An attractive working place for highly skilled people

Tamro’s corporate culture values creativity, openness and the dedication of its personnel. Tamro wants to be an attractive and competitive working place for competent people. Skilled employees are Tamro’s most valuable resource. Work satisfaction is supported by an open and encouraging atmosphere. We obtain the best results from our employees by cherishing and emphasizing individual strengths.

Tamro's flat and flexible organisation provides employees with opportunities for self-improvement and for constantly learning. Thanks to our effective orientation programme, new employees are quickly familiarised with Tamro’s business environment, challenges and targets. New personnel are introduced to their colleagues and helped to adapt to the Tamro culture in their local working community.

A challenging business environment also means that personnel must be able to adapt to changing circumstances. On the other hand, the greater diversity of tasks provides employees with excellent opportunities to expand their expertise and knowledge.

Motivation and encouragement lead to success

In 2006, our Danish business unit Nomeco implemented a Human Resources Management system that documents competence demands and educational plans for all employees.

Furthermore, an extensive training programme – the Supplier Academy – was launched for administrative personnel. The aim of the programme is to expand the personnel’s knowledge of customer and supplier relations.

In Sweden, the training programme focusing on leadership skills was continued. In addition, the Group-wide guidelines, the Phoenix Group Leadership Guidelines were introduced to all managers. Also different customer orientation activities were carried out at all organisation levels.

Tamro Finland elected to motivate and encourage its personnel by developing their professional skills. The company offers several training programmes at all organisational levels. In 2006/07, further improvement areas were identified in a personnel satisfaction survey, conducted in 2006, and all departments as well as the management team have committed to development plans for 2007.

A shortage of pharmacists challenged us

In Norway, the recruitment of pharmacists continued to be challenging. Apokjeden employed over 100 pharmacists, of whom 70% were graduates. They came mostly from Norway, but also from Swedish universities.

Moreover, Apokjeden conducted a satisfaction survey among the personnel of its fully owned pharmacies. The participation was very high (85.2%) and the results showed notable employee satisfaction. Additionally, an extensive skills development programme for pharmacy managers was implemented during the reporting period.

Apokjeden’s training programme called “Apotek 1 Academy” was continued. Commitment to the programme has been high: it has attracted 1,200 new participants yearly. In 2006, a new competence development module for the Apotek 1 Academy programme was launched, focusing on training professional skills. The module will be completed in 2007/08.

During the fiscal year, Tamro Estonia organised training days for its Apteek1 personnel in order to expand pharmaceutical expertise and improve customer service.

The strong growth in Latvian pharmaceutical retail market led to a clear shortage of pharmacists. This situation revealed the need for a more defined human resource function. A manager for this function was hired in 2006.

During last year, Tamro Latvia’s employees participated in various competence development, pharmaceutical and management programmes and workshops. The company focused on improving employees’ IT, foreign language and negotiation skills.