If you could choose the best place to work at in the Caribbean where would you go? Well, according to an annual international survey done by an US agency, the best place to work at in this region is at the Atlantic International Bank in Belize. The recognition was made official on the 10th of March when the Belize Branch office was awarded at a ceremony in Costa Rica. They entered the "20 to 100 employees" category and succeeded in being named the number one Great Place to Work in the region for 2016. Today we visited their headquarters in Belize City and spoke to the CEO Ricardo Pelayo, who told us what this means for the company.
Ricardo Pelayo, CEO, Atlantic International Bank Ltd
"For us it was a great honor to be recognized by this organization. We didn't know about it in the first instance, but we have been working with a consultant out of New York who has been helping us to prepare a 5 year strategic plan for the bank. Because he had an in depth look at our organization, he thought that we could qualify as a great place to work. In addition to being designated as a great place to work, they also carry out a ranking of the best companies to work for in Central America and Caribbean. That is a separate ranking that is based on the data that was provided to them through the surveys and the responses that we got. We realized when we got back the results of those surveys that we actually were ranking in the top 5 percentage for most of the responses that came back for the region. And so when they approached us and asked us if we wanted to participate in the ranking overall, we thought it would be a good idea. We didn't know though, that we would have ended up at the top."
Emanuel Pech
"How do you guys manage to achieve such a feet?"
Ricardo Pelayo, CEO, Atlantic International Bank Ltd
"Well, to my mind it starts from the time that we hire the staff that come in to the bank. For some time now, we have made a conscious decision not to hire for skill anymore. We hire for attitude."
Vanessa Aldana, Customer Service Officer
"Working here, I've only been here for 6 years, but from what I've gathered and experienced here, our managers are very approachable, and they have an open door policy. I believe that our organization is truly blessed to have a dynamic crowd working together close as a family. Atlantic international bank is like our second home, we work together, we play together, and we are very committed. We have a strong sense of support and team spirit. We believe that together we can achieve more and I believe that Atlantic International Bank is truly a great place to work."
The selection process for the annual award is conducted via a Trust index employee survey. Employees are questioned and later called at random to ensure the integrity of their answers.
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