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Employee development

Annual Report 2019 > Employee development
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Best Pratices in PZU
Our knowledge and ideas - “we protect all our resources, including information constituting the PZU Group’s intellectual property. Databases, registers and archives are managed in accordance with the law and the PZU Group’s internal regulations. Intellectual resources form an exceptional value in the company. They set us apart on the market, they feed into our unrivalled product offer and they form the basis for the PZU Group’s market successes. That is why we afford special protection to them. We are conscious that their partial or total loss could lead to clients losing trust in the PZU Group, or to a breach of reputation.”

The knowledge and competence of our employees, together with the trust of our customers, are the most important capital the PZU Group has. For a company with such a long history, the cumulative knowledge and experience of its employees are not only a reason to be proud, but also something that merits special protection. We broadly support the cultivation of new competences in our employees, not just to stay abreast of the rapidly changing market but also to be the leader of these changes. We promote the sharing of experience and best practices with all market entities, which in more than one case translates into collaboration to perfect standards. We do our utmost to protect what should remain the source of our competitive edge and quality, but we also readily share what should be the common good among all professional insurers and their stakeholders.

Tomasz Kulik, Management Board member of PZU and PZU Życie

PZU Group’s policies [UoR]

Most of the PZU Group companies have implemented special procedures and principles related to planning and organization of training and all development activities for employees.

The PZU Group strives to be an employer that gives its employees above-average and flexible development opportunities at an individual and team level and at the level of the whole organization. In planning its development activities it frames them in the context of its strategic business objectives and attaches great importance to selecting optimum forms of development. They contribute to work productivity and employee engagement in the long-run.

The approach to comprehensive development developed in the PZU Group is based on organizing general corporate activities designated for various employee groups and individually addressed activities. Training courses and workshops are frequently supplemented with activities which employees do on their own before a training course (form of preparation) and after its completion (mastering knowledge, exercising skills). Enriching traditional training schools with modern solutions such as e-learning, webinars and virtual reality means that the educational offer is ever more attractive, and more widely accessible to employees.

PZU’s priority is to take care of effective knowledge management in the organization - maintain, share and utilize it across areas. That is why more and more frequently managers and specialists are engaged in internal development activities as authors of training programs, educational materials and as internal trainers.

Forms of development support available in PZU:

General corporate Dedicated On-line Individual
  • #TyTworzyszPZU program [#YouCreatePZU]
  • Workshops and skills training sessions
  • E-learning courses
  • Support during on-boarding, mentoring
  • New manager
  • Talent development programs (e.g. the program for sales employees called #TerazTy [#NowYou])
  • Educational animations and interactive pdf files / infographics
  • Coaching
  • Master Class
  • Facilitation of team work (including graphic facilitation and gamification solutions)
  • Webinars
  • Educational subsidies (post-graduate courses)
  • Click for development
  • #TyTworzyszPrzyszłość conference [#YouCreateTheFuture]
  • Video materials with internal experts
  • Consultations with an expert/trainer
     
  • Participation in open training courses / workshops and conferences
  

BEST PRACTICE

The Bank Pekao Group does not have a joint policy for all its companies; however, employee training and development procedures and training instructions have been rolled out. Regulations are being implemented and pursued according to the legal regulations, including ones referring to the capital market.

The Alior Bank Group has not implemented a joint policy. Employee training programs, in addition to training policies, are delivered on soft skills as well as hard and technical skills in various companies.

Training plans are run for a given financial year in PZU Zdrowie while giving consideration to internal and external training. Detailed procedures, depending on the company, are specified in various documents, i.a. in the Collective Bargaining Agreement or Human Resource Management Procedure.

Additionally, rules for the organization and financing of training and development activities for employees are in force in all the companies.

Average hours of training per year per employee by gender1

  2018 2019
  Women Men Women Men
Total number of training hours 149,909 99,939 195,434 132,425
Number of employees 6,056 3,959 6,094 4,023
Average number of training hours 24.8 25.2 32.1 32.9

1 Estimated data on account of the lack of statistics in this area. Data presented as FTEs.

 

Average number of training hours per employee by structure of employment

Structure of employment Total number of employees Total number of training hours Average number of training hours Total number of employees Total number of training hours Average number of training hours
Management staff 1,670 23,374 14.0 1,573 76,823 48.8
Other employees 8,345 226,475 27.1 8,544 251,037 29.4
 

Average number of training days per employee hired under an employment contract in the PZU Group was 2.9 in 2019 (0.21 days more than in 2018). In the Pekao Group it was 2.75 (vs. 2.77 days in 2018) and in the Alior Bank Group 2.63 (up by 0.44 days vs. 2018). In PZU and PZU Życie, the average number of training days increased significantly in 2019 when compared to the previous year, among others due to the increased number of groups in the New Manager training and launch of MasterClass, a new development program for managers. In 2019, PZU carried out many training courses in the e-learning format and also in the form of conferences on modern technologies and future-proof competences.

All employees in PZU and PZU Życie to whom bonus systems apply undergo regular job quality assessments (annually and quarterly).

In 2019, similarly as in 2018, 100% employees were subject to regular job quality and professional development assessments.

Structure of employment Percentage of all employees subject to assessment in PZU and PZU Życie, by gender
  Women Men
Representatives of the Management Board 100% 100%
Management staff 100% 100%
Other employees 100% 100%
 

Regular assessment of the level of attaining objectives and the quality of work makes it possible to verify developmental needs and the action plans focused on developing specialist knowledge to help employees achieve their business objectives and interpersonal and managerial competences – indispensable to engage in effect cooperation.

A development program called New Manager has been prepared with people in mind who are taking up managerial positions in the PZU Group for the very first time. Its goal is to acquaint the people with the expectations placed on managers in PZU in terms of their management style and competences (in this manner the Group shapes the desired leadership model). During workshops managers are trained on key managerial competences, inter alia, on providing constructive feedback, holding talks with reports, task management and planning a team’s work. The traditional formula for training is embellished with webinars, teleclasses in micro groups and online tasks.

In 2019, 117 individuals took part of the New Manager training, compared to 68 people in 2018 (up 72% from 2018).

PZU management may also take advantage of an individual form of support in development, namely a coaching program. External coaches and PZU employees with the appropriate training and experience administer this program.

Coaching is dedicated above all to managers during a time of change, when it is necessary to develop work productivity or devise new solutions. The decision to select this form of development is examined in every case in PZU with the interested person, his or her boss and the HR Business Partner. The interest in coaching is growing from year to year, while new groups of employees, also ones who are not managers voice their demand for this form of development.

The #YouCreatePZU program inspired by the Management 3.0 idea rounds out the training activities regularly conducted in PZU. It is run in the form of regular one-day-long workshops. The topic of the workshops refers to the competences whose development underpins strategy execution and advances innovation, entrepreneurship and team work.

This program aims to augment employee engagement by supporting employees in personal development. It acts as an invitation to co-create the organization by showing that every employee can exert an influence on his or her place of work and may cultivate his or her strengths while simultaneously attaining the organization’s business objectives. The fact that the workshops are run by internal experts and trainers merits attention. This expands the opportunities to develop the program in such a manner that it will contribute to forging a lasting community of employees and a platform for sharing knowledge and best practices. The program is dedicated to all employees from all areas and from all locations in Poland, thereby contributing to developing cooperation across business areas. The #YouCreatePZU workshops made it possible, among other things, to build a contact network and share experience in employee groups from different organizational units.

BEST PRACTICE

Master Class management workshop cycle

Master Class is a cycle of practical workshops for senior managers supporting the achievement of strategic objectives, mainly in the people management area. The workshops also facilitate implementation and execution of internal management processes (review of effectiveness and potential) and offer a chance to learn and discuss the newest trends in building engagement, planning development, managing efficiency in teams.

The goal of the workshop is to create a platform for sharing knowledge and experience based on actual issues and business challenges. Master Class also has a social dimension – building a network of contacts and business relations within the organization and “destroying the silos” – establishing cooperation between the individual areas.

In October 2019 the annual meeting of directors was held, during which, for the first time, a special assignment was done. Approximately 300 participants applied the design thinking method in order to develop solutions within 10 strategic initiatives. The work was conducted in mixed teams, which allowed managers from different areas of the company to exchange observations and knowledge.

In the period from 7 November to 1 December 2019, 12 workshops related to current management challenges were organized. They were also conducted in mixed teams to facilitate the sharing of best practices by managers from different areas, with different experiences and tenures. Workshop topics were related to the implementation of a new tool used to review efficiency and potential of managers.

The sessions were divided into the following four topics:

  • “Building development plans – tested and practical tools”;
  • “Difficult talks with employees – how be a guide in the times of change”;
  • “Power of feedback – from feedback to feedforward”;
  • Growth mindset – how to free your potential and your team’s potential and increase your chances for success”.

Each day was devoted to a single topic.

89 persons took part in the workshop. The substantive level, form, preparation of trainers and topic were highly rated by the participants (4.6/5 on average).

BEST PRACTICE

Crazy for growth – engaged in helping 

This is a program, to which 110 employees were invited from all of Alior Bank’s sales regions. Those individual took part in an educational workshop devoted to sustainable development goals and then they prepared and executed their own local social projects. It was the employees who decided on the choice of the beneficiary, to the benefit of which the activity was to be performed, the social partner selected for cooperation, the purpose and the execution method.

15 projects were created and executed under this program. Their goals included: preventing social exclusion of children and youth from care and educational centers, the disabled, the elderly, people in difficult life circumstances as well as many project related to activities promoting sports activities and healthy lifestyle and projects promoting the natural environment and animals. The participants also had to promote social engagement among other employees in the region and their relatives. This way nearly 200 employees became engaged in the activities. 

BEST PRACTICE

#TyTworzyszPrzyszłość conference [#YouCreateTheFuture]

On 29 October 2019, an internal conference under the name of #TyTworzyszPrzyszłość (#YouCreateTheFuture) was held at the National Stadium. It was attended by PZU employees. The representatives of various business areas and different organizational levels met in one room. This enabled an interdisciplinary discussion on trends, challenges, directions of activity as well as exchange of experience and future projects. Nearly 300 employees discussed the utilization of new technologies, their impact on the future of mankind and the competences that are worth developing due to the changes that are currently transpiring. The participants had the opportunity to attend four lectures delivered by internal and external experts, a discussion panel and one of six workshops.

Five keynote speeches covered the following topics:

– “Technology and business – global trends”,

– “Innovation in PZU – how we implement new technologies”,

– “On (im)possible friendships – man vs. technology” (discussion panel),

– “Leader of the future – new dimension of leadership”,

– “Employee of the future”.

Internal experts also took part in the conference as lecturers. The discussion focused on innovation and internal project pursued within the PZU Group.

#TyTworzyszPrzyszłość is another activity aimed at preparing employees to the challenges that the dynamically changing world will pose for the insurance industry. It inspired employees to look at the business model, product offering, cooperation methods or communication in a novel and open way.

Four lectures and six workshops were organized in one day. During the conference, the attendees also had the opportunity to learn about the innovative projects executed internally.

Six workshops were organized:

– “Brave Leadership – face a failure”,

– “Appreciation – strength of the modern leader”,

– “And they lived long and creatively – creative idea generation techniques”,

– “Design your future – how to develop competence of the future”,

– “Total immersion – come with us to the virtual reality world”,

– “Innovation Laboratory – come build scenarios for the future”.

BEST PRACTICE

“Click for development”

“Click for development” is a cycle of company-wide development activities/events, which are aimed at building responsibility among employees for their own development, by using modern technologies. This program educates employees on the available online forms development, such as: e-learning platforms, education portals, podcasts, webinars and tools that make it easier to learn and share knowledge remotely. The initiative pointed the employees towards the opportunities and sources and also inspired them to take action.

In 2019, “Click for development” consisted of a cycle of events carried out from 8 to 19 July. The key events included:

  • “Click for development” conference featuring four lectures on the topics referring to the current trends in learning:
    • “Technologies that changed the way we learn” – lecture by an external expert,
    • “The future of learning, or how to grow using digital technology” – lecture by an external expert,
    • “Free Harvard education – facts and myths about online learning courses” – lecture by an external expert,
    • “PZU Movie – secrets of insurance in a modern form ” – lecture by an internal expert;
  • workshops showing the possibilities how the newest form of employee education, such as video, virtual reality and webinars, may be applied:
    • “Create a professional video recording using your smartphone” – workshop conducted by external experts,
    • Immersive learning – come join us in virtual reality” – workshop conducted by internal experts, 
    • “Become a webinar master – or how to prepare and run a professional webinar” – workshop conducted by external experts,
    • “The power of video” – this program was promoted by four short films, in which PZU employees demonstrate how they learn different skills by using online resources,
    • “Mythbusters” – a series of podcasts featuring in-house experts, whose main theme was to bust the most popular myths about personal development, the future of employment and the functioning of the human brain,
    • “Your brand in the media” – a webinar on social media etiquette conducted by an in-house expert who answered questions on how to use social media, what to do and what to avoid,
    • “English online” – a year-long pilot of the online English language learning platform – employees participated in a draw of 150 one-year licenses to access an online English course.

In the years to come, cyclical activities are planned under the “Click for development” project, in the form of annual online development days, which will take the form of conferences combined with workshops and regular campaigns promoting online development.