For Al Rajhi Group, strengthening its brand as the employer of choice was one of the core focus areas in 2022, in line with the ambitious target set by the BOTF Strategy. The group continued its momentum from 2021, investing in the development of talent and technology to shape a human capital across all its local and international subsidiaries that is powered by evolving capabilities and augmented expertise. Such efforts during the year under review resulted in Al Rajhi Group’s Human Resource (HR) group setting a new benchmark in employee experience, and closing the year with an improved employee engagement index score.

Following the feedback from the annual employee engagement surveys conducted in 2021, actions plans were rolled out during 2022 to address areas highlighted for improvement. Some of these initiatives included improvements across the Performance Management function with enhanced system capabilities to promote more autonomy and transparency; formalising agreements with local and global educational institutions to enrich learning curriculums and improve Learning and Development benchmarks; and creating structured development opportunities to enhance employee mobility and promotions, thereby improving the overall Talent Management function.

Al Rajhi Group’s consolidated human capital remains its engine of successful value creation, with the 19,964 strong team demonstrating great adaptability to the rapid pace of digital transformation, while driving loyalty and brand value among its customers.

Workforce analysis	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Total number of employees	19,964	15,078	13,445	13,439	13,003
Percentage of Al Rajhi Group female employees (%)	28	21	15	16	15
Percentage of Al Rajhi Group local employees (%)	89.07	91.96	91.31	91.14	90.40
Number of employees departed	5,191	2,964	1,781	2,104	2,246
Al Rajhi Group Turnover ratio (%)	19.18	17.30	15.32	15.40	16.56
Al Rajhi Group Total training hours	849,284	590,012	335,747	474,439	456,949

Employees by grade and gender	Male		Female
	2022	2021	2022	2021
Senior Management	530	403	24	17
Middle Management	1,212	2,592	221	324
Other	12,596	9,185	5,381	2,557

Employees by age and gender	Male		Female
	2022	2021	2022	2021
18-30 years	5,082	4,291	3,948	1,775
31-40 years	6,558	5,675	1,334	864
41-50 years	2,351	1,928	297	218
Over 51	347	286	47	41

Number of years of service	Male		Female
	2022	2021	2022	2021
0-5 years	7,784	5,922	4,597	2,055
6-10 years	3,310	3,434	687	550
11-15 years	1,341	1,168	172	144
16-20 years	1,341	1,053	104	88
Over 20 years	562	605	66	59

Employees by category	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Permanent	15,820	10,904	10,773	11,040	10,971
Contract	100	143	167	160	96
Outsourced	4,044	4,031	2,505	2,239	1,936
Total	19,964	15,078	13,445	13,439	13,003

Talent recruitment

Al Rajhi Group hired 8,211 new employees in 2022 to accommodate the back filling of resignations and the business growth across all levels and positions including future skilled subject matter experts and senior professionals. The substantial number of new hires was the result of a focused recruitment drive to discover the best-qualified talent that can meet the demands of Al Rajhi Group’s rapid strategic expansion across IT, digital and revenue generating departments in line with the group’s growth plans. The success of the recruitment drive was evidenced by the exceedingly high offer acceptance rate, reflective of Al Rajhi Group’s repute as the “Employer of Choice” by top talent. This distinction was further enhanced by Al Rajhi Group’s brand presence across physical career fairs as well as online professional networks.

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Total new hires by age group and gender	18 to 30 years			Over 30 years
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
2022	2,882	3,183	6,064	1,584	563	2,147
2021	2,670	1,064	3,734	1,850	172	2,022
2020	1,838	336	2,174	1,307	77	1,384
2019	1,794	627	2,421	1,132	89	1,221
2018	1,558	446	2,004	966	93	1,059

Al Rajhi Group sponsored and participated in several key career fairs to strengthen the group’s brand position as “Employer of Choice”, and enjoyed a significant increase in applicants during the period under review.

In 2022, Al Rajhi Group showed great progress in its commitment to equal opportunity, and has been recognised as an organisation that empowers and adds value to the role of women in the workforce. Al Rajhi in KSA focused on creating female-friendly as well as female-only job opportunities (such as the Qassim Contact Centre staffed by only females) during the period under review, increasing Al Rajhi Group’s female employee ratio from 21% in 2021 to 28% in 2022, a significant achievement in line with the group’s diversity and inclusion plans. Female employment was further encouraged with the continuation of appropriate allowances in line with market conditions.

The Bank’s investment in high-potential Saudi talent is evidenced by the Graduate Development Programme (GDP), which maintained its competitive edge as the preferred programme and eventual employer for top graduates.

The “war for talent” and the challenge to retain top performers continued to impact the financial sector significantly. Al Rajhi Group maintained its repute and appeal as an employer of choice during the period under review, and continued to strengthen its overall employee value proposition to successfully overcome the challenge.

Talent management

In 2022, the Al Rajhi Group focused on dialling up efficiencies and effectiveness of its talent practices, which were reviewed and duly modified to align with global standards. A key enabler of this process has been the new implemented systems and process, which enabled the HR group to implement a number of new and advanced talent activities in 2022.

Talent retention

The Emerging Talent Development Programme greatly contributed towards retaining skilled employees in a fiercely competitive market. As an example, during the reporting period the Bank enhanced the talent development framework for skilled employees by introducing two programmes:

• Leadership Transition Programme: Aimed at preparing managers transition smoothly to higher leadership positions. In 2022, this development opportunity was extended to employees transitioning to Director level roles.
• People Management Programme: This programme successfully trained and equipped applicable supervisory level employees aimed at taking managerial level positions with the skills and competencies.

Employee remuneration and other benefits

The group provides employees with market and performance-driven remunerations. The fixed salary revision was carried out for all eligible high-performers in 2022, with all variable incentive payments and bonuses paid in line with the remuneration strategy to pay for performance. The group continued to offer market driven competitive allowances to boost employee morale and strengthen the employee value proposition. as an example, Al Rajhi Bank continued to pay vacation allowance of one basic salary paid semi-annually and made celebratory payments to over 5,000 employees for special occasions, with a total of 1,220 employees receiving well-wishes and gifts from the CEO. Another example is the launch of Savings Scheme 2, which is a two-year programme designed to encourage and nurture an exemplary culture of saving with over 5,600 employees of Al Rajhi KSA subsidiaries participating.

All employment contracts were standardised to provide consistency and assurance to new hires in line with relevant laws and regulations.

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Salaries and Benefits SAR ’000	2022			2021
	Fixed and variable compensation	Variable compensations paid		Fixed and variable compensation	Variable compensations paid
		Cash	Shares		Cash	Shares
Executives	50,693	23,996	55,595	48,198	22,954	42,322
Employees engaged in risk taking activities	590,626	189,914	32,479	686,464	202,368	22,242
Employees engaged in control functions	214,190	41,174	26,857	251,636	48,160	19,241
Other employees	1,804,438	313,694	46,344	1,591,335	321,356	34,675
Total	2,659,947	568,778	161,275	2,577,633	594,838	118,480
Accrued compensations in 2022	247,731	–	–	231,087	–	–
Other employees’ costs	487,513	–	–	323,626	–	–
Gross total	3,395,191	568,778	161,275	3,132,346	594,838	118,480

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Parental leave in 2022	Male	Female
Number of employees who took parental leave, by gender	1,249	265
Number of employees who returned to work after parental leave, by gender	1,249	265
Number of employees who returned to work after parental leave who were still employed 12 months after return, by gender	1,223	262

HR Governance

While the group upholds recognised standards and principles for labour practices, it also strives to ensure safe and fair working conditions and practices through regularly reviewed policies, creating an envir onment that allows employees to feel protected and encouraged. The group strengthened its HR Governance Department during the period under review to support its transformational journey, and proactively act as the second line of defence for the HR group by providing assurance on matters of compliance with all regulations and laws.

Additionally, the KSA Internal Company Bylaw was updated to ensure better clarity and awareness on the governance structure for the benefit of the employees. The group continued to be aligned with local regulations and practices.

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As an example, the Bank’s Petition Committee streamlined its procedures to improve the petition submission process for employees and is fully compliant with new rules and regulation pertaining to occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements and launched several employee health checks and wellbeing awareness programmes throughout the year.

Policies and Communication

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Al Rajhi Group remains steadfast in upholding a number of policies to provide a working environment that is fair and safe for all. The Whistleblowing Policy, Grievance Policy and other modes of communication remain firmly in place for employees to be able to raise concerns about their workplace.

The applicable policies were revamped in 2022 to include all relevant updated rules and regulations, and align with market conditions and development to ensure employees receive clear guidance and fair benefits. Al Rajhi Group has in place safe communication channels for whistle-blowers, including both an anonymous hotline and email address, allowing employees to report their concerns from outside the workplace. For grievances, there are special channels where employees are enabled to submit a grievances which will be escalated to the relevant stakeholders, who in turn takes immediate and appropriate action.

Employee engagement was further improved by enhancing exiting communication tools and channels. As an example, physical engagements and communication alignment between Al Rajhi Bank regional branches and the Head Office have improved with frequent visits to regional branches from Head Office Management. The group’s employee communication channels include:

• Annual Employee Engagement survey
• Senior management meetings and messages
• Employee email updates
• Circulars
• HR newsletters
• Periodic news broadcasts
• Whistleblowing policy
• Grievance policy
• HR self-service mobile app
• HR hotline
• Town-halls

Any and all organisational changes impacting the group’s employees are communicated in alignment with relevant labour laws. The Bank also capitalises on its digitised HR systems as communication channels to regularly update employees with such relevant changes.

Learning and Development

Al Rajhi Group has always been committed in investing towards structured learning and development solutions using blended learning approaches such as classroom, virtual, e-learning, on-the-job, certifications, coaching and mentoring. The Group carried out a deep learning needs analysis to identify knowledge and skill gaps when designing and implementing interventions tailored to suit the needs.

As an example given below is a summary of learning & development interventions pertaining to Al Rajhi Bank.

In 2022 more than 150 top-graduates successfully graduated from ARB Graduate Development Programmes (GDP), and an additional 103 were on-boarded as part of the Bank’s strategy to recruit young Saudi talent and groom them to become future leaders. The Bank has on-boarded over 500 graduates since the inception of the program in 2015, and periodically revamps the programme structure to align with emerging market trends.

The GDP also aims to bridge emerging skill gaps in digital, IT and cybersecurity as a result of ongoing digital disruptions in the banking and finance sector, and introduced “gamification” – a digital learning solution that significantly enhanced the overall engagement, interaction and active participation of over 10,000 participants. The Academy also partnered with a number of leading international schools to introduce several e-Learning courses as alternative learning solutions to meet business challenges.

Taleem – the Academy Learning Management System (LMS) – was upgraded with additional features such as pathway learning, online evaluation and development tracking during the reporting period, enabling both the Academy and the employees to maximize mutual benefits with measurable results. A total of 7,185 employees accessed Taleem during the year under review, and enjoyed exclusive learning content and benefits from the upgraded system, including autogenerating of certifications for successfully completed modules and courses

A number of specialised trainings and certifications were also facilitated by the Academy during the year under review; The Bank’s focus on increasing female employment opportunities saw the Academy recruit and train more than 1,700 new female agents to staff the female-only Contact Centre in Qassim. The Academy also facilitated training programs targeting female employees, completing more than 10,000 training hours during the reporting period.

Progress of the three mandatory SAMA certifications saw a total of over 9,000 ARB employees certified to date, and business-specific simulation-based training was introduced to Retail Banking and IT divisions as they transitioned to the Bank’s new digital core system. Focused leadership development programs for senior management and leadership cadre continued, aligned with their leadership assessment feedback and development needs of the Bank for the year under review.

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Al Rajhi Group Employee training	2022	2021
Number of training programmes	2,351	1,109
Total number of participants	26,474	15,322
Training days	141,547	98,335
Hours spent on training	849,284	590,012

Hours of training by grade	Total hours of training
Senior Management		4,217
Middle Management		46,364
Other		765,447

Employee training by gender	Number of employees			Number of person hours of training
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
Mandatory	4,499	3,732	8,231	51,587	55,962	107,549
Non-mandatory	9,104	7,841	16,980	343,988	360,469	704,457
e-Learning	7,393	4,805	12,198	107,019	31,548	138,567

Employee training by category	Number of employees			Number of person hours of training
	Male	Female	Total	Male	Female	Total
Senior Management	186	71	257	3,786	399	4,217
Middle Management	3,835	4,037	7,872	30,538	14,581	46,364
Other	10,085	8,121	18,207	361,648	401,882	765,449

Hours of training by skill type	No. of persons trained	Hours training
Technical skills	16,565	577,308
Soft skills	9,743	238,384

The catalytic roles of technology and innovation in HR

HR Group embraced Al Rajhi Group’s strategy of “unbank the bank” through the application of sophisticated technology solutions to join-up with all its subsidiaries to ensure robust HR services delivery to its employees. Continuous investment made in enhancing and implementing best in class HR-MIS solutions to create a stronger employee experience through end-to-end HR digitize service solutions.

As an example, more features were added to Al Rajhi Bank’s Recruitment and On-boarding System during the year following an end-to-end review of the process, increasing efficiencies by around 50% YoY, and delivering a faster, automated on-boarding experience. Automation of the Bank’s recruitment offer approval reduced a 2-week turnaround time to less than 5 days.

Enhancements across the Bank’s Management Information System (MIS) paved way for the automation of multiple HR functions. This comprised the automation of total rewards, incentive calculation, attendance tracking of employees through geofencing, internal hiring requests, and enhancements to the SAHL mobile app that enabled the Bank to continue utilising it as the single point of contact for all employees with more flexibility as well as greater efficiency, further improving the Bank’s employee value proposition.

Innovation and new thinking were encouraged among employees with the “My Idea” initiative implemented by the Bank, where employees with the most innovative and value-adding ideas were rewarded upon implementation of their projects. During the period under review, the Bank accepted 21 ideas, 5 of which were successfully implemented.