Highly valued internally, pace-setting externally
Tl Rabobank Group Annual Report 2004
Employees
Employees are increasingly studying via the Internet. The number of
e-learning users grew spectacularly in 2004. In total, 55,000 Internet
courses were followed and 34,000 digital examinations were taken.
As a result, the number of contact days for specialised training courses
fell by around 45%. Rabobank International likewise developed its
first e-learning programmes in 2004, which are used by staff around
the world.
Performance Management in new CLA
On 29 April 2004, Rabobank and the unions concluded a new CLA
(Collective Labour Agreement) for the period 1 July 2004 to 1 May 2005,
which included a new staff appraisal and remuneration system. This new
system, Performance Management, came into force on 1 January 2005
and stimulates result-driven performance/ collaboration by agreeing clear
and measurable, salary-linked targets. At the beginning of 2005, the targets
for 2005 were agreed with all employees individually. The first remune
ration based on the new system will follow in 2006. Several entities within
Rabobank Group, such as Robeco, Effectenbank Stroeve and Alex, use
some form of performance appraisal and variable remuneration.
General satisfaction with working conditions stabilised at a high level in
2004. As in 2003, the Periodic Identity and Working Conditions Opinion
Poll showed that 85% of all employees (fully) agree with the statement
'all things considered, I am satisfied with working as an employee at
Rabobank'. This is a good result, especially considering the many internal
developments. At 85%, Rabobank performs better than the external
benchmark, which comprises forty large enterprises (75%), and the
benchmark of enterprises in the financial sector (70%). High satisfaction
with working conditions is also reflected in the low absenteeism due to
illness, which declined in 2004 from 4.1% to 3.8%.
Rabobank again emerged as one of the leading employers in the
Netherlands from a number of surveys conducted by external parties in
2004. Intermediair magazine's Employment Conditions Survey ranked
Rabobank the third best employer and the bank came fourth in an
image survey held among school leavers by that same magazine.
