BBVA USA hosts virtual leadership roundtables for employees across its footprint
As companies across the globe struggle to find a balance between protecting the health and safety of employees and maintaining an efficient and effective workforce, BBVA is using its highly visible leadership team to meet that challenge with frequent transparent updates.
In order to share relevant and ongoing updates, the bank is making senior leaders and outside experts available to respond to employee questions through a number of communication channels, including its virtual leadership roundtables. Additional channels include blogs, podcasts and emails from team leaders and others.
Bonner: "One of our primary employee communication objectives during this pandemic has been to keep our employees informed and engaged..."
“We know that the stress of uncertainty can be overwhelming for our employees, for people everywhere,” said Angelene Bonner, Head of Workplace Experience and panelist at the bank’s latest roundtable session. “One of our primary employee communication objectives during this pandemic has been to keep our employees informed and engaged through every communication channel available to us.”
The most recent roundtable, conducted in late July, featured Dr. Peter Matos, former Command Surgeon for the United States Army and current BBVA physician consultant. “Dr Matos is able to provide expert insights that guide us in effectively managing our activities during the pandemic,” said Bonner.
Dr. Matos was also responsible for overseeing the health, wellness, and mental resiliency of over 18,000 Joint Command Munitions employees in the U.S. armed services.
“Dr. Matos offers an expert resource for our employees, since he is able to provide educational information and dispel myths in response to the questions that are most concerning to them,” said Javier Rodríguez Soler, president and CEO of BBVA USA. “He adds an extremely valuable perspective to the measured, data-driven approach we're leveraging as part of BBVA’s global ‘return to worksite’ planning.”
As an executive physician, Dr. Matos provides occupational health consulting services to government agencies, healthcare systems, and corporate clients. He also brings extensive knowledge and experience in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases, and he has provided valuable guidance to BBVA throughout the pandemic based on recommendations from the Center for Disease Control, according to Javier Rodríguez Soler.
Rodríguez Soler: "His unbiased advice and feedback have been instrumental in helping us make informed decisions for the safety and well-being of our team members..."
“His unbiased advice and feedback have been instrumental in helping us make informed decisions for the safety and well-being of our team members, which is our top priority,” said Rodríguez Soler. “In an effort to maintain uninterrupted operations, Dr. Matos was also a key piece to mapping out an effective way to protect our essential workers who remained in branches and other frontline offices.
That guidance, combined with the invaluable insight from our Global pandemic ‘war room,’ has provided the foundation for the thoughtful, data-driven approach to our quarantine assessment process and return to worksite plans.
The virtual roundtables are available to employees live by video conference and via recordings thereafter. The meetings were launched during the early days of the pandemic’s movement into the U.S. and have reached thousands of live attendees. Approximately 60 percent of BBVA USA’s employees have since viewed the videos, covering topics from following stay at home orders to managing the technical issues of working from home.
“Many of our employees told us they can't wait to share what they learned from these roundtable discussions,” said Rodriguez Soler. “ There's so much misinformation out there, and Dr. Matos is providing credible information that's difficult for a layman to uncover."
View Dr. Matos’ response to the most effective measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 here or below.
View Angelene Bonner’s response to BBVA’s phased approach to the future return of employees to its corporate offices here or below.
View Dr. Matos’ response to identifying reliable sources of information regarding COVID-19 here or below.
View Angelene Bonner’s response to BBVA’s planned return-to-worksite protocols here or below.
View Javier Rodriguez Soler’s response to maintaining a One Team approach amid differing opinions about the virus here or below.