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Safaricom Sustainability Report 2016
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How did we deliver value to our staff during the year?
We are committed to being a world-class employer of choice and take our responsibility to maintain a productive,
supportive and safe working environment seriously. Our vision of transforming lives begins with transforming the lives of our
employees and a key aspect of this vision is to create a supportive working environment that allows us to attract, develop
and retain the best staff.
For the sake of brevity and interest, the focus of our report this year is on our highlights — the major initiatives and
programmes that have been launched or significantly evolved during the reporting period — rather than the established,
ongoing ways in which we support and empower our staff that have been in place for several years.
•
The ‘Head to Hearts’ Campaign
While it is gratifying to note that the view of employees, expressed in the People Survey, is that the company takes
health and safety seriously, the prevailing attitude among staff appears to be more of a ‘mechanical’ observation of
the rules, rather than a personally invested, proactive approach to health and safety.
This state of affairs inspired us to launch the ‘Head to Hearts’ Campaign during the year. Introduced in the town halls
held during the launch of the Regional Operations Structure, the Head to Hearts campaign calls for the observance
of safety rules and requirements in all facets of one’s life, whether at home, at work or elsewhere and not that Safety
begins and ends at the gates of Company premises or under the watch of Line Managers and Leaders.
•
Road safety initiatives
Although the total number of Road Traffic Accidents increased from 94 to 104 during the year, this can be attributed to
the growth in the number of vehicles in the fleet from 340 to 378 and an increase in the distances travelled, which rose
from 720,000km/month to 960,000km/month during the period under review.
We also addressed the issue of road safety by offering all staff authorised to drive company vehicles a Defensive
Driving Course, which offers practical drills to condition employees to drive safely despite the conditions around them.
To date, 450 members of staff have undergone this training.
As part of our response to road safety, we have also shared videos and e-shots, including a road safety video by CEO,
Bob Collymore, together with weekly departmental engagement on driving behaviour (using data downloaded from
fleet management system) and accident statistics reviews, as well as instituting disciplinary action for breaches of the
Safaricom Fleet Policy.
•
Expediting career development
The Career Path Framework (CPF) was enhanced during the year and now includes self-assessment ratings against
various skills and competencies. These ratings are then used by the system to suggest remedial interventions to close
any gaps that are identified. The CPF has been used by 79% of employees to date.
Officially launched in FY15, the CPF is available to staff through the intranet and the Safaricom Academy Portal and
helps them to identify the career paths available to them and the skills gaps they need to close in order to fast track
their career development.
Our new virtual knowledge learning centre, the Safaricom Uni, presents a platform where all staff have access to
learning content that focuses on building their leadership, functional and business skills. Currently, the Safaricom Uni
houses 11 academies, with an uptake of 69% across the business. In line with the business pillars, on customer first drivers,
courses like new ways of marketing, solution selling, customer experience excellence, emotional intelligence and team
effectiveness recorded an improved uptake.
•
Acoustic shock management
As a result of our interventions during the year, acoustic shock cases reduced from 278 in FY15 to just 70 cases. Acoustic
shock is a hearing condition that can affect call centre staff and, having monitored and assessed the situation closely
for three years, we implemented a new policy this year.