Personnel and organisation

Integration

Terms of employment

After the acquisition, one of the most important issues for former Alex Beleggersbank staff was harmonisation of the terms of employment. With a view to arriving at one single package of employment terms for all staff within BinckBank, agreement was reached with the Staff Council in 2008 on the procedure for revising the employment terms and the form of the related compensation scheme for former Alex Beleggersbank staff. These employees are covered by the Rabobank collective labour agreement until 1 May 2009, when the revised employment terms and the compensation scheme come into effect.

Under the Rabobank collective labour agreement, former Alex Beleggersbank staff have been eligible for group insurance. BinckBank has now arranged group insurance at attractive staff discounts. All staff are covered by the same Health & Safety Agency. All BinckBank employees in the Netherlands are members of the same pension scheme and are covered by WGA (partial disability) insurance on the basis of new agreements on expenses and contributions.

Top of the page

A new personnel administration and payroll system which runs the entire administration of BinckBank staff in the Netherlands was installed in 2008 and commissioned on 1 January 2009. Staff in the other countries and the Syntel employees will be covered by this administration and payroll system in
mid-2009.

Culture

Although the products carried under the Alex and Binck labels show many similarities, it became apparent at the time of the acquisition that the two corporate cultures were very different. In the integration process, we sought to preserve and combine the best attributes of both organisations. Culture scans were conducted in early 2008 at both BinckBank and Alex Beleggersbank and the desired culture of the new organisation was defined. This information was used in the design and structure of the new organisation.

2009

Another company-wide culture scan will be conducted in January 2009 to check whether the objective of preserving the 'best of both worlds' has been achieved. It will also incorporate a short questionnaire to measure employee satisfaction.
This information will be used in the further development of the HR instrumentation and to guide any further action that may be needed to reinforce the new culture.

Communication

Communication with the staff is crucial in any integration process. In addition to the existing media, including a staff newsletter, a Staff Council newsletter, a news page on the intranet, annual strategy sessions and quarterly financial briefings, the staff were also kept well informed of the appointments made at the start of the year. Information meetings were organised for the former Alex Beleggersbank staff to tell them about the pension scheme and compensation schemes. BinckBank also holds staff meetings - which are informal, in the BinckBank spirit - in the form of Friday afternoon drinks in the bar on Vijzelstraat and parties to mark special occasions, such as the integration party in March and the New Year party in December. To place internal communication on a more professional footing, an internal communications officer was appointed in 2008.

Top of the page