More than 110,000 BBVA employees connect with the bank’s purpose during its sixth Values Day

“Values Day shows us just how good our corporate culture and our employees’ pride of belonging are,” remarks Carlos Casas, Global Head of Talent and Culture at BBVA. For the sixth year running, the bank has taken a brief time-out from its daily routine to work on the bank’s purpose: “To bring the age of opportunity to everyone.”

In this new edition, the Group’s 110,000-plus employees have taken part in numerous activities to reflect on their personal purpose and to connect with the purpose of BBVA and the wider team. “During this special day we were able to embrace and internalize the Group’s purpose, which is shared by each and every one of us, and which gives meaning and a clear mission to our personal work and that of our teams,” explains Casas. While in previous years the aim was to entrench good practices or foster a stronger pride of belonging, the activities for 2023 have focused on understanding corporate values as the compass guiding us toward our purpose. “Employees have been able to work on their personal purpose and understand how it connects with that of the bank, and share it with their colleagues to build even stronger ties,” he adds.

Group employees took part in a wide variety of digital and face-to-face activities as they discovered everything that connects them and drives them to generate opportunities in all units and countries where BBVA has a presence. The company has staged numerous retrospective activities with the aim of encouraging open dialog between the teams, bringing them closer together and forging new connections. Meanwhile, the bank’s chair, Carlos Torres Vila, traveled to Santiago de Compostela to visit a local branch as they staged one of these workshops.

Can personal purpose and corporate purpose be fused?

“Put very simply, the corporate purpose is the idea that describes our contribution to society beyond the organization’s desire to grow; it is the underlying ‘why.’ Defining personal purpose is somewhat more complex because it underpins human nature, although we can get a clearer idea of what it means by explaining it as what genuinely matters to us in life,” says the head of Culture. While there may be differences between organizational and personal purpose, identifying both will allow each employee to connect and converge, and “understand that it is a necessary and beneficial pursuit not only for the business but also the people who work there.”

BBVA’s Values Day culminated in a grand event held in the main square of BBVA Ciudad, BBVA’s headquarters in Madrid. The ‘blue tide’ engulfed Onur Genç, the bank’s CEO, at the presentation of the ViVa awards, which recognize the efforts made by our employees in setting an example of how our corporate values should be lived on a daily basis.