Background
Zopa Bank aims to build Britain’s best bank, enhancing customer financial health while offering competitive credit and savings products. As the bank rapidly grew and acquired its first company it faced multiple challenges: reducing employee attrition, boosting productivity and maintaining high levels of engagement across a diverse workforce. The People Team was tasked with ensuring the bank’s business strategy succeeded by fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration and innovation, all while navigating a fast-paced business environment.
Approach
To meet these challenges Zopa’s People Team transformed its structure and focus over 18 months. Key to this was introducing strategic business and talent partners alongside a people analytics team to better align with business goals. A standout move was the creation of the People Experience team to ‘own, influence and develop’ all employee-facing experiences, from engagement to benefits and internal communications.
This team worked closely with leadership to analyse the business and employee landscape, using feedback and insights to shape the long-term people strategy. Zopa introduced quarterly OKRs (objectives and key results) to keep the team aligned with company-wide goals, ensuring people outcomes were integral to the overall business strategy.
“Zopa’s People Team transformed engagement and retention, driving the bank’s first-ever profit and customer growth”
The 31-strong People Team employed innovative methods to monitor and enhance the employee lifecycle, using platforms such as PYN alongside more traditional tools like surveys and workshops. It focused on fostering an inclusive culture through workshops, coaching sessions and offsite team days, strengthening collaboration and alignment across departments.
Outcome
Zopa’s People Team delivered exceptional results, improving employee satisfaction and driving business growth. The team’s efforts reduced voluntary attrition from 15% to 10%, increased employee tenure and earned a 4.5/5 Glassdoor rating, with 92% of employees saying they would recommend Zopa to a friend. Engagement scores exceeded targets, with the most recent survey achieving a 73% engagement rate and record 93% participation.
On the business side Zopa Bank surpassed 1.2 million customers and posted its first pre-tax profit of £15.8 million in 2023. The People Team’s focus on engagement and retention directly supported this growth, helping Zopa secure a leading NPS score of 72 and win multiple customer-voted awards, including across all product categories at The British Bank Awards 2024.
Zopa’s People Team has been instrumental in shaping a highly engaged, productive workforce that has driven the bank’s business success, proving the powerful link between strong people strategies and sustainable growth.