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Corporate Responsibility Report 2008

Training and development

• Approach
• Performance & plans

Training and development opportunities help employees feel valued and engaged in their work.

GSK provides work-related training courses for all employees, and leadership training for managers. These focus on providing people with the right behaviours and expertise for their jobs and the skills needed to apply their knowledge effectively.

Our goal is for each individual to achieve their potential and contribute fully to company performance. We conduct regular appraisals to identify training needs and help employees set and achieve development objectives. We operate 360- degree assessments for our top managers to ensure they receive objective feedback on their performance from the employees they manage and colleagues that they work with, as well as their manager.

Training is carried out within each business function and online, for example through our ‘myLearning’ intranet site in the US and UK. We also offer project secondments to help employees learn new skills.

Leadership development

We identify high-performing employees and potential leaders in each business function through our annual talent management cycle. Managers are accountable for developing talent and successors and this is a top priority for every leader. The process ensures we have the diverse and high-performing talent required to deliver our business strategy and to reflect the global growth of GSK.

Talented people participate in leadership programmes and connect with senior management through programmes such as the Chief Executive Forum. Our leadership framework helps employees fulfil their potential, become leaders in their field and contribute fully to our business performance. Specifically, it helps them to:

• Develop the behaviours that distinguish high-performing leaders. These include innovative thinking, engaging and developing others, leading people and achieving excellence in their work
• Understand their behaviour, take personal responsibility for their actions and continue to perform with integrity
• Enhance their expertise, including technical and functional skills and broader knowledge. These contribute directly to GSK’s overall performance and are likely to be unique to the position, role or function of each employee
• Effectively use and apply the processes and practices within GSK

We also provide extensive health, safety and environment training for our employees.