Citi developing an employee mentoring scheme case study

Organisational background
Citi is one of the most global financial services companies in the world, employing 340,000 employees in over 100 countries and serving over 200 million clients. The Citi organisation has a long and successful history and traces its activities in Europe, Middle East and Africa back to the late 19th century. It believes strongly in the importance of reflecting market demographics and mirrors this in its recruitment practice. Over 98 per cent of Citis employees are local and a key aim is to be an employer of choice recruiting the best and brightest employees in its chosen markets.

How Citi started on the diversity journey

Citi takes diversity, equality and its corporate social responsibilities very seriously and has developed a holistic set of policies and practices aimed at developing an inclusive and supportive environment for its entire workforce. The key activities are structured under four areas: the employer, service provider, business partner and neighbour of choice. Employer of choice Activities include: Management accountability Senior managers who are responsible for annual diversity plans with quarterly reviews act as mentors and champions Establishing diversity operating councils comprised of senior business and Human Resource representatives which review progress on strategy, share best practice, align policies globally and design and implement initiatives Attracting talent from diverse backgrounds internationally through partnerships, sponsorships with local organisations Diversity-based initiatives to raise awareness, motivate employees and develop talent Mentoring organisation-wide 86 per cent of the Management Committee participate in mentoring relationships and over 4,600 employees have participated A diversity-based employees network programme with a total of 36 global networks, five UK-based networks and a combined membership of over 10,000 employees

Service provider of choice Citi believes that its diversity helps it better serve its clients. For example, in the US, Citi markets directly to specific groups such as African-Americans through community partnerships, events and media promotion. It also offers free-phone customer lines in
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London Development Agency 2008 - Publication date: 18/01/2013

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languages including Chinese, Japanese and Korean Business partner of choice Citi has a well-developed supplier diversity programme that in the US has procured services valued at $950M from a range of minority owned business. Citi was a founder member of Supplier Diversity Europe www.europeansupplierdiversity.com, which aims to provide strategic, practical and public policy support for businesses building supplier diversity programmes in Europe Neighbour of choice Citi has a large number of initiatives that link to its diversity and corporate social responsibility agendas.

Why Citi undertook this initiative

Citi has monitored the composition of its workforce in diversity terms for several years, and in the US publishes this information annually as its Workforce Information Report. This report indicates the gender and ethnicity of employees by number in nine general role groups. In 2003 the companys Ethnic Minority Employee Network analysed a study entitled A 2003 UK workforce study: ethnicity and demographic analysis of business segments in order to better understand the progress of ethnic minority employees through the organisation. A key finding was that the most difficult transition for these employees was securing promotion to Vice President level. The Networks analysis concluded that employees had a lack of understanding of the organisation and a lack of awareness of career opportunities within Citi. The Network recommended that Citi pilot a mentoring programme for employees from ethnic minority backgrounds. This became known as the Citi Roots Mentoring Programme.

Implementation steps
The key stages in the development of the Citi Roots Mentoring Programme were: Stage 1: Planning and preparation In January 2004, Citi Roots presented the findings of the workforce study to senior management and made recommendations including: Creating a bespoke Mentoring Programme by building a working partnership between the Citi Training Department and the network Facilitating the resources required to plan and launch the pilot programme, by allocating an internal advisor to the network Controlling logistics and administration by forming a Task Team of volunteers from Citi Roots Ensuring the project deliverables were met by using two Task Team Leaders (Senior 2

Managers) to liaise with the Training Department and the Diversity Office Stage 2: Developing aims and goals The Network developed a strategy based on the findings from the report. With the support of the Diversity Office, the Network was able to put forward a credible business proposal to the Senior Management Diversity Committee Citi Difference (which consisted of the CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa and nine Business Heads). The Network secured the required funding and support to run the programme. The aims of the programme focussed on: Enhancing the personal and professional development of employees from minority ethnic communities, through the guidance of a network of mentors operating at senior levels Leveraging the business experience and expertise of mentors Strengthening an open, supportive and inclusive culture and building a two-way communication channel between mentee and mentor

Stage 3: Designing the programme A six-month programme was designed that consisted of a number of activities: Mentees being matched with an appropriate Mentor A mandatory half day induction for both mentor and mentees A Myers-Briggs Type Indicator workshop (Myers-Briggs is one of the worlds most used tools for understanding basic personality types) A Personal Effectiveness training session A Time Management training course Networking breakfast with other mentees, sponsored by the Networks business sponsor Provision of support by the Learning and Development Team, who ran sessions for the programme on days when they were not scheduled to lead in house training days

Stage 4: Communicating and piloting the programme The Network piloted the programme in June 2004 with 22 mentor/mentee relationships. Launching the pilot programme required an investment of time by a number of people, however: Finding supportive mentors was the easiest challenge to overcome. The Network had managed to gain senior management support, and credibility, for example only one email was sent to request experienced mentors to step forward The administration of the programme was carried out voluntarily by senior network staff in their own time The implementation of the programme was structured to be low maintenance for all involved with a minimum need for communication A number of stakeholders were identified, each with different roles on the programme:
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Network Business Sponsor (Operating Committee member); leading as a fully supportive role model Citi Roots The Training team; offering professional advice, design and production of relevant workbooks Line managers; engaging and gaining support and understanding for the programme, enabling employees to take time out during the working day to complete the training Prospective mentors; whose valuable time, energy and understanding of issues pertinent to minority ethnic employees was imperative to the programmes success Prospective mentees; who self-selected themselves onto the Programme

Based on the feedback from participants the pilot was deemed a success. Stage 5: Developing the programme and ensuring sustainability The programme was then set up to run annually and in 2005 and 2006 a further twenty mentor/mentee relationships were established. In June 2007 the fourth and current programme commenced. In order to ensure that the programme was sustainable and supported the needs of participants, the programme was reviewed at the end of each year, taking on board participants feedback. The Network developed a guide booklet, showing the processes required to launch and maintain a Mentoring programme. The guide has been subsequently shared with other networks who have then implemented their own programmes.

Outcome
The impressive results of the programme are shown below. The progress of mentors is also shown because Citi believe that it is important to highlight the benefits that the individuals have gained from being part of the programme. The learning and sharing aspect of the relationships formed was very much a two way communication flow. From the 2004 pilot: Five mentors were promoted to Managing Director (MD) roles Five mentees were promoted to Vice Presidents One overseas assignment to New York

From the 2005 programme: Three mentors were promoted to MD roles Three mentees were promoted One overseas assignment to Geneva

Currently, from the 2006 programme: One mentor promotion to an MD role One mentee promotion 4

Feedback from participants has been extremely positive and constructive, and has enabled the programme to continually improve. The Citi Roots Network and the organisation are also pleased with the results and see the programme as an established part of the development activities for talented ethnic minority employees. Citi believe that the success to date was largely due the detailed preparation that preceded the launch of each programme, and the motivation and commitment shown by programme participants (both mentors and mentees) and its managers.

Commentary
This unique employee-driven initiative enables the transfer of the skills and experience from senior employees to more junior employees. Mentoring programmes are common in many organisations, and the key differences of the Citi approach is not only that it grew from the motivation the employees but also that it was accepted and supported by senior management. The fact that in only three years, 30 per cent of the Citi participants have been promoted demonstrates that it provides a valuable tool to support Citi to develop its under-represented employees groups.

Feedback from mentees

The programme is an excellent way to gain an understanding about different areas of the bank My mentor gave me useful, pragmatic, impartial advice My mentor was sympathetic to issues that affect someone from an ethnic minority background

Feedback from mentors My mentee was very engaged and determined to develop The Mentoring Handbook was a useful starting point for understanding the goals of mentoring This was a very positive experience, and I learned from my mentee