Meet Mediterranean Bank’s employees to understand the strategies in place to allow them to advance in their careers.
With a first degree in Human Resources, a Master in Psychology of Work and over 20 years’ experience in the banking industry,
Christine Gambin has all her cards in place to successfully manage the Human Resources division of a dynamic organisation such as Mediterranean Bank.
This is what she has worked to achieve and the way forward:
“MedBank has grown significantly over the past 5 years and we now compete for staff on an international level. We work in a fast paced, constantly changing environment
and fostering a sense of teamwork within our multicultural workforce is vital for our success. Locally, we’ve just consolidated our administrative and back-office
departments in new headquarters at The Centre in Tigné Point which will further facilitate interdepartmental collaboration and communication.
When we recruit people from abroad, we realise that relocation can be difficult to navigate and facilitate matters by providing a
relocation officer who assists them with paperwork, accommodation and transport for the move. Once they arrive it’s important to ensure a welcoming community because,
in the most part, we are dealing with young, single employees whose colleagues initially comprise their social circle here.
Indeed we have a relatively young workforce overall and many are building their family so,
whilst we are proud of our gender equality record, we recognise that our female employees need reassurance
that they need not choose between having a family and a career so we have extended maternity leave and offer
all new parents unpaid parental leave of up to one year. We further support all our employees by offering the
option of working reduced hours if necessary.
We depend on two areas of expertise that are constantly evolving – finance and technology and we’re passionate about ensuring our staff’s knowledge base is continuously
updated. Training has become easier to access since we launched our e-learning platform but we also support those who wish to further their professional education both
financially through sponsorships and interest-free loans and through extra leave for studying and exams.”
Therese Azzopardi, Senior Officer – Consumer Banking
“The opportunity to enjoy my son’s first year without worrying about my career was priceless for me. Whilst I was out on leave, my colleagues kept me updated so that when
I came back I was able to pick up where I left off and since returning from parental leave, I’ve been offered a new more challenging role in wealth projects even though
I’m working a reduced 30-hour week now.”
Amaury Marichal, Contact Centre Officer – MeDirect Belgium
“I enjoy the challenge of supporting our Belgian online customers and working with colleagues from so many different cultures.”
Kim Farrugia, IT Systems Engineer
“I’m currently reading for a degree in IT, and the fact that the bank is willing to support my studies, both financially and practically, is extremely encouraging as it
proves that they believe in me.”