CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY

STAFF MATTERS

 

Nedbank Group staff and human resources (HR) highlights for 2009 included the following:

• 1 824 internal bursaries and staff study grants were allocated.
• R10,5 million was allocated to internal bursaries, staff study grants and employee education assistance grants.
• 384 bursaries were awarded to external students to the value of R13,6 million.
• 450 learners were accommodated on learnerships (a 24% increase on 2008).
• 7,1 million A4 pages were saved as a result of not printing manuals or assessments (a cost saving of R2,1 million).
• A new organisational structure was introduced.
• We embarked on an HR 2010 optimisation programme, which is aimed at improving efficiencies and increasing effectiveness.
• A dedicated organisational development (OD) function was created within HR to ensure sustained efforts of building a culture of high performance across the organisation.
• Nedbank participated in the first-ever Star Workplace Expo.
• 3 027 positions were advertised on the internal e-recruitment system.
• 427 positions were advertised on the external e-recruitment system.
• 7 686 applications were received for the Graduate Programme, with eight campuses visited.
• 236 employee applications were received for flexible work practices (FWP).
• 6 454 referrals were submitted by employees.
• We adjudicated the national Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) competition.
• 4 150 learners were educated on career opportunities in banking and the importance of Maths and Science as subjects through the Sci Bono Finance Careers Week.
• Nedbank was placed third overall and 10th for the employment equity (EE) pillar in the 2009 Financial Mail/Empowerdex Top Empowerment Companies Survey. This is yet another reminder of Nedbank Group's commitment to leading true and sustainable transformation.
• The Women Empowerment Programme (WEP) was taken outside of Gauteng for the first time since inception. This year it was decided to give the female junior managers of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) the opportunity to unleash their potential and showcase their ability to Make Things Happen for themselves.
• Nedbank's Maternity Leave Policy was increased from 75% to 100% pay for four months.
• The Junior, Middle and Senior Management Programmes were South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)-accredited.
• The Management Development Programme (MDP) Role Orientation Workshops achieved a total attendance of 77% of all employees, significantly higher than the target of 50% for 2009.
• An executive education landscape was created for Nedbank.
• During the 2009 salary review process Nedbank Group increased the minimum salary for permanent fulltime employees to R75 000 pa (up from R60 000 pa in 2008), a massive increase of 16,7%. This adjustment makes Nedbank Group the bank with the highest minimum salary in South Africa.
• Over 40 Money Management workshops were held across South Africa, with over 696 employees attending.
• 560 employees were recognised and selected as the 2008 Achievers, of which 136 were awarded the Top Achiever Award. The Top Achievers, with their partners, were awarded with an incentive trip to Turkey.
• Changes to the executive structure and board profile were made.
• Awards include:
  

  –	Third place overall in the 2009 Financial Mail/Empowerdex Top Companies Survey.
  –	Ranked 32nd as Ideal Employer among Young Professionals from a commerce background (up from 41st place in 2008).
  –	Ranked 27th as Ideal Employer among commerce students (up from 30th place in 2008).
  –	Entered the National Business Awards and was a finalist in the Investing in People category.

Challenges in achieving our 2009 cultural sustainability goals

The global economic downturn had a major impact on the delivery of targets across the group and this, in turn, impacted on transformation and development initiatives. Employee stress levels were higher, which impacted on their productivity. To manage the workforce profile and costs, and mitigate the risks and challenges faced during the economic downturn, Nedbank Group was required to institute a recruitment freeze during 2009.

 

Cultural sustainability goals for 2010

Goals for 2010 include:

• Increasing general awareness to transform Nedbank Group's culture with regard to integrated sustainability further.
• Increasing investigations of how HR tools can create possible savings, and measuring these savings.
• Continuous tracking of paper savings due to e-learning modules, as well as investigating and measuring additional savings.
• Investigating the inclusion of sustainability and environmental training as part of educational programmes offered by Nedbank Group.
• Embedding talent management so as to increase the capacity to promote from within, and to continue to retain, develop and attract employees.
• Investigating the ability to track environmental savings (ie carbon emissions) of those employees currently making use of flexible work practices.
• Enhancement of transformation through the concentration of efforts on overall transformation, while continuing to embrace diversity.
• Creating an organisation of continuous learning, through participation in learnership programmes, and by creating a strong management ethic in line with the Nedbank Group values.
• Revisiting (and confirming) the Nedbank Group values and developing behavioural anchors that will ensure cultural sustainability.
• Continued focus on efforts to gain a more robust understanding of employee requirements through additional analysis of organisational assessment data.
• Understanding efficiencies and upskilling the HR community as part of Programme HR 2010.

EMPLOYEE PROFILE

Increasingly, the Nedbank Group employee profile is being transformed to be more representative of the demographics of the people we serve across South Africa. At the end of 2009 our employee profile was as follows:

 

Sustainability submission — December 2009

Nedbank Group Ltd		2009	2008	2007	2006
Total number of employees opening balance		27 570	26 522	24 034	22 188
SA permanent employees at beginning of year		22 720	21 581	19 666	18 681
Recruitment	Add:	1 812	3 936	4 696	3 415
Terminations	Less:	2 116	2 797	2 781	2 430
Resignations		1 537	2 186	2 337	1 944
Deaths		25	47	34	29
Dismissals		72	247	182	165
Retirements		155	126	96	108
Retrenchments		32	13	13	77
Emigration		1	145	94	72
Disability		293	33	25	35
SA permanent employees at end of year		22 416	22 720	21 581	19 666
Add other employee categories:
Contractors and finance planners		1 802	1 849	1 700	1 470
International employees (including Africa)		1 666	1 803	1 798	1 595
External entities		1 153	1 198	1 448	1 903
Total number of employees (excluding temporary staff)		27 037	27 570	26 522	24 034
Women
Women employees	%	62,8	62,2	61,7	62,0
Women managers	%	60,5	60,0	60,1	45,5
Women executives	%	16,7	20,0	20,0	16,7
Age profile
<26 years	%	18,6	19,1	18,4	16,0
26 – 35 years	%	38,5	38,1	38,0	38,3
36 – 45 years	%	24,4	25,0	25,5	27,1
46 – 55 years	%	14,0	13,7	14,1	14,6
>55 years	%	4,4	4,0	4,1	3,9
Tenure
<3 years	%	46,6	45,3	45,3	37,9
3 – 5 years	%	17,9	11,3	9,8	13,4
6 – 10 years	%	12,8	15,9	16,4	19,0
>10 years	%	23,4	27,5	28,6	29,7
Disabled	%	1,77	1,6	1,0	0,1

The vision of making Nedbank Group ‘a great place to work’ serves as a constant reminder that our employees are our most important asset and that their wellbeing, productivity and development are all crucial to the sustainable success of our bank. Nedbank’s corporate culture continues to provide the bank with a core differentiator, ensuring that the bank retains and attracts employees who will ensure the sustainability of the organisation and that of the South African society at large. The key people focus areas identified in 2008 were therefore retained as the foundation of the group’s ‘people strategy’ for 2009. These focus areas include the following:

• Building a unique culture for competitive advantage
• Embedding talent management
• Developing and growing our people
• Accelerating transformation

This section of the 2009 Sustainability Report is therefore presented in line with these core focus areas.

BUILDING A UNIQUE CULTURE FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

ENTRENCHING THE NEDBANK GROUP VISION

The bank has embarked on various initiatives aimed at embedding the vision and values of the organisation. Key to this is the Leading for Deep Green (LFDG) cultural intervention, which runs concurrently with the Management Development Programme (MDP). The MDP focuses on empowering all employees to become better managers.

 

LIVING OUR VALUES

Nedbank’s core values form the foundation of our group strategy and have been central to the development of our new organisational structure. Our focus in 2010 will include defining key behaviours that support our values for all our stakeholders, especially our new leadership team and employees. Values will continue to be measured through our biannual performance management system and annual culture and climate surveys.

 

DRIVING HIGH PERFORMANCE

Nedbank Group’s high-performance culture is characterised by openness and trust, with clear accountability for execution, and the freedom to take calculated risks, thereby constantly raising individual and organisational performance. Performance scorecards reflect an integrated approach to sustainability and are balanced across economic, environmental, social, transformational and cultural elements. Our commitment to driving high performance is evident in our new organisational structure, with the separation of support structures from the client-facing clusters to ensure that the business is able to focus on improving economic performance regardless of economic conditions.

 

MANAGING THE NEDBANK WAY

The aim of the MDP is to build a worldclass organisation with the capacity to execute the group’s strategy in a way that lives up to our values, and to embed the way we manage as a sustainable competitive advantage for the entire Old Mutual Group. The objectives of the MDP are to:

• cocreate a groupwide approach for management development based on an easily understood, business-driven framework;
• build strong management skills according to agreed common standards while meeting the requirements of local diversity;
• embed the values in our management practices so that they become real and tangible across the group, facilitating great relationships with and between employees and clients throughout the organisation; and
• ensure sustainability and longevity in what is delivered out of the project.

To date 77% of all Nedbank Group employees have embarked on the MDP journey and work continues towards achieving these objectives.

 

EMPLOYEE MORALE

Employee morale in Nedbank Group is measured annually by means of various diagnostic methods. This ensures that the management receives constant feedback regarding the progress it is making in attaining its aspiration of being ‘a great place to work’. During 2009 three employee morale surveys were undertaken, namely:

 

The Barrett Survey

The purpose of the Barrett Survey is to identify the impact of values on the organisation’s culture, the degree of cultural- values alignment, and the transformational opportunities that exist within the organisation. The 2009 results showed an improvement in the number of matches (from five to six) between the current and desired culture, which means Nedbank Group has now reached the international best- practice benchmark of six to eight matches. Most encouraging was the fact that the value ‘employee recognition’ entered the top 10 current culture values. This value has been in the desired culture category since the survey started in 2005.

 

Nedbank Staff Survey

The Nedbank Staff Survey (NSS) is a climate survey designed to measure and track employees’ perceptions about organisational performance across 12 predefined dimensions. In 2009 the overall score shifted positively from 75,1% to 78,8%, with all individual dimension scores showing a statistically significant improvement.

 

Old Mutual Group Engagement Survey

This survey is conducted by Old Mutual plc and involves all businesses within the group. The survey assesses levels of staff engagement in addition to perceptions of the organisation’s performance against strategic objectives and alignment to the group’s values. In previous years a group of Nedbank staff was randomly selected to participate in the survey, but since 2008 all Nedbank staff with email addresses have been invited to participate. This year a final response rate of 44% (10 693 respondents) was achieved.

Similar to international trends and the rest of the Old Mutual Group, most of Nedbank’s 2009 results saw slight declines on 2008 scores. As only shifts of 0,1 are considered business significant, none of the shifts recorded constitute notable changes.

EMPLOYEE WELLBEING

Nedbank Group’s Employee Wellbeing Programme focuses on all aspects of individual functioning within the business and aims to create a supportive structure to contribute to the health and wellbeing of all employees, thereby improving business effectiveness to the benefit of all stakeholders.

The group’s dedicated Employee Wellbeing Programme provider offers confidential professional consultation on any personal problem, at no cost to employees. The programme is available to all permanent and temporary employees and their household family members. Counselling is offered telephonically or face to face by trained professionals located across South Africa.

The table below highlights some of the employee wellbeing services and initiatives offered and tracks the utilisation by Nedbank Group employees over the last three years:

Name	Description	2009	2008	2007
Executive Health Programme	Offered through the Careways Group, the programme offers Nedbank Group executives a physical assessment by a medical doctor and biokineticist, as well as a distance-care facility for assistance with any physical, emotional, personal or work-related problems.	131* executives utilised the service	226* executives	114 executives
Trauma debriefing	In a banking environment, employees are always at risk of being exposed to a traumatic event like a bank robbery. By partnering with TraumaAssist, Nedbank Group provides trauma debriefing to all employees and refers certain cases to the Employee Wellbeing Programme for longer-term care when required.	19 bank robberies affected 306 employees	256 employees	185 employees
Employee Wellbeing Programme	Nedbank Group, through its Employee Wellbeing Programme, offers confidential, professional consultation on any personal problems at no cost to employees.	14,68% of staff utilised the service	11,89%	10,97%
Holsboer Benefit Fund	Nedbank Group employees who suffer extreme financial hardship as a result of unexpected medical costs can apply for support from the Holsboer Benefit Fund, which makes financial assistance available for medical shortfalls.	R1 902 844 was provided to assist 289 Nedbank employees and dependants	230 (R1 127 199)	156 (R490 426)
Holsboer Vacations Fund	The Holsboer Vacations Fund affords Nedbank Group employees, direct family members, Nedbank pensioners, and the general public, the opportunity to enjoy affordable holidays at a variety of resorts and destinations. The fund entered an alliance with Quality Vacation Club and now offers employees access to over 180 local resorts and a wide variety of international destinations.	56,54% occupation for wholly owned resorts. 100% occupancy for timeshare	50% occupancy for wholly owned resorts	50%
Gerry Muller Benefit Fund	The Gerry Muller Benefit Fund – established by former Nedbank MD, Gerald Sydney Muller – assists Nedbank Group pensioners to overcome financial hardship caused by medical aid shortfalls.	R371 856 provided to pensioners	R480 329	R317 075

*	Figures will vary every alternate year as cluster executives receive the benefit every 12 months, while divisional management only receive the benefit every 24 months.

Other employee wellbeing services include:

Child care and crèches

Nedbank Group provides childcare facilities at three of its headoffice buildings. By addressing the needs of working mothers and fathers, we are able to retain some of our best employees, boost productivity and reduce absenteeism. The crèche at the Sandton headoffice accommodates 90 children, while the facility at 105 West Street has 28 children enrolled and the facility at Nedbank Park Selby accommodates up to 60 children.

 

‘On the Money’ training

The Employee Wellbeing Unit, in partnership with Old Mutual, ran ‘On the Money’ workshops across all regions in South Africa in 2009. These workshops were aimed at helping employees improve their money management skills and knowledge by investigating the five secrets of money management. More than 30 workshops were held across all regions in South Africa, and over 500 Nedbank employees took advantage of this opportunity to learn more about managing their money.

 

Wellness Board

The Nedbank Employee Wellbeing Unit has established a crossfunctional Wellness Board. The intent of the Wellness Board is to implement a sustainable framework to manage the organisational, operational and individual health risk posed to Nedbank Group as a consequence of health issues among its employees. The board is currently focusing on understanding the unscheduled short-term sick-leave in various business clusters, to ascertain ways of reducing such sick-leave in the coming years.

 

Wellness Forum

Nedbank Group has established a Wellness Forum, comprising representatives from all business clusters. The goal of the Wellness Forum is to not only focus on managing the employee wellbeing counselling requirements of staffmembers, but also to initiate proactive strategies targeted at employees who are functional, but not performing optimally. The forum has implemented a Nedbank Group Wellness Calendar, which addresses a different issue every month via talks, workshops and communication initiatives.

 

Wellness champions

A network of wellness champions was established across Nedbank Group in the latter part of 2009. The Employee Wellbeing Unit identified 80 wellness champions and they have volunteered to take on the challenge of communicating health and wellness initiatives to colleagues. We hope to expand this initiative in 2010 and ultimately create a social network of employees championing wellness. These champions will also assist in disseminating wellbeing information and driving wellbeing initiatives throughout the business.

 

FLEXIBLE WORK PRACTICES

Nedbank Group introduced flexible work practices (FWP) in 2008, with the aim of enhancing the employee value proposition and taking into account the effect of work practices on productivity and a balanced lifestyle.

In 2009 the FWP offering was enhanced by implementing two-, three- and four-day workweek options. The focus for 2009 was to embed FWP further within the organisation. Part of this focus included automating the application process, thereby enabling effective tracking of the number of employees utilising FWP, as well as ensuring efficiency with regard to their benefit allocation.

At 31 December 2009 the number of employees using the FWP offering was as follows:

FWP option	Number of employees in 2009 (1 Jan 2009 to 31 Dec 2009)	Total number of employees on the system (2008 — 31 Dec 2009)
Flexitime option	139	326
Parttime work option	7	19
Telecommuting option	70	103
Compressed-working-hours option	7	13
Working-at-home option	13	22
Total	236	483

 

HIV/AIDS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

Nedbank is committed to addressing HIV/Aids in a positive, supportive and non-discriminatory manner. The group offers treatment to HIV-positive employees through its HIV/Aids management programme, which forms part of the Nedgroup Medical Aid Scheme structure. Employees and their dependants registered on the programme qualify for an additional unlimited benefit per registered beneficiary. This provides for chronic medication and blood tests required to treat the condition. Free antiretroviral drugs are provided as part of a managed-care programme. Employees remain anonymous and no specific details are provided by the administrator to the employer.

One of the objectives of Nedbank’s HIV/Aids strategy is to minimise the impact of HIV/Aids on employees and in the workplace by formulating and implementing an HIV/Aids response plan within Nedbank. The development of this comprehensive and sustainable workplace HIV/Aids programme has been completed in partnership with the Careways Group and business cluster representatives.

HIV/Aids awareness and training aimed at Nedbank managers and employees, which commenced in 2007, was continued in 2009. A total of 96 training sessions were held from March to June 2009. So far this year approximately 1 190 employees have been trained.

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS

Nedbank Group is committed to fostering sound employee relations and acknowledges the rights of employees to representation, freedom of association and collective bargaining as a way to determine conditions of service.

Total number of employee relations incidents logged	6 044
Incidents resolved through counselling	3 710
Resolved by means of verbal warnings	1 668
Resolved by means of written warnings	2 645
Cases referred to the CCMA	144
Of the cases referred to the CCMA:
Settled	42
Withdrawn	24
Dismissed in favour of Nedbank	23
Unfavourable decisions against Nedbank	2
Still in progress	53

Although the number of disciplinary incidents and disputes referred to the CCMA in 2009 represent an increase year-on- year, it is difficult to ascribe this to any single factor – but the economic situation may have been a contributor.

The increasing number of dismissals, as indicated in the workforce profile, mainly relate to dishonesty and negligence.

The retrenchments that took place in 2009 were largely mutually agreed or the result of voluntary situations where the employee preferred to opt for retrenchment as opposed to taking up an alternative position.

Managerial and supervisory employees are encouraged to attend formal training arranged by Nedbank on the industrial relations aspects of managing disciplinary issues, grievances and performance issues. 333 employees attended the training in 2009.

Collective bargaining

Nedbank Group believes that the process of collective bargaining assists in creating healthy employer-employee relationships. For this reason, we are committed to utilising this process as a means of agreeing the terms and conditions of employment with our employees. The bank consults with its employees as well as their recognised unions as soon as any restructuring is contemplated. At 31 December 2009 69% of permanent employees belonged to the bargaining unit. Much of the focus of collective bargaining during 2009 was on the continuity of employment and sustainability of earnings levels for employees.

 

Grievances and disciplinary proceedings

Nedbank Group and the recognised trade unions have negotiated and agreed policies and procedures governing the handling of grievance and disciplinary processes. These policies are governed by the following key principles:

• The assumption of innocence before guilt and corrective, rather than punitive, discipline.
• The right of the employee to be heard and treated fairly.
• The separate escalation of grievances relating to unfair discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying to ensure swift resolution.

Internal ombudsman

The Nedbank Ombudsman provides employees with an additional channel to voice any concerns they may have regarding issues such as victimisation, racism and discrimination. The ombudsman’s role is to facilitate discussions between employees, HR and line managers and to allow the line manager to resolve matters accordingly. In 2009 a total of 77 incidents were handled by the Nedbank Ombudsman, compared with 89 in 2008.

 

EMBEDDING TALENT MANAGEMENT

EMPLOYER BRANDING AND EMPLOYEE VALUE PROPOSITION

At the heart of the Nedbank Group employer brand is the belief that ‘great things begin with great people’, and through such people we are able to realise our over-arching brand promise to Make Things Happen.

2009 saw a particular focus on promoting the Nedbank Group employer brand. We participated in the first-ever Star Workplace Expo, where our brand and career opportunities were marketed to 14 000 visitors. Nedbank Group also participated in the Sci Bono Finance Careers Week, where grade 9 to 12 learners, mostly from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, were informed as to why Maths and Science are so important, as well as being provided with an overview of the career opportunities and their required skill sets in the banking sector.

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Our recruitment efforts during the year focused on utilising the Nedbank Group careers website, e-recruitment system and employee referrals as a first point of reference when recruiting.

In total, 427 positions were advertised on the external e-recruitment system. 40 370 interested candidates registered their CVs on the external talent database, indicating that they would like to work for Nedbank Group, if suitable vacancies arose. Approximately 6 454 referrals were submitted by existing Nedbank Group employees via the e-referral system.

During the 2009 graduate recruitment campaign eight campuses were visited and 7 686 applications were received.

ONBOARDING

In support of our aspiration to be ‘a great place to work’, Nedbank Group strives to give every new employee a welcoming ‘onboarding’ experience that reflects the Nedbank Group employee value proposition dimensions of:

• people that are bright and amazing to work with;
• a place where you can thrive;
• a role with a sense of purpose and true value-add; and
• an organisation that truly cares.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

The extent to which employees engage effectively with their managers has been recognised as a key factor in their retention, motivation and development. To ensure such engagement Nedbank Group has implemented various mechanisms, including: management conversations, performance feedback sessions, team interventions, recognition functions, and cluster- and group-based roadshows.

The 2009 Hewitt engagement score, which forms part of the NSS survey, has shown significant improvement in the group’s overall levels of employee engagement, with a 7% increase from 64% to 71% – placing Nedbank Group firmly within Hewitt’s high-performing range.

DEVELOPING AND GROWING OUR PEOPLE

NEDBANK GROUP’S LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

Key principles that support learning at Nedbank Group include:

• Access to learning for all employees to enable optimal performance and full potential.
• Embedding of the legislative requirements created by the Employment Equity (EE) Act, Skills Development Act (SDA), Skills Development Levies Act (SDLA) and all other relevant legislation in all practices supporting learning and growth.
• Creating a sustainable learning environment that promotes lifelong learning, organisational wisdom and improved business performance.
• Delivering learning and growth solutions that will address identified business and employee needs.
• Becoming a leader in transformation by developing leaders and managers at all levels who are capable of delivering and executing Nedbank Group’s strategic objectives.
• Addressing the skills shortages in the financial sector, thereby contributing to South Africa and its National Skills Development Strategy.

Training and development

In 2009 the learning and growth focus was on impacting the strategic priorities of Nedbank Group, while simultaneously engaging with external sectorwide interventions to align with the identified national skills shortages and development initiatives.

Learning and development	Value Rm	2009	2008	2007
Total training spend as a % of payroll as per dti	258 382 558	4,32%	4,44%	2,02%
Total training days		100 263	93 918	67 746
Leadership and Management Development Programme participants	14 79 300	10 417	11 342	961
Executive education programmes	2 965 444	36	27	37
Business education programmes (BEP)	8 245 600	484	448	361
Management Development Programme (MDP)	3 588 256	9 897	10 867	563
Nedbank bursary/grant funding	24 139 670	2 208	1 945	1 813
Nedbank internal bursary/grant funding/education assistance funding	10 531 016	1 824	1 481	1 813
Nedbank external bursary funding	13 608 654	384	464	0
Learnerships	22 861 960	579	251	337
BANKSETA learnership programmes*	*-	450	160	273
Professional development programmes (including salary and training costs)	22 861 960	129	91	64

* BANKSETA-funded programme.

For 2009 a target was set to train 727 individuals, from the designated group. This target was exceeded and 790 individuals were trained. The 2009 target for training expenditure on black staff was 2,3% of payroll and this, too, was exceeded, with actual spend reaching 2,94% of payroll.

Some of the training and development programmes offered at Nedbank Group include:

Programme	Description
Executive education programmes	Aimed at providing global and local leadership and management knowledge and skills to senior managers and executives to support them in managing and leading the organisation into the future.
Black education programmes	Available to junior and middle managers at entry level as well as senior managers who are in transition to executive level. As part of these programmes, managers are provided with opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge in management as well as to apply theory to practice in various aspects of management.
Management Development Programme	This internal programme is aimed at establishing a common, values-based approach to management development within Nedbank Group, equipping managers with the practical skills to take on their continuously changing roles and ensuring that they manage the ‘Nedbank way’.
Nedbank internal bursary/grant funding	These funding programmes are available to Nedbank employees to support career advancement through studying towards post-matric qualifications. Financial assistance is also available to qualifying employees’ children at any level of schooling through to post-matric.
Nedbank external bursary funding	Bursaries are awarded to students for undergraduate studies in bank-related fields.
BANKSETA learnership programmes	These programmes are funded by the BANKSETA and aimed at matriculants and graduates at the end of their studies. Nedbank Group provides the infrastructure and support to ensure that learners develop skills and knowledge to be able to be employed within Nedbank Group or externally.
Professional development programmes	Programmes in this category are aimed at graduates entering specific professional fields within banking. The intention is to provide further professional development in the workplace.

 

RESPONDING TO SOUTH AFRICA’S SKILLS DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

South Africa, like many other countries, finds itself competing for a shrinking pool of talented employees. Nedbank Group regards skills development as an integral part of its transformation journey. To this end we take a multipronged approach to skills development and learning, which includes the following:

• A youth development strategy through learnerships, TOPP, and the Nedbank Graduate Development Programme (NGDP) – a 12-month programme that exposes graduates to core modules in personal effectiveness, business competence, information technology (IT) skills, banking technical skills, and social responsibility.
• BEP as a focused strategy to build management and leadership capability in the organisation. The Junior Management Programme (JMP), Middle Management Programme (MMP) and Senior Management Programme (SMP) are all South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)-accredited.
• Specialist training, using instruments such as an internal bursary scheme for employees.
• Long-term investment into the future leadership and specialist talent pipeline through an external bursary programme.
• Nedbank Retail has developed the Dandaro Project which developes high potential black candidates to enable them to move into branch management positions

The implementation of the group’s multipronged skills development strategy is guided by the relevant skills development-related legislation, including the SDA, SDLA and South African Qualifications Act.

CAREER MANAGEMENT

The Career Choices Model serves as the career development framework at Nedbank Group. Linked to our MDP, it affords employees an opportunity to identify the skills required to follow a particular passage on the Career Choices Model and plan their development and work assignments accordingly.

 

COACHING AND MENTORING

Coaching and mentoring are critical to any organisation’s survival and are recognised as effective methods of developing skills and talent within any business. For this reason, Nedbank Group implemented a coaching and mentoring framework to create a culture of dialogue, accountability for people management, and inspirational leadership. The bank offers both internal and external coaches to its employees, with a particular focus on supporting both the professional and personal growth of our people. Leading South African training providers have been engaged to assist in building an accredited internal team of coaches. Further work will be done in 2010 to operationalise the coaching framework and enhance the informal learning opportunities for all Nedbank Group employees.

 

TALENT AND SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT

Executive succession management takes place annually within Nedbank Group, and aligns with the broader Old Mutual talent review process. During 2009 the process was managed electronically on the Talent System for the first time, and incorporated the identification of key roles and emerging ‘Global High Potential’ talent – ie employees who have the potential to take on bigger roles across the Old Mutual Group

.In addition, the 2009 succession planning process was cascaded down to Cluster Executive and Divisional Committee roles and broadened to include an assessment of, and planning for, the replacement of scarce skills within the business.

 

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Nedbank Group believes performance management is more important than ever in today’s complex world of work. The alignment of Nedbank Group’s business goals, individual performance and employee development is a significant part of developing a high-performance culture. Our performance management process enables us to assess business performance against the set strategic focus areas and ensures that employees are on track to achieve their targets and contribute to the achievement of business objectives. The process consists of two formal reviews per year as well as ongoing monthly monitoring through operational committee meetings.

 

RECOGNITION

Nedbank Group is focused on creating a working environment where our people are motivated, positive behaviour is rewarded, and morale is strong. Achieving this will make the bank a workplace that attracts the best talent, retains key employees, and stays ahead of the competition.

The Nedbank Achiever process is unique in that it decentralises recognition in the group by allowing each business cluster to customise the programme to its business. The cluster customisation takes place within a clear set of guidelines to ensure fairness and consistency in the recognition approach. As part of this recognition philosophy, each client-facing cluster has its own recognition function and a combined support cluster function is held.

The culmination of the 2009 recognition programme saw 136 Nedbank Top Achievers (120 individual winners, 15 Top Team winners and one CEO Top Achiever) and their partners visiting Turkey as a reward for the excellent performance they delivered throughout the year.

REWARD

The overall purpose of remuneration at Nedbank Group is to attract, retain, motivate and reward high-performing and talented employees. In addition, the reward philosophy is aimed at encouraging sustainable long-term performance and aligning this performance with the strategic direction and specific value drivers of the business and the interests of its stakeholders.

This ‘total reward’ approach includes the elements of fixed and variable pay, reward and recognition, work/home balance, talent management, learning and development, and career development.

The group’s philosophy is to pay for performance while ensuring that there is a distribution of remuneration around the market median when performance is on par with predetermined financial and non-financial targets. Performance that exceeds expectations is rewarded through additional incentives created through the group’s short-term incentive (STI) scheme, as well as the group’s recognition programme.

Nedbank Group’s long-term incentive (LTI) schemes are primarily aimed at the retention of key, high-impact employees, and are intended to motivate these employees to remain with Nedbank Group while aligning the interests of these individuals with those of shareholders.

EYETHU BEE SCHEMES

The Nedbank Eyethu BEE Employee Schemes were launched in August 2005 and comprise the following:

Scheme
Eyethu Black Executive Trust	The objectives of this trust are to attract and retain black executives, to align the interests of black executives with those of shareholders and, ultimately, to encourage black ownership in Nedbank Group.
Eyethu Black Management Scheme	The objectives of this scheme are to attract and retain black senior and middle managers, to align black senior and middle managers’ interests with those of shareholders and, finally, to encourage black ownership in Nedbank Group.
Eyethu Broadbased Scheme	This scheme is aimed at promoting an equitable and diverse workplace, which encourages share ownership by employees.
Eyethu Evergreen Trust	This scheme is aimed at assisting in empowering black employees at the lower-income levels by providing grants and/or benefits to qualifying employees.

The first tranche of shares and share options on the Black Executive Trust and Black Management Schemes vested on 8 August 2009 (33% of the first allocation). The total number of shares and share options that vested on that date were:

Scheme	Number of employees	Number of shares	R value of shares	Number of options	R value of options
Black Management	452	R6 827 024,90 (based on the vesting price of R108,95 at 8 August 2009)	62 662	625 745	R68 174 918 (vesting price, R108,95)
Black Executive	13	R4 602 265,90 (based on the vesting price of R108,95 at 8 August 2009)	42 242	118 800	R12 943 260 (based on the vesting price of R108,95 at 8 August 2009)

During 2009 Nedbank Lesotho approved its Employee Share Scheme, named Seshoai.

ACCELERATING TRANSFORMATION

As one of the top four banks in South Africa, Nedbank has a significant opportunity to effect transformation internally, and also to influence transformation in the wider South African society. As a group, we employ more than 27 000 people, across a range of operational levels and across different national regions.

As a result of Nedbank Group’s strategic imperative to drive transformation actively, the bank’s transformation journey has gained significant momentum in recent years. 2009 was no exception and saw a continued focus on EE as a key driver of transformation. In addition to complying with the requirements of the EE Act, the group is of the firm belief that EE has a vital role to play in creating an environment that is conducive to meaningful and sustainable transformation. Nedbank Group’s efforts in this regard were rewarded with third place overall in the 2009 Financial Mail/Empowerdex Top Empowerment Companies Survey and 10th place in the EE pillar of the same survey.

Nedbank is proud to have achieved level-two BEE contributor status in terms of the Department of Trade and Industry Codes (dti Codes) Scorecard, but acknowledges that transformation is a journey and as such there is still a way to go.

We are approaching transformation from a foundation of trust. It is imperative that everyone in the organisation must feel comfortable with the process and have the confidence to have their say, ensuring that the Nedbank Group approach to transformation is always unifying, fair and absolutely transparent.

NEDBANK EMPLOYMENT EQUITY FORUM

The Nedbank Employment Equity Forum (NEEF), which was created as part of existing governance processes and structures in accordance with the requirements of the EE Act, continues to function well. At the beginning of 2009 the NEEF successfully completed a process of appointing and inaugurating a new chairperson. The current Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Nedbank Group took over as the NEEF Chairperson in January 2009.

The NEEF serves to monitor and consult with staff across the group on EE matters. To facilitate this consultative process the NEEF is constituted of trade union representatives, chairpersons of the various EE forums, cluster EE managers, as well as the Nedbank EE Manager. The People with Disabilities (PWD) and Women’s Forums are also represented at the NEEF.

The NEEF has signed off the Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) and Implementation Report (IR) for the 2009/2010 period that was submitted to BANKSETA at the end of June. This process ensures that there are synergies and links between the skills development of staff, and the group’s EE initiatives.

During the year the NEEF was also involved in the preparation and signoff of the 2009 EE report that was submitted to the Department of Labour on 1 October 2009.

GENDER EQUITY

A significant part of Nedbank Group’s transformation efforts are aimed at our women staff through gender equity programmes. One of the main vehicles that are used to drive gender equity is the Nedbank Women’s Forum. Established by a group of female employees in 2002, the forum continues to be active, hosting workshops, talks, and events of topical interest to female (and sometimes male) employees.

In line with Nedbank Group’s strategy of being highly involved in communities, many of the Women’s Forum events have a socioeconomic development component. During 2009 the forum:

• hosted a domestic workers’ open day, as part of the work that was started as part of the Women Empowerment Programme (WEP);
• bought and donated school shoes to grade 1 learners at a rural school outside Umthatha, with the assistance of the local Nedbank branch manager; and
• collected children’s books at all events held during the first quarter and distributed these to needy schools and children’s homes.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME

The WEP, which commenced in 2007, serves to embrace and grow the potential of women of Nedbank Group and help address the issue of limited career choices for young women in South Africa – particularly where such limitations are due to a lack of awareness, opportunities, or resources. The programme continues to partner with group HR’s Learning and Growth Team to improve its offering in line with approved business education programmes that are already available throughout the group.

 

PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

The Nedbank PWD Forum was reconstituted in 2008 and was fully operational in 2009. The chairperson of the forum is a permanent member of the NEEF and this ensures that any issues relating to employees with disabilities receive the necessary attention in a formalised and consultative manner.

The forum, made up of cluster representatives, monitors performance against EE targets for PWD on a monthly basis in support of Nedbank Group’s aim to be a disability-competent organisation. Some of the highlights of the Nedbank PWD Forum for 2009 include:

• The official launch of the Disability Desk – a physical extension of the existing electronic Disability Desk on the group’s intranet site.
• The hosting of the launch of the book ‘Blade Runner’ by Oscar Pistorius, who is a Nedbank brand ambassador.

As part of implementing our PWD strategy, a work environment audit took place during the latter part of the year. The results of this audit found that, in some branches, work still needs to be done to make facilities more userfriendly to employees with disabilities.

An EE audit was also performed to ensure that people declare their disabilities accurately and in line with the correct definitions as set out in the EE Act. The information is used for Nedbank to be able to accommodate employees with disabilities reasonably in the workplace.

Occupational levels	Male				Female				Foreign Nationals		Total
	A	C	I	W	A	C	I	W	Male	Female
Top management	4	0	0	11	1	1	0	1	0	0	18
Senior management	47	15	40	308	32	10	23	86	24	11	596
Professionally qualified	604	345	566	1,662	573	412	570	1,644	86	85	6,547
Skilled technical	1,351	642	642	645	2,387	1,591	1,283	1,945	35	94	10,615
Semi-skilled	740	291	153	103	1,552	786	392	616	4	22	4,659
Unskilled											0
Exceptions – permanent staff not matched	1			1	1	0	0	1	0	0	4
Total permanent ¹	2,747	1,293	1,401	2,730	4,546	2,800	2,268	4,293	149	212	22,439
Temporary employees ²	377	99	85	343	691	163	86	239	38	39	2,160
Grand total ³	3,124	1,392	1,486	3,073	5,237	2,963	2,354	4,532	187	251	24,599

(1)	Total EE permanent headcount (22 439) excludes 23 secondees.
(2)	Total temporary-employee headcount (2 160) only includes temporary staff that has been employed for three consecutive months or less.
(3)	Total EE headcount (grand total) excludes international employees (1 646) as well as external entities (1 153).

 

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

At the beginning of 2009 Nedbank revised the EE targets contained in its EE Plan 2008 – 2010. This plan revision was necessitated by the progress that had been made during 2008 and the requirement to consolidate these EE gains to ensure that the group’s 2016 targets remain realistic.

A further aspect of EE progress that had to be included in the plans going forward was the fact that certain assumptions were made in setting the original plans, but which were no longer valid. Lower attrition rates were also built into the 2009 target-setting process.

The following graphs illustrate the progress, by race, in EE at the various levels since 2006:

BEE STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

In recognition of Nedbank Group’s vision and Deep Green aspirations, the group continues to engage its black business partners, Wiphold and Brimstone, as part of the HR contract. Recently, through a careers day project initiated by Wiphold, the Nedbank Group Transformation and Strategic Learning and Growth areas were able to participate in sessions aimed at equipping high-school learners with information about career choices in the banking sector.

Nedbank Group’s sponsorship of the Business Women’s Association (BWA) also serves the bank well in its transformation efforts, as it provides networking opportunities for female employees. The BWA also partners with the Nedbank Women’s Forum in several initiatives, the most recent being their provision of mentors for the WEP delegates in KwaZulu- Natal (KZN).

Nedbank Group is also a sponsor of the Black Management Forum (BMF), Sandton Branch.

The Eyethu Employee Scheme was undertaken with a view to achieving BEE and real ownership by all participating groups. In 2009 the trustees of the Eyethu Black Executive Trust and the Eyethu Black Management Scheme continued to assist participants with queries relating to their individual holdings, including information sessions for new and existing participants.

NEDBANK’S PEOPLE STRATEGY GOING FORWARD

The 2010 focus areas are:

• building a unique culture for competitive advantage;
• accelerating transformation;
• embedding talent management;
• learning and growing;
• aligning the Total Rewards Strategy; and
• enabling HR capability.

'great place to work' in action

2. My name is Siphokazi Sowazi. In 2009 I replied to a call by Group Human Resources and the Nedbank Women’s Forum for junior managers in KZN to participate in the Women Empowerment Programme. The programme has assisted me to live my purpose. My dream has always been to help fight HIV by speaking about my personal journey. I have always been passionate about children, and wanting to see children happy, I started an awareness drive for a decent boarding facility for children with disabilities at the Vulekani Special School. Through the WEP I have had the opportunity to go to the Voice Clinic, where we were taught the correct way of speaking. Since then, my dream has come true – I was invited as a motivational speaker for the Nedbank Property Finance Wellness Day in Gauteng. I was also invited to speak at the World Aids Day on 1 December, at our headoffice in Gauteng. I have never been this confident about who I am and where I come from, which I owe to the Nedbank Women’s Empowerment Programme. The opportunity that I have been given to be a part of this programme has not only impacted my career, but also my life as a young woman in South Africa. This is a programme that truly demonstrates that Nedbank is indeed a ‘great place to work’.

Siphokazi Sowazi (employed since April 2008)

 

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