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Webster Bank is a top performing regional bank that delivers market-leading financial solutions. With over $70 billion in assets, Webster offers digital and traditional service delivery through three differentiated lines of business: Commercial Bank, Consumer Bank and HSA Bank division, one of the country's largest providers of employee benefits solutions. With headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, its footprint spans the Northeast from the New York City metropolitan area to Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
With over 4,200 colleagues across nearly 200 banking centers and 12 corporate offices, Webster’s human resources team consists of 81 colleagues across 10 sub-teams: talent acquisition, HR systems, HSA Bank HR, HR business partners, compensation, DEIB, culture and colleague experience, learning and talent management, HR strategy, and health, retirement and payroll.
In the last two years, the team achieved remarkable success following the merger of two companies of equals, Webster Bank and Sterling Bancorp, which saw two cultures merge together. The opportunity was clear: how can the team ensure the combined company is a “Best-in-Class” employer and deliver a premier colleague experience. As part of the newly combined company, Webster’s HR team had five core themes it successfully achieved that saw the team completely transform its HR systems, revamp its core HR offerings, establish a merged culture, launch eight Business Resource Groups under its DEIB efforts and assist in the successful core technology conversion following the close of the Webster/Sterling merger.
1) Implemented new HR systems: Through growth and merger activity, Webster’s HR team successfully brought bring the disparate HR systems, ways of working, and manual processes into a single platform, Workday, to deliver a premier colleague experience at the Bank. This was not just a new platform but an entirely new way of working creating new self-service portals, automating HR processes and becoming a tech-forward team.
2) Revamped core HR offerings: The merger provided an opportunity to revisit standard HR processes such as reviving old job descriptions, aligning incentive targets, and enhancing benefits for colleagues.
3) Established a combined culture: With two similar but different cultures, the HR team came together and merged the bank’s culture from the ground up. This included a focus on respect that fosters an inclusive working environment for all colleagues. One example of the newly built culture is an enhanced recognition program. The team designed and implemented a company-wide recognition program, STARS, that saw employees share over 12,000 “hi-fives” to colleagues.
4) Launched eight Business Resource Groups: Webster proudly supports efforts that provides colleagues with an authentic experience of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. The introduction of BRGs ensures Webster lives by these values and make constructive change to the business that fosters personal and professional growth. [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
5) Assisted in core conversion: The final stage of the Webster/Sterling merger was to merge core system conversions for clients and colleagues. [REDACTED FOR PUBLICATION]
Simply put, the last two years at Webster saw remarkable change and the entire HR team led the company with grace, dedication, and best-in-class service. From revamping an entire culture for 4,200 colleagues to launching new technology to streamline how the bank operates internally to creating business resource groups to a substantive change in how we approach diversity, inclusion and belonging, the entire HR team came together to prove it’s the best in the business.
Nomination Title: Webster Bank Human Resources