Positive working culture

  

  

Promoting a positive working culture

We aim to promote a fair, diverse and safe work environment and culture. The success of the Belgacom Group is founded on competencies, in­volvement, and on the adaptability of the staff to all changes we are confronted with. We believe in the professional development of our em­ployees, we work towards equal opportunities and we promote work life balance through many initiatives.

Key priorities

Social dialogue

Through all our policies and initiatives, we respect the Belgian law on human rights (16 March 1971, law on labor) and we define all priorities through a continuous social dialog, guaranteed by the law from 1991 on public enterprises. 93% of employees are covered by the collective agreements; diversity and engagement issues are discussed with the trade unions.

Diversity and non discrimination

We strongly believe that diversity in the workplace leads to creativity and thus innovation, to better knowledge and understanding of our customers, and in the end to better business results. We are therefore also firmly committed to treating everybody equally and with respect, irrespective of their gender, origine, background, education, etc.

In 2011, we selected two themes to give extra attention to gender and ”mature workforce” management.

Gender

Women occupy about 30% of the functions at Belgacom s.a. and 21% of the senior management posts. Although we are among the best performing companies in this area, we want to achieve more gender balance in our company and thus also at the top level. In 2011, we signed the European Union code of good practice for women in the ICT sector, confirming our ambition to promote increased participation of women in this sector. We also increased awareness of the opportunities for women in our management and leadership functions, with particular attention to top management. Beyond this quantitative male/female balance, we want all our leaders to develop a more balanced leadership style, applying masculine as well as feminine qualities and competencies in the workplace.

  

 

  

“Mature workforce” management

Our long-term goal is to encourage our staff to stay active and motivated longer, by developing an age-conscious HR management. In the short term, we will focus on employees above the age of 50 who are assigned heavy tasks or work in sales. In 2011, we created, an action plan with 42 best practices and 9 main themes, including ergonomics, health programs, career planning, and reinstatement after prolonged illness.

In 2011, Belgacom was again awarded the “Quality for Equality and Diversity” label granted by the federal government. This distinction is an official recognition of the efforts made in the field of diversity.

Safety & Health

We have drawn up an overall policy to prevent psycho-social problems at work which covers all aspects related to stress, moral and sexual harassment, and acts of violence. These internal procedures, established in accordance with Belgian law, are published on the Group's intranet together with tips and the names of contact persons. Our health and safety committees represent the interests of all workers. This policy of well-being at work is reflected in a stable illness rate, including long-term illnesses (6.6%).

  

 

  

We also have a proactive prevention policy for accidents at work. In 2011, we published a leaflet entitled "Safety: everyone's goal!" setting out the most important safety instructions for contractors who work for relatively long periods in the Belgacom buildings. We also improved the fire evacuation procedures by designating a "building captain" for every site with more than 50 people. This building captain will act as the principal contact person for the emergency services (explaining the incident, providing information about the building, giving instructions, etc.) and will collect feedback from the evacuation volunteers. These campaigns allowed us to maintain a relatively low rate of occupational accidents (9.2).

Career management & training

Building the workforce for the future

Building the skills for the future is an important challenge for Belgacom and for its employees. It is crucial that our company identify where there will be gaps or overlaps among functions in the future, and that it organize its Human Capital Strategy and people development plans accordingly. In 2010, we launched a Strategic Workforce Plan to build the right skills for the future. In 2011, we mapped out our precise needs and started planning so as to ensure that the group will have the human skills and resources to meet those needs. This planning will be finalized and implemented in 2012 and beyond.

Training

In a sector undergoing constant change and where intellectual capital is a prime source of innovation and growth, developing the right skills, competences and knowledge, now and for the future, is an essential part of our Human Capital strategy. Belgacom has created Training Academies in the most important customer contact fields, and also in marketing, product management and procurement. This allows us to identify and measure the most important skills for each job, and to create adapted training paths for each employee. This initiative has been appreciated and we increased the % of employees having followed at least 1 training (from 88% in 2010 to 90% in 2011) and the average number of training hours per employee (22 in 2010, 24 in 2011). Developing leadership skills is also essential for Belgacom because of the important role leaders play in the engagement of their team members. Several tracks have been created to ensure that the leadership style of our management corresponds with the new business reality.

  

 

  

Particular attention to career management

Career management within Belgacom is just as important for the individual employee as for the company. Belgacom employees have numerous career opportunities. In 2011, approximately 1,200 people changed jobs within the company in Belgium, and 918 people were recruited from outside the company.

The employee is responsible for his or her own career, but the manager helps in the reflection process. In 2011, we accelerated and innovated our career management approach, with extra support and tools for employees and managers:

The new career concept was promoted with the creative internal campaign "I love me". This campaign gave new impetus to developing a more active group culture in which employees take their career into their own hands.

Employee engagement:

We believe that employee engagement is crucial for our current and future success. We define employee engagement as “people going the extra mile to meet company objectives and increase performance”. Since the end of 2010, a dedicated team within HR has focused on coordinating and stimulating engagement efforts throughout the company. In 2011, we paid particular attention to career development, the role of our team leaders, and the creation of a coaching culture.

Every year, we conduct a wide-ranging survey known as Elix, which not only measures our employees’ satisfaction but also their involvement in their job and in the organization. The results and feedback from Elix are used as a basis for our future action plans.

In 2011, employee satisfaction rose by 2% to 90%, confirming that we are moving in the right direction. This positive trend is largely the result of our efforts on career and performance management. Thanks to all these initiatives, we kept the labor turnover extremely low (based on a decision by the employer: 0.6%; based on a decision by the employee: 2.3%).

  

 

  

Read more on our objectives and KPI's