BMO Annual Report 2004

Over the past decade, we have invested more than half a billion dollars in employee training and development. As a result, training times have doubled over the period to an average of approximately 6.5 days per employee annually.

The number of women executives in our Canadian operations has more than tripled, from 9% to 33.1%, since we launched our groundbreaking Task Force on the Advancement of Women in 1990.

Commitment to Learning BMO Financial Group’s corporate university, the Institute for Learning – which celebrated its 10th year of operation in 2004 – is a tangible symbol of our long-standing commitment to employee development and our leadership in training.

Last year, we conducted a full assessment of our entire training curriculum and then made improvements to ensure that our learning programs continue to directly align with our business strategy.

Asking Our Employees Early in the 1980s, we introduced our Annual Employee Survey (AES), a comprehensive survey of employee opinions. It was designed to encourage ongoing dialogue and to assess the views of employees on a wide range of topics, such as strategy, training and the workplace environment. The AES is one of our most effective tools for listening to our colleagues and ensuring in turn that we get it right with our customers.

The 2004 AES is a good news story. At 83%, our employee participation rate was the highest in BMO’s history, a stellar achievement for an organization of more than 34,000 employees. Our Enterprise Engagement Index, which measures the overall relationship between employees and our organization, received the highest score since the index was introduced in 2001. Another encouraging trend – a substantial majority of employees say that our AES results are being used to effect positive change.

2004 Awards	Awarded by
Canada’s Top 100 Employers	For the third year in a row, BMO Financial Group was named one of the Top 100 Employers in Canada by Maclean’s magazine and Mediacorp. Selected from among more than 52,000 companies and recognized for our commitment to employee training, we remain the only major Canadian bank on the list.
Training Top 100	We ranked 16th overall in Training magazine’s Top 100 North American corporations in 2004. For the third consecutive year, we were the top Canadian company on the list. BMO was also cited as a 2004 Best Practices Company in the area of leadership development.
Innovation in Diversity	Profiles in Diversity Journal recognized BMO Financial Group with an international Innovation in Diversity Award for our commitment to workplace accessibility. The newly created award recognizes international corporations, organizations and institutions that have developed innovative solutions in the area of workforce diversity and inclusion.
YWCA Equity	In May 2004, Harris was presented with the YWCA’s Aurora Equity Award, which recognizes a business or organization that has significantly advanced the role of women and minorities in the workplace. Harris is the first bank to receive the award.
Corporate Spirit	In May 2004, MicroSkills, a community organization dedicated to assisting women, visible minorities and new immigrants, awarded BMO Financial Group its Corporate Spirit Award in recognition of enterprise-wide Human Resources/ People Management Best Practices.
Progressive Aboriginal Relations	In February 2004, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business honoured BMO with a Progressive Aboriginal Relations award for initiating Aboriginal community economic development.

Aligning Structure and Strategy Enterprise-wide organizational design and effectiveness are central to BMO’s goal of improving productivity, operational efficiency and performance. Over the past year, our Human Resources team continued to help our business leaders minimize layers of management, eliminate duplication, improve the flow of work and clarify accountabilities and reporting relationships. In turn, this has helped our people do their jobs more effectively and improved productivity across our organization.

Making Performance Matter Much work has been done to ensure that employee compensation is aligned with job performance. We have tried hard to convey the message to all our people that their individual performance is fundamental to the way they are recognized and how they are rewarded.

Leadership in Diversity At BMO, we believe that one of our greatest strengths is our steadfast commitment to workplace diversity and equity. Our diversity initiatives are developed and administered by our Office of Diversity and Workplace Equity, with strategic direction provided by the CEO’s Council on the Equitable Workplace. Founded in 1991, the Council meets quarterly to review our progress and to advise on any actions necessary to ensure we reach our workplace equity goals.

To ensure our continued leadership in the pursuit of workplace diversity and equity, we have launched a new initiative called Above and Beyond with Catalyst, a leading research and advisory organization. This study will begin with a comprehensive analysis identifying the gaps and successes in meeting diversity goals. This analysis will be followed by an in-depth examination of specific issues causing these gaps, and will conclude with concrete strategies that address these issues across the entire enterprise.

Initiate an enterprise-wide Performance Tracker to measure our progress in the areas of financial performance, employee success and client orientation.
Promote innovative ways to transfer skills, knowledge and practices from our highest achievers to all employees, with a view to improving overall performance and productivity.
Initiate practices to better motivate, develop and reward our most talented employees.
Develop an organization-wide leadership behaviour model that is based on our values.

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