Human resources
Swedish Match strives to continuously attract, develop and retain motivated personnel for strong and sustainable development of the Group. Our long-term success is based on result-oriented and committed employees, which means that personnel and skills development are prioritized areas.
Result-oriented company culture
Qualified managers and motivated employees play a vital role in Swedish Match’s business and change processes. Over a number of years, the Group has purposely worked on ensuring that managers and employees have ongoing and open discussions with regard to targets and plans on both the company and individual levels. Managers within Swedish Match must function as leaders with the ability to set clear targets, conduct follow-ups and delegate assignments and responsibility to their employees. The process used to achieve this is called Performance Management and it is an integrated part of the business operations.
Securing management resources
Swedish Match has a well-established management planning process. Annual surveys of the Company’s senior management and key personnel are conducted to ensure efficient and reliable succession planning. Today, the process includes 150 people and its objective is to secure the Company’s long-term requirement in terms of leaders. Included in the process are organization analyses, evaluation of performance, potential and leadership qualities and identifying potential future leaders.
Career and skills development
For a long time, internal recruitment has been a natural part of Swedish Match’s corporate culture, which increases continuity in business operations and retains professional expertise within the organization. Active efforts are in progress to give employees broader responsibility areas and the opportunity to work in various projects and deepen their knowledge within a specific area or work as specialists.
At Swedish Match, it is common for employees to have several assignments and work in different positions in the organization during their careers. This increases employees’ knowledge of the organization and understanding of the business operations as a whole.
In order to increase development opportunities, vacant positions are advertised on the Group’s intranet. Of the vacancies that arose within senior management during the year, more than half were filled through internal recruitment, of whom 25 percent were women. There is also a database where internal and external candidates may keep their information for possible future vacancies.
Most of the Company’s skills development for managers and employees takes place within the respective divisions and is based on their different needs and resources. During the year, work continued on customized training focused on feedback and coaching, and local manager programs focused on such issues as strategy, company knowledge, business acumen and personal leadership.
Swedish Match has common principles in terms of recruitment, orientation for new employees, management planning and development of employees as well as compensation and benefit systems.
Employee surveys
In order to measure how Swedish Match is functioning and how it is perceived as an employer, the Company conducts regular employee surveys. The surveys deal with issues such as work content and workload, development opportunities, leadership, cooperation, salary and rewards. Based on these results, each manager in collaboration with the employees, is responsible for identifying possible improvement areas and producing action plans for these.
Cooperation through meeting forums
Management conference
Swedish Match regularly arranges management conferences for leading executives from the entire Company. The conferences focus on strategies and business goals for the Group and the divisions, and sharing of experience.
The last conference was held in 2005 and the next one is scheduled for 2007.
Cross-divisional teams
Within the Group, there is active cooperation within Human Resources, IT, product development, production and environmental issues, among other areas. The various groups meet regularly to plan, coordinate and evaluate Group-wide activities within each area.
European Works Council
The European Works Council (EWC) was established in compliance with an EU directive (Council Directive 94/45/ EC) aimed at improving information provided to personnel in companies with more than 1,000 employees and operations in a number of countries. Employee representatives from five countries meet within the Group.
Cooperaton with trade unions
Swedish Match has a cooperation agreement with trade union organizations in the Swedish parts of the Group, in accordance with the Swedish Employment Act (MBL). In accordance with this agreement, representatives of Group management and the employee representatives on the Board meet prior to each Board meeting and at other times when necessary. In addition, a reference group consisting of local representatives of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and the Council for Negotiation and Cooperation (PTK) meets prior to each Board meeting.
| Average number of employees |
|
|
| |
2006 |
2005 |
| Swedish Match AB (Parent Company) |
44 |
47 |
| North Europe Division |
758 |
829 |
| North America Division |
7,329 |
6,926 |
| USA |
1,212 |
1,217 |
| The Dominican Republic |
4,208 |
3,908 |
| Honduras |
1,909 |
1,801 |
| International Division |
4,334 |
6,531 |
| Europe |
1,212 |
1,692 |
| South Africa |
453 |
472 |
| Brazil |
747 |
758 |
| Asia & Oceania |
1,870 |
3,556 |
| Other |
52 |
53 |
| Total Group |
12,465 |
14,333 |
Consolidated Income Statement
