BNR has been working for four months with management consultancy Hay Group on a project that will completely change the way employees are paid, recruited and retained, using the same principles as commercial banks.
“Since it joined the European System of Central Banks, the central bank started a process of assimilating the best practices of the system. One has felt the need for more flexibility in terms of human resources, as well. (…) The need for very good specialists has increased. We have started to create a system which will attract and keep the best people,” said Mugur Tolici, director of the Human Resources Department within the BNR.
The central bank analyzed HR policies in other central banks and last year introduced a new performance management system, developed in-house, but later realized that the bank needed an external consultant to make further progress.
BNR chose Hay Group as consultant thanks to the company’s experience of working with other European central banks.
“The activities within this project are similar to those in the private sector, where emphasis is laid on individual objectives, feedback, coaching and developing employees based on the bank’s needs,” says Harry Mcintassis, managing director of Hay Group South East Europe.
BNR had a performance evaluation system before, but the wage system was “somewhat egalitarian.” So, for the same diploma and for the same type of job, pay was equal, which did not encourage individual performance.
“This projects provides for an assessment of all jobs in the institution. Then they will be ranked according to the contribution of each job to meeting the bank’s targets. This contribution will be measured on three levels: the knowledge required for the job, the job’s responsibilities and the job’s impact in terms of meeting the institution’s main objectives,” Tolici specified.
The benefits package of BNR employees currently includes, in addition to the salary, the possibility of getting extra money from the profit left at the bank’s disposal (80% of the BNR’s profit goes to the state), and the possibility to take part in development programs in BNR territorial centers.
BNR has 1,860 employees, around three quarters of whom work at the bank’s headquarters, while the rest work in its territorial network.
The average net salary of BNR employees is EUR1,200, according to the institution’s 2011 report.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)