Bank of Cyprus (BoC) has won two golds at the Cyprus HR Awards 2023, organised by Boussias, in the “Best Change Management Strategy / Initiative” and “Best Partnership with Educational Institutions” categories.

The first gold award was given for the original and innovative for Cypriot standards “Think Tank”, the first Internal Innovation Competition of the Bank. Under the slogan, “The best ideas live among us – Let’s banking do it!”, employees were invited to develop their own innovative ideas to create a new product and/or service that would enhance the work and customer experience. The three best ideas were awarded and are in the process of being implemented.

The second gold award concerns the creation of the “BoC Academy”, a “knowledge centre” that offers Bank staff the opportunity to upgrade their skills (upskilling) and/or retrain in new ones (reskilling). The Academy is based on partnerships with local and international academic and professional institutions, and has already started its second cycle of programmes, featuring new topics and partnerships.

Both of the awarded initiatives were implemented on staff members’ own suggestions, within the framework of the programme to strengthen corporate culture.

Yiannis Ioannou, Manager People & CEO Office at Bank of Cyprus, saluted the twin wins.

“It is a great honour to receive this year’s awards and an even greater pleasure to see our own people’s satisfaction in seeing their own suggestions put into practice,” he noted. “We will continue to design and implement actions that encourage, strengthen and develop our people professionally and personally. The great impact and success of these initiatives is the best confirmation of the talent and appetite of our people for innovation, learning and development. I congratulate and thank each and every individual who contributed to the implementation of these initiatives.”