Scope International: Investing in Employee Development

Edwin Nevis, CEO, minces no words when he shares, Being a great workplace for us is a journey. It is
but the legacy of the brand, the opportunities to learn and grow, international exposure, the
performance track record and innovation towards excellence that attracts the talent pool towards Scope
International. William Paul, Head HR, GSSCs, says Right from the point of entry and throughout the
employees life cycle, we remain deeply invested in employee development, offering excellent induction
and training programs designed and delivered to global standards. Standard Chartered Centre for
Operational Excellence, Scope as we know it, which is owned and managed by Standard Chartered Bank,
ever since its incorporation in 2000, has moved ahead form being a cost-effective venture to an integral
part of the banks operations. As an organization, Scope is committed to help its people grow; there are
opportunities for learning and the work culture is performance driven, which enables an individual to
make a difference and teams to win.

Scope International has in place a structured process which ensures that all the employees go through a
planned system of performance management, strengths evaluation, learning and development,
succession planning, talent management, and rewards and recognition cycle.

The Know Me, Focus Me, Care Me programs are indeed the foundation of Scope Internationals
intent to nurture and develop every individual in the organization. An organization which straddles
multiple business segments and one which is closely integrated with the parent, Scope offers its
employees career choices rather than jobs. It offers employees plenty of opportunities to work overseas
at projects in addition to permanent moves. All vacancies, both in Scope and in the parent organization,
are posted electronically through job posts. The phrase shift jobs without quitting, coined some years
ago, accurately reflects the active movement of internal talent facilitated by this process.

To attract talent, the company has ventured into new talent pools which otherwise have remained
largely untapped. As a matter of fact, by providing flexibility in timings and work hours, Scope
International has been successful in tapping the segment of housewives. The initiative has helped the
company fill in many positions. As for the company, the most important aspect that it considers when
identifying the right talent, is the alignment with its culture and values. The company believes that if a
prospective employee has the necessary culture fit, then competencies and capabilities can be
developed. Scope International focuses on the fact that its employees should leverage their strength
and in fact encourages people to identify their strengths and build a career around them.

Besides the learning and development opportunities, there are other factors such as employee
inclusiveness and transparency that go on to make Scope International a great place to work for. The
concept of employee engagement is based on active listening wherein the views, concerns and
suggestions are constantly sought and acted upon through myriad means. So, be it group
communications at the shop floor level, skip-level meetings, brown bag lunches, one-to-one sessions,
focus groups, open house with business leaders or an informal coffee chat session; the work culture at
Scope International is one where employees feel their opinion counts. There is total transparency when
it comes to communicating information and decisions. As a matter of fact the performance and reward
management system is accessible to all people managers irrespective of their hierarchy and they are
empowered to make performance and reward decisions based on these inputs. Employees, equally, get
to see everything that managers and reviewers have to say about their performance and have their
reward decisions explained to them by their managers. This culture of transparency is very important to
them and is the foundation of how they foster trust.

Scope expects high levels of efficiency and productivity from its employees who can raise the
performance bar each time. Scope believes that to achieve high levels of performance, a knowledgeable
team alone is not sufficient; the team must necessarily exude confidence in their ability to exhibit that
knowledge, and innovate & work with the customers to take service delivery to the next level.