Leadership and employee profiles provide guidance when it comes to training courses and HR
tools. In addition to management development, there are also career pathways for generalists
and specialists at all job levels, and attention is also paid to specific target groups (experts).
Expert employees
Customer focus comes down to dealing with people. Clients want to see their service provider
earn their trust every time they have contact. Now that the performance of banks is being
closely scrutinised by society, expert employees are more important than ever. This matter is
receiving special attention, in part at the initiative of the Netherlands Authority for the Financial
Markets. Under the Dutch Financial Supervision Act, expertise has to be safeguarded as part
of ensuring that any financial services provided to clients are well-considered and reliable.
The first statutory deadline for meeting the expertise requirements relating to continuing
education, as set in 2008, was the end of December 2009. Rabobank put a great deal of effort
into its own programmes to ensure relevant employees in advisory roles were qualified.
To meet the individual wishes of employees in the area of learning, programmes integrating
current issues at Rabobank and knowledge required by law are offered in several forms:
from e-learning to classroom-based learning.
Vision for 2010: impact on bank, clients and employees
Almost all local Rabobanks are actively involved with the Rabobank 2010 Vision, participating
in at least one of the five support programmes (Differentiation in Customer Service, Business
Practices with a Future, Virtually Nearby, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and
Processes and Management). Rabobank 2010 is aimed at updating and improving customer
services at substantially lower cost, in combination with a process redesign. This has conse
quences for our employees, as jobs will change, be cut or disappear. Employees are expected
to make an effort to develop new knowledge and skills, and are given support in the form of
training courses for employees and managers. Redundant staff is given proper assistance with
finding a new job or setting up their own business, or in other ways. The local works councils
are involved in all developments affecting the local Rabobanks as a matter of course.
New ways of working
Clients determine where and when work is done. In addition, employees are given the scope
and facilities to make their own choices and thus strike a good work-life balance. At Rabobank
Nederland, a growing number of employees work along the lines of the'Unplugged'concept,
which means fewer rules and greater individual responsibility. The concept was evaluated in
2009. Initial reactions were predominantly positive. A total of 70% of employees working in
line with 'Unplugged' said the concept had clear benefits, the most frequently mentioned
being flexibility and the favourable impact it had on their work-life balance. The growing appeal
of the freedom to decide where and when to work was reflected in Intermediair magazine's
survey of the best employers of 2009, in which Rabobank came first. The management centre
of Rabobank Nederland in Utrecht, which will be based entirely on the'Unplugged'concept,
will be brought into use at the end of 2010. The other group entities also offer opportunities
for flexible working, ranging from flexitime to working from home. De Lage Landen, for
instance, is developing its'Office of the Future'concept, which encourages working from
home and from serviced offices. This concept also underlies the renovation of the head offices
of De Lage Landen in Eindhoven.
Trust and integrity in performance management
Rabobank's core values of trust and integrity form the basis for day-to-day activities and help
raise awareness of CSR.This is stated explicitly in the Performance Management Manual.
Corporate social responsibility has also been incorporated into the Rabobank Competency
Language. At Rabobank Nederland, employees in various management positions have to
include a CSR target in their personal performance management goals, and all employees can
agree such targets with their managers on a voluntary basis.
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Report 2009 Rabobank Group
