"The success of our business relies on developing relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, from customers and suppliers to government and media. Our employees sustain these relationships and are therefore central to our success."

We work hard to ensure that we attract, engage and develop the best people by creating an environment where our employees feel supported, challenged and rewarded.

We believe that our Business Units are best positioned to manage issues relating to their employees, so specific policies for employees are set at local level. But this local flexibility is complemented by a strong Group framework that helps shape the way we relate to our employees. Our Group values and our Responsible Business Principles (see box) provide a broad overview of our approach, while our Group HR Policy sets out in more detail the standards of what we expect from business units. Some of the areas where we made progress in 2008 are detailed below.

• Skandia-BSAM was recognised as a 'Top 10 Best Employer of the Industry'
• Skandia UK was highlighted as 'one to watch' in the 2008 Sunday Times '100 Best Companies to Work For' list.

Developing our people

To help employees fulfil their potential, we have a formal process to identify training needs and create individual development plans. As part of this process, in 2008 we continued to roll-out our Career Choices model. This framework helps employees to identify the right career path for them and clarifies the knowledge and skills they will need at different management levels. It also ensures that they know what is expected of them at each level of the business.

To be a successful business, we need managers with the ability to develop the talent of individuals and build strong teams. In 2008, 17,500 employees took part in our ongoing Management Development Programme. Feedback from these courses has been very positive; our employees tell us that they value the opportunity to focus on developing the skills that matter most for their role.

In addition to the programmes and courses on offer around the Group, we are extending access to eLearning programmes. In 2008 we formed a relationship with Harvard University to provide business school eLearning to employees in the UK, southern Africa, the United States and Europe.

Managing succession risk

In an extremely challenging year, voluntary turnover amongst senior management rose to an annual rate of 10 percent (for voluntary leavers) and to 19 percent overall. The loss of key staff can cause significant disruption in any company, and we see this as a key risk to the business.

We have mitigated this risk by strengthening our succession planning and our processes for growing talent within the business. In 2008 we developed the Global Leadership Potential Programme to identify individuals with leadership potential and give them as early as possible the support they need to accelerate their progression. We will roll this programme out globally in 2009.

We carefully monitor the degree to which we have successors for key roles identified and ready over the short, medium and long term. In 2008 we introduced a talent database to help us analyse and measure our succession coverage index, which draws on a variety of indicators from across the business. This enabled us to improve our level of coverage: our strong talent pipeline meant that we were able to fill 65 percent of our leadership vacancies internally.

Increasing diversity

We are committed to increasing diversity throughout the Group: the different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives of our employees are a great asset. Our policies ensure that no employee receives less favourable treatment on grounds of their gender, age, sexual orientation, race, disability, religion or any other factor unrelated to the requirements of their position. In southern Africa, recognising the unique circumstances, we balance these principles against our commitment to address employment equity and transformation issues.

As part of our focus on increasing diversity we closely monitor our employee profile, particularly at higher management levels. In 2008 the proportion of women in the top leadership group rose from 20 percent to 24 percent. We are committed to working towards our goal of 30 percent female representation during 2009.

Employee data

Gender representation

Nearly half of all our employees are women. In the top leadership group the proportion of women rose from 20 percent in 2007 to 24 percent in 2008.

In 2008, Nedbank received the African Banker Gender Sensitivity Award in recognition of its commitment to improving gender equality and advancing women in the workplace. Nedbank's host of gender-based initiatives includes the Nedbank Women's Forum: more information on this is given in its sustainability report, available online from April 2009 at www.nedbank.co.za. As a result of these initiatives, women make up more than 60 percent of Nedbank's workforce - and more than 50 percent of middle and senior managers are female.

Engaging our employees

Maintaining high levels of commitment becomes all the more important in difficult times. We measure how well we are engaging our employees through our annual engagement survey. The 2008 survey placed us in the top quartile of our sector for both emotional and rational commitment, and we outperformed the international financial services benchmark overall.

Communication is a key component of employee engagement. We invest significant resources in internal communications tools such as our magazines and newsletters. In 2008, Old Mutual South Africa's internal staff magazine, Amicus, won the Best Internal Magazine trophy and Best Communication Award at the South African Publication Forum.

Having strong company values helps us to develop a motivated and committed team and is the 'glue' which binds employees across the Group. But values only become meaningful when employees can see their relevance in their day-to-day role. At Skandia UK we created a team of Values Champions to focus on exploring what values mean for actual behaviour in the workplace. They were then given the tools and responsibility to start encouraging these behaviours in their own departments. Through our Your Recognition programme, individuals at Skandia UK can nominate any employee, whatever level or department, to be recognised for their contribution to any one of the Old Mutual values. Each quarter, the panel chooses 10-12 employees to be formally acknowledged by the Company and given a special prize in recognition of their efforts.