FirstBank wins 'Great Place To Work' in Nigeria award

First Bank of Nigeria Limited and 27 other companies has been declared the best places to work in Nigeria on account of their strong ethical standards and work-friendly environment, the 2013 Great Place To Work Nigeria (GPTWN) Awards has revealed.

GPTWN, an affiliate of Great Place to Work, San Francisco, US, is a global research, consulting and training institute that specializes in analyzing, understanding, selecting and publishing best workplace lists in the country. In addition to emerging 'Best Company to work for in Nigeria (Large population corporates), FirstBank was adjudged the 'Company with the Best human resources structure in Nigeria'; while the Bank's Head, Human Capital Management and Development, Mrs. Ayodele Jaiyesimi was named 'Most engaged Head of HR' in Nigeria.

Guinness Nigeria Plc, GlaxoSmithkline Beecham Nigeria, Akintola Williams & Delloitte, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management and Microsoft, among others were recipients of the award that seeks to foster excellence in the work place.

Speaking during the second edition of the 'Great Place To Work' awards in Lagos, the Managing Director, GPTW Nigeria, Mr. Kunle Malomo, said the awards were a way of contributing to the human capital development in the country.

According to Malomo, GTPW applied the Trust Index and Culture Audit as key criteria in the process of determining the winning companies for the 2013 awards.

'While the Trust Index is based on employees' knowledge of their working environment, the Culture Audit has to do with information on best working practices employed by the companies. 'We combined the two modalities, sent them to the company's head office in San Francisco, where they were analysed. There, they agreed on the ranking that we are communicating through these awards,' he explained.

Malomo said a globally acceptable control standard had been put in place to ensure the success of the exercise, adding that companies/ individuals that did not meet the cut-off point were not considered for the award.

'We have a trust index score known as 'Global Great Place To Work Trust Cut Off Index.' If your company does not meet the cut-off point, there is no way you can be ranked. 'Often times, there are issues that need to be resolved. One of them is when companies have tight scores. When this happens, we go to San Francisco where they are sorted out,' he added.