Telenor continued its staff development initiatives in 2002, including various training programmes and incentive schemes. The role of Human Resources (HR) in providing improved line-support and contributing to the organisation's strategic and business goals was also highlighted in 2002. Telenor HR has the primary responsibility for developing the dedicated and skilled managers and employees essential to the attainment of these goals.

In 2002, Telenor reduced its workforce in Norway by 1500 employees. The reduction was undertaken as part of the Delta 4 programme, established to trim Telenor's cost base by NOK 4 billion by 2004. The company also implemented a partial employment freeze and reduced its use of external consultants substantially. While Delta 4 was designed to realise quick gains through increased efficiency in 2002, its future focus will be on further integrating the group's operations.

Joint guidelines ensured that the workforce reduction was handled uniformly throughout Telenor, a process that was considered to be essentially correct and fair. In addition to severance packages, Telenor offered departing employees career guidance to help ease the impact of workforce reductions. Management co-operated openly with employee representatives throughout the process.

Telenor's strategy for attracting and retaining the expertise necessary in a leading knowledge-based company is four-fold: prioritising the quality and education of our workforce; developing innovative ways for employees to co-operate by providing cutting edge ICT (Information Communications Technologies) tools; maintaining and improving our reputation as an employer; and achieving a more rapid and efficient learning curve than our competitors.

Telenor's Norwegian operations use two main learning tools - Learn@Telenor and People@Telenor. Learn@Telenor is a shared learning portal featuring learning programmes specially developed for Telenor. The portal was piloted as part of Telenor's relocation to the new head office at Fornebu. As of February 2003, some 7469 employees have used the portals 40+ programmes to run 30,873 learning exercises.

People@Telenor is a group-wide expertise platform for internal employment purposes. The service has been active in Norway since 2002 and will be expanded in 2003. It consists of a CV database detailing the expertise found within Telenor, an employment database showing available positions and a project database presenting existing project work positions. People@Telenor has been designed to map Telenor's overall expertise, and allows employees both to communicate their own areas of expertise and to participate in the internal employment market. As of February 2003, some 5000 employees had registered their CVs on the database.

Effective international management demands cultural, social and professional insight. Telenor continued its work to enhance management's international expertise in 2002 via the Telenor International Management Program. The programme was used to train fifty new managers from seven different countries.

For Telenor in Norway, absence due to illness was 5.0 percent in 2002, against 4.9 percent in 2001. This constituted 135,167 days of sick leave. Telenor's long-term objective is to reduce sick leave to a maximum 4.0 percent. (The figure indicates sick leave in Telenor's Norwegian operations 1994-2002.)

In 2002, 12 injuries resulted in 149 days sick leave were reported. None were serious. An additional 16 injuries and five near-accidents were reported - none resulting in absence.

More than 1500 managers and employees were trained by Telenor Department of Health and 351 utilised the HSE e-learning program available on Learn@Telenor.

Whereas previously reporting has been restricted to Telenor's Norwegian operations, it is gradually being expanded to incorporate the group's international portfolio. Absence due to illness in the companies DiGi.Com (Malaysia), GrameenPhone (Bangladesh) and Pannon (Hungary) for 2002 was:

• DiGi.Com: 1.6 percent
• GrameenPhone: 1.44 percent
• Pannon: 4.47 percent

These three companies comprise approx 3,700 employees; 40 percent of Telenor's total overseas staff. Although the reporting system is at present restricted to Telenor's Norwegian operations, it will be expanded to incorporate the group's international portfolio during 2003.

Telenor Business Solutions continued the Handicap Programme in 2002. The programme gives functionally disabled workers two years IT and user support training. By year-end 2002, 80 participants had completed the programme. Of those who participated in the programme, 70 percent obtained work after completing training. This figure is somewhat lower than the previous year due to a difficult labour market. Although the programme has only involved Norwegian participants thus far, its implementation in other countries is currently being evaluated.

The new Telenor head office at Fornebu has unified the company and allowed it to integrate its technology, people and infrastructure. The IT platform at Fornebu, 'Telenor Arena', allows rapid access to information and improved knowledge sharing. Arena is also in use at other Telenor operations in Norway. Fornebu's 5200 employees can work wherever and whenever they want, thanks to mobile technology that allows full roaming IT and telecommunications connection. User surveys carried out in 2002 showed the following positive results:

• 85 percent say they have an easier workday
• Meetings are reduced by 20 percent
• Informal co-operation increased by 47 percent
• 58 percent say they have quicker access to information
• 34 percent say they have better contact with management

Annual employee surveys help the group monitor our progress in developing the skills of our workforce and the group's value-creation in Norway. Comparable surveys are being planned and implemented in several of our operations abroad, including the mobile companies Pannon (Hungary) and DiGi.Com (Malaysia).

The employee survey was undertaken during the second half of 2002, with the exception of Telenor Business Solutions. The results show a moderately higher overall employee satisfaction rating, compared with 2001. The survey indicated a skilled, highly motivated workforce with increased capacity for efficiency, together with increased knowledge of the group's objectives and their implications for the individual employee.

External surveys from 2002 showed that Norwegian students rated Telenor as the second most attractive employer.