Panalpina Annual Report 2011

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Success Factors
Employees
Empowering staff for service excellence
Panalpina’s future success depends on the investment it makes now in the
development of its employees. Attracting, screening, and selecting the right people
for the right jobs, and retaining them through value-added training and employee
development are central to this investment, which will pay dividends into the future.
At the end of 2011, Panalpina had 15,051 employees in over
80 countries. Its global human resources (HR) function is
responsible for enabling organizational development so as
to secure the ongoing engagement and effectiveness of
Panalpina’s employees. The systems, processes and training
programs that form a strong foundation for such a culture
for these efforts are based on Panalpina’s core values
and a pragmatic leadership competency model. These are
continually evaluated and refined to ensure that Panalpina
managers have a robust framework that will sustain a
high-performance culture within the Company.
Human Resources transformation continues
In its fourth year, the HR transformation process remains
focused on building on the foundation of its strategic
priorities, namely, (1) identifying, attracting, managing, and
deploying the talent required to perform; (2) propagating
a sustainable high-performance organization and workforce;
(3) developing leadership and other capability requirements;
and (4) designing, implementing, and optimizing
HR processes, policies and service delivery so that they
efficiently meet the needs of our global business units and
workforce.
System support for talent management
PanLink, a web-based Human Resources management
system, was launched in late 2010 to support the implementation
and institutionalization of the automation and
global centralization of objective and performance management,
talent management, succession planning, and compensation
for Panalpina’s senior management. In 2012, the
system will be introduced for all employees in India and
at the head office in Basel. The scope of PanLink has also
been expanded to include a Recruitment Module, which
is expected to be a key tool for all hiring managers in the
coming years.
Panalpina Annual Report 2011
Organizational commitment to employee development
The global Human Resources team continually monitors
various indicators of training, development and engagement
in the workforce. In 2011, Panalpina launched its
second Employee Engagement Survey to identify areas
where enhanced programming would be beneficial. In
total, 84 % of employees responded, and improvement was
noted in the following areas: Panalpina’s management
has improved in terms of its ability to state objectives clearly,
establish priorities, make decisions promptly, provide
leadership, and communicate with people. Panalpina’s
employees felt they are better informed about the Company’s
strategy and performance, and they reported that
greater efforts are being made to obtain their views. More
employees noted satisfaction with the training opportunities
available to them and stated that Panalpina is doing a good
job in employee development and in providing deserving
employees with opportunities for advancement.
Nevertheless, opportunities for helping Panalpina to continue
its development were identified. For example, the
survey showed scope for improvement in relation to operating
conditions and efficiency, to the integration of
Panalpina’s core values into the corporate culture, and to
performance review processes.
The virtual campus: PanAcademy
In response to the results of the 2009 survey, Panalpina
continued to strengthen its commitment to providing
learning opportunities for all its employees. PanAcademy,
Panalpina’s e-learning platform, grew to include 33 learning
units covering the Company’s strategic environmental
PanGreen initiative as well as operations, product competence,
and compliance. E-learning also expanded the
coordinated launch of multi-language units – highlighted
by the unit covering a Panalpina “core values journey” that
includes refresher courses on anti-corruption.