April, 4, 2025
Sri Lanka's largest private sector retail bank, HNB PLC, announced the successful completion of an ambitious and comprehensive transformation of its Human Resources (HR) framework, as part of a broader mission to ensure a high-performing, future-ready workforce.
Working in partnership with two of the region's leading strategic consulting firms, Cerebrus Consultants and Mercer Consulting, HNB's internal restructuring focused on the introduction of a new Job Banding & Grading structure, a refreshed Performance Management System, and a market-aligned Compensation & Benefits framework.
According to HNB Managing Director/CEO, Damith Pallewatte this strategic transformation will reinforce HNB's position as a modern and competitive employer, while ultimately ensuring that HNB customers receive the highest quality of service in the industry.
“We are proud to embark on this new chapter in HNB’s journey. As an industry rooted in service, our people are at the heart of our success. Our objective in driving this ambitious transformation has been to ensure that each member of the HNB team is given a clearly defined career pathway, with transparent progression opportunities, and a performance-driven culture. These frameworks are in turn linked to a rigorous structure of skills, leadership and career development programmes, all of which are aligned to our institutional purpose of serving as a partner in progress to our customers and our nation," Pallewatte said.
Notably, as part of this transformation, the bank together with its partner consultants undertook more than 200 individual interviews and focus groups with executive employees representing all verticals of the organization, Their findings informing every aspect of the HR transformation, including updates to roles and responsibilities, Key Result Areas (KRAs) and performance incentives, the introduction of 5 broad bands and 10 job grades above the Bank Associate & Allied grades, aligned with global best practices and a refreshed naming convention for the job titles. This would bring a leaner structure with clarity of career development and progression and stronger alignment to a performance driven culture.
“Employee buy-in has been critical to the success of our strategic HR transformation initiative. We wanted to conduct a comprehensive, top-to-bottom re-evaluation of HR. Ensuring that every employee within HNB is empowered with the tools, support, training and motivation they need to uphold the legacy of excellence established by HNB over generations, while also continuing to push the envelope on innovation and service delivery. By investing in our people, we are investing in the Bank’s future success and our ability to deliver exceptional value to customers,” HNB Chief Human Resource Officer, K. Indravasan explained.
HNB is proud to support a dynamic workforce of over 5,500 employees. With an exceptional employee retention rate of 92.7%, the bank’s commitment to a supportive and engaging work environment is clearly reflected in its HR metrics. Moreover, an average of 25.9 hours of training per employee underscores HNB’s ongoing investment in developing skills and capabilities, ensuring that its team remains well-equipped to meet future challenges.
With 254 customer centers, HNB stands as one of Sri Lanka's largest and most technologically innovative private sector banks. Most recently, the bank was recognized as the Best Retail Bank in Sri Lanka for the 15th year at the Asian Banker Global Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2024.
HNB was also recognized as ‘The Best Bank – Sri Lanka’ at the second Emerging Asia Banking Conclave and Awards, organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC). HNB’s accolades in 2024 also include recognition at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence, where it was named Best Bank in Sri Lank and Best SMEs Bank in Sri Lanka.
HNB was ranked the Number 1 Company in Sri Lanka by Business Today in its Top 40 Businesses ranking for 2023-24. HNB was recognized as one of the Top 25 Corporates at the LMD Awards which was held honouring 25 most awarded Sri Lankan Corporates.
Image Caption :
Video Story
