Our people

Santam relies on the skills, resources and productivity of the Group's employees to ensure that it delivers on its brand promise of Insurance Good and Proper. Our employees enable
us to provide good client service and to manage our risk pool effectively. Given the reality of a skills shortage in the general insurance industry, there is an increasing need to
build and retain a productive and diverse workforce that can respond to changing ways of doing business. Therefore, Santam focuses on the mental, physical and socio-economic
wellness of our employees.

The Santam manifesto was recently introduced to describe The Santam Way – the vital behaviours and attitudes that we expect Santam employees to display, thereby enabling the company
to deliver on its promise of insurance good and proper. The Santam Way is everything that is special and unique about us. It is our culture, both current and desired. It encapsulates
what matters to us, and the values we want our staff to live by. We believe that by consistently demonstrating these five values, we will create a healthy organisation on the inside,
which delivers on the brand promise on the outside.

• Striving for Excellence
• Maintaining Humanity
• Behaving with Integrity
• Encouraging Innovation
• Delivering with Passion

Skills development

Scarce skills development is an issue that requires action at national, industry and company level. Only when contributing on all three levels will companies benefit and employees and government be able to achieve success. Therefore, the group focuses on the following: 

• The three-tiered leadership development programme
• Sanlam/Santam leadership programme run by the USB-ED (University of Stellenbosch Enterprise Development)
• Sanlam ELP (Enterprise Learning Programme)
• Behavioural skills training
• Technical, underwriting and systems training
  
• Learnership programme
• Coaching
• Study assistance  

Employee support offered

The following are the elements of our employee support available to staff: 

• Careways confidential counselling programme
• bWell online wellness initiative
• Health and wellness days, including HIV screening & counselling
• Yell for Yellow lifestyle support programme, including a concierge desk, call centre assistance as well as online tools.
• Training and development - behavioural, leadership, technical, systems, etc.
• Interventions to foster inclusivity and diversity
• Learnerships and graduate development programmes 

Employee wellness is managed under a joint Sanlam and Santam strategy aimed at standardising a core offering to employees. This includes an employee wellness plan, preventative health screening and HIV/Aids management. Our employee assistance programme, called Careways, is offered to employees and their families at no cost. In addition to individual counselling, Santam receives a number of hours per year that can be used for group sessions focusing on areas of concern highlighted in the quarterly Careways reports.

Our bWell programme offers solutions that are tailored to each employee's need, in order to encourage healthy lifestyle choices. A specific site in Gauteng was identified as an area of concern from a wellness perspective and bWell conducted a three-day wellness event and a site assessment to determine the potential health risks. One of the most concerning risks identified were high stress levels. To assist employees with managing stress levels they are, for example, equipped with skills to handle trauma with greater confidence.

Performance management

Employees are required to have a performance contract in place for each year, with clear KPAs, weightings, targets and measurements set for that period. These KPAs must align with the Group strategy and the business unit and team focus areas.

In this way, the top-level organisational strategy is cascaded into business unit scorecards, and ultimately individual performance contracts to ensure proper alignment with group strategy. Employees are formally appraised twice a year and informally given feedback on a regular basis.

The 2014 Chief Executive Officer road show for employees took place in June. The message provided an external and internal context for the Santam business and was aimed at creating understanding of Santam's long-term strategy.

Focus areas for 2015

Operational efficiency

Create operational efficiency for improved individual, team and corporate performance.

People diversity and transformation

Driving transformation and diversity through various programmes and/initiatives to support achievement of the Santam diversification strategy.

Integrated talent management

Invest in the acquisition, development, deployment and retention of new talent, current employees and leaders.  Manage talent and people related risks through an integrated talent management framework that includes talent grids and succession management, leadership and technical skills programmes tailored to suit the Santam leadership and technical skills competency profile. 

Culture & employee engagement

Secure higher engagement to supports more customer value and better financial results - Drive a culture that inculcates performance accountability, employee engagement, reward and recognition. We will also re-vitalise the employee value proposition and facilitate the Santam Way to create a culture that celebrates success on an on-going basis.