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| Employees |
The talent, performance and commitment of our employees remain critical factors in our ability to rise to challenges facing the business within what was and remains a very difficult market.
We have placed considerable attention on ensuring that the performance of all staff is measured against clear, business focused objectives and behavioral performance criteria. In excess of 95% of staff received year end appraisals and a quarterly 1:1 review process was introduced to set and monitor performance targets and development needs on a regular basis throughout the year.
Despite tight cost controls throughout the business, the Group continues to invest in the development of its staff including its e-learning system and the introduction of a Learning Management System to ensure efficiency and best value for money in accessing external training programmes.
The Group was also proud to retain and expand its Investors in People accreditation to cover all areas of the business in September 2004.
Our employee policies and processes have all been reviewed during 2004 to ensure that, as well as incorporating recent legislative changes, our commitment to encouraging equality of opportunity for all our staff is maintained and that performance and ability remain the basis for progression within the business.
Our policy in respect of employment of disabled persons is the same as that relating to all other employees in matters of training, career development and promotion. Where employees become disabled during the period of their employment, we make every effort to make reasonable adjustments to the working environment to enable their continued employment and have successfully done so for a small done so for a small number of affected staff over the past year.
The Group continues to encourage communication and involvement of staff. Our employee forum, Xchange, has been further developed and relaunched to make it more productive and meaningful for employees and to bring it in line with new EU legislation with regard to employee consultation.
The Group has offered all staff access to an annual Sharesave scheme which allows them to save and buy shares in the Group at a discounted rate and will be making a further offer to staff in the financial year ending 31 March 2006. The Group also links the performance of its managers and senior staff to Group results by way of a bonus scheme which has targets linked to cash flow, turnover and EBITDA.
We completed our third annual staff survey in November 2004 with the results indicating improvement in all main areas including recognition, development and performance management. As in previous year, the survey has also been useful in highlighting further areas for development which have been built into action plans aimed towards enhancing the contribution and working lives of our employees.
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