Training and professional development
We provide a wide range of training and development opportunities to ensure the professional and career development of all employees. We invest in training, coaching, mentoring, functional academies, HR projects and professional communities within the Fund Group to develop the human resource potential of our employees. We are expanding programmes to improve the skills and qualifications of employees in line with modern labour market requirements.
Our top priorities for employee education:
- Introducing competence development programmes, modular training programmes;
- Prioritising training for engineers, technicians and workers;
- Developing dual training for engineering and technical specialists;
- Using digital technologies in learning;
- Developing adaptation programmes for all levels of personnel.
Samruk Business Academy is not just a corporate university for training employees of the Fund’s Group, but a leading centre for corporate training and a full cycle of HR services in Kazakhstan.
Samruk Business Academy (SBA) has trained more than 27,000 employees of the Fund in 2024.
The programmes/areas in which the Fund’s employees were trained in 2024 included leadership, effective management, corporate governance, anti-corruption training, compliance, finance and law, procurement, digital communications, occupational safety, programmes for HR specialists, IR managers (industrial relations managers), etc. Most employees were trained in occupational safety programmes, in particular, almost 16,000 employees were trained in safety culture. SBA has developed a unique programme aimed at creating a safety culture and reducing occupational risks at workplaces.
The SBA’s short term plans include the development of new training programmes with a special focus on training professionals in manufacturing occupations. Especially considering the fact that 2025 is declared as the year of working professions.
Samruk Business Academy also helps us in shaping our corporate culture. In the reporting period, we held team-building trainings, educational sessions, and forums in such areas as: Leadership 4D. Team Effectiveness, Effective Communication Skills in a Team, Women’s Leadership, Leadership and Personnel Development and others.
For effective interaction of the professional HR community in the portfolio companies, the HR Connect platform operates on the basis of Samruk Business Academy, which plays an important role in sharing experience and best practices in the Fund’s Group of companies. The platform helps in finding new solutions both in the issues of training and development of employees and professional development of the Group’s HR directors. In 2024, the HR Connect Forum discussed the issues of labour ergonomics, employer brand, continuous improvement, and strengthening corporate culture.
Training is provided in various formats: individual, group, external, internal, on-the-job and off-thejob, online and face-to-face. The Fund also uses hybrid formats for mandatory training, combining e-learning courses, theoretical webinars and practical training.
Employee skills development in the Fund is based on the 70/20/10 principle, where each employee is responsible for his/her own training and development in accordance with an individual development plan. We invest in self-development, training, coaching, mentoring, functional academies, HR projects and professional communities within the Fund Group to create a highly skilled workforce.
To develop the potential of employees, we make extensive use of tools such as internal training system, rotation of employees to acquire and develop skills, building a pool of gifted employees, improving assessment methods, ensuring knowledge transfer between foreign and local employees, supporting employees in international training programmes and introducing job placement programmes to help employees transition to new opportunities in case of downsizing, restructuring, liquidation or retirement.
In 2024, one Fund Group employee received an average of 26 academic hours of training (compared to 23 hours in 2023).
Total staff training for 2024 totalled 6.7 million hours, of which 6.2 million hours were for production staff and 0.5 million hours for administrative and management staff.
Average number of academic hours of employee training by gender and by personnel category, hours
PROGRAMMES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
We are convinced that young specialists are the future of the Fund and all portfolio companies. That is why considerable attention is paid to their professional development, skills formation and creation of opportunities for career start.
The Fund employs more than 38,000 young specialists under the age of 30 (15% of the Fund’s total headcount). Including 188 employees under the age of 30 hold managerial positions.
Our systematic approach to working with young personnel is based on supporting their intellectual and professional development. As part of the implementation of the youth policy, we have an Action Plan in place, the portfolio companies have appointed responsible persons to work with young people, and the institute of Youth Councils is successfully functioning, which helps to involve young professionals in corporate processes.
We attract prospective specialists for managerial positions, including graduates of the Presidential Youth Talent Pool.
In 2024, the Zheti Kadam Young Leaders Development Programme continued to be implemented on the basis of Samruk Business Academy. The aim of the programme is to form future leaders among young and prospective employees of the portfolio companies. During five months, the teams of the Fund’s portfolio companies developed projects aimed at improving work efficiency and introducing innovative solutions. Based on the results of the programme, 15 best initiatives were selected.
In the reporting period, we held a Youth Forum for Samruk-Kazyna employees in Turkestan, where 150 participants of different working professions from the Fund’s Group exchanged experience, learnt more about the work of the companies, and immersed themselves in the history of the region. Young people visited the famous mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yassawi. The forum was part of the preparations for the Year of Working Professions announced by the President for 2025.
Also, as part of training and support for young professionals, the QazaqGaz Jastary Youth Forum; the School for Young Professionals of NAC Kazatomprom JSC and the training of future leaders as part of the ALYP transformation programme were held in the reporting period.
CO-OPERATION WITH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS
We cooperate with leading universities and regional educational institutions to develop qualified personnel. This cooperation is aimed at developing training programmes that meet the current market requirements and the needs of the Fund’s Group.
As part of educational initiatives, scholarship programmes are implemented for students in the regions where we operate, providing access to high-quality professional education. In addition, internship opportunities at the portfolio companies’ enterprises are provided for talented students and graduates, creating a solid foundation for their further employment and professional growth.