We employ 69,116 people around the world with total remuneration of US$2,353 million. It is these individuals who determine the success of the business and our progress against the 10 sustainable development priorities. We have a strong culture of accountability and empower our people to take personal ownership of their goals, to make the most of their abilities and to expect more of themselves and each other. In turn we work hard to reward employees for their contribution and aim to provide a safe, fair and rewarding working environment.
Supporting collaboration
In the last year we have invested heavily in our IT systems to enable and promote collaboration across our operations. We have now established web conference capabilities, ‘collaboration rooms’, an e-learning platform, knowledge warehousing and a tool to locate experts within the business. This has improved considerably the sharing of knowledge and dissemination of best practice and we expect to develop it further over the next 12 months.
These tools have enabled each of our businesses to engage in and contribute to the continued development of the SABMiller ‘Ways’. We have developed eight of these ‘Ways’ covering key aspects of our business, from Talent Management to Mergers and Acquisition, Corporate Affairs to Operational Finance. Their purpose is to bring together existing ways of working from around the business, highlight best practice and introduce greater consistency across all our operations, improving the way we work together and learn from each other.
Attracting and developing our people
Attracting and retaining good people remains a critical component of supporting our growth and bringing new skills and knowledge to the organisation. During the year, we developed the Talent Management Way to ensure that line management and human resources teams optimise all aspects of talent acquisition, career development and retention. Just under half of all our workforce have been with the business for five years or more and employee turnover was 10% for the year.
If we are to build a true ‘learning and self-refreshing organisation’ we must invest in the training and development of our employees. During the year, staff each received an average of 3.9 days training.
Our training programmes are managed within the local businesses but are coordinated across the world through our global learning strategy. This helps us to make the most of our scale by, for example, sharing global e-learning programmes and developing common competency frameworks.
Health and Safety
It is with regret that we report two fatalities in our business during 2007/08. The first occurred in SABMiller India and related to an accident at our Haryana brewery. The regional manufacturing team in north India has conducted an investigation and has further strengthened standard operating procedures to prevent such a reoccurrence in the future.
The other involved one of our truck drivers in South Africa who died as a result of gunshot wounds from an attempted hijack.
During the year we recorded 1,446 industrial injuries, up from 1,091 reported last year. Overall days lost through injury is down to 12,809 from 13,720.
We have revised last year’s figure for days lost to improve accuracy. Over the next 12 months we intend to further improve the consistency of health and safety data reported from around the group.
Equality and diversity
Our employees cover a vast mix of cultures, beliefs and backgrounds and we both value and respect this diversity. We recognise that diversity is applied differently according to local norms and regulations but we encourage all operations to establish policies and processes covering ethnicity, gender and disability.
While 19% of our total workforce is female, women account for 26% of our management and executive grades, up from 22% reported last year. In South Africa, Asian, black, and coloured representation in our workforce was 75.6%, up from 74.5% reported last year. At management and executive levels this figure is 52.3% and 32.9% respectively. During the year, Kgalagadi Breweries in Botswana has being working to ‘localise’ its management teams, upskilling local people and contributing more to the economy – the percentage of local employees in management has grown from 18% to 64% in 18 months.
Freedom of association and collective bargaining
We respect the rights of our employees to union representation and are committed to establishing dialogue with employee representatives. We recognise the value of good labour relations and approach the collective bargaining process in good faith. 42% of our employees are members of a trade union.
During the year we lost a total of 124 working days in industrial action. These all related to Ursus, our operation in Romania. Last year we reported 138 days of industrial action at Backus in Peru. Over the last year the business has become more proactive in engaging with the unions. It has established a process of partnering between members of the human resources team and union representatives, debating labour topics and undertaking joint training programmes to increase cooperation and understanding.
Transforming our business in Botswana
In the last two years Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) has faced a number of challenges. Changes to the country’s economy meant KBL was faced with falling sales, falling profitability and falling morale.
A year ago the business embarked on a transformation plan, a key component of which has been a series of Action Learning Programmes.
Employees have worked together to understand the challenges and tackle specific issues, making recommendations to the executive team and adding to their own skills and experience in the process.
Twenty of these exercises have been undertaken and many of the recommendations are being implemented. The business has now turned things round, employee turnover is down from 18% to 10% and sales have turned from a 16% decline to a 6% growth over a two-year period.
Leading with a longer term view
During the year our European business established a new development programme for senior executives with the Saïd business school in Oxford.
Drawing on expertise from Oxford University faculties and other specialists, the tailor-made programme focused on long-term strategic issues that will be affecting society over the next five to 10 years. Subjects covered were varied and wide ranging including climate change, alternative energy sources, stem cell research, water resources, the ageing population and the rise of China and India.
Rather than focusing on short-term return on investment, this innovative programme is intended to shift attention from day-to-day operational pressures to inform, challenge, provoke debate and develop critical thinking that will pay off over the long term. The programme will be extended to other senior managers over the coming year.