A large number of projects in the people management area were also implemented at the individual company level in 2012. The following examples have been chosen from the many available to illustrate the work done by the companies last year.
Wiener Städtische roadshows: ten times throughout Austria – ten times a total success
Wiener Städtische focused strongly on information and motivation in a series of events throughout Austria in 2012. Under the motto "Showing foresight", the Managing Board team invited employees to a total of 10 events throughout Austria to provide information on current activities and future challenges. The roadshows also served as networking meetings and an important initiative for strengthening the team spirit and collaborative efforts of individual groups and departments. The primary objective was to strengthen the ties between companies and employees that form an important foundation for the continuing success of Wiener Städtische.
Training and advanced training projects for improving service management in Kooperativa (Czech Republic)
With support from the European Social Fund, Kooperativa realised what has to have been the largest project in the area of training and advanced training in the Czech Republic in 2012. In the first phase, internal service guidelines were updated or newly revised with the objective of improving the quality of service management. These manuals provided the basis for detailed training courses focusing on service management, sales training methods, professional competences for customer advisers and social competences for call centre employees. A total of 550 employees were trained in approximately 1,500 courses under this initiative.
Improved recruiting processes at the two Slovakian companies Kooperativa and Komunálna
The people management departments of Kooperativa and Komunálna, two of the Slovakian Group companies, concentrated on employee recruiting in 2012. During revision of the recruiting process for office staff, Kooperativa worked with executives in related areas to focus on a more detailed examination of the professional and social competences of applicants. Komunálna also used targeted onboarding measures to make fundamental changes to the recruitment of field staff. Even before being hired, potential applicants are given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the activities of a customer advisor during "taster days". These allow new employees to gain a realistic picture of the job requirements and environment while accompanied by a senior advisor.
People Management as a sparring partner during establishment of "VIG Ekspert" in Poland
The establishment of VIG Ekspert was one of the most complex people management projects in Poland in recent years. VIG Ekspert combines the expertise of the three Polish companies Compensa Non-life, Benefia Non-life and InterRisk, with the goal of standardising claims processing and associated processes in this region and optimising efficiency for the benefit of customers. The People Management department, led by Compensa, was involved in this change process from the start, beginning with employee transfer planning and related contract changes, all the way to the definition of recruiting processes for filling vacant positions. Custom-tailored activities were also introduced in the training and development area. One of the steps taken to identify, promote and develop the potential of future executives was the introduction of a development centre that serves as a basis for precisely tailored development and training measures.
Introduction of a multi-stage career model for insurance advisers in Asirom
In 2012, the Romanian company Asirom introduced a new multi-stage career programme for insurance advisers that included both financial and non-financial incentive systems. It consists of four stages and is intended to provide advisers with concrete career perspectives. Qualification for the next stage depends on criteria such as length of time with the company, quantitative factors and the quality of their portfolio. Regular valuations are performed every three months.
VIG core competences introduced to Hungarian Group companies
In order to take advantage of synergies, internal service centres for areas such as IT, accounting, controlling, actuarial services and people management were formed in 2012 by combining departments of the two Hungarian companies Union Biztosító and Erste Biztosító. The VIG core competences were used when establishing the new common work culture and management philosophy. These competences were carefully embedded in the newly defined processes and tools in close collaboration with management. Use of the competences in this way was essential for successful project implementation and realignment of the corporate culture. The competences can now be combined to form requirements profiles and provide an important foundation for future recruiting.
