In an intensively competitive sector in which there is a significant international capital presence, Ziraat Bank advances its stature as the biggest and strongest nationally-owned bank year after year. Continuing to apply the modern human resources management system in 2017, Ziraat Bank employed a total of 24,554 employees at the end of the year. The average age of the employees in the Bank, where 456 people were recruited in 2017, was 35.3 with each employee having completed an average of 11.2 years of service. As of the end of the year, 87% of the Bank’s employees had a graduate, undergraduate or doctorate education.

With the objective of providing modern and reliable banking services by adopting the requirements of banking and international competition Ziraat Bank serves its customers with a total of 24,647 employees as of 2018 year end. In 2018, 948 new people were employed and the average age of employees was 35.7 with each employee having completed an average of 11.5 years of service. As of the end of the year, 86% of the Bank’s employees had a graduate, undergraduate or doctorate education.

The total number of employees in the Ziraat Finance Group at the end of 2018 was 28,455, including domestic and foreign subsidiaries.

As in previous years, Ziraat Bank opened its doors to young people wishing to pursue a career in banking in 2018. A recruitment exam was conducted on 11 August 2018 and interviews were held between 5 and 18 November 2018 in order to meet the personnel needs of companies within Ziraat Finance Group and the Bank’s need for assistant specialists. As a result, the following were recruited;

• 80 Assistant Specialists at Ziraat Participation Bank,
• 14 Assistant Specialists at Ziraat Yatırım-Ziraat Portföy,
• 109 Assistant Specialists at Ziraat Bank
• 40 Assistant Specialists at Ziraat Teknoloji

a total of 243 personnel joining the Ziraat Finance Group family.

With the objective of meeting the personnel needs of Ziraat Bank for 2019, the transfer of some personnel within the scope of Support Assistant to permanent positions was planned. In this context, 143 drivers who had served for the Bank for at least 3 years were formally recruited in the 1st quarter, 263 private security guards who had served for at least 5 years on 31 December 2018 and 387 outsourced personnel who had served in IT Operations Department and Customer Interaction Center for at least 3 years at various dates during the year.

In keeping with the transparent career management approach to which it adheres, Ziraat Bank aims to train its own managers among its staff. Accordingly 3,132 existing employees who were successful in the written promotion exams which were conducted in 2018 were promoted to a higher job category. The average pass rate on these exams was 48.5%. In addition to that, more than 100 employees who successfully completed the Management Candidate Program were appointed at Manager positions in branches and units.

The Fin@rt Transfer Request program is conducted twice a year to increase Bank personnel motivation, minimize operational workloads, and ensure that transfer processes are carried out quickly, effectively, and methodically. Applications to take part in this program are accepted in December-January and in June-July. Last year 1,652 transfer requests were submitted in the first round and 1,666 were submitted in the second. Of these, 38% and 41% transfers were approved respectively.

In accordance with the Law on Protection of Personal Data (KVKK) numbered 6698, the Bank conducts activities to evaluate the current status of the use and storage of personnel data, fulfill the requirements of KVKK and detection/prevention of potential risks. In accordance with the Law, a “Clarification Note” was prepared which explains the reasons of processing personal data, its legal justification and employees’ rights, posted in the Bank’s portal and employees’ written consents were taken.

The 2nd term collective bargaining agreement was signed between Ziraat Bank and the Öz Finans-İş Trade Union with effect from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2020.

Adjustments of wages for 2019 have been made in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement.

Salary matrices for 2018 were prepared and adopted for the Bank’s domestic and foreign subsidiaries, foreign branches and representation offices.

Within the scope of Ziraat Finance Group career practices, promotion exams of employees working in domestic subsidiaries have been performed and employees who were successful have been promoted to higher levels.

Ziraat Bank Individual Performance Bonus System

Created in 2013 to be compatible with the Bank’s new marketing and sales-focused organizational structure and strategy and informed by the principle that earnings should match success; the Ziraat Bank Individual Performance Bonus System was designed so as to reward employees who demonstrate superior performance and productivity by paying them more.

Determined and paid on the basis of periodically conducted individual performance reviews, individual performance bonuses are intended to strengthen the Bank’s customer-focused business model, to promote a marketing and effectiveness-focused approach to work, to increase company loyalty by motiving personnel, and to provide tangible benefits to those whose individual achievements are compatible with the Bank’s corporate objectives.

A current bonus budget is determined by taking the Bank’s profitability and operational results into account with the proviso that the budget’s total amount not exceeds 8% of the Bank’s aggregate monthly salary payments. This allocation is paid out to recipients as an individual performance bonus at three-month intervals along with their February, May, August, and November salaries based on objectively defined and numerically expressible specific criteria.

In this system, which has been set up to focus mainly on marketing in line with the Bank’s strategies and targets, bonuses are paid so as to enhance the earnings of those, who contribute more to the realization of those strategies and targets, based on:

• Branch segment and scale group
• Rankings that have been determined according to individual numerical performance measurement and capability results at three-month intervals
• performance bonus coefficients

The different coefficients that are used when calculating bonuses are determined jointly by business units according to branch segment and scale, individual performance ranking, and job position criteria. Marketing group personnel bonuses are calculated in direct proportion to the individual performance points in each section. The bonuses of counter personnel are calculated based on the performance of the counter to which they were assigned and their individual performances. Additionally, individual performance premiums are paid to operational staff in branches and employees at Headquarters based on identified criteria.

Ziraat Bank’s performance premium system, similar to other banks in the industry, is designed with an objective of rewarding high performance and essentially increasing the efficiency of sales staff.

Individual Performance and Competence Evaluation System was launched with an objective of evaluating employees’ competences, as well as goal based performances and integrating them into their numeric performance scores. Within the scope of this system, competences were defined based on positions for units in branches, regions and Headquarters. The system has been adopted by the Bank since the beginning of 2016. The process of calculation of performance premiums by including competence scores in the numeric performance scores and designing training plans accordingly has started in June 2018. In the following periods, the goal is to have the Individual Performance and Competence Evaluation System directly affect career management.

Efforts continue to expand Individual Performance and Competence Evaluation System in all subsidiaries of Ziraat Finance Group.

2019 Outlook

Ziraat Finance Group will continue to offer career opportunities and modern working conditions in 2019.

Since the staff in Support Assistant position adapted rapidly to the Bank’s culture and practices and the overall impression about these staff was positive, a significant proportion of these personnel are planned to be transferred into Banking Title Group in order to meet the Bank’s personnel requirement in 2019. Furthermore, the outsourced staff are planned to be gradually rolled into the Bank’s permanent staff. Promotion exams will be held for existing employees in the second half of the year as prescribed by the Bank’s human resources principles, procedures, and practices.

With the objective of preparing employees who have been working with supervisor title to Branch Manager or Manager positions, 250 employees will be invited to “Management Candidate Program” training, and those who are successful in the exams and interviews will be included in the Management Pool to be evaluated for positions as needed.

Employees in the management candidate pool will continue to be assigned as Branch Managers or Managers, as required.

Training

Ziraat Bank considers competent and qualified human resources as one of the most significant elements that support its distinctive and distinguished position in its industry.

Having the most extensive service network in Turkey, Ziraat Bank not only offers young professionals advantageous employment conditions but also provides significant added value to Turkish economy by supporting domestic employment.

Professional and personal development opportunities offered to employees

With a philosophy of continuous change, Ziraat Bank is focused on adopting the most contemporary applications available in human resources area, generating new employment and providing funds for training and development of human resources. The Bank aims to keep its competitive edge by offering its employees, who are the representatives of its values, continuous professional and personal development opportunities.

Main topics of the trainings organized by Ziraat Bank in 2018 are presented below:

• “First Step Trainings” for new recruited employees to help them get to know the Bank, adapt to corporate culture and gain major knowledge and skills required,
• “Development Trainings” to meet training needs in accordance with the Bank’s goals and strategies or to present information about new products, services and regulations,
• “Career Trainings” to help employees gain knowledge and skills that are required by their position and prepare them for higher level positions,
• “Training of Legal Obligations” in connection with the legislation.

In 2018, a total of 24,646 personnel were given an average of 34 hours of training per person.

In addition to classroom trainings, employees were presented with digital trainings such as e-learnings, gamification and virtual classes in 2018.

E-learnings offer the advantages of allowing education to be provided to more employees in a short period of time, at low cost, without any loss of labor and at the employee’s place of work or their home. Some of the existing e-learnings which also support classroom trainings were updated and some new ones were added in 2018. During the year, an average of 28 e-learning programs was assigned per user with a total of 24 hours spent on e-learning per user.

As of 2018 year end, there were more than 100 e-learnings in the system on various subjects (interactive e-learnings, videos, book summaries, articles and e-books).

In 2018, e-learnings which have the highest number of entry are Information Security, Law on Protection of Personal Data, Business Continuity and Emergency Management System and Our New Card Brand, respectively.

With the virtual classroom method, trainings were made available to employees where they can watch the trainers live and ask questions, at their computers without leaving their branches. Thanks to this method, 2,593 employees received trainings on their computer at their branches.

In addition to these methods, “serious game” application was offered to employees to be used on smart phones, which allows for solution of questions, thus making learning permanent. Employees showed great interest in this application which was opened for use with a question pool on subjects including current economy, banking, general knowledge, financial terms, information security and risk management. 821 questions in the application were solved approximately 2.9 million times with a total of 3,780 people entering the application and total time spent in the application was 11,060 hours.

Approximately 344 trees were saved in 2018 through the use of e-learning applications.

As of the end of 2018, approximately 23,845 employees held Occupational Health and Safety Certificates and approximately 1,892 employees held Basic First Aid Certificates.