Giving meaningful support to employees so they can always be at their best means empowering human capital resources to effectively and sustainably execute the Bank's strategies amidst the current challenging times.

The crisis brought about by COVID-19 gave the Bank an opportunity to demonstrate its utmost care and concern for Metrobankers.
Protection from the risk of infection became as important as the Bank’s business objectives. Its own COVID Vaccination Program dubbed #VaxForMetrobankers achieved a 98% vaccination rate among Metrobankers.

An upgraded telemedicine service, run by well-trained medical professionals from ActiveOne/Reliance, continued to provide COVID case management and support to employees.
The Bank launched MetrobankCARES, a mental health and wellness program to sustain workforce productivity to counter the adverse health effects of prolonged lockdowns.

The Bank also assisted Metrobankers and communities adversely affected by Super Typhoon Odette in Visayas and North Mindanao, and immediately mobilized its network and resources to bring much-needed relief goods, bottled water, and funds to respond to the needs of the typhoon victims.

The Bank regards employee feedback important to business success and in April 2021, launched in partnership with Willis Towers Watson, Metrovoice, an employee engagement survey. The survey results revealed an employee engagement rate of 93%, among the highest in the local industry. To sustain the gains and act on areas for improvement, the Bank launched a series of learning sessions on self and team development, inspiring and motivating others, all while creating joy at work.

The Bank evaluates employees, not only on the basis of their job performance, but also on their contributions to change and their demonstration of desired leadership behaviors. Performance discussions between employees and their respective supervisors are followed by a calibration among leaders that results in evidence-based performance differentiation within each support function and business unit.

To ensure that the Bank has the right leaders with the right capabilities, leadership talents are periodically assessed through talent review sessions. This enables the Bank to determine their potential to assume leadership roles in the future. The strengths, areas for development, and career aspirations of the candidates become the basis for individual development plans that lead to learning interventions.
Using competency-based interviewing techniques, the Bank recruits high-potential external talents to infuse the leadership cadre with a diverse range of capabilities, experiences, and perspectives. This talent diversity contributes to the strength of the Bank’s management timber.

Senior leaders of the Bank are selected and appointed based on a rigorous behavioral assessment of leadership potential. Their appointments are further assessed and approved by the Bank’s Manpower Committee, Nominations Committee, and the Board of Directors.

The Bank allowed select businesses to review and decide on disciplinary cases within operational risk thresholds and determine corrective actions that would help prevent disciplinary incidents to recur in the future.

The Bank fosters harmonious relations between management and its workforce. Labor-Management Committee (LMC) meetings are regularly held with the labor union, the MBTC Employees Union-Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (MBTCEU-ALU-TUCP). These collaborative meetings allow both parties to immediately clarify and resolve issues and concerns affecting the Bank’s employees. Moreover, this collaboration led to the successful completion of the Bank’s Collective Bargaining Agreement for 2022 to 2024.