SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Self-initiative and Active

Now is the right time to establish and additionally build on the trust and proof that the Bank can stand by its clients also in more difficult times. Our advantage is our commitment to seeking the best solutions for all our stakeholders. Fairness, transparency, respect, reciprocity and freedom to act are the values we follow especially thoroughly in our daily work.

It is essential for the Bank to create trust among the public (both locally as well as within the Group), strengthen it with its actions, and communicate it in a proper manner. It is important to do this in times of extremely volatile market conditions, when business partners seek the safest and most stable solutions and partners.

We are building a positive climate within the Company, as we wish to provide our top-notch co-workers with enough challenges and comfortable working environment. We constantly upgrade our operations in line with the values from the Integrity Charter, which is common to all members of the UniCredit.

Employees are the source of power, energy, and knowledge

At UniCredit Banka Slovenija d.d. we are aware that our employees are the source of power, energy, and knowledge that contribute to achieving the Bank's long-term goals and satisfaction of customers and peers. Therefore, we pay careful attention to their personal development.

COMMUNICATION WITH EMPLOYEES

Our colleagues reflect the Bank’s operations and are the key factor in building respect in the eyes of other stakeholders. With activities that we performed in 2010 we wanted to show colleagues that their contribution matters, is welcome, and appreciated.

We used communication to emphasize the connection of selling and non-selling points and joint commitment to reaching the same goal – realization of the Bank’s goals. With active communication and realization of the projects, such as the Integrity Charter Day, the Culture Day, collecting donations by employees under the auspices of the Unidea Foundation, UniQuest perspective employees educational program, informing about other opportunities of education and employment within the Group, and other projects (of which quite a few took place in all the countries where the Group is present), we made connections also with the UniCredit.

We kept our employees informed about current topics by using channels such as letters from the Management Board, personal letters, e-mails, redesign of the Bank’s intranet page, and personal meetings with employees. We were actively involved in the preparation of a web monthly newsletter, which was launched in all CEE countries of the Group and published local internal news called KomUNIkacija.

We met with our colleagues and with UniCredit Leasing d.o.o. and UniCredit CAIB Slovenija d.o.o., the other two members of the Group in Slovenia, in the town of Kranjska Gora, where we celebrated the third anniversary of our new name. At this occasion, we combined the useful with the fun by working on the renovation of a vacation home for underprivileged children. All the members of the Bank’s Management Board who were present at the event, competed in the creative challenge of constructing playhouses for the children. At the inauguration of each of the playhouses, the Bank’s co-workers picked the best by referendum. This was just one of the activities with which we have proved that we also live by our written corporate sustainability principles, by putting them into practice. The renovation activities were led by one of the best Slovenian sport climbers, Klemen Bečan. Later on, the participants were joined by the deceased Jure Robič, who accompanied a few enthusiastic cyclists (each year a large number of employees come to the event by bike) on their path to Vršič.

Key employees received personal acknowledgement from the Bank’s management for successfully completed special projects which required high personal engagement. By doing this, the Bank emphasized their role during the projects and rewarded their efforts.

In communication with employees, the Identity and Communications, Human Resources, and Marketing departments joined their forces and contributed to the strengthening of the involvement of employees into the Bank’s life, by increasing the feeling of being a part of the Bank and motivating employees for successful further work.

GROWTH IN THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES AND HIRING

UniCredit Banka Slovenija d.d. provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants for employment, regardless of gender or other personal circumstance.

In the last five years (from 2006 to 2010), the number of employees at UniCredit Banka Slovenija d.d. has increased net by 296 employees. The highest growth was recorded in 2008, when despite volatile conditions on the market we implemented one of the biggest investment projects and opened six new branches (the Branch Expansion project). In 2011, according to the plans prepared in the second half of 2010 for the next five-year period, we once again expect the continuation of organic growth through new business units.

The number of employees has been more stable since the beginning of 2009 than in the previous periods. At the beginning of 2010, UniCredit Banka Slovenija d.d. had 541 employees. By the end of the year, that number had grown to 566 employees. On a monthly basis we have additionally engaged 35 students on average. The growth in number of employees in the last year was 4.4 %.

The average age of the Bank’s employees is currently 36 years: 62.5 % of the staff employed by the Bank are women while 37.5 % are men − the gender ratio was unchanged from 2009. We take care of diversity among employees, which is also shown in mixed employee structure (namely, three employees or 0.5 % are expatriates, which is a result of employee development programs within the Group) and the structure of managers by gender, as there are 51.5 % women and 48.5 % men at all levels of the management structure.

In total, 97.7 % of employees are employed on the basis of a collective agreement.

In 2010, 56 new employees joined our ranks, while 31 left the Bank (of which one retirement). We have concluded 29 contracts for fixed-term employment, 9 traineeship contracts, and the remaining employment contracts were concluded for an indefinite period. On average, the Bank had monthly 78 fixed-term employees and 7 trainee employees, which is a total of 15 % of fixed-term employees over the year. The percentage of fixed-term employees has increased by 2.4 percentage points as compared to the end of 2009. There are three employees employed with the Bank for more than 10 years, three employees employed with the Bank more than 20 years and one female employee employed with the Bank for more than 30 years.

In 2010, on average 36 women were on maternity leave throughout the year (6.3 % of the total employee population), and 40 children in total were born to our employees. 17 new fathers took paternity leave.

According to the Bank’s decision to open new branches in 2011, we plan to increase the number of employees, especially different profiles of advisors to work with the clients.

EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE

The Bank pays particular attention to knowledge and education, as evidenced by available data showing that 6 % of our employees hold a Ph.D. or Master's degree (an increase of 1 percentage point over 2009); 50.9 % of employees hold higher or university education degrees (up 0.3 percentage point); while 43.1 % of employees have high school diplomas (a 1.3 percentage point decrease over 2009). A trend of an improving education structure is seen, as the level of higher or university education degrees increased.

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

In 2010, the Bank allocated 0.34 % of total revenue toward training of employees, meaning that the amount spent for educational purposes has remained at the level of the previous year. Notwithstanding the very limited resources, the Bank succeeded in meeting the most important educational needs, for which we also received the "Top 10 Educational Management 2010" award. The award is granted by Planet GV, in cooperation with the Sofos Institute for Educational Management, to ten Slovenian organizations that systematically invest in knowledge. In 2010, the Bank decided for the first time to financially assist its employees who study part-time, if they qualify for subsidies. For this purpose, the Bank allocated 8,450 euros and financially supported five employees, three of whom are studying at the Faculty of Commercial and Business Sciences (two in the undergraduate and one in the post-graduate program), and two of whom are enrolled in doctoral programs, one studying law and the other mathematics.
 
In 2010, we conducted a total of 17,100 hours of educational and training activities. The average stood at 33 teaching hours per employee with an average cost of education and training per employee amounting to 418 euros. The topics covered by training and educational activities included banking specific topics, as well as sales techniques, management skills, and improving language skills. In 2010, we conducted two new Leadership Academy modules, which covered the topics of emotional intelligence for leadership and leadership communications, while for the new managers we repeated three modules which had already been conducted − “Communicating vision, strategy and business goals”, “Receiving and providing feed-back” and “Management styles”.

The share of internal trainings was 40 % (representing a 30-percent increase compared to 2009) and comprised the following topics: products and processes (a total of approximately 68 % of all internal trainings), the introductory seminar for new employees, titled “Welcome Amongst the Best” (a total of 11 % of all internal trainings), sales and communication skills (a total of 11 % of all internal trainings) and prevention of money laundering and financing terrorism (a total of 10 % of all internal trainings). 

The introductory seminar “Welcome Amongst the Best”, the purpose of which is faster and easier inclusion of the new employees as well as their acquaintance with the vision and strategy of the main organizational units and their roles in the Bank, has been conducted in the Bank since 2004. The seminar has been conducted 29 times since its launch; 43 employees attended in three repeats in 2010. 4.5 % of all training hours were dedicated to this seminar.

In 2010, we continued to implement the Talent Management Program, which was completed by 15 perspective young employees by finishing work on three current projects; "Collateral Management", "Easy to Deal With" and "E-news". Within the context of the Talent Development Program, a 2-day teambuilding was organized during the summer on the topic “The role of a team leader". In autumn, we were visited by the Group trainer, Kerr Wells, who performs management trainings for banks within the Group and who has prepared a 3-day workshop “Leadership 4 Results” for our talents and a workshop entitled "Giving and Receiving Feedback for the management, both of which were held in English. Advisors and analysts in the field of corporate banking participated in an interesting 3-day business simulation game "Decision Base", which was led by two trainers from UniCredit Bank in Vienna.

In the area of obtaining licenses in 2010, 17 employees passed the exam for sale of investment funds and 16 employees successfully passed the test of expert knowledge, necessary for performing insurance mediation operations. As of the end of 2010, there was a total of 99 employees holding a license for sale of investment funds, 53 employees a license for insurance mediation, and 11 employees a stock exchange license.

Within the total training and educational hours, we dedicated 73 % of them to banking professionalism, 15 % to training for the use of leadership skills and abilities, 4 % covers additional training in the area of sales and communication skills and 8 % were dedicated to learning foreign language.

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT AND REMUNERATION

For the last few years, the Bank has been systematically taking care of the development of key employees (through the Executive Development Plan - EDP program) and of perspective employees (through the Talent Management Review – TMR program), implemented on the level of the entire Group, and the Talent Development Program, which has been carried out locally up until 2010. For 2011, we have decided to merge the local Talent Management Program and the TMR together to create a common Talent Development Program.

In 2010, just as in 2009, we have identified a group of potential young experts and trained them for leadership roles in the future. The program was completed by 14 experts and potential young leaders. In two years, the Talent Development Program was thus completed by 5 % of employees in total.

The program for the development of key human resources comprises 8 % of the employees, more precisely, the entire management structure, including the likely successors to the individual functions. The essence of all these programs is to take care of the continuous development of the employees, their skills and knowledge and to ensure the provision of new generations of capable leaders and experts who will provide long-term stability and growth for the Bank.

Within the Group there are a many opportunities for additional training and education in international teams and in an international environment. In 2011, various post-graduate and master’s programs are in course, which offer additional expertise in investment and corporate banking and retail banking. The Group also offers the UniQuest program, for which every employee can apply and after passing the selection process in one year, they can work together with their Group colleagues on real business projects of the Group for one year. Each year, one employee of our Bank managed to qualify for the program, which means that we now have 4 "Uniquesters", who are always mandatory members of the next generation of talents, after the successful completion of the program.

We systematically take care of employee development also with the help of the Management by Objectives system, the key characteristics of which are: joint objective setting (leader-employee) with each employee and mid-year evaluation as well as providing feedback on work performance.

The annual development interview, as part of the Management by Objectives, represents a foundation for employee development and we consider it to be a competitive advantage, as assessment of quantitative and qualitative objectives as well as behavior and skills is the foundation for such an interview. The result of the Management by Objectives approach is better familiarity with the goals and strategy of the Bank and of the individual organizational units and therefore greater employee satisfaction. At the same time, the remuneration system also is connected to achieving individual goals.

In 2010, based on the development programs, the Management by Objectives system, the annual development programs and the Bank’s needs, 20 % of employees in total were promoted, of which almost 7 % vertically, others horizontally.

SURVEY ON EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION

Since 2006, we have been conducting a survey on employee satisfaction (People Survey) within the UniCredit, which presents the key element of our model of employee management and their skills and knowledge. Therefore, we conduct the survey each year, and we thus measure continuously the progress we have made in our efforts to maintain and increase business success and create a comfortable working environment, where employees can fully express their potential, while feedback helps us to improve quality of relations and satisfaction of our employees.

In 2010, over 134,000 employees from the entire UniCredit participated in the People Survey and shared with us their feelings and thoughts regarding their professional lives in the Group. At UniCredit Banka Slovenija d.d., the percentage of participants amounted to 81 % which is a reflection of strong commitment of our employees, which is one of our main advantages.

The results of the survey conducted in January 2010 showed that, compared with the previous year, the perceptions of the employees regarding various aspects of the Bank’s operations remained at the same level as last year or changed only slightly.

Based on the gathered information and an analysis of the key drivers of commitment to our Bank, we highlighted the main areas which we will be even more focused on in 2010 than we were before. The results of this year's survey on employee satisfaction were published on our intranet site and we discussed the specific reasons behind the results at our focus workshops, which were led by the Human Resources department. Within these workshops, we also collected suggestions as to what we all can do together to change a particular aspect of the Bank and how we feel as its employees. Much emphasis has been given to the fact that we all share the responsibility for our own well-being and thus also for the functioning of the entire Bank. A focused discussion between the Management (Management Board and heads of divisions and departments) on the critical areas and on the preparation of an action plan with key activities was also based on the results of these meetings, where there was a special emphasis on communication, work performance management and leadership.

All the changes applied and measures taken are intertwined with an emphasis on self-education and promotion of all the educational activities within the Bank and also within the Group. In line with this stance, we are very proud of our internal library, which already counts more than 100 units and is steadily growing.

In 2010, we also continued with the Leadership Academy, which enables leaders to acquire knowledge with the help of trainers from practice and includes topics, defined in the competence model. We have put (and will put also in the future) more emphasis on trainings being related to actual needs of employees and organizational units and defined during annual development interviews, but we have also focused on the development of leadership potential of young talents in the Bank.

At the end of 2009, we conducted the first Group level internal survey on employee satisfaction with human resources services. Based on the results of that survey, we carried out a multitude of activities in the year 2010, including an emphasis on HR communication (we have established an HR communication strategy and started publishing an HR newspaper called HRMD news and interesting short articles on communication in everyday use), regular monthly briefings on interesting education activities in the coming month, we started a series of workshops for managers under the title "Managers as HR Champions", and introduced the role of administrator of each call for applications for a vacant position, in order to enable the process of staff selection to run faster and be more transparent.

This year, on the basis of previous years, we continued with good practices, including the Breakfast with the Management event. The event allowed the employees of the Global Banking Services division, employees with children, representatives of Generation Y and employees with innovative ideas for changes than could be implemented, to share their thoughts, views and proposals with the Management. With the purpose of allowing the employees to gain better familiarity with the activities of the Human Resources department, in the fall we began hosting informal social events, which consisted of inviting employees from different units to have morning coffee and an informal chat under the title "Are you coming?".

We are especially proud of the fact that we were among the recipients of the Family-friendly Company Certificate in December, joining the many successful companies who have already obtained this Certificate. Accordingly, we started to pay much more attention to families and to help the employees balance their professional and private lives. Among the measures that were already implemented, we must highlight the children time bonus, which refers to the fact that all the parents whose children first started school in September, were able to accompany their children to school and were given special leave. In line with this vision, we will continue implementing these individual measures in the following years. In addition, we encourage our female employees to choose a 4-hour work day after returning from maternity leave with a 65 % salary. Among other measures that have already been introduced, we must mention the flexible working hours and for several years now we have been delighting the employees’ younger children with a visit from Santa Claus and with congratulations and a little present at their birth.

Back-office employees had the opportunity to learn about the functioning of business units during a day that some back-office employees spent at the business unit. Of course, the employees of the individual business units also wanted to learn about the working day of back-office employees, which is why some employees from the units were invited to spend a day with us at the Bank’s headquarters and familiarized themselves with our work. Both days largely contributed to a better understanding of the operations of each unit and its importance and we have also significantly improved cooperation between the units.

VALUES

In 2010, as in previous years, we celebrated the Integrity Charter Day on 24 September 2010, dedicated to the discussion of six values: fairness, trust, respect, transparency, freedom of action, and reciprocity, which help an individual in their work and support them in their work with our stakeholders (employees, local communities, shareholders and clients). On this day, we organized workshops, where we exchanged “stories” − examples from practice, where concrete employees or organizational units rose to the occasion by working in the spirit of our Bank values. From 15 selected stories, we chose a winning story of showing respect and mutual cooperation of different units within the Bank.

The Ombudsman position, which has been established in the Bank since 2007, allows independent submission of potential complaints relating to breaches of the Integrity Charter caused by acts or behavior among employees or between the employees and the Bank. By doing this, we aim to accelerate solutions of interpersonal conflicts and difficulties, to encourage cooperation at work, and to create synergies among members of the Group. The Ombudsman deals with topics such as discrimination in the work place, discrimination based on subjective criteria, intentional information withholding, mobbing, sexual harassment, stalking and so on.

In 2009, we also nominated a deputy of the Ombudsman. Both Ombudsmen are former female employees, retirees, so they know the Bank and its employees very well and can thus more easily cooperate in the resolution of potential cases. In 2010, the Ombudsmen thus recorded 15 cases. The cases were mostly related to breaches of the following values: transparency, respect and equality. Several cases relating to harassment in the workplace, lack of communication within or across organizational units, lack of transparency in evaluating performance and in internal transfers, were recorded.
Most cases were successfully resolved by means of discussion and finding new, different views on the situation.

TAKING CARE OF EMPLOYEES

Systematic taking care of and monitoring our employees’ health is both our obligation and a commitment that expresses our support of our employees. In 2010, we thus conducted 146 preliminary or periodic medical examinations and at the end of October, we traditionally provided our employees with the option for a flu vaccination. On average, 10 % of employees takes this option, which is organized at the Bank’s headquarters. Additionally, the Bank takes out a group insurance against accidents for all its employees.

Education activities regarding health and safety at work and fire protection are also a component part of professional training of all employees, therefore we organize the necessary trainings in this area according to the legislation every year. One of these trainings is Health and safety at work and fire protection, which every employee must attend as soon as possible after being employed and these skills must be renewed in accordance with our Safety statement with 5-year risk assessment and in which 103 employees participated in 2010.

Percentage of sick-leave remained close to the level of 2009, but increased minimally from 3.4 % to 3.5 %. The increase can be attributed to the young employee structure and consequently to the fact that there are many young families with small children (family member care represents 15.9 % of total sick-leave days).

Employees have an average of 25 days' leave and the holiday allowances are 17 % higher than the maximum amount that is exempt from the payment of contributions.

Thanks to our young population, we once again contributed to the population growth, as we marked, as in the past three years, an increase in the number of women who gave birth. Namely, at the end of 2010, there were 36 female employees (6.3 % of all employees), who were on pregnancy leave. In 2010, our employees had 40 babies. This is also one of the reasons why we will continue focusing on the creation of an environment friendly to work/ life balance.

Within the framework of our care for the elderly, we also provide the possibility of participating in a voluntary supplemental pension insurance, which is used by 67 % of our employees. This figure is understandable considering the age structure and awareness of our demographic situation in relation to pension forecast.

The above described care for employees is also reflected in successfully maintaining the fluctuation rate at an acceptable level by taking into account the demographic and situation on the labor market. Thus, the fluctuation rate decreased from 8.09 % in 2008 to 6.08 % in 2009 (also the result of the unstable labor market, since unemployment in Slovenia rose by 50 % as compared to 2008) and then to an even lower level of 5.6 % in 2010.

In order to care for our employees, their health and well-being, as well as socializing, we support the following activities: organized sports events, subsidized cultural performances, various sports competitions, New Year’s get-togethers, visits of Santa Clause for children of our employees, sports day for our employees, summer picnic, etc. All these activities are organized through the sports association Tilda, which operates within the Bank framework and which has 437 employee members (78 % of all employees), 18 students and 9 retirees. Otherwise, the services the Association provides are available to all employees.