The new way NatWest Group is making work better

This interview is part of the Inside the Mind of the CxO series, which explores a wide range of critical decisions faced by chief executives around the world.

Savvy leaders recognize that a positive employee experience helps enable business strategy. That’s why just over two years ago, Jen Tippin, group chief operating officer at the UK-based bank NatWest Group, sought to elevate the company’s employee experience to the same standard as their customer experience. Tippin and her team knew small adjustments wouldn’t be enough; they needed to be more ambitious.

“Our goal was to create a human resources model that doesn’t just react to employee needs but anticipates them,” Tippin explained. “We wanted to be set up to add value at every stage of the employee life cycle.”

The result? A new “goals and journeys” structure and way of working that aims to simplify processes, eliminate silos, and improve the employee experience. Unlike traditional HR models that separate functions like hiring, talent, training, and performance management into isolated functions, the goals-and-journeys approach brings HR personnel together to focus on what matters most to employees. A “goal” represents an experience end to end, such as joining or moving around NatWest, and works to improve it. Each goal includes “journeys” that represent how employees and prospective employees experience the moments that matter, such as being interested in a job at NatWest or their first day at work.

Now in the early stages of implementation, NatWest Group’s multiyear transformation is already delivering results to the organization and its 61,600 employees, including freeing up more than 350,000 hours for employees over the course of one year. Shared capability teams in areas like reward or performance management now collaborate with goal teams to bring deep expertise across the model. An enhanced AI-driven chatbot called AskArchie has increased query resolution. Those changes and more are proof the approach is helping the company meet both strategic goals and day-to-day employee needs.

Tippin recently sat down with strategy+business to share the behind-the-scenes challenges, innovations, and cultural shifts that have accompanied NatWest Group’s transformation so far. The following is an edited version of that conversation.

S+B: Why was it so important for NatWest Group to focus on the employee experience?
JEN TIPPIN: Post-pandemic, we noticed trends like the “great resignation” and an even bigger focus on employee experience. We wanted to critically examine the “moments that matter” throughout the time that someone is with the bank, from recruitment to onboarding, performance management, learning, development, and even exits or retirements.

Many of our colleagues are also our customers, so if we can provide them with a positive experience as employees, that often translates into a better experience for customers. To achieve our goals and support our customers, we need brilliant people who feel valued and empowered in their roles every day.

S+B: What approach did you opt for?
TIPPIN: We had used a goals-and-journeys approach to enhance our customer experience, and that led us to consider a similar approach to elevate the employee experience. We’ve been working in this way for our customers for many years, starting with our retail business and then extending it to the rest of the bank. We’ve seen the benefits of examining the customer experience from an end to end perspective—understanding pain points and identifying areas for improvement. By bringing that approach to how we support our employees, we’ve been able to get closer to their actual experience, empowering them to address issues, take ownership, and improve the overall employee experience.

S+B: Where did you start?
TIPPIN: We took our time to really test our thinking. We needed to define our goals for the employee experience, establish the journeys we had in mind, and more. We spent a significant amount of time experimenting in different areas to get the design right. For example, we launched a goal to revamp performance management early so we could test the model, understand the necessary capabilities, and figure out how to set up other goals for success.

We also created a model optimization team to ensure we stayed true to our design. This team was crucial because it empowered the goals-and-journeys teams to take full ownership of their processes while also fostering a community to share best practices. This careful approach helped us see benefits more quickly than anticipated.

S+B: What are some of the steps NatWest Group took to embed this model effectively?
TIPPIN: First, we established clear guardrails and standards, which provided our teams with set frameworks and parameters for the work. These standards helped people understand processes, boundaries, and expectations, mitigating risks and making the entire model easier to follow.

Additionally, we translated our people strategy into tangible outcomes within HR. That formed the basis of our annual objectives and key results, guiding design choices and helping us prioritize. For example, we run “big room planning” every quarter to determine the most critical focus areas for the next quarter, ensuring that essential skill sets were allocated to high-impact areas.

S+B: Can you give us an example of an area NatWest Group has reimagined and what that process has been like?
TIPPIN: Performance management has been a big focus. We had a 30-year-old performance management framework that was very process-heavy and outdated, relying on cascaded goals and rigid performance ratings. In redesigning this through the goals-and-journeys method, we engaged thousands of colleagues, experimenting with how we set goals, run check-ins, and make decisions on performance outcomes and rewards. Feedback on creating meaningful goals, quality feedback, and coaching has significantly improved as we’ve made changes.

S+B: How does NatWest Group gather and incorporate employee feedback into its new model?
TIPPIN: Looking at things through a colleague’s eyes has been one of the highlights of moving to the new model. That includes listening to their experiences, what matters to them, what’s painful to them, and getting their feedback on new ideas. 

We’ve built employee feedback into many of our experiences. Our employee-led networks and college experience squads provide insights on diversity, disability, gender, LGBT+ issues, and more. In performance management alone, 6,000 colleagues have been involved in experiments. We also conduct pulse surveys and twice-yearly in-depth surveys, which give us a detailed view of sentiment and experience across the bank. 

We’ve even shelved ideas when they’ve not met the reality of what our colleagues really care about. And that’s great, because we’re listening and experimenting before investing too much of our time.

S+B: Could you walk us through a specific experiment where employee feedback helped shape improvements?
TIPPIN: One of our goals was to revise performance management. We call this our Perform Goal. We initially thought we could launch all the changes—goal-setting, check-ins, rewards, and calibration—in one big rollout. But feedback showed us that this approach would be overwhelming. So, we adjusted and rolled it out in a series of chapters, giving people time to adapt and build the skills needed. This longer journey was necessary for such a significant cultural change.

S+B: You’ve mentioned that uncovering pain points has been an important part of this process. Can you give us an example of how you’ve used that information?
TIPPIN: We made improvements to our recruiting process based on pain points—it’s now faster through simplification and automation. Creating a job requisition is now 6.5 times faster, allocating a recruiter is now automated, and by removing steps from job offers, these are now being returned nearly twice as fast. 

Another area is in onboarding. Line managers and new starters have told us they’d benefit from improvements to our onboarding process, wanting more automation and a simpler way to get ready for Day One. So we’ve asked colleagues to experiment with us on a digital experience that can help make this happen. We’ve already identified that this could reduce the process steps needed by 50%, and we expect to see the results of the experiment by the end of the year.

S+B: You’ve rolled out an AI chatbot to help quickly answer some employee queries. How did you decide on the right balance between digital and human interaction?
TIPPIN: We’re very conscious of that balance. Although we run many experiments with AI, including generative AI, we’re focused on providing the right experience. Our approach is to recognize moments that matter—those times when human interaction is essential.

Many customers enjoy digital channels, but some prefer face-to-face interactions for complex or sensitive issues. We want technology to enhance interactions without replacing the human touch where it’s most needed. For example, generative AI helps remove repetitive manual processes, but our priority is always to strengthen, not eliminate, human-to-human connections. And our AskArchie chatbot incorporates humans and technology. We’re working hard to improve the quality and scale of the help AskArchie can provide, but if he can’t currently help a colleague resolve a query then he knows when to hand it over to a member of the team.

S+B: How has streamlining through digital tools helped you focus on essential human interactions? Do you have an example you can share?
TIPPIN: Absolutely. Streamlining has freed us up to focus more on other capabilities, including skills development, for example. Two years ago, we began offering all 61,000 colleagues two days annually for learning future skills—whether that be in data, digital, or something else. Our upskilling and reskilling programs help colleagues transition to growth areas. Our strategy has become sharper, and new technology, like GenAI, gives us a more holistic view of a colleague’s skills, enabling better succession planning and talent pipeline development.

S+B: What kind of cultural shifts have you observed since adopting this model?
TIPPIN: Transformation doesn’t happen overnight. Moving to the goals-and-journeys model required new mindsets and behaviors, which we supported through targeted development programs, coaching, and accreditation. We also introduced personas to help employees relate to these new ways of working.

A major cultural shift has been how we’ve embraced experimentation. Now, there’s no such thing as a failed experiment—every result provides valuable data. We’ve trained our top 170 leaders to lead with this mindset, helping them learn from each other’s experiments. This culture of experimentation encourages innovation and learning, even from setbacks.

S+B: What specific improvements have you observed since implementing the new model?
TIPPIN: We’ve seen a marked improvement in employee experience. Our engagement survey, “Our View,” shows positive results, particularly in areas we’ve been focused on, such as performance management.

Last year, our simplification work has given back 385,000 hours to our colleagues allowing them to focus even more on our customers and their own potential, and we’re on track to exceed 820,000 hours in 2025, all of which directly correlates with higher employee satisfaction and engagement.

Our Family Friendly policy program achieved a 48% improvement in first-time query resolution, enhancing the employee experience significantly.

S+B: Looking ahead, where do you see this model a year from now?
TIPPIN: My vision is for us to reach the next level of maturity. I want to see goals fully embedded, our objectives and key results advanced, and our foundational improvements in place. We’ll continue to experiment and refine the employee experience, ensuring it supports both our colleagues and our business objectives. Transformation happens through lots of continuous small steps. We’ll know we’re on the right path when we start hearing colleagues reflect on just how easy it is to work here.