PNC’s peak performance showcases employee focused work culture


12/27/2022


Consider a months-long series of meetings in which leaders from nearly a dozen departments collaborate to define a standard of peak performance that applies uniformly to each of their fields.

It would be a difficult process. But it's a challenge PNC embraces every year when it bestows its highest employee honor, the Performance Award, on recipients.

PNC's values — Customer Focus, Diversity and Inclusion, Integrity, Performance, Quality of Life, Respect, and Teamwork — have guided the Performance Award selection committee since 1993, when it has chosen eight winners on average. Approximately 600 candidates are nominated by their PNC colleagues each year.

“When it comes to employee engagement, and the things that matter and keep you at a company, this honor is pretty hard to top," said Vicki Henn, PNC's chief human resources officer and a past Performance Award winner. “I think it says a lot that most of our previous winners are still with PNC.

"The award affirms to others that the winners have contributed a lot and have the ability to contribute even more. When I won the Performance Award, it was clear to me that PNC was willing to invest in me and my career, wherever that may have taken me in the organization."
The selection committee is made up of PNC representatives as well as previous year's award winners. Every couple of years, new representatives are brought into the process.

Selections are made based on three criteria: business impact, which usually includes a quantitative measure of success; leadership and teammate engagement, which attests to the breadth of the nominee's influence; and community involvement, which is optional but often serves as proof of the nominee's well-rounded activities.

Nominations are reviewed in waves by committee members who work in the same department as the nominee as well as those from other departments within PNC.
When committee members evaluate someone from their own industry, for example, a wealth management leader may explain the impact of a fiduciary advisor.

Members who know little about the specific business roles and responsibilities of the nominees but care deeply about serving customers, colleagues, and communities frequently make the strongest arguments for winners and finalists.

A key component of the Performance Award ceremony is showcasing the best of the best of PNC's 52,000 employees in order to inspire others, with the winners giving moving speeches about their career paths and experiences.

Other PNC award programs recognizes employees who excel in sales and customer service. All are part of PNC's talent-focused culture, which emphasizes having the right people in the right roles at the right time, doing their best work. Winners of the Performance Award exemplify that culture and PNC's values, inspiring their colleagues and propelling PNC forward.