Salz Review - Wall Street Journal

89
Salz Review
An Independent Review of Barclays’ Business Practices
― Employees felt they were treated as commodities, with no sense of long-term
belonging;
― While leaders cared about customers, they did not care about employees;
― Employees felt over-managed by risk-management considerations and unable
to make their own judgments about what was right and wrong; and
― Employees felt overwhelmed with initiatives (‘4 Cs’, ‘Think Big’, ‘5 Priorities’,
‘13 x 13 relentless focus on simplification’).
8.45 Barclaycard and the retail bank operate as different businesses (two websites,
different call centres with little collaboration, and different dress code and work
environment at Barclays’ Canary Wharf head office). In the early 2000s, Barclaycard
pursued a growth strategy – but failed to pay adequate attention to its controls.
The incentive programmes and revenue targets of the time focused attention on, for
example, the sale of PPI, together with the way in which charges for late payments
and for borrowing over the limit were applied. These seem to have contributed to a
culture in which making money was placed ahead of customer satisfaction.
Decreasing profitability and a change in leadership precipitated a turnaround
programme and heightened Barclaycard’s emphasis on addressing cultural and
behavioural weaknesses. The business introduced the 4Cs (customer, colleague,
citizenship and company) and four behaviours (thinking ahead, taking ownership,
working together and loving success).
8.46 Today, Barclaycard is seen within the Group as having a distinct culture which is
more dynamic, innovative and collaborative, and which is supported by a
management which is clear on expected behaviours. These expectations have led
to customer satisfaction scores and employee behaviour playing a greater role in
the Barclaycard performance appraisal process and remuneration than in the past.
We also heard that there is more emphasis on the whole leadership team working
collaboratively together than elsewhere in the Group. Perhaps perversely, the pride
expressed in the distinctiveness of Barclaycard’s culture may make it more of a
challenge to align Barclaycard to the new purpose and values launched through the
Transform Programme, than some of the other businesses. On the other hand,
the Barclaycard experience shows the benefits of building a culture based on
clearly understood values.
8.47 Barclaycard Employee Opinion Survey results are relatively better than the rest of the
Group. They score highly on the ability of employees to challenge traditional ways
of doing things, effective line management and a strong culture of cooperation.
Absa and Barclays Africa
8.48 Absa is run as a separate business with its own Board of Directors. This reflects
both the degree of Barclays’ ownership and the interests of minority shareholders.
Interviewees offered different characterisations of the culture of Barclays’ African
operations. This is understandable given its diverse geographic and business reach.
However, some common themes emerged, including an over-reliance on personal
relationships, a strong sense of hierarchy, a lack of diversity, and too much deference
to authority – characterised by some unwillingness to flag emerging issues early or