Sabic’s commitment to its people is absolute, as it firmly believes that only is workers can equip the group to achieve its ambitious plans for the future.

Traditional differentiators are steadily breaking down – Sabic and its competitors increasingly have same access to financial capital and technology. Increasingly, what makes the difference is, simply, people, it says.
In Saudi Arabia, Sabic has always sought to recruit and retain the best Saudi candidates with the ambition, qualifications and potential to meet Sabic’s demanding needs and help drive its growth.
Sabic’s wider ambitions now add a further twist: bluntly, the group needs to look to recruit the best and the brightest on a truly global basis.
The key to that, Sabic management believes, is to give the people challenges worth taking on, the training and technology to deal with them, and an environment – both physical and cultural – within which they can really get things done. That means:
• Competitive remuneration packages with good fringe benefits;
• A business culture that stresses and encourages creativity, innovation, learning and personal development;
• Effective programmes for the development of people, particularly in leadership; and
• Supporting future growth by joining with the business units to develop a comprehensive plan to meet the company’s manpower requirements in line with Sabic 2020 goals.

Motivate
In terms of performance and rewards, 2006 saw salary scales and incentives reviewed and updated to ensure that Sabic remains attractive to the best talent in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Sabic also plans to introduce more stringent measurement and evaluation processes, with a view to tying reward much more closely to performance.
It is also looking at new ways to incentivise and motivate employees, including the sale of shares.
Last year, the leadership development group:
• Completed assessment centres for all executives (all of whom now have independent development plans);
• Rolled out the first-ever Sabic Manager 360 Feedback programme (Tatweer);
• Rolled out the first-ever post-360 coaching programmes for managers, with an initial 150-strong group; and
• Completed the first phase of the manager leadership programme (MLP) with London Business School, having conducted eight two-module sessions for over 130 managers.
Workforce Planning and Development, meanwhile:
• Increased by two per cent to 87 per cent the proportion of Saudi Sabic and affiliate employees now fully qualified and trained;
• Helped senior management staff who took advantage of the continuous learning programme aimed to develop the higher education and specialisations required by the company;
• Approved 100 scholarship students for study in the US and Canada, and arranged for five new graduates to go to China, to learn the language and culture; and
• Made available 650 training opportunities for students as part of Sabic community services.
Organisational effectiveness highlights included:
• Retention of quality certificates showing conformity with ISO 9000-2000 requirements;
• Undertaking a comprehensive survey among Saudi Arabian employees, achieving an 85 per cent response rate, to gain views and insights; work is now under way on designing projects to address identified improvement opportunities;
• Organising Sabic’s Third Quality Day for group companies and affiliates, at the conference hall of the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, attended by Sabic’s vice-chairman and CEO and 400 others;
• Surveying users of Shared Services to identify difficulties and areas of dissatisfaction; then developing plans to address issues raised; and
• Holding total quality-related meetings with a view to discussing and implementing projects to develop better standardised working procedures, and to share insight between Sabic’s people and affiliates.
This aims not simply to educate, but to disseminate and nurture a thoroughgoing culture of continual education, continual learning, continual training, thus supporting Sabic in building the skills base it will need to pursue effectively its 2020 goals.