Employees as a success factor
Emmi aims to be a preferred employer as it believes that employees are one of the company's most important success factors. Only with the help of committed and motivated individuals who see themselves as partners can Emmi achieve its long-term goals. Human resources is therefore accorded high strategic importance at Emmi.
Corporate values as a foundation
Alongside organisation and strategy, corporate culture is one of the most important aspects of sustainable management. The basis of this are the five corporate values which were developed in collaboration with senior managers in 2010:
- We are Emmi!
- We are market-oriented!
- We know how!
- We are proactive, and not afraid of hard work!
- We are continually developing!
These values were integrated into the everyday working life of employees in 2011.
Promoting entrepreneurship
Emmi maintains an active dialogue with its employees, because only those who feel involved and taken seriously are prepared to make a real contribution to the company's success. Emmi therefore provides employees with detailed information about key business decisions in a timely manner.
Emmi employees are given the greatest possible freedom to act. In this way, the company promotes personal responsibility and entrepreneurship. Employees also have the opportunity to express their concerns, opinions and ideas. The sites are now gathering employees' ideas and implementing them jointly with employees as part of the cost and quality optimisation programme. More than CHF 5 million are saved every year thanks to these suggestions.
Employees' interests are represented to the company by the employee committee (PEKO), which, for example, acts as a point of contact for employees with problems, plays a substantial part in drawing up operational regulations and acts as a channel for employees' requests and suggestions to the management.
Increasing freedom to act
Full appreciation is shown at Emmi. The company therefore maintains a fair and appropriate compensation policy. All employees receive a basic salary which matches the requirements of the skills and responsibilities of their role, their performance and their conduct. Professional experience, education and qualifications are also taken into account. To ensure that Emmi pays fair and appropriate salaries, these are regularly reviewed using target group-relevant benchmarks, while the members of Group Management regularly verify the salaries. In addition to the regular salary, Emmi offers its em¬ployees numerous additional benefits and discounts. For example, if the company achieves good business results, all employees in continuing employment and not under notice are awarded a bonus.
For Emmi, appreciation also means promoting health awareness among employees. Prevention and safety are key considerations for HR at Emmi. Health management at Emmi comprises all measures which help promote the health, integrity and well-being of employees.
Emmi promotes staff development
One of the responsibilities of a preferred, successful employer is to develop and encourage its employees. This should include, on the one hand, preparing them for increasing internationalisation within the Emmi Group and the demands this will place on them and, on the other, career prospects and personal incentives.
Professional training is the foundation for future-oriented personnel development. It secures the necessary knowledge and skills for the future. Emmi employs more than 100 apprentices. Emmi also launched a trainee programme as part of a pilot project in 2011.
Emmi offers all employees a broad range of development opportunities. The main emphasis for employees is on professional training, and the sharing of knowledge in the workplace is actively promoted. Emmi also supports external study programmes and offers a targeted selection of internal training courses which focus on working practices.
Developing a professional management culture
"We are continually developing" applied in particular to Emmi managers in 2011. Given that for most employees, their understanding of work, motivation and performance is dependent on the quality of their managers, Emmi focused on developing a professional management culture in its training in 2011.
For Emmi, professional management means:
- goal orientation
- satisfaction orientation
- skills management
This means that managers should ensure that employees have access to a cycle of target definition, target verification and controlling. Management is professional when the concept of participation is applied and communicated transparently. The importance of being market oriented in their area can thus be clearly demonstrated to employees. Management also means employing the skills of staff in a way that focuses on the abilities required now and in the future.
HR processes found to be ethically sound
In 2011, Emmi became the first major food manufacturer in Switzerland to successfully complete an external, internationally recognised audit of its HR processes. The inspection and certification company Société Générale de Surveillance SA (SGS) conducted a Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) of Emmi's HR processes according to the principles of the not-for-profit organisation Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange). The objective of this audit was to identify further scope for improvement in the implementation of the Code of Conduct of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).
The audit was performed at various sites in Switzerland and served to verify various aspects of the company's social performance, including recruitment terms and conditions, safe and hygienic working environment, discrimination, corruption and environmental performance.