Training and education

GRI:

[404-1] Average hours of training per year per employee
[404-2] Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs
[404-3] Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews

Other guidelines:

Development and training programmes offer an opportunity of comprehensive development of our employees. They support the implementation of the bank’s strategic objectives and, at the same time, respond to the employees’ needs related to career building and personal growth.

The training and development activities carried out in 2019 covered a wide range of topics and used various formulas, methods and tools. They supported the development of the following groups of employees: top managers, lower-level managers, female leaders and talented persons identified in the organization, Agile employees, the entire staff within the framework of centralised activities and employees with special development needs.

The implemented programmes are also aimed at strengthening the responsible banking culture. To this end, the bank implements programmes that cover building human capital, including the development of managerial and communication skills, leadership competences and initiatives related to responsible business and sustainable development.

GRI:

[404-2] Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs

In 2019, our training and development priorities were:

Leadership development

Our employees from various units of the Santander Group worldwide (including Poland) have developed a model of leadership commitments defining the standards that leaders at Santander Bank Polska should follow.

An important element of our leadership development and acceleration of the bank’s transformation was the ″Young Leaders″ talent management program, which we have offered to employees with the potential to take on leadership roles in the next 10 years – 280 Santander Group employees, including 17 from Poland.

100% of participants believe that the programme contributes to the bank’s strategy and that participation in it has a positive impact on their personal and professional development.

Transformation towards a self-learning organisation

We launched an internal tutoring program called YOUniversity and conducted a number of internal trainings. We continued to develop the competences of the bank’s leaders and supported them in their daily team management. In connection with the transformation of the business model, we developed a catalogue of future competences and profiles of desired candidates for the coming years.

We strive to improve the quality of customer service, therefore we place great emphasis on high competences of our employees and individual approaches to customers. We are constantly improving our employees’ competences through training delivered, for instance, by the SME Customer Excellence Office.

In 2019, we conducted training courses that provided factual knowledge and improved the quality of customer service:

training in the credit process and credit analysis,
expert training,
training in the product offer,
training to develop sales skills and knowledge about the company’s business model,
Adaptation Programme for SME advisers.

Our training plans for 2020:

Continue to build an engaging working environment so that relationships are based on trust, empathy, stability and building a sense of security.
Implement development programmes for both managers and employees. Our ambition is to make the most of the opportunities and benefits offered by ″learning from each other″ in both the local and global perspective and to further implement and exploit the available possibilities for development in digital channels.

GRI:

[404-2] Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs

Other guidelines:

[PRB 5]

Managerial training programmes

Programmes for the development of managerial skills and lifelong learning programmes were a permanent element of training and development activities carried out in 2019. They were aimed at building positive experiences of our employees to create an engaging working environment. Leadership Commitments which complement our Simple, Personal, Fair values were key to developing the substantive basis of our programmes.

Strengthening the value of leadership commitments has enabled us to build a cohesive and open platform for financial services, by acting responsibly and earning the lasting loyalty from our employees, customers, shareholders and local communities. As part of the implementation of leadership commitments, focus group meetings were held to tailor the implementation to the needs of different employee groups, in addition to workshops and inspirational sessions.

In 2019 we implemented the following programmes:

Leaders For Employees

A programme dedicated to senior managers. The aim of the programme is to transform leadership in the bank based on leadership commitments, our values and corporate behaviours. Development activities undertaken under the programme included: workshops, trainings, mentoring and coaching sessions.

Top Players

A program dedicated to key managers in the bank. The aim of the programme is to identify and develop managers with the highest managerial potential.

Young Leaders

A programme aimed at identifying and developing the next generation of leaders to speed up the Group’s transformation and strengthen activities aimed at developing human potential. Program participants are involved in strategic projects. They take part in numerous development activities, such as meetings with top managers, mentoring, training games or leadership workshops.

Leader’s Quest

The objective of the programme was to increase managerial competence of people who have no experience in team management and equipping new managers with knowledge and tools enabling them to efficiently and effectively manage people.

Maduro

The aim of the program was to understand the characteristics of seniority behaviors in the AGILE transformation situation and to acquire basic skills of applying four pillars of seniority such as: Sense, Word, Style and System. The activities carried out built and strengthened the ability to reflect, identify real needs, listen and dare to name.

Leader in the world of VUCA

The goal of the programme was to understand which leadership behaviours help to meet the challenges in the dynamically changing VUCA reality, to learn how to adjust managerial interventions, in an agile and flexible way, within the preferred leadership styles: directional, participatory, developing and strengthening the leadership community in the organization through effective networking and mutual support.

GRI:

[404-1] Average hours of training per year per employee

Total number of training hours by gender

Average number of training hours – for all and by gender

Data in tabular form

Average number of training hours per year per employee by employment structure and gender
	Female	Male	Total
Total number of training hours by gender	624,269	219,502	843,771
Number of employees	8,127	3,853	11,980
Average number of training hours – for all and by gender	76.81	56.97	70.43
	Senior management*	Lower-level management**	Other employees***
Total number of training hours by employment category	3,980	29,159	810,632
Average number of training hours by employment category	38.64	52.73	71.23

*This category includes the Management Board members and top executives
**Other management personnel.
***This category includes middle managers

Employee engagement

The engagement survey is an annual global initiative, carried out in all Santander Group companies. It is used to determine how the level of our motivation to work changes according to the support provided by the organisation on a daily basis. Based on the results obtained, we plan actions to support the dimensions that will be identified as requiring development and to further strengthen the ones that the bank is already strong at.

Employee enagagement programmes

Our Best Ones

Development initiatives dedicated to the best advisors in the Branch Network. In 2019 over 100 people took part in them.
3:3 Programme

Initiatives dedicated to employees with the highest rating for a given year. Every year there are about 1,100 of them.
Change Ambassadors after the engagement survey (2018/2019)

An initiative bringing together employees from across the organisation volunteering to work with the results of the engagement survey. In 2018/2019, work focused on simplifying processes. Nearly 300 people took part in it.
Development Elixir

An initiative prepared by the Development Department, which consists of inspirational mails, webinars and sessions focusing on personal development, productivity and engagement building.
YOUniversity

A program in which bank employees learn from each other. The program involves 50 employees – tutors who share their knowledge with others.

In 2019, the main lines of action were:

Leadership and culture

consistent with the Simple, Personal, Fair values, as well as open and transparent. Leaders are role models.
Organizational efficiency

simplifying processes and procedures and providing the necessary support for further development and efficiency of our business.
Employee experience

providing positive experiences for employees in their daily work, especially newly hired employees in the period of adaptation to work in a bank, digitalization of work tools, promotion of healthy lifestyle and work-life balance.

74%

According to our research, the bank’s employee engagement rate in 2019 was 74%.

For many years, our bank has operated a performance management system. Its aim is to create a culture of dialogue, promote a coherent value system and increase the engagement of employees in the implementation of strategic and operational tasks.

GRI:

[404-3] Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews

Performance evaluation

In 2019, 82% of all employees were evaluated.

Percentage of employees subject to performance evaluation in 2019
	Female	Male
Senior management*	33%	67%
Lower-level management**	96%	93%
Other employees***	77%	84%

*This category includes Management Board members and top management
**This category includes other managers
***This category includes employees who do not manage teams