Creating opportunities for teammates to grow and develop
We recognize how important it is for employees to develop and progress in their careers. That’s why we provide a variety of resources to help teammates grow in their current roles and build new skills.
Providing pathways to new opportunities and reskilling
The Academy is Bank of America’s award-winning onboarding, education and professional development organization dedicated to the growth and long-term success of all 200,000+ teammates around the world. This includes our world-class onboarding experience that connects teammates to our core values and purpose, to programs to help them hit the ground running in a new role, to upskilling programs that help them take their career to the next level. It’s how we focus on being a company that people are proud to work for, where they feel cared for and are given the opportunity to achieve their personal and professional goals.
The Academy’s structured education programs help teammates be job-ready and have advanced skill development opportunities to drive increased proficiency and career progression. The Academy also provides on-demand offerings, providing more self-paced sessions that help teammates advance their abilities with client engagement, problem solving and data management.
At all levels of our company, we provide current and prospective teammates with visibility into available roles and cross-functional opportunities as they consider what’s next for their careers.
We’ve expanded our award-winning Career Path Tool which helps teammates explore teams, roles and career paths across the company. Research has shown that users of the tool are two to three times more likely to find their next internal opportunity. Through our internal career site, myCareer, we offer a one-stop portal for employees’ career needs, including job search capabilities and career planning tools. We also provide tuition reimbursement for eligible job-related courses, degrees, and approved professional certification exams considered relevant to an employee’s current position or a role at the company they would like to pursue.
Leadership investment
We offer a range of development programs for leaders who show potential as future business leaders and senior executives, including:
- Women’s Executive Development Program: Leverages the faculty of Columbia Business School to engage, develop, retain and support the career advancement of high potential talent. The program includes assessments, virtual development sessions, leadership coaching and local market engagement opportunities. In response to the global health crisis, this program has been redesigned into a robust virtual seven-month experience.
- Global Leader Sponsorship Program: Pairs diverse rising talent with senior leader sponsors to increase the visibility and representation of diverse talent. The program includes development sessions, executive sponsorship and engagement opportunities.
To drive manager capabilities and build leadership skills, we offer resources for new and seasoned leaders, including:
- Manager resources: Resources developed specifically to support managers as they navigate challenges and drive outcomes, include manager guides; Manager Excellence live sessions and replays on a range of topics to support manager development featuring internal and external thought leaders; Manager Excellence community blogs; virtual tech tools and resources; and weekly mindfulness sessions.
- Manager development series: Centered around the fundamental expectations of managers at the bank, this program is designed to grow manager capabilities to lead teams effectively, create a Great Place to Work and advance Responsible Growth. On completion of the series, managers are invited to attend a Capstone event to demonstrate the skills they have learned.
- New manager program: Helps new or recently promoted managers build the knowledge and skills they need to successfully lead their teams. The program offers a range of interactive, tailored resources to fit managers’ needs and learning styles.
- Manager Excellence consultants: Aimed at mid-level managers, HR professionals provide one-on-one coaching and virtual and in-person sessions to help managers build their skills and connect everyday decisions to enterprise priorities.
- Manager Excellence virtual community: A place for managers across the bank to connect and engage in dialogue with other managers, share ideas, get advice, and more.
In addition to our company-wide manager and executive programs, many of our lines of business have their own tailored career development programs. Line of business learning and development programs may include enterprise development content, as well as specific role-based programming. We believe developing our talent at this deeper, business-specific level is critical to ensuring our teammates are equipped with the training and skills they need to deliver innovative solutions for our clients.
Learning tools
We value our teammates’ varied experiences and learning styles. Through our personalized approach, including self-paced learning, we offer education and development programs that ensure all teammates have access to the resources they need to advance their careers:
- Academy On-demand is a centralized resource that supports teammates’ career development as they gain foundational knowledge in key areas, and build proficiency. We offer expanded resources through our Learning Hub which enables teammates to build personalized learning plans tailored to their roles and interests, with access to books, articles, courses and videos to build their knowledge and professional skills.
- Through the Career Path Tool, teammates gain insight into the different businesses, career areas and growth opportunities at the bank, and learn which roles may be a next step in their career journey.
- Through our tuition reimbursement program, we provide up to $7,500 (up to $5,250 tax-free) annually for eligible undergraduate or graduate courses and discounts at a number of universities, plus free unlimited individual academic advisory services.
Employee Engagement Survey and turnover
We have conducted an annual Employee Engagement Survey for nearly two decades. In 2022, 170,000 teammates participated, demonstrating our employees’ willingness to give us feedback on how we are meeting their needs.
Since 2012, our Employee Engagement Index has steadily increased to record levels at 91%. We also measure an internal D&I Index that gives us feedback on our D&I efforts and how our teammates feel about being able to bring their whole selves to work. This index is also at record levels. As further evidence of our inclusive culture, we also continue to see an increase in teammates who feel free to speak their minds and share opinions.
The results of the survey and the process of continuous improvement that ensues is discussed with the Board at least annually. Our efforts are reflecting our progress in being a great place to work and resulting in record engagement levels and historically low turnover across the company.