Bank of Hawaii’s people and culture are special. Committed to delivering exceptional service as one ‘ohana, our hardworking and dedicated employees are the heart of our business, and prioritizing their health and well-being has been paramount during 2020. We know that supporting the physical, financial and emotional well-being of our employees enables them to be the best they can be at work and at home.

Supporting Our Employees During COVID-19

The unique challenges of the pandemic have led us to improve our employee communications and implement new ways of supporting them. In addition to activating health protection practices in our branches and facilities, including sanitizing procedures and personal protective equipment, we also provided tools and resources so that a majority of them could work remotely. Prior to government stay-at-home orders put in place on Oahu, Bank of Hawaii executed its own remote-work policies utilizing laptops and tablets. Sixty percent of our employees were working at home, continuing to provide the highest level of service to our customers. We also selected COVID Coaches in our People Services department, so that employees had allies outside of their immediate department to contact with questions about COVID-related policies, and determine the best actions for their individual situations.

With more people working from home, the pandemic changed the way we connect as teams. We provided timely communications through multiple channels on the evolving requirements and conditions of the pandemic. In August, we launched a newly transformed internal website called myPS by People Services, which provides access to employee services and benefits, including new ways to access training videos and sessions.

During the pandemic, we used an employee sentiment survey, which was especially useful in acquiring sentiment and feedback about working from home, to help identify areas of improvement and address concerns proactively. Through the survey, employees were able to respond anonymously to questions about job satisfaction, team dynamics, career development and more, and are able to access individual dashboards to view personal responses and submit feedback outside of survey cycles.

Utilizing Training Effectively

Development and skills training continue to be essential in guiding our employees toward more flexibility and ensuring their safety in the workplace. We used our online training capabilities to prepare employees from temporarily closed branches for new roles, such as processing PPP applications and responding to customer calls, which needed a larger-than-normal workforce response.

We’ve also introduced an enterprise-wide digital-learning curriculum for our new Customer Experience (CX) initiative, giving employees actionable skills to deliver exceptional experiences for internal and external customers. The self-paced learning uses various modalities including video, group discussions and activities, creating a collaborative and engaging experience for our employees. We are working toward building a customized CX training curriculum for the next phase of our training curriculum.

Continued Focus on Diversity and Inclusion

Bank of Hawaii has always promoted a workplace culture that is respectful and welcoming of all experiences in our team members. In addition to continuing its longtime support for the LGBTQ+community, the bank added focus on the unique needs, perspectives and potential of women and members of the military to its Employee Resource Groups in 2020. Although the pandemic limited some of the planned activities during the year, Senior Executive Vice President Jill Higa was honored by the YWCA O‘ahu in its annual recognition of exceptional local women for their professional achievements and community service. In addition, in honor of Veterans Day in November, the Military Employee Resource Group delivered a special lunch to veterans at the Barber’s Point location on Oahu of U.S. VETS, an organization dedicated to ending veteran homelessness. 

Employee Financial Wellness Benefits

Working at Bank of Hawaii offers employees diverse banking privileges as part of its package of competitive benefits and services. Three new financial benefits went into effect in January 2020; here is an update.