Competence development

Sampo Group prioritises competence and professional development of employees, both to ensure employee engagement and to have the right skills in the organisation. Providing employees with opportunities for learning and an understanding of customers’ needs are prerequisite for continued competitiveness. Sampo Group’s aim is that employees’ skills and working methods are in line with the company’s goals and provide a competitive advantage.

Governance

At Sampo Group, the group level guidance document regarding competence development is the Sampo Group Code of Conduct, which is reviewed annually and approved by the Board of Directors of Sampo plc. The Code of Conduct outlines how Sampo Group supports and promotes the professional development of its employees and develops leadership practices. Through supplementary, company specific policies (e.g. If’s Policy on Professional Requirements for Insurance Distribution) and related instructions, it is ensured that employees meet certain professional requirements relevant for their role.

The quality of corporate training is assessed through, for instance, surveys, comments, and ratings after each training. The data-driven approach ensures that learning experiences remain relevant, engaging, and aligned with both strategic goals and development needs. The general employee perception and outcomes are also captured through employee engagement surveys and customer feedback.

Educational programmes

Sampo Group has a comprehensive learning offering available to all employees, starting from onboarding processes. Sampo Group offers mandatory training (e.g. the training requirements of the Insurance Distribution Directive), voluntary training (e.g. digital skills, language studies), and training in collaboration with external suppliers. The type of training programmes used depends on the part of the organisation in which the employee is working. Examples of training topics include customers in vulnerable circumstances, complaint handling, financial crime, DEI, and health and safety. Some trainings are mandatory for all employees (e.g. Code of Conduct training, compliance training, information security and data privacy training), and the participation and completion of the mandatory training is monitored.

Over the years, Sampo Group has seen a growth of community-driven competence development opportunities. Employees have engaged in specialist academies, where they create their own learning paths according to their interests and professional competence needs, related to data management and analytics skills and using different analytics tools, for instance. Sampo Group also fosters competence development by offering paid and unpaid study leave. The form of the leave depends on the purpose, the length of the leave, and national regulations. In some countries, Sampo Group also provides graduate, placement, internship, and apprenticeship programmes, some through third-party relationships, to build the pipeline of its future talent. Apprenticeships are inclusive, enabling employees of any background, age, or job role to benefit from professional development.

Leadership development

At Sampo Group, leadership development is offered, encouraged, and provided in a variety of ways. As leaders join the company, or are promoted, the company ensures there is a leadership induction covering foundation skills such as performance management and an introduction to coaching. This creates consistent principles, tools, and frameworks, enabling leaders to lead and manage their teams effectively. In addition, several other management trainings are offered depending on the role and the Group company in question. These can include extensive leadership programmes or briefings on specific topics, for example. Sampo Group encourages leaders and employees to use the competence development tools and supporting materials available on the company intranets and learning platforms. Training for the members of the boards of directors is organised when necessary.

Strategic workforce planning

At Sampo Group, short-term succession planning aims to ensure business continuity from a risk management perspective, while long-term succession planning aims to ensure that able successors for key positions are available. If performs a succession planning process for boards, top management, and other key positions annually. The updated succession plan is reported to the If and Sampo plc boards. It is also used by If’s top management in discussions related to key management positions and the talent pool.

People analytics is used for workforce planning through forecasting. Sampo Group tracks changes and movement in its workforce to forecast the expected need for candidates in its business and to plan actions to address those needs, and to identify and manage the reasons for employee turnover. People analytics can also be used for employee performance tracking in sales and claims, for strategic workforce management in customer service, product development, and identifying workforce skills gaps.

Individual career paths

Sampo Group offers employees the potential to grow both vertically and horizontally. This is done, for instance, by posting job openings internally prior to any external advertisement, thereby securing growth opportunities for existing employees. Sampo Group also promotes job shadowing, job rotation, and mentoring to increase awareness of potential growth opportunities.

Growth and performance enablement is supported by setting clear expectations and goals and is facilitated by forward-looking growth talks or career development reviews, frequent check-ins, and feedback activities. The purpose of the career development reviews is for employees and leaders to follow up on the current situation, discuss ambitions going forward, and training and development needs to reach the goals, and formalise the agreed commitments in individual development plans. At Sampo Group, all employees are eligible to participate in regular career development reviews.