Review

Performance & development

We place significant emphasis on the staff committing and aligning their long-term career development to the ambitions of the Group. We take the development of our staff seriously and work hard to help staff realise their full potential.

The Amlin Academy provides the foundation for training and development initiatives across the Group. The Academy’s objective is to provide a core curriculum of training for employees and to encourage professional and personal development at every level throughout the organisation.

The Academy supports regulatory and compliance requirements and also provides a broad range of initiatives including technical training and management and personal development. Whether the need is a technical requirement to help increase an individual’s specialist know-how or a developmental requirement to facilitate and support behavioural change, the most appropriate solution can be sourced via the Academy.

Leadership and management development

The major development in 2007 was the launch of Compass, a leadership and talent development programme designed to meet the needs of the Group succession plan. This is to support delivery of our vision and also underlines our commitment to our core values of Leadership and Focus on Sustainability. Compass has been designed in conjunction with leading organisations in the field of leadership and talent development, specifically to ensure that we develop our current and future leaders and that we identify and prepare the right people for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. It represents Amlin’s unwavering commitment to develop and invest in our most talented people which is fundamental to our long-term future.

The initial stage for each individual is a 24 hour off site assessment – essentially a diagnostic phase to identify future potential and to provide a basis for future development. The centres have been designed and run by a firm of leading business psychologists, Kiddy & Partners, who specialise in assessment and talent management and have over 30 years experience of working with top organisations. Individual development plans are then agreed for each delegate to address identified development needs, based on the detailed feedback. For most participants this will include attending a core leadership development programme delivered by ASK Europe, who provide leadership programmes for some of the world’s most successful companies. 39 individuals attended the assessment centre during the year.

In conjunction with the above initiative, the Group succession plan has been reviewed and updated this year. The primary objective is to improve business continuity and performance by promoting a more planned and strategic approach to the resourcing and development of key staff.

We believe that succession planning is a combination of talent acquisition and retention, employee engagement, career management and successful personal development. These are not separate, unconnected processes. The latest review confirms that we have immediate or potential successors for the vast majority of the key roles across the Group.

Management development is one of the core offerings provided by the Academy and we run two flagship programmes in partnership with external providers. The Roffey Park programme, which focuses on improving management skills, ran its seventh cohort this year and over 90 individuals from across the business have now attended since the programme was first introduced in July 2003. A further 17 staff attended the Coverdale programme this year, which focuses on working effectively with others to generate a more common approach to delivering against objectives, particularly across functional boundaries.

Performance management

The PDR process remains the primary framework for managing and developing staff. A structured but flexible framework enables managers to provide clarity around business objectives, to assess individual competency and to identify career and personal development plans. An on-line PDR system has been in use for a number of years and further developments have been introduced this year to improve functionality and performance.

The 2006 employee opinion survey conducted by Ipsos MORI identified some dissatisfaction amongst staff with the management of poor performance by some managers. From the feedback sessions held with focus groups across the business, there was a view that some managers were reluctant to tackle difficult conversations and address performance issues until they had escalated to the extent that action was unavoidable.

As a result, the “Grasping the Nettle” programme was designed and introduced across Amlin for all supervisors and line managers to attend. This is a one-day bespoke interactive workshop, facilitated by external training provider Leornian, which covers both the legal implications of poor performance management as well as equipping managers with the necessary skills to handle difficult and sensitive issues. The programme was launched in Autumn 2007 and will continue to be rolled out during 2008.

To further support line managers, “Managing Performance under Pressure” workshops were also launched during the year. These half-day workshops are facilitated by ICAS, who also provide our 24 hour Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), and aim to equip managers with the necessary tools to recognise and deal with stress related issues. Within the first year over half of all identified participants have attended the workshop.

Another key initiative during 2007 was the development of competency frameworks for Finance staff which incorporates both a set of bespoke behavioural competencies and a comprehensive technical know-how matrix covering all job functions within the departments. This is a showcase piece of work and will be used as a template for developing other competency frameworks across the business including Internal Audit and Wordings. A technical competency framework for underwriters has also been under development and will be completed in early 2008.

Professional partnerships

With the increased emphasis on technical competence and ethical awareness, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has developed a continuous professional development scheme called “CIMA Development”. This is designed to encourage employers to continue to support their members in maintaining and developing their professional competence through relevant, planned and continuous development. Amlin has recently been awarded the Approved Employer status by CIMA.

In addition, Amlin has also been awarded Approved Employer status by the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) for both professional development and trainee development. Among the key benefits of Approved Employer status is exemption of Amlin Finance professionals from providing continuous professional development returns, since our own combination of PDR, objective setting and in-house training has been assessed as of sufficiently high quality to render this unnecessary.

The Association of Chartered Insurance Institute continues to be the most popular professional examination at Amlin and during this year 87 staff have commenced or continued studying for at least one CII Exam and four staff have become fully ACII qualified.

© Copyright Amlin 2007