Training and human resources development

Developing our human resources and leadership skills is an essential priority for TITAN’s successful business performance and sustainable development.

In 2009 particular emphasis was given to control training expenditure without compromising the quality and the scope of training by implementing more training hours with internal trainers. The average number of training man-hours per employee lowered to 20.4 compared to 23.5 in 2008 and the total cost of training was approximately €1,150 million, an average of €195 per employee.

In the different regions TITAN operates diverse conditions and training needs are faced. Nevertheless people development, upgrading multi discipline skills and competencies at all hierarchical levels are a common task for all Group operations.

Long-term training programs like “Career Preheater” and TITAN mBA launched initially in Greece have continued and are gradually expanded in other regions.

Occupational Health and Safety was the topic accounting for 50% of total training hours at Group level.
Training courses for indirect employees particularly on safety and technical know how were conducted for more than 1,300 trainees.

New training courses have been introduced and organized in Albania in cooperation with specialized local and European organizations to prepare the people recruited to serve the new cement plant of the TITAN Group in the country.

TITAN America Leadership programs

The TITAN America Leadership program (TAL) is focused on values and is designed to help employees to discover and develop their leadership capability starting from leading themselves to leading others and, finally, leading the business. The program’s content aims at providing participants with a common “language” of communication, a shared response to external conditions, and the opportunity to discuss how TITAN operates or should operate. The fact that this program is exclusively delivered by Company executives that are the Company values ambassadors makes it unique. It is an inspiring workshop that addresses Company values in action; thus contributing to their incorporation in every day work.

Moreover, TITAN America builds and develops new talent through its Management Development Candidate program. The program is based on the concept of exposing individuals to every part of the business in the hope that they will find the area that both suit the individual and the company, while gaining an overall idea of how the company functions.

In 2009 another training program for employees in the concrete ready-mix business was applied, so as to offer them ”a pathway” to entry levels of various available supervisory positions. Extensive class room training programs focus on the skills that are important for a new supervisor. The very best candidates are identified through hands on training and offered an entry level management position when available.

Developing a culture of safety

Within the context of disseminating our safety culture, a Safety Leadership program for supervisors was held in Bulgaria during the 3rd quarter of 2009. This program, delivered by external consultant, operationally commenced in July ’08 and is expected to continue until 2nd quarter of 2010. It helps supervisors take the initiative in overseeing safety in their areas, make safety a joint effort and shared responsibility with employees and ensure the safe conduct of all operations. Participants learned practical techniques in preventing incidents and specific measures a supervisor can take to enhance safety performance.

TITAN Egypt on the way to a learning organization

With a view to building a learning organization, TITAN Egypt (TCE) launched an internal training program with trainers from the Group’s industrial, HR and IT functions. A visioning workshop for the TCE internal trainers was organized first in Alexandria. Its main objective was to create a shared vision of where we are and where we want to go, as well as to identify how we can meet our challenges and opportunities.

Using open dialogue in the process of identifying strengths and weaknesses with respect to our capacity to perform as a learning organization, the program’s conclusions contributed to the development of an action plan. It will help to improve the internal training system, increase the number of experienced internal trainers and multiply positive impacts from sharing lessons and best practices through internal training programs.