Rabobank International and various subsidiaries. The programme taught participants to develop
a personal leadership style that dovetails with Rabobank's identity as a cooperative organisation.
A key focus of the management curriculum, which is open to all managers, is leadership during
change processes, and process management. A total of 301 managers enrolled in the
curriculum altogether.The Rabobank Management Interviews, which were conducted with
198 participants, provide participants with the basic skills they need to properly fulfil their
managerial duties at the bank. In addition, 37 new managers attended the 'HR-in-de-lijn'
workshop, where they learned about Rabobank's HR policy and management development
policy and HR Zelfbediening (the computer platform for HR tasks) and their role in this process.
The bank invested heavily in 2013 in developing its professionals - defined as employees who
possess considerable knowledge and specialised skills in a particular field. As part of one of
these initiatives, a total of 635 professionals gathered together last year for Rabobank's first-ever
Professional Community Day. At the event, these professionals learned more about the breadth
of the organisation in terms of career opportunities, and the development opportunities
available to them. The bank also launched two programmes that allow professionals to develop
their personal leadership skills, along with two programmes that provide them with a greater
understanding of banking in general and Rabobank banking in particular.
Gender diversity
Rabobank intensified its policy of promoting gender diversity in 2013. The share of women in
the upper echelons (salary scale 8 and higher) is substantially lower at the bank than the share
of men (with 27.6% female employees in scales 8 and higher). In order to change this situation,
the bank has set targets and drafted a programme plan containing concrete actions. The latter
are aimed at raising awareness of the importance of diversity and promoting the recruitment,
promotion and retention of talented women.
As part of one initiative, women at the executive level organised a series of thirty lunches in
2013, attended by an average of twenty women each. Other initiatives included various
'Stratego for Women' workshops, in which women learn about, and learn to apply, the 'written
and unwritten rules of the game'. In addition, the issue has also been raised in various ways
in executive and local board of directors meetings. Efforts were also made to promote the
recruitment and promotion of female talent. The percentage of female participants in the
Corporate Management Trainee Programme increased to nearly 50% (versus 38% in 2012).
The Interim Management programme allowed talented management potentials to develop
and be promoted to senior positions in a broad yet structured manner. A total of 50% of the
participants were female, comfortably exceeding the 40% target. Unfortunately, not all targets
were met, although Rabobank did see a slight increase in the number of women from scale 10
upwards up to and including the executive level. In order to maintain this positive trend,
Rabobank will continue its gender diversity programme in 2014 and will sign the 'Talent to the
Top'Charter.
Disadvantaged job seekers
A project launched at Rabobank Nederland in 2012, designed to offer opportunities to a larger
number of disadvantaged job seekers by offering them positions at Rabobank, was continued
in 2013. The main objective of the programme is to gather more information on the labour
supply among this group. Rabobank has partnered with a number of major employers in the
Greater Utrecht Area for this initiative. It works closely with 'De Normaalste Zaak'and the City of
Utrecht. A secondary objective is to develop a strategy in partnership with supplier companies
which allows the latter to assign a larger number of disadvantaged job seekers to positions
at Rabobank.
Employees
