Full annual report - African Bank - Investoreports

138
For more information on
employment equity and skills
development please refer to
the employee section under
social impact, on pages 147.
GRI EC6
Management control
For the reporting year (2011), the Banking unit had 12 (2010: 13) directors serving
on the ABIL board; fi ve members were Black, of which two were women. At executive
management level the Black representation has improved, with three Black
members of which one is a woman, resulting in an overall improvement in the score
of 26%. The Retail unit did not have Black representation at board and senior
management levels, but with the recent appointments of two Black executives
at board and executive management levels, these numbers will improve.
Employment equity
Employment equity is at the heart of the group’s strategy for 2013. ABIL is
committed to creating equal opportunities for all races to be represented at all
managerial levels, especially putting more focus at middle management, senior
management and employees with disabilities. In the past few years, the Banking
unit has focused on achieving internal and employment equity targets set by the
Department of Labour at executive levels. These targets were achieved and
surpassed in the case of junior management. The Banking unit achieved 8,80 on
employment equity, a slight improvement while the Retail unit score remained level
at 3,97. More work is being done to ensure improvement in these scores.
Developing talent – skills development
In 2011, skills development was one of the Banking unit’s main focal points resulting
in a tremendous improvement of 87% on the CoGP scorecard, achieving 12,60
(2010: 6,73). This was the result of introducing different training programmes from
junior level to executive training programmes. The Banking unit introduced various
learnerships, namely; BANKSETA supported programmes with an 85% retention
rate, internal learnerships for aspiring and junior managers, and learnerships for
the unemployed relatives of the Banking unit’s employees. Leadership programmes
which include executive coaching; leadership based coaching for women and
personal mastery classes, have received positive reception. Other internal skills
development programmes included internal mentorship for all employees, people
roadshows and career assessments. The group had 485 employees that
matriculated and four Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) employees who
graduated this year through the training programme. ABIL launched its corporate
university (ABIL Institute) which focuses on professional development of employees
at all levels, for both the Banking and Retail units and which will continue to increase
the contribution on the Skills Development element of the B-BBEE codes.
The Retail unit improved its Skills Development score from 2,44 to 5,62 and this
number is targeted to improve in 2012 through an enhanced focus on training, as
well as the participation in Learnership programmes.
Preferential procurement and enterprise development
ABIL believes that small businesses play a vital role in creating jobs and wealth in
the economy. It is for this reason that the group supports small and medium, Black
and Black women owned companies by channelling more business towards them to
help these companies be fi nancially independent and through granting customers
personal credit to use towards starting or supporting small businesses.