Communication and involvement

Communication and involvement: performance 2007/08

We said:

We would ensure that 75% of our local operating companies deliver top quartile employee engagement scores within their local markets by March 2009.

We have:

Measured employee engagement through our annual global People Survey
In October 2007, we invited all our employees to participate in the Vodafone People Survey – 50,545 employees responded, representing 81% of our global workforce, excluding Vodafone Essar, which had recently been acquired.

The survey found that levels of employee engagement continue to remain high, with a score of 71 out of 100 in the 2007 People Survey, compared with 73 in the 2005 People Survey and 70 in the Pulse Survey in April 2007 (Pulse Surveys are smaller surveys carried out in between People Surveys). The engagement score is based on responses to a range of questions, including pride in Vodafone, employee satisfaction and how long people intend to continue working for us. We are making progress towards our target that by March 2009, 75% of our local operating companies will deliver top quartile employee engagement scores within their local markets.

We included a Manager Index in the People Survey for the first time in 2007. The Index scores are derived from a subset of questions focused on the experience a manager creates for their team. In 2007/08, the Manager Index scored 69 out of 100 across the Group. The responses show our managers are improving their coaching of employees, scoring eight points higher on this than in the 2005 People Survey. Employees also rated their managers 10 points higher for feedback and eight points higher for recognition than in the 2005 survey.

Our next global People Survey will be conducted in November 2008. We have decided not to continue interim Pulse Surveys because we believe that surveying our people once a year is sufficient to track employee views and prefer to focus our efforts on responding to their feedback and improving performance.

Responded to feedback in previous People Surveys
We value feedback from our employees and we are committed to respond appropriately. Wellbeing and reward were identified as areas for improvement in both the 2005 Full Survey and the 2006 Pulse Survey.

Responses on wellbeing were much more positive this year, with 57% of our employees saying their local operating company takes a genuine interest in their wellbeing. This is an increase of 15% from 2005. Of those surveyed, 70% say their managers support them in achieving a good work-life balance – 13% above the high performing norm.* We introduced a toolkit for local operating companies as part of our wellbeing framework in 2007/08, and continued to introduce flexible workspaces in our office buildings. See wellbeing for more information.

In 2007/08, we continued to roll out a range of initiatives across the Group that link reward with individual performance. These initiatives have helped to improve employee feedback in this area, with 46% of employees surveyed in 2007 agreeing they are rewarded fairly for the work they do, a 4% increase from 2005. Around half (51%) said they understand that the better their performance, the better their reward will be. We will continue to work on this area. See Reward and recognition: performance 2007/08 for more details.

Extended the Vodafone European Employee Consultative Committee (EECC) to two further countries
The EECC now represents employees from 13 European countries. Romania and the Czech Republic were represented for the first time in 2007/08. We updated the EECC Agreement in 2007/08 so employee delegates can hold two interim meetings in addition to the full meeting. Delegates also have the option to elect Select Committees. We have also strengthened the rights of delegates from smaller countries who are not members of a union or Works Council. Delegates may now also request translation services. The annual full meeting in July 2007 focused on the impacts on employees of company reorganisation and outsourcing, see Organisation and Change. The first interim meeting was held in December 2007.

We will:

• Ensure that 75% of local operating companies deliver top quartile employee engagement scores within their local markets by March 2009.

^{* The high performing norm is benchmarked by The Hay Group, which carries out the Vodafone People Survey, against performance from other companies.}