Assessing employee loyalty through HR practices: a study of Al-Arafah Islami Bank PLC

Abstract

In this internship report, I discuss how the Al-Arafah Islami Bank PLC has developed its HR policies to effective loyalty-building programs. The report is a conclusion project of the Bachelor of Business Administration course at BRAC University, which is a three-month internship at the Commercial Banking Division of AIB at Mohammadpur Krishi Market. I was involved during this internship period in the banking and administrative activities. These include customer service activities, documentation support and monitoring of HR activities at the branch. The survey analyzes how employees are perceiving AIB loyalty building HR programs on six levels that include ethical relevance with the Islamic banking value, career growth opportunities, pay equity, support of work-life balance, workplace advocacy and recognition practices. The structured questionnaires were used to collect data on 25 employees using both quantitative and qualitative means. The results indicate that AIB is highly loyal in terms of its employees due to its religious accommodation policies and ethical basis. The majority of the employee claimed that they are proud of the Islamic values of the bank and pleased with the support of the work-life balance. Nevertheless, there occurred two acute lapses that saw clear opportunities of career progression and perceived themselves to be sufficiently recognized in terms of non-salaried contributions. These demographics pose retention dangers to the 26-35 age group. The main problems that were found are the lack of clear career progression opportunities, the lack of systematic rewards of out of the ordinary work, and improper communication regarding overall pay. Another demand of employees was professional certification sponsorship and mentorship programs of a structured nature to develop the skills. To address these issues, the report offers recommendations, First, create a Career Pathway Visualization initiative with clear role and competency frameworks. Second, establish a Recognition Program with peer-to-peer and managerial acknowledgment systems. Third, improve total rewards communication through personalized annual statements. The report concludes that Al-Arafah Islami Bank PLC has built a strong values-aligned work environment through its Islamic banking principles also supportive workplace policies. The improvements identified through employee feedback would help AIB strengthen loyalty, reduce turnover costs and build the loyal workforce. Investment in human capital should be viewed as a business priority rather than an HR expense.