Ensure employee empowerment and engagement

Link Employee Opinion Survey more closely to beStick self-assessment action plans
Analyse new open questions from Employee Opinion Survey (EOS)
Take specific corporate actions on worldwide issues identified in EOS
Reactivate corporate recognition programs

 

Unvested Stock Awards l STS47 l
		2005	2006
Number of employees rewarded		7,189	6,000
Percentage of eligible population		41	34

 

Recognition l STS26 l STS28 l STS34 l
		2004	2005	2006
STS26	People recognized	49,553	41,676	77,390*
STS28	Overall company recognition budget (US$k)	1,000	1,613	1,031
STS34	Accepted suggestions which were implemented (%)	54	57	39
(*) Can include multiple recognition for one employee over the year.

 

Employee opinion survey STS28a			%
	2004	2005	2006
Overall participation rate	87	80	NA
Overall satisfaction rate	65	61	NA
(*) This indicator is not applicable this year as our Employee Opinion Survey is carried out approximately every 18 months.

 

Unplanned absenteeism l STS28b l		%
	2005	2006
Percentage of unplanned absenteeism*	3	3.05
(*) As opposed to vacations and holidays which are typically planned months in advance, unplanned absenteism is the result of absence due to last minute emergencies or illness and therefore cannot be planned and managed.

Unvested Stock Awards

Since 2005, we have offered restricted Stock Award Plans, ‘Unvested Stock Awards’ which are designed to incentivize, attract and retain our executives and key employees who contribute to our success, by aligning compensation with the evolution of our share price.

In 2006 the program was redesigned to provide larger awards but to a more selective panel of employees (34%).

Recognition

Embedded in our Sustainable Excellence culture, corporate recognition programs are designed to recognize team as well as individual excellence and outstanding contributions. Awards encourage and motivate employees to reach a high level of performance and consequently increase the company’s competitiveness.

Recognition takes place in ST through 2 different ways:

• Corporate level - yearly event: corporate recognition acknowledges individual employees or teams who have made outstanding contributions and accomplishments which best reflect ST Principles for Sustainable Excellence (Integrity, People, Excellence).

Team recognition awards are CEO, Gold, Silver and Bronze awards and individual performance is recognized by the ‘ABCD’ (Above and Beyond the Course of Duty) award. In 2006, 805 people were recognized at corporate level.

• Local level - frequency defined by local organizations: recognition takes place at site and organization level through various different processes. In 2006, the number of awarded recognitions increased again (note that employees can be recognized several times).

Employee suggestion scheme

We encourage our employees to think in terms of continuous improvement, and it has been our culture for many years to enable them to contribute to real improvements through our long-standing suggestion scheme.

In 2006, nearly 27,000 suggestions were implemented.

The knowledge that their suggestions can result in improvements in any aspects of the company’s performance results in greater involvement and engagement of employees.

Employee Opinion Survey

We consider our employees as the foundation of our business success and the most valuable of our resources. Therefore we promote and encourage communication between employees and management and every 18 months our employees worldwide are invited to participate in the survey, which is now an integral part of our Sustainable Excellence management practices. It provides an opportunity for dialogue to share thoughts, opinions and ideas about the company and for the subsequent implementation of appropriate action plans to improve employee satisfaction among the men and women who make ST a success.

An analysis of the results of the open questions from the 2005 survey was made available to local organizations to support them in the implementation of their local action plan. Most actions relating to the Employee Opinion Survey are taken locally and in some cases at the Regional or Top Management level in the case of common issues.

Each site and organization management team defines a post-survey action plan to improve weak areas, monitor implementation and progress and communicate results of action plans to employees.

In 2006, we worked with local Sustainable Excellence steering committees to ensure that they take their Employee Opinion Survey results into consideration during their annual self-assessment and the setting of local objectives. This will continue to be a focal point for activity in 2007.