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| Corporate Image In accordance with JL's strategy, our business and administration have seen some restructuring processes over the past couple of years, including internal organisational changes, acquisitions, new joint-ventures and partnerships, which have resulted in staff joining us from corporate cultures that differ from JL’s. JL will learn from other cultures but to ensure a common, visionary approach to our way of doing business and how we treat each other, JL has found it vital to review, re-formulate and re-introduce our core values, ensuring that they not only suit our present organisation but also are in accordance with JL's vision: Together, we create a world-class shipping company. JL's mission and vision statements and core values, which will take us into the future, were presented to staff and overseas representatives during the autumn of 2003. JL's aim is for everybody, whatever their organisational position or geographical location, to identify with our core values of Competence, Respect, Entrepreneurship, Accountability, Team Spirit and Enthusiasm. From a human resource point of view, the two core values of Competence and Team Spirit will be very much in focus in the years to come. JL has a staff of highly professional employees. Nevertheless, it is important that their competencies and qualifications are constantly updated and new ones acquired so they can match the demands they as individuals but also JL as a company will be facing in future. This process is also essential if JL is to attract well-qualified candidates in a very competitive environment. So funding and time will be invested in continuity training/education, and management programmes that were suspended in 2003 will be re-introduced. Staff appraisal has been an integral element in JL's staff policy for many years. In 2003, a questionnaire-based staff appraisal survey was carried out for the companies based in Copenhagen. 90.3% of the employees responded, with 85% finding that annual staff appraisals should continue. In addition to annual staff appraisals, JL has most recently been assessing the HR aspects of whether our business performance is successful, and the way we manage, communicate and develop our staff, since previous surveys have always been client-oriented. However, at the end of 2003 JL took the first steps towards “taking our temperature” to identify any deficiencies in this respect. We shall now be undertaking this survey annually, with the results being published in JL's annual report, the first time in 2004. At year-end 2003, JL had a total staff of 997, of whom 539 were sea-going personnel compared to 990 and 560 respectively by the end of 2002. The average age for land-based staff members was 42.1, although somewhat higher in some of the business units. Average length of service was 12.5 years, and average overall staff turnover for land-based personnel in JL was 5.1%. The equivalent figures for the fleet were an average age of 38.5, and service of 9.0 years. Due to different contractual conditions for sea-going personnel, it is not possible to compare staff turnover to land-based staff. As a company with world-wide operations, many languages are spoken within JL, although English is the official company language. Nevertheless, 10% of the staff based in Copenhagen who have Danish as their mother tongue, also master Spanish as their second foreign language. Fifty percent of Copenhagen-based staff have shipping backgrounds either having been traditional shipping trainees or having trained in the merchant navy. The overall equivalent figure for JL is 70%. To enhance JL's flexibility and efficiency, JL puts home computers at the disposal of staff members. 66% of the Copenhagen-based staff members have home PCs. A similar arrangement applies for the Stockholm-office where an equivalent number of the Swedish staff has access to laptops which they can use at home or when travelling. |