At Julius Baer, we are united by the common goal to serve the best interests of our clients – among other things by translating their needs into the products and solutions that we offer them. One of the best ways we can achieve this is by drawing on the breadth of knowledge and front-line experience of our employees. That’s exactly the meaningful difference Bettina is making to the company by taking part in an innovative job-sharing pilot. Since July, she has been spending 40% of her time as an Account Manager in Wealth Management, and 60% in the Channels team within Business Transformation, where she is training to become a Business Analyst focusing on innovation topics, transformational change, and building new infrastructures.
Visionary profile
The opportunity to pursue this change of direction reflects Julius Baer’s commitment to supporting employees on their individual journey. Bettina joined the Bank as an Assistant Relationship Manager in 2012. “Initially, the role suited me well. I’m a people person, open and chatty, and I love building relationships with clients,” she says. Following a bachelor’s degree in business law and a master’s in digital excellence, however, she began to consider how her new skills might empower her to support the Bank’s digital transformation.
“My line manager was extremely helpful,” she explains. “We are reflecting regularly on my strengths and weaknesses as part of the performance review, so this was a topic we discussed many times. Eventually, we came up with the idea of building a visionary job profile that would combine my client-facing role with a role in the Bank’s transformation.” Bettina’s mentor and COO Nic Dreckmann, to whom she was assigned as part of Julius Baer’s mentoring programme, also gave his thumbs up. “From the beginning, Nic was very supportive when we pitched the idea to him and gave me lots of advice on how I could exploit my training and experience to best effect.”
Win-win
Thanks to the many conversations Bettina has had with clients over the years, she can give her Channels team a keen sense of how they tick. “When a new system is rolled out, the Front doesn’t always understand the thinking behind it or why certain things have to be the way they are,” she says. “At the same time, those in the back-office crave easier access to client-facing colleagues to get their opinion on the solutions they’re developing and find out more about the needs of the front and our clients. One of my new colleagues joked that I was the ‘golden nugget’ they’d been looking for.”
As part of the Channels team building the new e-banking platform for Luxembourg and Monaco, Bettina is in regular contact with colleagues from various back-office teams. The chance to build new relationships in this way has automatically helped her to strengthen her network, get valuable insights into different teams and units within the Bank and identify whom to contact for given topics. “It’s so much easier to get things done when you can tap into your in-house network in this way,” she says.
Combining a client-facing role with her work on the Channels project team does inevitably lead to the odd challenge. “It’s quite a balancing act – I can’t deny it! ‘My’ clients always come first and I’m available for them whenever they need me, five days a week.” Equally, she is conscious of the need to live up to the expectations of the Channels team. “My new colleagues are aware of my twin responsibilities and they say: ‘Do what you need to keep our clients happy!’”
What about the dreaded imposter syndrome: how difficult has Bettina found it to familiarise herself with the many new topics she encounters on the Channels team? “Sometimes I have to tell my colleagues that they sound very impressive, but I don’t understand much of what they’re discussing or telling me! I just have to be open about it. If you want to learn, you just have to speak up.”
Opportunities for growth
Bringing the whole of the Bank to clients isn’t simply a question of joining front to back, but also of building true connections across locations. Bettina spent four months in Singapore on an international assignment with Julius Baer and credits her time there with strengthening her self-belief. “Singapore has a very different culture to Switzerland, but our people there live Julius Baer’s values in the same way they do here. They have a fantastic team spirit and treated me so kindly. Since then, I’ve challenged myself to explore new places on my own every year. You experience your surroundings and approach people differently. The learnings, positive and negative, lead to personal growth.”
Bettina also feels she benefited from being nominated for one of the Bank’s talent pools that provide development opportunities to high-potential employees in different stages of their career. Bettina took this chance to look for opportunities to shadow colleagues in different areas of the Bank and also participated in the talent mentoring programme. “The more initiatives we have of this kind, the better,” she explains. “On-the-job learning and visibility are key aspects of career progression. I’m not done with my own journey yet, but I’m now familiar with how clients operate, how the front operates, and how the back office operates. I’m trying to build a bridge between these areas and foster collaboration.”
Human touch
Bettina’s determination to pro-actively carve out her own role at Julius Baer, rather than move to pastures new, is rooted in her strong belief in the company’s human touch. “Julius Baer has grown rapidly in recent years, but we still have a relatively flat hierarchy and our leadership is approachable,” she says. "I have a background in banking, but I’ve also studied business law and digitalisation. The Bank gave me the environment I needed to embrace my different experiences and interests. It showed a real willingness to fit the role to the person, rather than vice versa. This ability to look beyond the now and create an environment for development is not something I hear from colleagues at many other organisations.”
What advice would Bettina give to those who’re considering taking their career in a different direction? “It takes courage to say what you want to do in life but don’t be afraid of making a change. We’re privileged to live in a world where we can reinvent ourselves continuously – so find your path and stay on it! By learning to see things from different angles, we not only develop as individuals but also have a meaningful impact on the teams we work with.”