Investing in Our People

$500 million Over the past decade, BMO has invested more than $500 million for employee training and development.

We have made a commitment to create an organizational culture that is founded on our corporate values and supports our goal of putting our customers first. Equipping our employees with the best business knowledge and tools available plays a large part in realizing this goal.

Our Institute for Learning (IFL) is the centre for all our training, education and development activities. This world-class facility, which offers classroom and online training, stands as a strong symbol of our long-term commitment to employee development.

In 2008, the IFL introduced a renewed online orientation program, a mark of our understanding that the first few weeks in a new job can provide a strong foundation for future success. The program introduces new employees to BMO using video messages from colleagues and leaders across the company and focuses on key topics that direct new employees toward the goal of defining great customer experience.

Providing effective and innovative training for our managers and executives continues to be a priority. The IFL offers both newly appointed managers and senior managers a comprehensive training program, the Managerial Leadership Learning System, which is designed to enhance an individual’s strategic capabilities and leadership skills. Since 2001, more than 1,000 BMO employees have graduated from this program. In collaboration with Dalhousie University, BMO also offers a four-year MBA in financial services to our emerging leaders.

In partnership with the Rotman School of Management, BMO has developed the Advanced Leadership Program. Taking a fast-paced, demanding and provocative approach, the program blends front-line business practice with cutting-edge academic research and real-time issues. The program enables our senior leaders to share their perspectives on business leadership, learn about current management theories and best practices, and analyze, discuss and debate innovative approaches to real-time BMO business issues. Our goal is to offer this research-based development experience to more than 500 leaders at BMO over the next two to three years.

To ensure that we continue to have the key people we need to lead our business in the future, identifying, developing and retaining talented employees is essential. Career planning and development conversations continue to be a top priority.

We are also accelerating the development of our leaders through cross-business transfers and action-based development experiences, such as job rotations and stretch assignments, that increase their exposure to the organization. Over the past year, we have succeeded in identifying emerging leaders earlier in their careers as we continue to drive our talent review process deeper into the organization.

Learning Index
To help ensure our learning program remains relevant, we incorporate a full Learning Index into our Annual Employee Survey every two years. In 2007, the Index’s acquisition score, which measures the degree to which our employees believe they can access the learning they need, was the highest ever recorded. The application score, which measures how well employees believe they can apply learning on their jobs, increased as well.