Good morning all,

As we head into the festive period, I wanted to send the last digest of the year which will reflect on the previous 12 months.

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year. 

Review of 2022

Lots has happened in 2022, not least the introduction of a new retail leadership structure with your Retail Area Manager (RAM) looking after both branches and agencies. Integration and alignment were the primary drivers behind the structure change-  and there’s already been some positive steps in this area as you have got to know your RAMs and branches in your area, I hope this can develop further in 2023.

We have also seen the following this year :

• More agencies than branches in our network for the first time
• Development opportunities for your colleagues via a Digital Skills for Work programme focussing on developing the basic skills needed to create, communicate- and collaborate in the workplace- and ‘Smart Savings Conversation’ programme focuses on building colleague confidence around the ‘Your Savings Meeting’ framework. 
• The desktop refresh and introduction of Windows 10 has meant a significant increase in system speed, internet access, email outside of YBS – all making life easier for your teams
• Risk checks are now done on the system to enhance the effectiveness of your operational controls, all letters on YBS Live to ensure consistency and professionalism, Worksmart access has been enabled to log T&C interventions and improve record keeping
• We launched our new Linkedin Networking Page. 

My monthly updates have included blogs which are all still relevant now should you wish to revisit them with your teams –

How we work- It’s Mutually beneficial

Outbound calls- You’ve done good, so tell us what you know

The new mortgage referral process- getting our customers to the right people for the best experience

LinkedIn Learning

Strategy Chat Pack- Oct 22

Getting on board with the Digital Agenda

If you would like to suggest a blog topic for next year, please let me know.

Strategic Update

Over the next couple of weeks, YBS colleagues will attend an event about Our Strategic Blueprint, an opportunity to pause, reflect, and look ahead to 2023. And discuss the start of a really important shift in our strategic narrative around how we’ll take our Society from ‘good’ to ‘great’. 

A note from Alasdair Lenman, our interim CEO:

“Our Strategic Blueprint has been pivotal to our standout performance in 2022, and it remains front and centre as we head into 2023. Together, over the last two years, we have significantly transformed YBS. The combined results of our transformation and customer optimisation journey so far really are outstanding.

Next year will be another tough one commercially; market pressures and the external environment mean that it won’t always be easy, but we’ve already shown that we can deliver our strategy in the most challenging of times. We have to be efficient, agile, and committed to change. But I know that together, we’ll continue to do great things.

As we look ahead to next year, reflecting the progress we’ve made, and being clear on our future ambitions, we’ve refined our existing Strategic Priorities from four to three. These will be Savings Supercharged, Purposeful Analytics and Unbelievably Easy & Efficient. We know what our areas of focus are, and we’ll continue to share our progress so that you feel connected with our plans and the opportunities ahead.

Our Purpose remains unchanged. We exist to provide ‘Real Help with Real life’ for our customers; they’re at the heart of everything that we do and every decision that we make. In 2023 - and beyond - we’ll have a much sharper focus on the servicing needs of our customers, with the ease and simplicity of our digital functionality, working hand in hand with the expertise of our colleagues”.

We will be providing an overview of this content for you and your teams in January, including a note direct from Alasdair. The huge amount of collective effort and energy we see day in, day out from you and your teams, and how they bring our Behaviours to life, is critical to us being a successful organisation. Our significant transformation has been and will continue to be delivered by all of us.

Savings

Throughout the year, I have focussed a lot on savings in these updates which is correct in what has been a very busy year with new products, continued loyalty propositions- and the not insignificant fact that this time last year the BOE rate was just 0.25%...as I write it has just gone up to 3.5%. Last month I referenced that the agency network balances had seen a net growth this year of £750m, so I just want to bring that up to date and highlight a few other figures for 2022. 

• 76,674  new agency accounts (a net increase of over 34,000)
• Over £2bn new money inflow in agencies
• Agency net inflows of £891M
• Fixed rate retention consistently around 90%

Thanks again for the contribution you and your teams made to our savings business in 2022 which has been a record breaking year for The Group.

Community

Thanks for helping with our community activity in 2022, Headline community stats below – up until November

• £67,674 raised for Age UK in the retail network, this includes £8,613 raised by agencies
• SCBD 48% in the retail network, 41% for agencies
• 189 charitable foundation donations in retail network including 35 donations in agencies
• 147 cause collections in the retail network including 10 in the agencies

By forming links with our local communities, YBS can deepen their relationships with current and potential customers as well as employees. In 2023, the social purpose and sustainability team will be running a series of insight sessions to explore how agencies are in a strong position to collaborate with their local communities which in turn can help increase your own commercial outputs.

Network updates

Last week we shared our updated Initial Engagement document, the purpose of which is to support your teams with your customers initial enquiries, your product and service conversations and securing the next steps. Rather than having various independent documents for you to follow when developing great conversations with your customers, or making referrals, Initial Engagement is your 'one-stop shop' to cover everything you need to know. It’s been designed for your teams to use on a daily basis and is a great tool for new starters and more experienced colleagues to refresh on what makes a great conversation. Full details were provided in the retail brief pack for 14.12- and it will be uploaded to the Agency Operations Manual SharePoint.

A key measure for The Society, our Net Promoter Score (NPS), is another success story in 2022, and we are very close to hitting what was an ambitious target. A key contributor to this target is the Transactional NPS which is based on interaction in our retail network. November was our second highest in-month performance of 2022, given the business levels then this is a brilliant achievement. Customers praised the behaviour and attitude of the colleagues as a key driver for satisfaction and flagged them as a differentiator between us and other financial institutions, describing them as warm, kind and professional. Customers feel like they’re made to feel like a priority in branch/agency. This is all music to my ears, so thanks so much to you and your teams. The current YTD score is 83, which has smashed the objective of 80. Brilliant 😊

I will look forward to working with you in 2023, as ever, any feedback please contact me direct or through your RAM