Rabobank best employer
Praise from Rabobank's own staff
Employability
Training
Labour conditions and (un)fitness for work
between departments and units. Talents have been selected since, who receive intensive
coaching on their way to the next step in their careers.
At Robeco, the Talent Network was started in 2007, enabling talented people to exchange
experience and knowledge through network activities and projects.
In 2007, Rabobank was awarded the title 'the Netherlands' most favourite employer' among
the highly educated for the first time in the Intermediair magazine's image survey. In 2006,
the bank came third. Of the surveyed individuals that would like to work for Rabobank, more
than 18% mentioned Rabobank's social commitment as an attractive aspect.
According to the employer survey organised by Management Team magazine and in the
survey of the FEM/Elsevier magazines, Rabobank was voted best employer in the financial
sector in 2007. In the Studenten Motivatie Monitor, a survey among more than 2,000 college
and university students, Rabobank was voted the employer with the best working
atmosphere. In the same survey, Rabobank was among the top 5 in the categories of best
work/life balance, best intellectual challenge and best employer.
The Rabobank staff survey, in which more than 40% of its employees participated in 2007,
is part of an external benchmark. At 85% (87%), Rabobank's score for employee satisfaction
is significantly higher than the external benchmark, which comprises forty of the larger
Dutch enterprises (73%). Several surveys have shown that employees at the Group's entities
are likewise satisfied generally.
Early in 2007, Rabobank, in conjunction with the Works Councils and the relevant trade
unions, completed the 'Employability' study. The study has produced a set of
recommendations to CLA parties. For example, employees can attend abridged,
intermediate-level vocational training courses on the strength of exemptions. Also, the
demotion paragraph was simplified to facilitate career steps. In 2008, Rabobank is
introducing employability scans for employees and line managers.
In its training offer, Rabobank makes a distinction between functional, career-oriented and
management training courses. These training courses focus not only on the transfer of
knowledge, but also, and especially, on management quality improvement and on raising
commercial effectiveness. In 2007, employees attended 138,963 (151,760) training courses,
involving an amount of EUR 98.0 (76.9) million, or 3.0% (2.8%) of the total wage bill.
Increasingly, employees are studying via the Internet and in 2007, too, many used e-learning.
In all, 116,600 (122,700) training courses were offered via the Internet and 36,600 (23,800)
digital exams were taken.
Rabobank Group's HRM policy features a chain approach, in which prevention, absenteeism
and return-to-work intervention, reintegration and income in cases of illness or disability
form a coherent whole. Satisfaction with return-to-work interventions is measured, both
among line managers and employees. In 2007, both parties were satisfied, with employees
rating such intervention with a score of 7.9 and line managers rating the return-to-work
coaching for their employees with a score of 7.4.
After consecutive declines for a number of years, the absenteeism percentage showed an
increase, from 3.6 in 2006 to 3.8 in 2007. The increase was mainly due to the longer
duration of absenteeism. The direct costs of absenteeism - i.e. continued pay during illness -
were approximately EUR 144 million in 2007.
88
Rabobank Group Annual Report 2007
