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Employee development promotes a performance culture

Recruitment and development of employees is a key factor in ALK-Abelló's commercial success. Human resources activities support management and other employees' ability to develop innovative products and achieve results in marketing and sales.

Values
In 2001, ALK-Abelló launched a value process which led to the formulation of the company's four values: Progressive, Focused, Trustworthy and United. These values express the company's culture and code of conduct, and also provide guidelines for how ALK-Abelló wishes to grow. Internally, the values enhance empowerment of the organization, while externally they are reflected in communication with customers, investors and other stakeholders.

Project organization
ALK-Abelló has optimized the organization in recent years so that everyone is now more goal-oriented and focused on customers' specific needs. As part of this process, the company introduced a special project organization in 2003/04 which put additional focus on prioritizing, systematically organizing and evaluating the company's strategic projects.

Employee satisfaction
The impact of human resources initiatives can be seen e.g. in the results of the employee satisfaction surveys which we carry out every two years. The highest scores are achieved in areas such as:

  • I have capable colleagues in my department
  • I know which goals I am expected to achieve
  • My department generates results
  • I have influence on planning my own work
  • I like my job

More than 80% of employees agree or completely agree with these statements.

These results are satisfactory. However, the survey also reveals a number of areas where a special effort needs to be made, such as employees' personal and professional development, and ALK-Abelló’s ability as a company to handle change.

Evaluation of managers
ALK-Abelló's around 100 managers worldwide are evaluated not only by their superiors but also by the people that report to them. This evaluation is based on 12 strategic leadership competencies in four categories: business, development, team and process. In the latest survey, managers scored highest on ability to generate results, innovation, motivation, communication and strategic understanding, and lowest on readiness for change, cooperation and holistic thinking.

The survey is intended to help develop managers' competencies and ensure that ALK-Abelló develops and exploits special leadership talents. It is also a tool that helps focusing on education and training, making the company ready to meet the big market challenges we are facing.

Employees by area
  00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05*)
Production 471 452 447 453 489
Sales 283 277 282 278 379
Administration 122 133 123 123 129
R&D 137 156 187 176 187
Total 1,013 1,018 1,039 1,030 1,184

*) Incl. 177 employees in Allerbio

What do the values stand for?

Progressive:

  • We reach for new ways
  • We take initiatives
  • We are ready for change

Focused:

  • Our customers are important
    – both internal and external
  • We strive for results
  • We work goal-oriented and prioritized

Trustworthy:

  • We live up to our promises 
  • We are role models for each other 
  • We base decisions on facts

United:

  • We put the whole of ALK-Abelló above own area
  • We think globally
  • We create better results through cross-organizational cooperation