Bank sets up career clinic for staff

MASERU – Standard Lesotho Bank (SLB) has introduced a career clinic to its staff members toimprove their skills and identify where they can be most useful.

The Human Capital Business Partner at Standard Lesotho Bank, Bataung Mosesi, said as the bank evolves with regard to the strategy and the external environment, they also believe that it is crucial for their employees to diversify too.

“Therefore, we invited several institutions to guide them on how to plan their career into short-term and long-term goals,” Mosesi said.

“This network will help the staff to know what the institutions have,” he said.

The Chief Executive of Standard Lesotho Bank, Anton Nicolaisen, said as the bank it is important to support their staff to build their careers.

He said they are seeking to help their staff build their skills and develop their careers.

“We are not only doing this for our staff but mostly for our customers,” Nicolaisen said.

“It is important to build local talent and skills in the banking sector,” he said.

“The world is evolving and we are in the era of continuous learning.”

He said it is important for the staff to acquire new skills.

He said this initiative further supports the learning institutions in the country.

Nicolaisen said they are going to take the lessons they picked during the career clinic to help their staff further their studies.

The Institute of Development Management (IDM)’s Principal Consultant for Business Development, Tšo Sechaba, said the institution was established in three countries –Botswana, Lesotho and

Eswatini – to bridge the gap between the graduates and the workforce.

Tšo said they introduced short-courses in three streams of human resource management, public health management, and business information resource management.

He said in 2012, they further introduced the long-term courses.

He said before the Covid-19 pandemic, they had several institutions of which they were providing short-term courses to their staff.

Tšo said currently, they have individuals who take short-term and long-term courses.

“However, more than 90 percent of our students in the short-term courses are working,” he said.

He said he found this programme by Standard Bank to be a good move.

Tšeliso Lemphane, Credit Banker at Standard Lesotho Bank, said they are excited to get this kind of guidance on how they can upgrade their skills in different departments.

“This was an eye-opener,” he said.

He said he discovered that there are so many courses which are relevant in his field which can help him to improve his skills.

He said the courses are also convenient for people who are working.

He then encouraged the bank to continue with this good initiative.

He said one of the major challenges in the workforce is that they get too comfortable with what they have, not taking into consideration the importance of upgrading their skills.

Refiloe Mpobole