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48<br />
<strong>Kesko's</strong> <strong>year</strong> <strong>2007</strong><br />
Kesko is a good<br />
workplace<br />
Kesko employees by gender, incl.<br />
operations outside Finland, %<br />
2.<br />
●●1. Men 45.6%<br />
●●2. Women 54.4%<br />
1.<br />
At the end of <strong>2007</strong>, the aggregate number of<br />
the Kesko Group personnel was 25,890, and<br />
converted into full-time employees with joint<br />
ventures included, the average total in <strong>2007</strong><br />
was 21,180. Of these, 11,338 worked in Finland<br />
and 9,842 in other countries. Kesko’s most<br />
international division is still Rautakesko,<br />
with 96% of its employees working abroad.<br />
Kesko and its chain stores employ nearly<br />
50,000 people in eight different countries.<br />
In <strong>2007</strong>, the basis of Kesko’s HR management<br />
was revised and the HR policy and HR<br />
principles were updated. The guide ’Our<br />
Responsible Working Principles’ was published.<br />
It contains two elements, namely the<br />
Code of Conduct and day-to-day responsibility.<br />
The manual implementation among personnel<br />
was begun at the end of the <strong>year</strong> and<br />
will be continued in 2008, complemented by<br />
e-learning material for the countries in which<br />
Kesko operates.<br />
Aiming to be the most attractive<br />
workplace in the trading sector<br />
Kesko and the K-stores offer motivating and<br />
rewarding jobs working with products and<br />
services valued by customers. Kesko is a good<br />
and responsible working community where<br />
employees are treated on an equal and fair<br />
basis.<br />
In <strong>2007</strong>, Kesko employed approximately<br />
12,000 new people, including operations outside<br />
Finland. 6,000 of them are permanent<br />
and the rest work on a fixed term or seasonal<br />
basis. Regional job induction days concentrating<br />
on customer service were arranged for the<br />
K-Group’s summer employees and were<br />
attended by over 200 people in all.<br />
In <strong>2007</strong>, some 1,500 people transferred<br />
internally to new jobs, including operations<br />
outside Finland. Internal job rotation is<br />
encouraged to promote diversified career<br />
paths in the K-Group and various trading sector<br />
duties. The efficiency of the K-Group’s<br />
internal labour market coupled with the promotion<br />
of controlled job rotation will continue<br />
to be emphasized.<br />
Kesko’s first K-trainee recruitment and<br />
training programme was completed by 18<br />
young trading sector professionals ready to<br />
take on managerial and specialist duties. The<br />
recruitment of recently graduated university<br />
and polytechnic students for the next<br />
K-trainee programme began in September.<br />
There were more than 700 applicants of<br />
whom 18 were admitted to the next programme<br />
started in 2008.<br />
Kesko also ranked high in employer profile<br />
surveys in <strong>2007</strong>. Among commercial students,<br />
Kesko’s ranking in the list of ideal<br />
employers improved from 42nd to 23rd. The<br />
increase was even greater in the ranking by<br />
young professionals with a university degree,<br />
namely from 28th to 16th (Universum).<br />
The most competent and motivated<br />
people in the trading sector<br />
Kesko and the K-stores offer their employees<br />
competitive benefits and opportunities to<br />
develop their competencies in a target oriented<br />
manner. K-instituutti is the service<br />
centre for the K-Group’s competence development.<br />
In <strong>2007</strong>, its training programmes were<br />
attended by 22,100 people. Programmes relating<br />
to the reform of the K-Plussa customer<br />
loyalty system constituted the biggest single<br />
programme in terms of the number of participants,<br />
who totalled some 2,200 trading sector<br />
professionals.<br />
The responsibility for the implementation<br />
of the Master Sales Assistant training, which<br />
is Finland’s largest adult training programme,<br />
was transferred from the K-Retailers’<br />
Association to K-instituutti at the beginning<br />
of <strong>2007</strong>. The purpose was to increasingly<br />
integrate the Master Sales Assistant training<br />
in the staff development programmes. In<br />
<strong>2007</strong>, there were over 15,000 participants in<br />
12 different product lines. In addition, 6,000<br />
students participated in the Master Sales<br />
Assistant training in about one hundred business<br />
colleges and polytechnics.<br />
Customer and service competence was<br />
the focal area in competence development<br />
in every chain. For example, the Best Service<br />
sales training in the Anttila and Kodin<br />
Ykkönen department stores was attended<br />
by some 2,000 employees during the <strong>year</strong>.<br />
Management and leadership<br />
At Kesko, management is conducted in a<br />
responsible manner and in compliance with<br />
the corporate values. One of the key tools in<br />
efficient performance management and the<br />
motivating leadership of immediate superiors<br />
is the annual performance and development<br />
review whose implementation is included in<br />
the annual job satisfaction survey.