Taking Good Care of Employees
In terms of taking good care of its employees, the Bank strives for high quality and compliance with the standards of a learning organisation. Employees are mainly trained by in-house experts, while all employees are included in the knowledge transfer process.
The Group is highly involved in the education of its employees, and committed to high quality standards as an ever-learning organisation. Employees mostly with the help of experts from their own fields, and transfers the knowledge to other employees
Health and satisfaction of our employees is of great importance. Only healthy and satisfied employees can be creative and high performing. Today ’s lifestyle pushes us only too often into excessive workload, and we know that it is essential to raise the awareness and provide activities to help our employees maintain good physical and psychological well-being.
In 2018, NLB Banka Sarajevo received the flattering title of the most desirable employer
Employees in NLB Group
The number of employees at the level of NLB Group has been decreasing since 2009. Also in 2018, the trend of decreasing number of employees continued due to a reduction of the number of employees, IT development, promotion of automation, and the rationalisation of work procedures due to the continued optimisation of the bank’s operations. The number of the employees dropped by 2.4% in 2018 compared to 2017. In the period from 2009 to 2018, the number of employees in NLB Group dropped by 34.5%.
In 2018, the staff turnover rate was 8% and stayed at a reasonable level. 8, 7% among man and 7, 7% among women.
Employee development in NLB Group
Development of employees and career growth are crucial HR topics
Through social learning activities and trainings, NLB Group systematically changes its organisational culture, helps devise new business customs, and strengthens the NLB brand by maintaining a direct link between the employee development and the business strategy. The purpose of all developmental activities is to empower all employees to achieve the business goals, to strengthen their personal capabilities, and to act in a socially responsible manner also towards all interested parties.
Group aims that majority of training courses are conducted internally. In 2018, over 12.692 employees participated in the standard internal trainings and workshops, 28.228 participants were trained via e-channels, and 3.143 attended external training courses. More and more emphasis is put on the training of employees at the workplace, therefore social learning activities, such as mentorship, coaching, peer coaching, were systematically reinforced.
Special attention is focused on new employees, for which onboarding programs are organized and conducted by internal speakers in all banks. New employees have opportunity to meet in several trainings and events during their first year in the bank and therefore to establish new contacts and social connections.
Leadership development is special topic and priority in all banks. We try to develop leaders at levels, so they can successfully accomplish business goals that support general business strategy. While all leaders have common leadership challenges, there are aspects of leadership unique to each leader level. Especially special attention is focused on new leaders, for making the transition from leading self as an individual contributor to leading others. That's where leadership development programs come in.
With development activities we focus on:
- general development programs applicable to all leaders, aiming to achieve common leadership culture and
- targeted employee leadership training specifically designed for the needs of individual person.
Developing leaders at all levels means approaching each leader level with respect to their current skills and the desired capabilities to ensure there are no gaps in development. Incorporating these key elements of leadership development programs for each level of leader can ensure development in targeted skills.
In order to promote and develop constructive leadership behavior, we have started in beginning of 2018 with development of common leadership brand, aiming to define key leadership behaviors, which will clearly present NLB leader at all levels and in whole Group. In all banks, workshops were conducted with leaders and talents, where key leadership behaviors were identified. In the next year, leadership brand will be formed as common brand of the Group, meaning all leaders in the Group will be developed according to set behaviors.
Talent management
Two years NLB talent development program was concluded in the end of 2018. Talents have participated in several trainings to obtain the skills needed for the future challenges. A special development program was set up for each talent group (leadership, professional, young), covering their specific development and career needs, and various internal and external development activities were carried out in line with the plans. 280 talents from all banks were involved in development programs, where they had opportunity to learn about creative thinking, strategic management, assertive communication, coaching, etc.
In May 2018 we organised a joint meeting of talents from NLB Group and brought together all NLB Group talents, who had opportunity to listen how effective leader should behave and function, aiming to engage and motivate employees for new challenges.
NLB Group promotes local and international career development
As we systematically focus on talents and on other key employees we try to enable them career development as desired and encourage them to gain experience and develop their careers in other banks of the NLB Group. In addition to long-term postings, we also support short-term knowledge transfers and rotations within the Group, thus enhancing cooperation and transfer of internal knowledge and skills. Besides talent development, our primary concern in 2018 was also systematic development of managers and key experts and their successors.
Health and satisfaction of our employees is of great importance
Only healthy and satisfied employees can be creative and high performing. Today’s lifestyle pushes us only too often into excessive workload, and we know that it is essential to raise the awareness and provide activities to help our employees maintain good physical and psychological well-being.
This is the reason why we deliver in all banks so called “health” programme with the utmost care, trying to address all the key elements for our well-being: physical, emotional and mental. This way we encourage all our employees to participate regularly in the programmes and various activities we organize:
- common NLB sports games, organized once per year for all the Group,
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workshops on healthy life, healthy food, recreation, etc.,
- handeling stress at workplace,
- specific sports events in all countries,
- special medical examinations.
We want to be known as family friendly Group
The ability to balance work and family responsibilities has a significant impact on the performance and engagement of the employees, and for that we are aware we have to offer our employees additional benefits, which help the to balance and organize their family activities better. Therefore we promote family friendly measures in all banks and we organize various events:
- NLB Family days,
- day with Santa Claus, where children of employees receive new year`s gifts
- additional leave of absence for care of sick children
- additional leave of absence for first day in school or in kindergarten,
- special preventive medical exams, etc.
We are proud that these benefits are welcomed and used by majority of our employees.
For our employees' children
Employees' children receive gifts from Santa Claus
New Year’s gifts for the little children of the NLB employees is a special event organised every year and a precious memory also for the parents.
In the beginning of December 2018, the NLB employees' children were visited by Santa Claus and his helpers who distributed more than eight hundred gifts. Like every year, the children and their parents were taken to the fairy-tale world, an event they will remember. The children were thrilled to receive a basket full of presents and adults enjoyed watching happy and smiling children.
In the scope of the Family-Friendly Company project, the Bank organised unforgettable winter holidays in 2018 for 88 children aged 5 to 14 years, as well as summer holidays for 289 children of NLB d.d. employees.
In the framework of the Family-Friendly Company certificate, NLB d.d. co-finances the children’s holidays. Parents selected the providers of holidays and the location based on individual child’s interests; this means that the list of activities was quite diversified.
We invited our colleague’s 11 years old son on recording of NLB promotional video. He is going to be a film director when he grows up and he will also shoot films.
Santa Claus brought gifts and wished a happy New Year to 800 children of NLB d.d. employees.
NLB Pensioners' Society
The NLB Pensioners’ Society has 2140 members: 1425 or 67% in the Central Unit and 715 or 33% in the separately located units. The gender structure is the following: 85% are women and 15% men. Over 800 pensioners actively participate in the programme of activities. Most of them come from the age group from 63 to 72 years. A total of 92 of our members are over 90 years of age and the share increased by 25% compared to the previous year. In the next 5 years we can expect a further increase in the oldest age group, since more than 10% of the members (144) are in the age group from 85 to 90 years.
One of the members of the NLB Pensioners' Society, Lucija Černigoj, will celebrate her 100th birthday this year and one member already celebrated her 101st birthday in 2019.
In 2018, the programme of the NLB Pensioners' Society comprised in addition to individual co-financed activities also 46 different organised activities in which almost 1600 members of the Society participated, with the best visited being recreation – bathing at Portorož and hiking, attended by over 50% of the participants. This also shows the significance of recreation and maintenance of physical exercise.
There were on average at least 4 different activities of the NLB Pensioners' Society organised each month. This was all made possible by our volunteers who perform their tasks with great dedication.
In 2018, the Society’s organisational activities required extra efforts, since it was necessary to ensure the alignment of personal data with the Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council - GDPR.
- The Pensioners' Society refunded the costs of medical examinations of up to EUR 40 to the members who visited self-pay outpatient clinics.
- We issued the brochure “Senior Counselling” which comprises the contents of the work of our Society and a list of institutions in Slovenia offering different forms of help to the elderly population.
- Our volunteers started providing personal counselling. They answer the pensioners’ questions either in person or via phone every first Wednesday of the month, between 10 a.m. and 12 noon, in the office of the Society.
- We also established contacts with the City Association of Pensioners Ljubljana.
- We organised 7 guided tours, the most frequently visited being the exhibition of the painter Ivana Kobilica. More than 140 pensioners visited all exhibitions.
- The members of the Society who attended cultural events on their own were refunded half of the ticket price up to EUR 15 upon its presentation, once a year at most. There were 82 such cases.
- We organised meetings of the NLB pensioners who turned 75 and over 80 last year, which were attended by 80 celebrating members, with 352 members being invited. The meeting of the jubilee celebrating members was also attended by a representative of NLB d.d.
- Around 43 people participated in the celebration of St. Martin's Day. We celebrated this year’s St. Martin's Day in Rogaška Slatina, Krapina and Bizeljsko.
- In September, the Pomurje unit organised a meeting for the pensioners of all NLB units in Murska Sobota and at Goričko. A total of 119 members participated. The programme included a visit to the honeymaker’s and cheesemaker’s shops and an ecological farm. The participants were also welcomed by the representative of the business unit NLB Murska Sobota at a social event.
The recreational programme of the NLB Pensioners' Society was designed to cover different desires and needs of our members, from all-day activities with organised transport to activities taking some hours and attended by the members individually.
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- Bathing in Portorož, organised nine times. The bus was full each time and a total of 455 members of the Society participated. Bathing is traditionally organised every month, with the exception of two summer months and December, when this activity is not carried out.
- The Mountaineering Section - The Wanderers carries out its hikes according to its annual programme. Until the end of November 2018, the Section went to 24 hikes with a total of 349 participants. In most cases, transportation was organised, while 7 hikes required own transportation due to the vicinity of the destinations around Ljubljana. The hiking group financed 70% of the transportations with their own funds, while the Society contributed 30%. The plan of fund spending was achieved to 75%. The following are some of the hikes with the largest number of participants: The Zajamniki nad Pokljuko Plain, the round path Grožnjan-Završje-Grožnjan in Istria, the Pungart-Kladivo-Pungart plain in the Karavanke mountain range, Tanča gora and the chestnut picnic in Bela Krajina, a visit to Kozjansko from Lesično.
- Bathing in Atlantis and Terme Krka, throughout the year, 60 members used the tickets for bathing in Atlantis and 80 members of the Society purchased low-priced daily tickets for bathing in Terme Krka.
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- In May 2018, a three-day excursion to Austria and Hungary was organised, attended by 37 pensioners.
- Two one-day excursions to Koroška and the vicinity of Ribnica were also organised, attended by 93 members.
- Dolenjska-Bela Krajina – organised three excursions and the annual assembly of the society.
- Zasavje - organised regular monthly meetings and an excursion to the Technical Museum in Bistra.
- Prekmurje – organised monthly meetings for its members – a sort of chat meetings, the chestnut picnic, participated in the local activities organised by the multi-generation centre MENSANA. Successfully organised the meeting of the NLB pensioners this year. The activities were being expanded by the purchase of tickets for bathing in Terme Vivat and co-finance the tickets for cultural events attended by our members.
- Koroška - organised a pre-New Year’s meeting for the members.
- Velenje - organised a pre-New Year ’ s meeting for the members.
The NLB Bank Sports Club
At the end of 2018 the NLB Bank Sports Club counted around 600 members who can exercise in many sports areas free of charge and attend many pleasant meetings.
Seventeen sports sections are organised within the Club: Atlantis, badminton, bowling, golf, fitness, cycling, basketball, futsal, table tennis, volleyball, hiking, swimming, skiing, chess, running, tennis and sport climbing. For the members from regions outside Ljubljana, the Gorenjska, Podravsko–Pomurska, Savinjsko–Koroška and Dolenjska–Bela krajina Sections were also organised.
The 20th Sports Games of the NLB Group
In 2018 the 20th Summers Sports Games of the NLB Group were organised. Bankers from the whole Group met on 26 May in Moravske Toplice to compete in futsal, basketball, beach volleyball, tennis, table tennis, chess, badminton, bowling, running, swimming, golf and, for the first time, shooting. The non-competitive part of the games included a hike, biking and activities carried out in the framework of the Healthy Bank project.
In addition to the sports activities, this year’s summer sports games programme also included socially responsible work, namely we handed over the new volleyball court to the Moravske Toplice Sports Society.
In 2018 the NLB Group employees again participated in the Summer Sports Games of Slovenian Bankers, organised by the Slovenian Banking Trade Union. The 2018 Sports Games of Slovenian Bankers took place on 1 June in Zelena laguna, Poreč; 165 NLB employees participated, of which 124 competitors and 41 supporters. They competed in 12 disciplines: table tennis, chess, cross-country running, swimming, basketball, ninepins, volleyball, shooting, tennis, futsal, as well as two non-official disciplines this year: cycling and tug-of-war.
Among the Slovenian banks, the NLB team won the overall 1st place and re-initiated the three-year struggle to obtain the transitional cup into permanent possession. The NLB team won the first place for the fourth consecutive year.
Ljubljana was overflown with runners on Saturday, 27 October and Sunday, 28 October 2018. 23. Almost one hundred NLB runners participated in the 23rd Ljubljana Marathon 2018.
The NLB runners competed as a joint team of 96 members and were joined by the 8-member running team from NLB Banka Skopje. Of course, there were more runners from the NLB at the marathon, competing for their own running clubs.
In the middle of January, the 58th European winter banking games took place in the Swiss ski centre St. Moritz, with participants from as many as 137 European banks, including five Slovenian banks.
The giant slalom competitions were carried out on the vast skiing slopes of St. Moritz, while the cross-country skiing competitions took place in the nearby Pontresina where the Olympic Games competitions were held in 1948. The 13-member NLB team was once again the best Slovenian team and ranked 16th in the overall result.
As has become a tradition, the best individual results were achieved by: Urška Podgoršek, 4th place, Snežana Žlindra, 9th place, in giant slalom, and Janez Kršinar with the 5th place in free-style and 7th place in classic cross-country skiing technique.
At the end of May, the NLB golf team participated at the 17th Euro Golf Meeting Interbancario Europeo in Martellago, Italy. The NLB team won the 1st place among 118 teams.
In a fierce competition of 118 teams from financial institutions and banks from all over Europe, the NLB team almost didn’t make it through qualifications but then conquered its competitors in the finals and won a historical victory.
NLB Trade Union
In 2018, after successful negotiations with the NLB Trade Union d.d. and the NLB Domžale Trade Union Organization we signed a new NLB collective agreement.
