People

People

Our employees are fundamental to the success of our business and to the delivery of a high quality service for our shoppers and occupiers. Economic events in 2008 have, inevitably, had an effect on our ability to maintain staffing levels. Essential restructuring of the company to remain competitive has meant that some redundancies have been inevitable.

We maintain a comprehensive set of policies that continues to embody our approach to our employees and provide the framework for the high standards of behaviour and values that we expect. The development and implementation of these policies is overseen by our Chief Executive in conjunction with the Remuneration Committee and the Board of Liberty International.

Policies

The overarching policy, our Business Code of Practice, sets out our approach to ethics. The Importance of People policy brings together our key objectives for our employees and how we aim to implement them, and our various Human Resources policies address particular issues, as set out in the table below. We have adopted specific Health & Safety policies which relate to employees and which are available for all employees, along with all the policies, on the group’s intranet. Our HR policies have been reviewed against the requirements of the UK Human Rights Act to ensure compliance. Whilst we believe in informality, our policies are designed to ensure that we continue to comply with both legislation and best employment practice.

Working Environment

We provide a working environment which is stimulating and challenging, giving employees opportunities to reach both personal and professional goals whilst delivering business targets. We have strong corporate values of integrity and professionalism, and a firm belief in an open culture. We aim to bring out the best in people, by providing them with clear objectives, ongoing feedback and allowing them to be as innovative and creative as possible. We encourage team building, utilising to best effect the specialist skills of our employees as individuals and promoting best practice by creative team work.

This working environment is essential to achieve our objectives, to attract and retain excellent employees, recognise their value to the business and enable their personal development. We operate a non-discriminatory employment policy, encapsulated in our Equal Opportunities policy, and full and fair consideration is given to every application for employment from all parts of society. We recruit the best person for a vacancy regardless of background.

Staff turnover

The economic downturn in 2008 has affected staff turnover, as it has in most businesses during the latter part of the year. In line with virtually all businesses in the UK and across the world, we have had to identify areas within which savings can be made. The company retains an experienced core senior management team which leads our employees to deliver outstanding results for shareholders, but the deferral of aspects of our development programme has reduced the number of staff required.

We recognise that there is a risk to the business if members of senior management leave the organisation, but we continue to manage this risk by the ongoing development of our employees at all levels and reward them commensurate to the success of our business. We wish to engender low employee turnover at all levels to maintain the necessary skills base for the successful operation of the business. Our incentive schemes for key employees continues to establish performance hurdles which are linked to key business objectives including, where appropriate, CR related issues. Succession planning issues for our senior management are considered by the Nomination & Review Committee and the Board.

Internal Promotion

As a company we greatly value good staff morale and rely on team-working to deliver many of our objectives. We seek to promote internally when possible.

Remuneration

Liberty International aims to retain first class employees through appropriate overall benefit packages. Salaries for Directors and key employees are considered and reviewed annually by the Remuneration Committee, taking into account comparative salary data.

We provide a range of employee benefits including life insurance and pension benefits, and also encourage employee share ownership. Details of bonus and long-term incentive arrangements are included in the 2008 Annual Report.

Personal Development, Training and Induction

Our comprehensive induction process ensures that new employees are provided with an appropriate and detailed understanding of the aims and objectives of all areas of our business and the importance we place on business ethics, health and safety and customer service. Induction folders and employee handbooks give detailed information on all internal procedures, processes and policies.

The group supports and encourages the personal professional development of employees. All employees are set personal objectives when they join the company and work with their line manager towards achieving them. The objectives are for both professional and personal development and, where possible, targets are measurable.

The group also operates a policy which supports and encourages employees who wish to pursue community volunteering opportunities. A CR Staff Recognition Fund was established in 2008 to make additional donations to charities supported by individual members of staff fundraising efforts.

The aim of our training is twofold: to equip employees with the skills to perform their current role and also to develop them both personally and professionally. Our programme ensures that our employees have up to date training, based on needs identified between employees and their managers.

Employee Communication

We regularly review our contracts of employment, employment policies and procedures. In 2007 we have improved on the format and presentation of a number of these documents and, although the implementation was deferred in 2008, we will issue the new format in 2009.

Employees are regularly provided with details of any incentive shares and their pension benefits. Each year, the Chief Executive and other senior executives give presentations on the company’s annual and interim results to our employees at all levels and other presentations and briefings are held during the year to discuss our objectives and progress. 2008 saw the introduction of a company-wide CR presentation and this will be repeated annually. The national CR presentation will dovetail with regular liaison between management teams at the centres and the group’s Director of Corporate Responsibility. The Report & Accounts and CR documents are distributed throughout the company and all press releases, job vacancies and other useful internal information are broadcast on the group’s Intranet and via e-mails.

We believe that we have an environment where employees feel that they can speak about the issues that matter to them. In the first instance, employees are encouraged to make suggestions or raise issues with their line managers. In addition, we have an “Electronic Mailbox” which enables employees to make suggestions or raise issues anonymously.