Career development and training
As FMO continues to grow, so too do opportunities for career
development. Internal mobility at FMO was high in 2011, with 75 job
changes or promotions. The average career duration at FMO is seven
years, showing the great commitment of our staff as well as the
need for structured career development. Our longest-serving
employee has been with us for 31 years.
In 2011, FMO improved its Personal Development Plan for
employees. The program aims to help staff assess the current stage
of their career and set medium and long-term goals, supported by
their managers and HR advisors. Employee appraisal and career
management workshops for FMO managers and employees were organized
in 2011, alongside a two-day 'career check' training. All
employees, including all layers of management, have several
meetings throughout the year to discuss their performance and
targets. This is part of FMO's standard HR-cycle.
Direct communication lines are part of our culture. While these
lines are well developed within departments, we worked to improve
cross-departmental cooperation in 2011. We launched a mentoring
program where new employees can choose a mentor from a pool of
senior FMO employees across departments and we organized sessions
with some groups of employees to improve giving feedback.
FMO employees can participate in exchange programs with other
DFIs and financial institutions, varying from placements of six
months to several years. In 2011, three FMO employees participated
in such exchanges. We also selected an employee to work in our new
joint office in Johannesburg which will open in 2012. We are
developing an expat policy for employees working abroad.
Our FMO Academy enables our employees to enhance their knowledge
of specific subjects relevant to our business, such as pricing,
project finance, corporate governance and cross-cultural
negotiation skills. The learning modules are primarily focused on
products and FMO processes and are knowledge-driven. In 2011, we
focused on developing a joint academy and training curriculum with
DEG and Proparco, making the program more accessible and
international. Learning together will stimulate exchange of
knowledge and working experience between participants and will
create an international learning community and professional network
for development finance.
The Academy's 23 modules were attended more than 485 times (400
in 2010), mainly by FMO employees who participated in one or more
courses. In addition, 38 participants attended from partner
organizations and 22 attendees were nominee board members.