AVBOB Integrated Annual Report 2018

who ensure that the business embraces its values. The focus is to ensure a high performance work environment. The human capital objectives listed below support this initiative: • Create a culture of high performance in support of the Group’s values. • Promote a learning culture that provides employees with training and development for current roles and skills to take on new roles. • Maintain and improve remuneration and benefits, emphasising attraction, motivation and retention of high-calibre candidates based on the Group’s need to achieve overall excellence. • Provide a working environment that fosters a culture of respect and tolerance for diversity. The Group is committed to being a profitable sustainable industry leader with a multi-skilled diverse workforce embracing a inclusive corporate culture. To this end, we make every effort to recruit competent people as well as to provide a workplace that stimulates and rewards distinctive performance. Our goals are therefore to: • ensure fair, non-discriminatory practices, which respect the rights and dignity of all our employees irrespective of race, gender or disability; • assess, train, develop, advance and maximise the potential of all employees; • enforce the focus on underrepresented people in recruitment, selection and promotion in accordance with the Group’s employment equity plan; • provide appropriate support and accommodation for people with disabilities; and • ensure that all training and development is done in line with the Group’s requirements. An employer’s success is defined by its ability to maximise capabilities such as responsiveness to market demand, its agility in redesigning business processes, developing learning capacity and optimising employee competence. A competent and stable workforce is imperative to ensure business sustainability, and therefore a number of projects have been undertaken to improve competency levels of employees throughout the Group. Human capital management The Board recognises that the development of human capital serves not only the economic interests of the Group, but also the broader requirements of society. Human capital represents the combined human intelligence, skills and expertise that give the organisation its distinctive character. Like most service organisations, our primary asset is our people and there is a vested interest in cultivating this vital asset. Our people define the character, affect its capacity to perform and represent the knowledge base of the Group. As such, managed effectively, people are the cornerstone of our success. Much of the success during the year under review was directly attributable to the efforts of our people. We operate in the most challenging of service industries, looking after the emotional experiences of our customers and their families. Therefore, creating a positive stakeholder experience continues to be of critical importance. The business continues to compete for seasoned and relevantly talented professionals in a sector that is facing the disruptive impact of new technology, more complex regulations, shifting customer expectations and growing competition from new entrants for top talent. Our intention is to curb some of the challenges in attracting and retaining talented employees. An integrated talent management process linked to an e-recruitment system and performance 43