Our people
People securing growth
Swedish Match strives to attract, develop and retain motivated and highly skilled employees for a strong and sustainable development of the Group. The Company’s success is founded on committed and result-oriented employees’ willingness to develop, for both personal enhancement and improvement in the Company’s performance.
Result-oriented company culture
Swedish Match provides an international environment with varied work assignments and opportunities. Swedish Match is characterized by a decentralized organization in terms of responsibility for the local business. The atmosphere is informal but professional. Empowerment is a key component of the Swedish Match culture and leadership style, and own initiatives and result-oriented actions are encouraged.
For the past several years, Swedish Match has worked to ensure that managers and employees have ongoing and open discussions with regard to targets and plans, both at Company and individual levels. Managers in Swedish Match must act as leaders and have the ability to manage people by setting clear targets, conducting reviews and delegating tasks and assignments to appropriate levels in the organization.
Organizational development
During 2007, Swedish Match strengthened the organization in order to meet new demands in the marketplace. At the beginning of the year, a cross-divisional business unit was established with the objective to exploit opportunities in the smokefree product segment.
Furthermore, the Divisions have adjusted their organizational structures to better fit the rapid changes in the marketplace. During 2007, a collaboration project between the North Europe Division and the North America Division was initiated to build on a technical development platform to improve cost-efficiency in production.
Securing management resources
Management planning is a priority of the Swedish Match senior management. Both the Board of Directors and the Group Management Team are involved in the process.
The process includes 150 people, with the objective being to secure appropriate staffing of senior management and key personnel in order to meet organizational long term requirements.
The management planning process starts locally, where the management teams continuously review their needs and where key positions and talents are identified. At Group level, the CEO, the Divisional Presidents, together with representatives from Group Human Resources, review the results and a summary is prepared for the Board. The process enables the organization to gain an overall profile of the requirements and of the potential available in the Group and identifies the managerial capabilities as well as possible alternative careers and successors.
Career and competence development
For Swedish Match it is a priority to always have access to qualified people. It is important to provide possibilities for our employees to develop and grow through new or varied work assignments and responsibilities. Activities are made to find and develop the talents required to achieve the Group’s business objectives. As a global player, the organization strives to create a working climate that rewards information and competence sharing while encouraging a behavior that promotes high performance across all markets.
Development programs for Swedish Match are based on professional education and training that provide our employees and managers with the competencies necessary to achieve exceptional individual and group performance. This also promotes professional growth and career enhancement.
Most of the Group’s competence development takes place within the Divisions and is designed to meet their specific needs and business objectives. During 2007, work continued on customized training focusing on personal leadership and knowledge and understanding of business operations.
Internal recruitment is a natural part of the Swedish Match company culture. It is customary for employees to have several assignments within the organization during the course of their careers.
To support internal development opportunities vacancies are advertised on the Group’s Intranet. During the year, the majority of management vacancies were filled through internal recruitment.
Employee surveys
Swedish Match encourages employees to have an active dialogue with their managers to create an attractive and motivating work place. The Company regularly conducts employee surveys to measure how Swedish Match is perceived as an employer. Based on the results, managers together with their employees, are responsible for identifying possible improvement areas and for developing action plans. These plans are designed to enhance both the working climate and performance with the intent to make Swedish Match an even better place to work.
Meeting forums
In order to create a strong leadership culture within the Swedish Match organization and to implement the Group’s strategies, the Company regularly arranges management conferences for key managers from the entire Group. The conferences focus on strategies and business targets as well as sharing of experiences. During the year, a top management conference for 120 participants was held.
Within the Group, there is also cooperation across the organization through cross-divisional teams such as Human Resources, IT, product development teams and environmental managers, among other areas. The various groups meet regularly to plan, coordinate and evaluate group-wide activities within each area.
Cooperation with trade unions
Swedish Match has an agreement in accordance with the Co-Determination in the Workplace Act (MBL) concerning collaboration with trade union organizations active in the Swedish business units of the Group. Under this agreement, a council comprising representatives of management and employee representatives appointed to the Board meets ahead of scheduled Board meetings and on other ad hoc occasions. The Council discusses matters on the agenda of meetings of the Group Board, particularly issues that could give rise to MBL negotiations.
A reference group also meets ahead of such Board meetings. The reference group comprises local trade union representatives of LO* and PTK**.
European Works Council
The European Works Council (EWC) was formed on the basis of an EU directive (Council Directive 94/45/EC), the purpose of which is to improve information provided to employees of companies that have operations in several countries and more than 1,000 employees. Within the Group, employee representatives from five countries meet. Two meetings were held in 2007.
* Swedish Trade Union Confederation ** Council for Negotiation and Cooperation
| |
2007 |
2006 |
| Corporate Headquarters |
50 |
44 |
| North Europe Division |
746 |
758 |
| North America Division |
7,093 |
7,329 |
| – USA |
1,256 |
1,212 |
| – The Dominican Republic |
3,919 |
4,208 |
| – Honduras |
1,919 |
1,909 |
| International Division |
4,185 |
4,334 |
| – Europe |
1,111 |
1,212 |
| – Africa (South Africa) |
389 |
453 |
| – South America (Brazil) |
766 |
747 |
| – Asia & Oceania |
1,919 |
1,870 |
| – Other |
– |
52 |
| Total Group |
12,075 |
12,465 |
Consolidated Income Statement
