Case study: How Borusan Group promotes employee development
Borusan Group is a Turkish industrial group whose activities include steel manufacturing, car distribution, energy generation and logistics, operating today in 10 countries on 3 continents, with over 11,000 employees. In line with its vision to make a difference through its employees with high competence, motivation and performance as well as its Human Resources Policy which encourages employee development, Borusan Group is accelerating its people to be creative thinkers, result-oriented, systematic and open to development Tweet This!, while offering relevant occupational training and development.
This case study is based on the 2018 Sustainability Report by Borusan Group published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Borusan Group is mindful of the paramount impact its training and development activities have on providing excellent experience for its employees, who play an essential role in Borusan Group’s corporate success. In order to promote employee development Borusan Group took action to:
- implement the Borusan Leadership Development Programme
- organise Internal Trainer Development Programmes
- implement a 360° Competency Assessment
- apply a Career Management Process
- operate the Borusan Academy
- launch the CAT School of Apprenticeship
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Borusan Group has identified;
- How Borusan Group proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Borusan Group to promote employee development
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2018 Sustainability Report Borusan Group identified a range of material issues, such as combatting the climate crisis, legal compliance, innovation and R&D, occupational health and safety. Among these, promoting employee development stands out as a key material issue for Borusan Group.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Borusan Group engages with:
Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
Borusan Employees
| · CEO and GM memorandums (Special day celebrations, informative content on important issues) · Borusan Day · Internal and External Reports · Social Responsibility Platforms and Clubs · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications · Trainings, Employee Loyalty and Customer Surveys · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Ethics Principles and Ethics Line |
Group Companies
| · Internal and External Reports · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Ethics Principles · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications |
Suppliers | · Internal and External Reports · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications |
Media | · Internal and External Reports · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications |
Customers | · Internal and External Reports · Trainings, Employee Loyalty and Customer Surveys · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications · Ethics Principles |
Business Partners
| · Internal and External Reports · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Ethics Principles · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications |
Project Based
| · Projects · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications |
Students and Academicians
| · Career Days · Trainings, Employee Loyalty and Customer Surveys · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications |
Financial Institutions
| · Internal and External Reports · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications |
Public Institutions and Local Administrations
| · Internal and External Reports · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications · Projects · Audits |
Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Employee Associations
| · Internal and External Reports · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Projects · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications · Memberships · Donations and Sponsorships |
Other Stakeholders
| · Internal and External Reports · Internal and External Meetings, Assessments and Announcements · Social Media, Corporate Websites and Borusan Applications |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Borusan Group engaged with prioritised stakeholder groups – including its employees, Group companies and customers, suppliers and non-governmental organisations – through two separate online surveys.
What actions were taken by Borusan Group to promote employee development?
In its 2018 Sustainability Report Borusan Group reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee development:
- Implementing the Borusan Leadership Development Programme
- The Borusan Leadership Development Programme (BOLD Programme) aims to develop the Borusan Group Senior Management Team, which plays a significant role in achieving targets and future success of Borusan Group while improving not only the business performance of leaders, but also the organisational process. Since 2011, the programme had annual participants of more than 100 executives, where Group Coaching sessions take place in addition to the application of 360 degrees inventory, preparation and sharing of inventory reports and giving one-on-one feedback on results, coaching on action plans, and holding workshops and trainings. The progress / improvement is monitored through BOLD scores obtained from annual inventory results.
- Organising Internal Trainer Development Programmes
- Internal Trainer Development Programmes are organised at Borusan Group in order to maximise the outcome gained from employees with high potential, who are experts in their fields and have the knowledge and competence to meet desired organisational development needs. The programmes aim to create a learning culture by disseminating in-house occupational knowledge sharing, preserving institutional mindset, and effectively sharing lessons learned and examples of best practice.
- Implementing a 360° Competency Assessment
- Through the 360° Competency Assessment, Borusan Group intends to objectively assess the traits that help employees fulfill and exceed the necessities of their duties, authority, responsibilities and targets, and to identify and develop improvement areas within a specific time period. During the assessment process, which includes approximately 4,500 white-collar employees every year, employees are evaluated by various individuals such as their team, managers, peer stakeholders, and receive an objective feedback through a multi-dimensional evaluation of their performance. Competency results are used as an effective feedback tool in employee training and development, performance evaluation and career management. Additionally, a Performance Management Process is implemented, to measure employee performance throughout the year and prepare their development plans accordingly. This practice aims to increase the ratio of highly motivated and loyal employees, and improve individual and corporate performance. This process lasted throughout 2018 and consisted of four periods, during which 89% of Borusan Group white-collar employees were given performance feedback. This ratio was increased by 9% compared to the previous year.
- Applying a Career Management Process
- At Borusan Group, the MR (Management Review) process is implemented to differentiate potential and performance, create the internal “leader pool” of the company and provide career development opportunities for employees. Career Management aims to foster career planning that will ensure the professional and personal development of Borusan Group employees, in line with Group and company strategies. The process is intended for Borusan Group employees to determine the direction towards which they will advance in their careers by evaluating their contributions to the organisation. As a part of the programme, each team leader carries out an evaluation to identify the high performing employees with potential. Accordingly, managers determine strengths and areas to be worked on for employees and review rotation opportunities by preparing their personal development plans. While human resources teams provide consultancy to executives during employee evaluations, Senior Management of the company conducts the first assessment meeting, followed by the second MR meetings where participants include General Managers of each company and the Holding Executive Committee. Borusan Group employees’ career plans are evaluated at these meetings.
- Operating the Borusan Academy
- Borusan Academy prepares training and development programmes which will make a difference in the business processes and personal development of employees. At Borusan Academy, employees can participate in all the programmes they need for their personal development as a part of their development plans. Leadership and Sales Faculty programmes consist of certified training and development contents that are spread over a long period provided by expert instructors in cooperation with Sabancı University Executive Development Unit, and Financial Affairs Specialty Programme by Boğaziçi University Lifelong Learning Centre. The following units exist under the umbrella of Borusan Academy: Leadership Faculty (in collaboration with Sabancı University), Sales Faculty (in collaboration with Sabancı University), 6 Sigma Faculty, Purchasing Specialty Programme, Financial Affairs Specialty Programme (in collaboration with Boğaziçi University).
- Launching the CAT School of Apprenticeship
- The CAT School of Apprenticeship was launched over a three-month period during 2018 in order to increase the qualified labour force within the Company and train new graduate technicians to rapidly develop technical know-how. The programme aims to provide the necessary knowledge and skills to the newly-hired technicians before assigning them to operations. A total of 512 hours of training was provided as a part of the programme, half of which was in-class and the other half as practical and application-oriented. The programme is planned to be executed annually, as its first class of 2018 was successfully completed by 20 people. In addition, trainings are organised as part of the Borusan Mannesmann TechStation Technical Academy, to support the employees’ professional, technical and personal development in order to enable them to work more effectively and efficiently while complying with legal requirements and developing an occupational safety culture. In 2018, employees were given 49.5 hours of training on average and 640 technical training certificates were issued by the Academy.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee
2) Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs
Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
- Business theme: Employee training and education
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
- Business theme: Gender equality
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Business theme: Employee training and education
Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
- Business theme: Employee training and education
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Borusan Group, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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