Kesko's Annual Report 2009

44 Kesko’s year 2009
Kesko is
a good place
to work
Aiming to be the most
attractive workplace in the
trading sector
Commercial students are interested in
Kesko and its chains as a workplace. In
the Universum survey, those with an initial
vocational education ranked Kesko
6th, just like in the previous year. In the
2009 Universum Young Professionals survey,
Kesko was rated on top among one
hundred companies, offering the widest
variety of assignments. Kesko’s overall
ranking in the survey was 18.
Kesko carries out close cooperation
with students and teachers in different
sectors. For example, the job-orientation
of Finnish teachers of commercial and
technical subjects is promoted in trainings
arranged by Kesko. Trainings will be
revised in 2010.
The most competent and
motivated people in the trading
sector
Key competitive assets for Kesko’s and its
stores’ operations and for improvement in
work productivity include systematic
development of staff competence.
Kesko’s subsidiary K-instituutti acts as
a centralised planning, implementation
and purchasing organisation of the
K-Group’s training services. Its key duties
include ensuring competence development
in the K-Group with the best pricequality
relation. The competence development
solutions which support business
activities are planned in cooperation with
business units and implemented in cooperation
with the selected and audited
network of training partners. The role of
K-instituutti also includes the fast and
efficient duplicating and sharing of the
best practices within the K-Group.
In 2009, the Master Sales Assistant
training had more than 17,000 participants
in 12 different product lines. The
aim is, above all, continuous enhancement
of sales people’s service attitude,
sales skills and product knowledge in
cooperation with suppliers. More than
100 business colleges and polytechnics
also implemented the training, in which
some 5,000 students participated.
Some 99% (the target is 100%) of the
checkout personnel and their supervisors
selling age-restricted products in K-food
stores completed the proficiency test in
2009. The test includes questions about
the sale of age-restricted products.
Management and leadership
At Kesko, management is conducted in
a responsible manner and in compliance
with the corporate values. Leadership and
the working community that are motivating
and encouraging are prerequisites for
excellent performance and wellbeing at
work.
The annual personnel survey plays
a key role in measuring the operations of
the working community, the quality of
management and the internal employer
profile. A similar survey is conducted
throughout Kesko and its chain stores. In
2009, replies were received from 72.3%
of the employees of the companies
included in the survey. Active leverage of
survey results in managerial work and the