In keeping with its people-focused business model and practices, Ziraat Bank gives great importance to providing equal opportunity to all of its personnel. The Bank regards and supports differences in its workforce as a fundamental source of richness that nourishes a shared culture.

Ziraat Bank regards maintaining a progressive and participatory workplace environment that encourages employee involvement as a fundamental objective.

Ziraat Bank personnel demographic highlights

• As of 31 December 2013, Ziraat Bank had 24,725 people on its payroll.
• 85% of Ziraat Bank employees hold at least one university degree (bachelor’s or higher). The average age of employees is 35; their average length of service is 11 years.
• Ziraat Bank employs more people with a master’s or doctoral degree than any other bank in Turkey.
• During 2013, 143 people joined the Ziraat Bank team to fill positions set aside for physically handicapped individuals.

The breakdown by gender and age groups of Ziraat Bank’s human resource is as follows:

AGE	MALE %	FEMALE %	TOTAL
19-30	55.35	44.65	10,581
31-40	61.10	38.90	6,959
41-50	61.56	38.44	4,808
51+	86.58	13.42	2,377
TOTAL	61.18	38.82	24,725

 

Ziraat Bank’s domestic organizational structure consists of headquarters and eight regional department units.

The chart below shows a breakdown by gender of personnel employed in each regional department during the reporting period.

REGIONAL DEPARTMENT	MALE %	FEMALE %	TOTAL
Çukurova Regional Department	63	37	2,023
Ege Regional Department	59	41	3,367
Güneydoğu Anadolu Regional Department	72	28	1,318
İç Anadolu-1 Regional Department	55	45	2,754
İç Anadolu-2 Regional Department	71	29	1,858
Karadeniz Regional Department	66	34	2,346
Marmara Regional Department	63	37	2,624
Trakya Regional Department	51	49	3,791
TOTAL	61	39	20,081

 

In the conduct of career-management activities in 2013, 6,375 employees were promoted to the next higher position based on the results of their written and/or oral exams.

4,276 new personnel in 150^th year
As in previous years, Ziraat Bank continued to open its doors to young people seeking to pursue a career in banking in 2013. In its recruitment announcements and examinations, the Bank allows candidates to specify the province in which they would prefer to work. This practice arises from Ziraat Bank’s principle of recruiting locally. 92.6% of all newly-hired personnel in 2013 were recruited from local sources. Under a new procedure introduced in the Bank’s 150^th year, Ziraat Bank also began hiring people with lycee and associate degree diplomas.

An important tenet of Ziraat Bank’s HR policy is to employ people in places where they prefer to work. In keeping with this, 57.5% of employees’ requests for transfers were fulfilled in situations where staffing conditions permitted.

All Ziraat Bank personnel are employed under full-time, indefinite-term work agreements. During 2013, a total of 3,125 employees resigned from Ziraat Bank. The Bank’s personnel turnover rate is 13% a year.

The next chart shows personnel turnover rates in Ziraat Bank regional department and headquarters units during 2013.

UNIT	2013 NEW HIRES	2013 TERMINATIONS	TURNOVER RATE
Çukurova Regional Department	456	320	17
Ege Regional Department	459	404	12
Güneydoğu Regional Department	416	186	15
İç Anadolu-1 Regional Department	261	309	12
İç Anadolu-2 Regional Department	410	200	11
Karadeniz Regional Department	556	352	16
Marmara Regional Department	599	323	13
Trakya Regional Department	887	511	14
Headquarters	232	520	12
TOTAL	4,276	3,125	13

 

Code of Ethics Pledge, information disclosure
During the recruitment and hiring process, every employee is required to sign the Bank’s Code of Ethics Pledge. Information about job descriptions and assignments and about performance and reward criteria is disclosed clearly and transparently through the Ziraat Bank internet portal and by email. These procedures are also monitored by appropriate headquarters units for evidence of irregularities, abuse, and the like.

Individual Performance Management System
The Ziraat Bank Individual Performance Management System is a system whereby employees’ success and rankings are measured at regular intervals on the basis of objectively quantifiable data, and in accordance with predetermined parameters.

Besides numerical benchmarks, the Individual Performance Management System also considers competencies that are contingent upon an individual’s job position. Numerical-based performance measurement means assessing performance by means of objective criteria that are associated with strategic objectives. In Ziraat Bank’s system, benchmarks pertaining to customer focus, profitability, productivity, and risk management contribute substantially to the numerical performance points an employee receives.

The Ziraat Bank Individual Performance Management System encompassed all regional department and branch personnel in 2013. Work is currently in progress to bring headquarters personnel into this system as well.

In 2013 Ziraat Bank introduced a new bonus system which is compatible with the Bank’s new marketing- and sales-focused organizational structure, which seeks to improve the effectiveness of sales staff, and which is based on individual performance ratings. This new system was designed so as to enable employees who demonstrate superior performance to earn more in keeping with the principle that improvements in performance and effectiveness should be rewarded and that compensation should increase with success.

The performance bonus payments that are made on the basis of periodically-conducted performance evaluations are intended to strengthen the customer-focused business model, to foster marketing- and effectiveness-focused work attitudes, to motivate employees and increase their loyalty to the company, and to provide material rewards for individual success that is compatible with corporate objectives.

Under the Ziraat Bank Individual Performance Management System, a quarterly bonus budget is determined taking the Bank’s profitability and operational results into account and so as not to exceed 7% of total monthly salary payments. The amount so allocated is paid to employees, along with their February, May, August, and November salaries, as an individual performance bonus that is determined according to objectively-defined, specific, and numerically quantifiable criteria. In line with the Bank’s strategies and objectives, this system is marketing-oriented and bonuses are paid so as to enable employees who contribute more on that front to earn more.

The Ziraat Bank Individual Performance Management System was designed to reward superior performance and essentially to increase the productivity of sales personnel.

All Ziraat Bank employees benefit from the Individual Performance Management System.

Human Resources Career Management
As an employer, Ziraat Bank's approach to career management is transparent. The Bank additionally seeks to recruit and train its own management personnel.

A very important tenet of Ziraat Bank's people-focused HR policy is that employees should take satisfaction in the performance of their jobs by serving in positions that are compatible with their competencies. To achieve this, in 2012 the Bank changed over from a title-based, largely vertical organizational structure to a more horizontal structure based on job descriptions. With this change, the concept of "job description" was introduced in career management at Ziraat Bank. In addition to a "title description" that defines an employee's position in the professional hierarchy, every employee has also been assigned a "job description" that sets out the particulars of his job, the customers he comes into contact with, and his marketing/operational functions.

In the conduct of career-management activities in 2013, 6,375 employees were promoted to the next higher position based on the results of their written and/or oral exams.

As of end-2013, a new job description setting out his duties and authorities had been written for every Ziraat Bank employee.

Personnel training in 2013
Personnel training activities conducted during 2013 are summarized below.

• “First Step Training” was provided to newly-recruited personnel to help them become familiar with Ziraat Bank, adapt to its corporate culture, and acquire basic and essential knowledge and skills.
• “Certification Training” was provided to equip personnel in bank officer and assistant positions with the knowledge, skills, and competencies required by their positions.
• “Change Management Training Programs” were conducted to support the development of such managerial skills as supporting change, understanding employees during periods of change, becoming a part of bank strategies, correctly using motivational tools, and resolving conflicts.
• “Professional Training” was provided to employees in line with the Bank’s objectives and strategies in order to familiarize them with new products, services, and changes in laws and regulations.
• All training mandated by laws and regulations was duly provided to personnel.

During 2013, a total of 21,278 employees (corresponding to 159,518 individual trainees*) were provided with training at Ziraat Bank. These figures do not include e-training. Average training time per employee was 51.84 hours.

Owing to the extensive nature of its service network, Ziraat Bank also makes considerable use of e-training in the conduct of its personnel training activities. E-training makes it possible to provide training to more employees in less time and without causing lost worktime. Employees can take part in e-training wherever and whenever it is convenient for them and they can proceed at their own pace. E-training is used to support classroom training. By reducing the need for employees to travel to training sites, e-training also makes an indirect contribution to environmental wellbeing. A total of 216,030 trainee individuals took part in e-training programs during 2013.

In 2013, a total of 20,338 employees were provided with training on 262 subjects intended to improve their financial literacy.

During the year, training was provided on issues related to the prevention of money-laundering and terrorism-financing. 88% of all Ziraat Bank personnel took part in such training.

	MALE		FEMALE
Position	Individual trainees*	Average training time/person	Individual trainees*	Average training time/person
Managerial	4,397	1.43	1,446	0.47
Other	87,063	28.40	66,612	21.54
TOTAL/AVERAGE	91,460	29.83	68,058	22.01

* Individual trainee: This term is used in the Bank’s training statistics. If one employee takes part in three different training programs during a year, he counts as three “individual trainees” even though he is only one person.

Ziraat Bank’s approach to personnel remuneration
Along with the changeover from a title- to a job-description structure, a new remuneration system was also introduced at the beginning of 2013. Some aspects of the system were revised and some additions were made in light of needs during the year. At the beginning of 2014, employees will also start receiving a supplementary payment in addition to their normal salary to compensate them for the time they must spend in their current position that exceeds the normal period that must pass before they are entitled to be promoted.

For details about the relationship between remuneration and performance at Ziraat Bank, please refer to the Individual Performance Management System on page 49 of this report.

Remuneration Committee
The Remuneration Committee is responsible for supervising and auditing remuneration practices on behalf of the Board of Directors at Ziraat Bank. This committee reviews remuneration policies and practices within the framework of risk management in order to ensure their compliance with the Bank’s ethical values and strategic objectives and it makes recommendations accordingly to the Board of Directors at regular intervals.

Ziraat Bank’s approach to senior management remuneration
All remuneration that is to be paid to members of the Bank’s Board of Directors and to its general manager is decided upon at annual general meetings. The Treasury Undersecretariat’s representative is authorized to advance motions concerning such payments.

Healthcare and other fringe benefits
Ziraat Bank employees who are not civil servants as well as their family members also benefit from healthcare services provided by the Social Security Institution. Subject to certain principles and procedures, they may also receive additional payments for medical treatment from:

• Ziraat Bank’s budget within the framework of authorities granted by the Bank’s Board of Directors
• The budget of the Health Assistance Fund in the case of personal who are members of that fund and within the framework of authorities granted by the fund’s own administration.

Ziraat Bank also enters into agreements with private hospitals, clinics, medical imaging centers, doctors’ surgeries, and similar healthcare providers under which its employees have access to their medical services. Such matters are announced via the Bank’s internet portal.

Occupational health & safety at Ziraat Bank
Occupational health & safety units have been set up at Ziraat Bank’s Ankara and İstanbul headquarters as required by the Occupational Health & Safety Act. Workplace physicians are on duty at these units.

Occupational health & safety training was also provided to 3,752 people at Ziraat Bank in 2013.

During 2013, no worktime was lost at the Bank for such reasons as injuries, occupational diseases, strikes, lockouts, natural disasters, or structural collapse. Similarly there were no fatal job-related accidents at the Bank last year.

A proactive approach in private pensions
Ziraat Bank engages in a synergetic collaboration with Ziraat Hayat ve Emeklilik, a life insurer and private pension provider, in order to help its employees augment their pension savings and enjoy a more comfortable retirement by taking advantage of the benefits afforded by the national Private Pension System (PPS).

Under the “Biz Bize” Group Pension Plan, bank employees and their relatives are not charged PPS policy entrance fees, do not have to pay management fees, and pay a specially-discounted fund operations fee.

An employer-sponsored group pension plan for Ziraat Bank personnel was launched on 1 January 2013. In this plan, the Bank contributes up to 3% of an employee’s gross monthly salary (or at least TRY 50) a month to the group pension-plan account that the employee opens with Ziraat Hayat ve Emeklilik and to which he contracts to contribute up to 3% of his gross monthly salary (or at least TRY 50) a month. Under this scheme, which is intended to help employees build up their retirement savings more quickly, employees also receive an additional state contribution corresponding to 25% of the amount that they pay into their pension account.

In order to increase employees’ motivation and company loyalty and also to encourage them to save up for retirement, Ziraat Bank will begin paying an employer’s pension contribution of TRY 50 a month to every employee as of 1 January 2014 whether or not the employee pays a contribution of his own. In this way, even employees who have never paid a pension contribution of their own will be brought into the PPS through the employer group pension contracts that are created. Employees who have not previously paid a pension contribution and who are covered by these new employer group pension contracts will also be able to take advantage of the additional employer contribution rule if they opt to start making their own contributions.

Seeking to ensure the sustainability of a participatory and collaborative workplace environment, Ziraat Bank gives great importance to employee communication.

Improvements in working conditions
System development projects are being carried out to reduce the amounts of overtime that must be worked at Ziraat Bank.

The Bank’s branches are being renovated both to improve employees’ working conditions and to create more modern and spacious settings in which to provide customers with financial consultancy services. In this context, branches are being completely redesigned taking Ziraat Customer Business Model principles and concepts into account; four hundred branches underwent such renovation in 2013.

Employee communication
Seeking to ensure the sustainability of a participatory and collaborative workplace environment, Ziraat Bank gives great importance to employee communication. Information about the ways it does this is given below.

Ziraat Bank Employee Suggestion System: Ziraat Bank has always supported innovation and it regards employees’ suggestions and feedback as input for its ongoing development. The Ziraat Bank Employee Suggestion System was set up to give the Bank the benefit of employees’ knowledge and experience, to encourage employees to think critically, and to continuously improve service efficiency and quality. In 2013 work began on creating a more user-friendly suggestion system to replace the existing one. Designed to be more actively used by employees and to ensure that suggestions reach and are assessed by those concerned more quickly, this new system is scheduled to become operational in the first quarter of 2014.

Communication Meetings: When laying out its strategic roadmaps, Ziraat Bank solicits and makes use of its employees’ experience, opinions, and suggestions. This was done in the following ways during the reporting period.

• First Step Meetings: These are meetings at which the Ziraat Bank general manager explains the Bank’s strategies and goals to all employees. At these meetings, employees may pose questions that the general manager himself answers personally. Thirty-two such meetings were held in 21 cities last year.
• Information Meetings: Held at approximately three-month intervals, these are meetings that are attended by the senior managers of the Bank’s domestic and international branches and subsidiaries and at which they are informed about all impending new developments. At the end of the presentation, a question-and-answer session is conducted so that current issues may be discussed interactively. Fifty-two of these meetings were held last year.
• Performance Meetings: These are quarterly meetings led by Ziraat Bank’s general manager at which target performances are discussed and process-related issues are debated.
• Focus Group Meetings: Focus group meetings are attended by branch personnel and by headquarters and regional department senior executives. Such meetings provide valuable opportunities to air employees’ views and suggestions about changes in branch business processes.
• Weekly Bulletins: Innovations and changes taking place at Ziraat Bank are announced to all employees through weekly bulletins. The first such bulletin appeared in March 2012; as of end-2013, 76 issues had been published.

Marking the Bank’s 150^th anniversary, 2013 was an especially important year at Ziraat Bank.

Ziraat Bank employees get together at 150^th Anniversary Staff Gatherings.
Celebrations commemorating the 150^th year of Ziraat Bank’s founding at 150^th Anniversary Staff Gatherings held in Diyarbakır, Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir, and Trabzon during 2013 were enthusiastically attended by all bank personnel, who reported taking great satisfaction from the events.

Ziraat Bank Board Chairman Muharrem KARSLI and Ziraat Bank General Manager Hüseyin AYDIN both attended the 150^th Anniversary Staff Gatherings, which were emceed by Vatan Şaşmaz. Each event began with opening remarks by Mr. KARSLI and a presentation by Mr. AYDIN and then continued with a light show, a “Flying Drummers” performance, a showing of the Bank’s 150^th anniversary advertising film, anecdotes, and the showing of another film about the Bank’s corporate history. The evening ended with concert performances.

Regional departments also hosted dinners for retired Ziraat Bank personnel in commemoration of the Bank’s 150^th year. Speaking at these gatherings, bank executives thanked the attending guests for their dedicated efforts during the conduct of their careers while also noting that it is employees who are the most responsible for Ziraat Bank’s having been “More than a bank” for a century and a half.

150^th Anniversary Reception
Ziraat Bank’s 150^th Anniversary Reception was held in Ankara on 27 November 2013. The event, which was attended by Ziraat Bank’s senior management and three thousand distinguished guests, was also honored by the presence of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN and Deputy Prime Minister Ali BABACAN.

The reception was held at the Ankara Congresium congress center, whose exterior and foyer served as the backdrop for visual effects and one of the biggest video-mapping displays ever performed in Turkey. Guests arriving at the reception entered the main hall by passing through an image of Ziraat Bank’s original headquarters in Ankara’s historical Ulus district projected on the exterior. Once inside, guests were treated to a stunning visual experience in the form of a video display highlighting the changes, the growth and development, and the achievements of Ziraat Bank since the day it was founded. All images were projected in high-resolution through an indoor mapping system that perfectly matched the dimensions of the interior.

A special exhibition of a selection of 150 works from the Ziraat Bank Art Collection was also held concurrently with the 150^th Anniversary Reception.

Enhancing value to employees
In Ziraat Bank in 2014:

• employees will continue to be provided with ongoing training, with career-path opportunities compatible with their job positions, and with progressive working conditions.
• career advancement opportunities both in job titles and in position duties will be enriched by making full use of the Bank’s financial services subsidiaries. To this end, the Bank is planning to introduce a Competency Evaluation System that will make it possible to rate employees on the basis of the competencies they need to fulfill the requirements of different job descriptions.
• in order to create synergies between Ziraat Bank and its domestic and international subsidiaries and affiliates and also to increase the operational effectiveness of international units, the Bank plans, as part of the Change & Transformation Project, to update HR regulations at all international units, to match personnel to job descriptions, and to complete remuneration system and other employee rights management revisions by the end of the year.

As the years go by, Ziraat Bank will continue to further advance its standing as Turkey’s strongest national bank and global player. Aware that it owes its unique and distinguished position in its sector to superior human resources whose valuable market knowledge and experience enable the Bank to provide customers with the right value at the right time and in the right way, Ziraat Bank is committed to further developing its progressive human resources management systems and practices.