RIYADH, 3 June 2003 — When traveling abroad I am often asked about the role Saudi women play in the Kingdom’s economy. It is well known that Saudi women hold prominent positions in the fields of education and medicine. Many women also work in the media or own their own businesses. There is another area though where Saudi women have begun to thrive, and that is in the banking and finance sector.
It is obvious that women must be filling jobs in the special women’s branches of banks. What isn’t so apparent is the number of female professionals who have been hired to take up work behind the scenes in the operations, administration and support departments at Saudi banks.
“We are proud of the women of The Saudi British Bank (SABB),” said Bleihid N. Al-Bleihid, general manager, Human Resources, SABB. They hold positions in this organization from clerical to middle management. Women run all SABB’s network operations. Payroll is all female. They play a strong roll in customer service and at our call center. At SABB women are programmers and public relations specialists. Frankly, SABB is hiring women in every area possible because the caliber of talent available is outstanding.”
Al-Bleihid stated that 11 percent SABB’s staff are women. The bank employs 232 women — all Saudis. This is the highest level of female participation in relation to overall employee population at any Saudi bank. The high number of female staff has helped increase SABB’s total Saudization to over 78 percent. At the executive level in the Bank more than 70 percent of the staff are Saudi.
“SABB prefers to hire staff as fresh graduates — either university or high school - and groom them,” said Al-Bleihid. “We are very selective. I am not exaggerating when I say that we only look at those graduates in the top five percent of their classes. In many cases the women who join our staff are in the top one percent of their graduating year. These young female professionals need nurturing. They must learn about work ethics and commitment. We train them to be productive, proud members of the SABB family.”
Just exactly how outstanding are the women of SABB? Majdah Malik Taher, a graduate of Cairo University, started working for SABB in a clerical job in 1994. Two years later she took over her department. Now, she is manager of SABB’s Network Operations Center. At SABB, Taher is responsible for all operations in terms of processing.
“It was unexpected that women would take over at the back office at SABB,” Taher said. “Slowly, slowly over the years, the network operations were shifted to women. We showed that we could be trusted. When the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency decided to automate the remittance process between banks, it was my team that handled the project at SABB. We did a good job. My department has responsibilities to this Bank, its customers and to other financial institutions. We must be punctual and exacting in all our business and we always are.”
Taher sounds bold and confident, and she is, with reason. According to Al-Bleihid, Majdah Taher has succeeded beyond expectations on every project that she has managed at SABB, and now she is the one proposing new projects and requesting additional responsibilities to better serve SABB and its customers.
“My department is looking into ways that we can reduce the amount of filing process done at the branches, to enable branch staff to focus more on customer service, their core duty, and less on paperwork,” said Taher. “I want a challenge. I want to innovate. This department started with 16 women. Now there are 50. I have managers and supervisors. These women want more responsibility, too. SABB has given me all the tools and the management has never stopped supporting me. I have never believed that because I am a woman I have a limit. Come back next year and I can assure you, this department will be doing more than ever.”
Taher’s job is untraditional for this society, but she is filling a position that is behind the scenes, out of view of SABB customers. What happens when the Bank employs women in more visible roles?
“What happens is that SABB customers receive excellent service,” said Hanan Youssef, head, SABB Customer Advocate Unit. “Bank customers are concerned about service. Women tend to handle difficult customer situations in a softer, less aggressive manner than a man would. We have recommendations from our customers supporting this view.”
Youssef is pleased with her career at SABB. She stated that she previously worked in New York and found that even there, gender discrimination was a problem.
“Here at SABB, salary is paid based on the position filled, not gender,” Youssef explained. “While there is no salary discrimination, opportunities are a little limited. At SABB, women are still at the middle management level. I believe this will change as women gain experience and the skills to move forward. Women must have initiative. No one will ever give you a chance unless you earn it and ask for it.”
With the development of technology, customer relationship management is being taken to new heights, and call centers are one vital point where banks communicate with customers. At the SABB Call Center, female staff have a strong, increasing presence.
“I supervise a team of seven women at the SABB Call Center,” said Ebtisam Al-Bahlal. “Part of my responsibility is managing trainees. A trainee assigned to the call center first completes classroom instruction and then for 10 days observes an experienced staff member before handling the first customer call. We take whatever calls come in. Some men are shocked at first to find that they are talking to a woman. Later, many of them tell us that we provide good customer care.”
Al-Bahlal has been with SABB for about three years and enjoys the work because it is not routine. Supervisors tend to handle more perplexing problems and difficult customers. Asked what her family thinks about her talking with male bank customers over the telephone, Al-Bahlal replied: “My family trusts me and I have pride in myself. Most customers are polite. If a customer makes inappropriate comments, I simply stick to business and redirect the conversation. We are taught to handle every customer situation in a professional manner and every call to the call center is recorded and monitored, with a senior supervisor standing by to assist at all times.”
Having women work with consumers and the average businessperson may seem like an acceptable risk for a bank to take. But what about employing women to represent the bank at a higher level? Even then, SABB is proud to put its female staff out front.
Mashael Al-Dabaan is manager of Syndications for SABB. Al-Dabaan handles large loans where several banks participate to finance major projects or other huge ventures. She also advises corporate clients on how to raise capital and find investors. Much of her job is accomplished by taking advantage of communications technologies. Eventually though, most projects can’t be completed without meetings. “International companies are used to working with women, so serving their needs is straightforward,” commented Al-Dabaan.
“A few local companies have initially been surprised to deal with a female banker but they are interested in the knowledge and service I can offer through SABB, so it works out fine.”
To enhance her skills in syndication, Al-Dabaan spent three months in London training with SABB’s international partner, the HSBC Group. She found the experience rewarding and said that other female banking staff are now more often being sent for training outside the Kingdom, especially to HSBC facilities in Dubai and Bahrain.
“Training is important to start with and then you build experience as you go,” explained Al-Dabaan. “This is not a job for me, it’s a career. There is a low attrition rate at SABB among women. Those who do leave go on to other opportunities. Economics demand that families have two incomes. Saudi women do have a lot to contribute, and not just as wage earners. That their talents are being wasted is really sad.”
For the future, SABB plans to spend even more in the training and skill enhancement of its Saudi staff. The Bank has designed individual training programs tailored to further the career path of each staff member. Al-Bleihid emphasized that SABB’s management has seen that funds spent on learning opportunities are actually investments in the Bank’s future.
“There is an attitude in the market that hiring Saudis and allocating substantial sums to training is detrimental to a company’s bottom line,” commented Al-Bleihid. “I would like to emphasize that since SABB started aggressive Saudization efforts, the profits at this Bank have gone straight up. Now, due to our reputation as an organization willing to invest in and accommodate our staff, we are spoiled for choice when it comes to hiring. We have 300 extremely talented Saudi female university graduates on our waiting list for new hires. We hope that in the future we will be able to open new positions and departments in which their skills may be put to good use.”
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