Annual Report 2003 - Hannover Re

Management report
human resources
to minimise these risks. Company-wide guidelines
direct staff in the handling of information and
secure use of information systems. A major integral
component of our safeguards is the Internal
Controlling System, which encompasses all harmonised
and interlinked checks, activities and
rules. Adequate management of operational risks
has also taken on additional importance in the
light of supervisory developments. Within the
framework of Solvency II, it is to be anticipated
that operational risks will in future have to be
backed by stockholders' equity. The controlling of
such risks will therefore become a crucial competitive
factor.
As a reinsurance enterprise we must be able
to conduct projects in a professional and timely
manner in order to realise new reinsurance products
and concepts, offer services and meet legal
requirements with a high quality standard. Multistage
project management ensures that all projects
are executed on time and within budget according
to their prioritisation.
Assessment of the risk situation
All in all, we do not currently see any indications
of developments that could significantly
impact Hannover Re's assets, financial position
or net income. No risks can be discerned that
could jeopardise the continued existence of the
company.
Human resources
In the year under review we purposefully
expanded our strategic human resources management
activities. In this context personnel
development remains a major preoccupation.
Alongside the recruitment of qualified staff, we
use a new method for identifying potential – the
personnel development workshop – among the
employees already with our company. With this
technique we seek to ascertain the skills requirements
of our staff, clarify development potential
for specialist and leadership abilities as well as
establish the foundation for and promote acceptance
of successor planning. In this way we support
managerial staff and provide them with valuable
pointers for the professional advancement of the
employees under their supervision.
Further tools introduced in recent years to
promote management performance are management
feedback and 270° feedback. For us, management
feedback refers to the appraisal of managerial
performance from the perspective of the
supervised staff in contrast to employee assessment
by superiors. The 270° feedback process is
conducted from the standpoint of a manager's
superior and colleagues. We have blended both
systems in a single tool. The criteria used for systematic
assessment are values (e.g. customer
orientation, profitability and reliability), knowledge
(e.g. languages and technical know-how)
and skills (e.g. communication, readiness to take
decisions, organisational talents). With these
measures we are seeking to enhance leadership
attitudes and match job profiles with personal
profiles. In this way we are able to systematically
check the quality of core competencies, determine
training requirements and at the same time
identify career opportunities as part of successor
planning.
The purpose of human resources marketing
is to find qualified people for the company. This
task is geared to continuity and is not influenced
by labour market factors. We have commissioned
internal and external studies to examine our company's
appeal as an employer and defined action
fields on this basis: introductory events, job
familiarisation plans and sponsor arrangements
are the keywords in this context.
In order to identify motivated, well-educated
university graduates we conduct marketing ac-
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