Vodafone 2016 Annual Report Download - page 20

Our people
The people behind
our business
Our people are behind every aspect of our strategy and execution,
so it is important that we attract, develop and retain exceptional people
whoare empowered to use their best judgement in every situation.
Building a high-performing culture
This year we employed an average of 108,000
people from 138 countries as well as over
26,000 contractors. Our senior leadership
team includes 21 nationalities, bringing
together a diverse set of experiences and
opinions to help us achieve our goals by better
understanding the needs of our customers.
Focusing on our customers
Over the last year more than 14,000 retail
store managers and sales advisers received
training in the Vodafone Way of Retail
programme. To date, more than 31,000 retail
customer service employees and third-party
staff have received training to enhance the
services provided to our customers. We have
standardised the recruitment process across
all of our local markets to improve the
quality of new recruits to our stores and have
developed a new assessment approach for all
customer facing employees.
Our Group and local market senior leadership
teams took part in the Customer Experience
Leadership programme – a two-day
workshop focused on listening to customers,
external best practices, driving simplicity,
and action planning.
Increasing employee
engagement
We engage our employees on issues
related to our strategy, our people agenda,
our products and services and changes
happening in the Company in a variety of ways,
including executive video updates, events
and forums, our intranet, emails, texts, as well
as through individual team leaders.
Every year all our employees are invited
to participate in a global survey which
allows us to measure engagement
levels, identify ways to improve how
we do things, and compare ourselves
with 30 other large companies. This year
our engagement index, which measures
how committed our employees are, their
desire to continue working for us and
their willingness to recommend Vodafone
as an employer, increased by two points
to 79, which is three points higher than other
comparable companies.
Our employee net promoter score, which
indicates employees’ commitment
to promoting our products and services, rose
eight points to 59 (17 points higher than other
large companies). The increase showed the
growing levels of employee condence that
Project Spring and our Customer eXperience
eXcellence programme are delivering.
Training and developing
future leaders
We empower our people to contribute to our
business success by tailoring their training and
development to their individual capabilities
and ambitions. We provide a combination
of formal training, on the job experiences,
and regular feedback from managers.
This year we trained around 50,000 people
through our global academies which
enable our employees to develop world
class capabilities within their core discipline
and support their career development.
These academies have won several industry
awards for innovation and quality.
Our global employee survey showed that 80%
of employees feel they can learn the skills and
knowledge to do their jobs well.
We conduct regular talent reviews to identify
high-potential future leaders. Each year
we provide 60 of those with the opportunity
for an accelerated development through our
“Inspire” programme. The programme offers
development and executive coaching and may
include an assignment to another Vodafone
market or function.
Making progress on Diversity and Inclusion
We are committed to treating all employees
fairly and offering equal opportunities in all
aspects of employment and advancement.
This year’s global employee survey showed
that 89% of employees believe that
Vodafone treats people fairly.
Last year we launched a new global
maternity policy, providing mandatory
minimum maternity benets, including
16weeks of full pay followed by full pay
fora 30-hour week for the rst six months
after employees return to work.
This year, our CEO, Vittorio Colao, signed
up to be a UN HeforShe Impact Champion,
making signicant commitments to gender
equality for Vodafone. 37,000 colleagues,
suppliers, and customers have already
joined the campaign, which promotes
gender equality – socially, economically
and politically.
In 2015 we developed a new unconscious
bias training for all leadership teams
to highlight the key decisions and everyday
situations that may be affected by bias.
In addition, employee networks in the areas
of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
(‘LGBT’), disability and gender have
expanded globally and these serve a critical
purpose in supporting these communities.
Vodafone Group Plc
Annual Report 2016
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