12
Organization and
Personnel
Only a small amount was raised by issuing mortgage bank bonds. Taking due
account of matching requirements, we still managed to achieve a greater
variety as to terms.
In 1987, important steps were taken as part of the process of strengthening
the organization which we believe will significantly improve our market
position. The number of levels in the organization has been reduced, thus
producing a flatter structure. At the same time, responsibilities have been
delegated so that the organization is able to respond more swiftly to market
changes. Other steps have also been taken which mean that individual
divisions are able to make greater use of each other’s expertise and
experience than was hitherto the case. Coordination between field sales and
head office has also been further improved. The sales effort will continue to
be centered on regional branches.
In the year under review, a number of structural changes were made to the
organization which, over a period of a few years, will lead to the loss of a
total of 60 jobs. A substantial reduction in the number of employees was in
fact achieved, according to plan, in 1987. We made every effort to avoid
redundancies as far as possible but in a number of cases this was unfortu
nately unavoidable.
We devoted a great deal of attention to improving the quality of the staff.
With a view to our policy of strengthening our market position, we shall have
an increasing need for people who have had the benefit of higher education.
We are accordingly recruiting more people from higher vocational colleges
and the universities and we are simultaneously continuing to train people
in-house. A comprehensive training program is to be launched in 1988.
This program will devote a considerable amount of attention to quality
awareness and to making our staff even more customer-oriented, as well as to
raising the level of technical expertise.
The number of employees of FGH and its subsidiaries was 509 as per year-end
1987 compared with 538 for the previous year. These figures do not include
the 460 employees of Kok Groep. In line with the national trend, time lost
through sickness fell from 5.7% in 1986 to 5.5% in the year under review.
We appreciate that 1987 was an extremely difficult year for our staff. We owe
them a debt of considerable gratitude for all their hard work. We would also
like to express a word of appreciation to the Staff Council, which adopted a
critical but highly constructive attitude in the difficult circumstances which
prevailed.
Group Figures
As per year-end 1987, the mortgage portfolio stood at NLG 4.0 billion
compared with NLG 4.4 billion a year previously. This decline was mainly
due to the loss of the financing of a number of projects of Gemeenschap
pelijk Eigendom B. V.the subsidiary which was transferred to AEGON in
1987.
The net interest figure rose from NLG 55.2 million to NLG 87.4 million.
This gratifying increase was due to the strengthening of our capital and to
