Personnel and organisation

HR Development

Recruitment and selection

Several members of staff chose to leave BinckBank after the acquisition. A large number of the students working in the Sales department graduated and decided to pursue their careers elsewhere. There were some staff who were ready to take the next career step and others who no longer felt at home in the new organisation after the acquisition of Alex Beleggersbank. Changes were made to enable us to recruit the best people to fill these vacancies. The recruitment and selection process was redesigned on the basis of the answers to the following questions: 1) what kind of people are we looking for and where can we find them? 2) how good is the application procedure and can we make it better and faster? 3) what will it cost and how do we keep the cost down? 4) which agencies do we work with and what are their fees? Measuring the effectiveness of recruitment campaigns has also helped us make our campaigns more effective. Recruitment via the BinckBank website, which was visited by 2 million unique visitors in 2008, has also been found to be highly effective. A brand-new 'working at Binck' website was launched at the end of 2008 to make the most of this medium.

2009

Recruitment is expected to be at a lower level in 2009 because the number of staff leaving has fallen sharply. The current staff have now found their place in the new organisation and the credit crunch has restored calm to the labour market, in contrast to the shortages in 2008. The 'working at Binck' website will be developed further in 2009 and the master contracts that have been signed will be evaluated. Managers and team leaders will be trained in selection techniques in 2009, to raise the quality of new recruits even higher.

Induction course

Since mid-2008, we have been running induction courses every two months, at which members of the Management Board, employees, team leaders and managers tell new staff about BinckBank's organisation, its objectives and day-to-day operations. On the subject of compliance, staff are informed about what is and is not permitted and the underlying reasons for those rules. These afternoon sessions are rated highly by new staff. The induction courses are constantly evaluated and the content is constantly being improved.

Planning cycle

With a view to optimising the development of the organisation and the staff and achieving agreed targets, it was decided in 2008 to change to a new planning cycle, so that the BinckBank targets could be translated throughout the organisation into departmental and individual objectives. New rules have also been introduced for annual salary increases and bonuses, which relate remuneration more closely to the company's results and the individual's performance.

To ensure that the new planning cycle was introduced efficiently, all managers were given training in the methodology of and conducting staff interviews. HR managers also provide post-training help and support for managers at the individual level with setting targets, conducting performance assessment interviews and making final appraisals. The training course, which is repeated each year for new managers and those needing a refresher, has received a good response from management and staff. The system clarifies what is expected of employees, the progress they are making and how they are assessed.

2009

The employee's personal development and the realisation of his or her ambitions will be the priority in 2009. Vacancies will as far as possible be filled internally in the future, to maximise the prospects for individual advancement. We also plan to establish a talent pool of individuals with middle or higher management potential to support BinckBank's continuing growth and we are formulating a development programme for managers and team leaders.

All job descriptions were rewritten when designing the new organisation in 2008 and will be updated in 2009 to reflect any organisational changes made in the past year. A new job classification system will also be implemented and a new pay structure will be introduced.

Trainees

With a view to securing an ample supply of in-house management talent and supporting BinckBank's current and future initiatives, a pilot project was initiated in 2008 involving two trainees who were already working for BinckBank part-time. Over a two-year period, these two employees will spend time in various departments, with the aim of developing skills and competences that have been identified in advance. The desired result and the personal progress to be achieved in the department concerned are defined at each stage and a training and mentoring programme is defined for each period.

2009

The pilot project will be evaluated in the first quarter of 2009 and a decision will be made at that time whether to start two more trainees on this programme.

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