry. As we strive to continue to improve in this area, we need to involve all generations of talent – especially the new generation – in shaping corporate culture to make sure that it resonates with them.

And, in my experience, younger employees can be both strong supporters of these efforts and highly motivated by a company that makes a positive contribution to society. At UBS, we drive improvement through a group-wide initiative called the 'three keys programme', which focuses on strengthening our culture and embedding our core values into the firm’s identity. One key aspect is fostering collaboration. And collaboration is critical, for example, when we look at how knowledge is passed from older generations of employees to younger ones.

One area where large, global banks are at a distinct disadvantage in terms of culture, compared with technology companies and start-ups, is their reputation for being clunky and overly complex. This can be off-putting for potential candidates as well as a frustration for motivated employees who want to be as effective as possible. So this is an area where engaging with younger talent, to identify hurdles and reduce challenges, can help to not only improve our processes but also support innovation.

In Switzerland, UBS narrowly trails Google in Universum’s ideal employer rankings. Part of UBS’s success in maintaining such a high ranking, despite strong competition from the technology sector, can be attributed to our commitment to developing young talent by offering training, internal mobility and other development opportunities. We do this through programmes such as the Swiss apprenticeship model for business and IT roles, and bank entry programmes for high school leavers, as well as by hiring interns and graduates. And as a result, UBS is one of the top educators of entry-level talent in Switzerland – more than 1800 young people start their careers with UBS through one of these programmes each year.

It is not, however, enough to simply create programmes such as these and expect to draw in new employees. To attract and then retain younger talent, it is also crucial to offer the right culture, conditions and working environment. For leaders, this means taking an active role in programmes that foster younger talent and engaging with employees at all levels to better understand what is needed and how to provide it. For example, at UBS we have recognised that younger employees thrive in collaborative, client-focused work environments, and they excel with regular feedback and accountability for their performance. We have worked hard to make these a part of our firm’s culture at every level – and all generations of employees have benefited.

A critical task

On a personal note, I find it extremely motivating to see young talents, with their entire professional lives in front of them, making choices on the jobs they want to do and how much time they want to invest in education over the next few years. Even when you are running a large financial institution, I find it worth the effort to go out and take the time to meet with young employees.

I do that by regularly visiting our branches in Switzerland and thereby meeting the next generation of UBS employees, by exchanging views in small group meetings called 'chairman’s dialogue', or by joining a session in one of our talent programmes. These exchanges are always very useful and a good indicator of how our firm is viewed as an employer.

Attracting, retaining and engaging the best young talent, and helping them grow and excel in their careers, is of critical importance to all banks. Its importance means that leaders need to be actively engaged in making younger generations part of their organisation’s strategy and culture. And, ultimately, all banking leaders – from top executives to branch managers – need to see that talent management is probably the most important task that they have.

Axel Weber is the chairman of UBS.

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