Dmitry Leus discusses the motivational system used at his bank to attract and retain valuable employees. The system includes monthly performance bonuses in addition to basic salary, with bonuses tied to measurable business, service quality, and process metrics. It also provides opportunities for career growth such as internal competitions for management roles. Training programs like an in-house learning platform help develop employee skills. Leus believes motivational techniques are key to the bank's successful expansion into new regions.

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Dmitry Leus: “How to
Motivate Employees”
Dmitry Leus, Chairman of Bank
Any bankwith long-termambitionsuses a system of employee
motivation. Wespoke with Dmitry Leus, Chairman of Bank, and
asked him to which motivationaltechniqueshehas recourse.
- Dmitry Isaakovich,what do you understand under the concept
of “motivation” andwhat is its application?
- Dmitry Leus: Motivation designates the incentiveto act or, more
precisely, the activation of motives pre-existing in every human
being. Its importancein the world of business, and in particular in the
service industry, isto attract and keep the most valuableassets we
have - human capital.
Since spring2011, our Bank hasbeen carryingout an active regional
expansion strategy. Within two years, wehave created from scratch
40 branches in differentregionsof the Russian Federation.
Accordingly, it was necessary to also create a system of motivation
transforminga meregeographical presenceinto a centre of human
excellency. Thus, psychological factors proveto be as importantas
economic onesin achieving a high return on investment. In general,
good motivation systems are a win-win game: they mustreflect the
interests of all stakeholders of an enterprise - employees,
management, and its shareholders.

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- What are the components of your motivational system?
- Dmitry Leus: All the employeesof our regional frontoffices have a
basic salary, in addition to a performancebonusatthe end of each
month. The programmefurther aims at keeping the growth rate of
the basic salary under controlover time, in favour of the
performancebonus.
Such a system of extrinsic (that is, monetary)rewardsis based on the
principlethat financial bonusesindeed encouragean employeeto
achieve the best results. Although the theory of extrinsic rewards
cannot be generalized to all situations, there is a general consensus
that in the world of banking, which derivesits meaningfrom the
universeof numbers, psychological motivation may be created
through, and measured in, monetary terms.
However, rewardsmustnotbe attributed based on management’s
own discretion and opinion, butaccordingto measurableand
verifiable indicators, lest subjective preferencegive rise to inequality
and damage the team’s sense of unity and common interest. In the
context of its remuneration policy, the Bank therefore monitorsstaff
performancein three specific businessfields.
The first oneis businessand sales performance. Weset quantitative
targets for our front officestaff measuringthe acquisition of net new
money and the successfulsale of lendingproductsto prime
borrowers. In the second field, weset up indicatorsfor quality of
service. In fact, customer service mustkeep track with the Bank’s
geographical expansion and the growth of its customer base. Put
differently, quantity and quality mustgrow in tandem. In the third
field, we measurethe effectivenessand quality of overallprocesses,
which is the key prerogative of our Moscow head office.
Alongsideperformancerewards, theBank has recently also come to
rely on bonusesfor successfully completed project management. As
we are currently actively growingin size, some of our products,
processes, and structuresneed to be adjusted to reflect this. Hence,
our need for projectmanagementhas grown in proportion.

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- Financial incentive is doubtlessly avery effective means of
motivation.Does Bank also offer career growth?
- Dmitry Leus: Yes, wealso offer the opportunity of career and
professionaldevelopment, whichis a very importantconsideration
for increasing an employee’sself-esteem and his reputation within
the bank.
Our corporate Intranet providesan appropriateplatform for
professionaldevelopmentand thecreation of a sense of unity and
purpose. For example, a “wall of honour” showcases the
achievements of our best talents. In addition, we display sales figures
for each branch on-line. This allows regional branches to compare
their resultswith other regional branches and creates a spirit of
healthy competition, thereby stimulatingoutliers to turn into
performersand performersinto leaders. The Intranet also helps
managementcommunicatewith staff and spread strategic
newsletters; alternatively, it may serveas a forum on which expert
communitiesexchange ideasand innovations.
As partof our motivational programme, wealso hold internal
competitions for managementvacancies within Group. Regardlessof
his geographical location, every employeefrom the Altai Republic to
Kaliningrad is eligible and has the opportunity to become the head of
a newly opened regionalbranch. This way we seek to foster a long-
term relationship between the Bank and its employeesand to
strengthen loyalty amongour people.
- Dmitry Isaakovich,employee training is the cornerstone in any
system ofprofessional development.For example,on-the-job
training allows acompany to bring new employees up to speed
quickly and expert seminars may enhance the skills of senior
staff. Today, many banks have their own in-house learning
platform.Does Bank have anything similar to offer?
- Dmitry Leus: Of course. We recently launched a project called the
“LearningTool” - a most usefulplatform whereby the employeesof

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our newly opened regionalbranches can actively develop their skills.
Also, in addition to in-houseseminars, we regularly organizeexternal
work groupsand corporateretreats duringwhich new business
processes, productlines, or the Bank’soverall strategy are on the
agenda.
- In other words,motivational techniques are a key instrument
in the successful development of the Bank?
- Dmitry Leus: Yes, absolutely. Like any bank in fullexpansion, our
heartbeat is alwaysin tunewith the challenges of modern lifeand
their financialrepercussionson the capital markets. Our system of
motivation has been instrumentalin scaling up our regional presence
and has shown that numbersalonedo notadd up unlessmotivated
by human effort.