Measuring our internal culture and engagement
An organizational survey was rolled out in nine languages at the end of 2019. The aim was to measure and manage our organizational health with the same rigor as performance. The survey proved to be a great source of inspiration for continuous improvement for all levels of the organization. Four focus areas emerged from the survey: 1) focus and strategic clarity, 2) using insights for innovation, 3) open and trusting leadership, and 4) recognizing and rewarding employees.
As a result, we identified approximately 150 initiatives to improve our organizational health. The most concrete examples are our global “Pay for Performance” rewards approach (related to recognizing and rewarding employees) and the launch of our new values (related to focus and strategic clarity). Besides these larger initiatives, multiple bottom-up initiatives were put in place within daily operations. We also conducted pulse surveys on two focus areas (recognizing and rewarding employees and open and trusting leadership) to a random sample of 30% of our employees in May and September 2020.
Employees’ performance, development, and leadership
To sustain the performance and growth of both our employees and the company, we introduced our Continuous Performance Management process in 2020. By setting dynamic objectives, holding regular performance dialogues (check-ins), receiving feedback, and achieving objectives throughout the year, we help our employees and leaders stay engaged and deliver higher performance. So far, 95% of our population has participated in the full annual performance management cycle. We also introduced our Pay for Performance approach, in which outstanding results are rewarded.
To further sustain our performance and growth, we encourage our employees to gain new knowledge and skills which will help them perform at their best every day and contribute to our success. Our Learning and Development offerings support both short and longterm capability building and help our employees to live our values.
Leadership development
One of the key elements of our people development strategy is to continuously develop our leaders. In 2020, two new digital programs designed to help our new and experienced leaders to strengthen their leadership skills were successfully launched despite the COVID-19 pandemic. These leadership programs, called LEAP, are delivered fully digitally during an 18-week period. LEAP addresses themes that leaders need in each phase of their professional career. All topics are linked to the Nouryon values, strategy, and OHI focus areas to help our leaders apply their learnings in their daily work.
We also provide a broad range of other learning activities, such as on-the-job experiences, blended programs, online learning, (virtual) classroom training, and mandatory compliance courses. Our global digital learning environment helps employees find relevant trainings more easily and enroll for scheduled offerings and provides 24/7 access to online trainings, enabling at-home learning and offering flexibility for employees.
