Human Values

The Remuneration Committee is responsible for overseeing and supervising Ziraat Bank’s remuneration practices on behalf of the Board of Directors. The Committee evaluates the alignment of the Bank’s remuneration policy and practices with its ethical values and strategic objectives within the framework of risk management and conveys its recommendations to the Board of Directors.
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Within the context of the 5^th term collective bargaining agreement signed between Ziraat Bank and Öz Finans-İş Trade Union and effective between 1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026, union members were granted certain personnel rights including leave in addition to receiving additional monthly payments. In the Bank, which has a unionization rate of around 80%, pay adjustments for 2024 were carried out in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement. 
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Continuing its focus on reducing overtime, Ziraat Bank maintained the effective use of the system introduced to monitor overtime in 2024, demonstrating sensitivity to maintaining a balance between employees’ work and their personal lives. 

Ziraat Bank provides its employees and their family members, who are subject to the provisions of private law, with private health services in addition to the services provided by the Social Security Institution. In this context, treatment assistance is provided to members of the Health Aid Fund within the framework of the authority obtained from the Bank’s Board of Directors, and within the framework of the authority obtained from the Fund’s Board of Directors for the Fund members.
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Additionally, Ziraat Bank enters special agreements with healthcare providers and communicates them to all employees. In this context, to ensure that Bank members have access to healthcare services of the same quality and at reasonable prices nationwide, an agreement has been reached with the Ministry of Health regarding priority healthcare services from City Hospitals, and services have started to be received from Ankara Bilkent City Hospital as a pilot hospital. Ziraat Bank plans to expand the implementation of Private Health Insurance to all its international units. 
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With the aim of increasing its contribution to the education, care and development of employees’ children with ÇÖZGER (special requirements report for children) and the RAM (Guidance and Research Center) Report, a monthly education support of gross TL 7,845 was provided to 300 children in 2024.

In order to ensure that employees who have served at Ziraat Bank for a long period can retire with a higher level of satisfaction and to support them in their retirement, the new retirement project designed in 2022 continued to be implemented in 2024.

In 2024, Ziraat Finance Group held recruitment tests for young people aspiring to advance their careers in banking. Recruitment exams were held in August 2024 to meet Ziraat Bank’s need for Assistant Inspectors, Assistant Specialists, and Service Officers, as well as the need for Service Officers at Ziraat Katılım Bank, one of the Bank’s subsidiaries. 
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Ziraat Bank Assistant Inspectors and Assistant Specialists are appointed to their positions after completing the Ziraat Bank Banking School program, a 100-year tradition in Türkiye.
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Ziraat Bank, which observes the principle of Candidate Satisfaction, offers an Interview Preparation Program to help new graduates overcome the excitement of the exam before the exams organized within the scope of the Banking School Program. Upon completion of the program, which comprises various trainings and assignments, candidates are evaluated through a homogeneous selection and evaluation system involving structured interviews conducted simultaneously at different locations.
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191 Assistant Specialists, 31 Assistant Inspectors and 17 Assistant Internal Controllers, who were entitled to start Banking School training through the recruitment exam in 2024, were still undergoing training as of year-end and are expected to be appointed to their new positions in the first half of 2025. 846 Service Officers were appointed to their new positions within the Bank. 
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In 2024, a total of 1,796 new recruits were hired at various levels within Ziraat Bank for deployment in different positions.

An Orientation Program is organized to help new personnel joining Ziraat Bank get to know the Bank, help them adapt to the corporate culture, acquire the necessary basic knowledge and skills, and increase their competencies.

Ziraat Finance Group, including its domestic and overseas subsidiaries, provides services with a total of 37,066 employees. Ziraat Bank is taking firm steps towards becoming a global brand in the banking sector of the countries it operates in, offering effective career, salary, training and development opportunities for all employees working under the Group’s umbrella. The Bank is continuously endeavoring to expand Ziraat HR practices not only in its subsidiaries in Türkiye but also in its international subsidiaries.In line with its transparent career management approach, Ziraat Bank trains its own management candidates among its staff. Within the framework of promotions, a total of 2,144 personnel were found eligible for promotion to higher positions in 2024. In addition, a further 150 employees who successfully completed the Bank’s Management Trainee Program were appointed to managerial positions in the branches and units in accordance with their requirements.
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During the year, the written exam/interview process for employees working in overseas subsidiaries and branches was completed.
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In 2024, the staff of the Egypt/Cairo Representative Office and the Dubai Representative Office were appointed. Local staff of the Algeria Branch, which begins to operate in early 2025, were appointed.
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Human resources processes, policies, and procedures were established for the newly established subsidiaries, Ziraat Finansal Teknolojiler Ödeme Hizmetleri ve Elektronik Para A.Ş. and Ziraat Dinamik Banka A.Ş., and staff were duly recruited.
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In coordination with Ziraat Technology, Ziraat Bank initiated programs such as “Bilge Adam,” (Wise Man), “Long-Term Intern,” and “Technology Stars” to attract young talent.
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To meet the personnel requirements of its international branches and subsidiaries, Ziraat Bank organized seminars at leading universities in Türkiye. These seminars introduced the Bank, its subsidiaries and its international organization to foreign students and facilitated their participation in assistant specialist examinations. Students who passed the examination graduated from the International Banking School in November 2024, completed their internships in the relevant departments of the Bank and then started their duties in the subsidiaries and branches.

Ziraat Bank participated in career summits and Regional career fairs in cooperation with the Presidential Human Resources Office to meet with university students in 2024, as in previous years. 
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Approximately 1,000 university students were offered internships in various units of the Bank in 2024 within the scope of CBIKO Internship Mobilization. Participation in these events and internships aimed to raise the career awareness of university students and strengthen the Bank’s employer brand value, thereby attracting talented young individuals to the Bank. 

Ziraat Bank designs training programs to support its employees throughout their careers at the Bank, aiming to enhance their professional and personal competencies in line with contemporary requirements. 
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Career Trainings aiming to provide employees with the knowledge, skills, and competencies they need to fulfill the duties and responsibilities required by their positions, Development Trainings on new products and services produced in line with the Bank’s goals and strategies, and Legal Obligation Trainings arising from legislation are provided. 
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Training programs designed for leadership and talent development are supported by live trainings delivered in the classroom or through digital applications (zoom, etc.). As part of the activities of Ziraat Bank Banking School, more than 8,000 e-training materials, videos, audio files and reading materials supporting leadership and competency development for employees are offered on the online platform. The Banking School and Talent Management Department reporting to the General Directorate of Human Resources of Ziraat Bank determines and announces weekly catalog trainings specific to the duties and positions of employees. 
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Management candidates participate in the Managerial School Training Program, while the leadership development of employees in managerial positions is supported through leadership training as well as internal coaching and mentoring practices. In order to facilitate employees in determining their own career paths within the Bank, Certificate Programs reinforce their preparation for the professional requirements of their future positions. 

Ziraat Bank encourages its managers and employees to evaluate and advance their knowledge and experience in banking at the academic level. In this context, the Bank supports the participation of its employees in the Banking School graduate programs conducted in partnership with the Faculty of Political Sciences within the scope of the cooperation established with Ankara University, a well-established institution and a value of our country. To date, a total of 273 Bank employees have graduated from the program and received master’s degrees. 

Ziraat Bank launched the International Banking School for employees who have started/will start working as Assistant Specialists in overseas branches and subsidiaries to ensure that they embrace the corporate culture and belonging of the Great Ziraat Family, to introduce the Ziraat Finance Group Parent Bank, and to create basic competencies, providing professional-technical trainings in addition to behavioral trainings. The International Banking School program aims to prepare candidates who start their careers in banking for their assignments abroad and to train a fully-equipped Ziraat Finance Group employee.

Ziraat Bank assigns employees who are at a sufficient career level to become managers in terms of their title, position, competence, and performance as managers, based on the requirements of the Bank. Employees recommended by Head Office units and regional directorates as management candidates first participate in the interview process. Employees who meet the requirements to become a manager and successfully complete the interview are invited to the Managerial School. 
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The Managerial School program aims to provide participants with managerial skills as well as to develop their leadership vision. The training program lasts 2 weeks. In this program, which is carried out with a strong team of trainers including senior executives of banks, academicians, and industry professionals who are experts in their fields, current issues that will make a difference are included in addition to the topics covering the areas of skills that a manager must have and develop. Managers who successfully pass the exam held at the end of the training program are invited to leadership trainings lasting a total of 8 days in 2 modules. Branch managers, who are experienced internal trainers, provide support to new managers within the scope of mentoring under the coordination of the Presidency. 

In order to ensure that ethics and compliance principles are embraced and internalized throughout the Bank and in accordance with legal regulations, the Bank supports the participation of employees in in-house face-to-face classroom trainings and e-trainings offered in digital environment, as well as the participation of employees in external trainings in line with the requests received from the units. 

An orientation training program is organized for all new hires joining the Ziraat Bank family. In all courses in the orientation training program, topics such as ethics, information security, personal data protection, compliance, etc. are addressed as a whole and explained to the participants in accordance with the relevant legal regulations.

Within the scope of training activities carried out by Ziraat Bank Human Resources, 566,235 hours of in-class training and 1,061,135 hours of digital training were provided for the professional and personal development of employees throughout 2024. 

Ziraat Bank utilizes its Individual Performance Management System to determine the personal achievements and rankings of its employees based on objective and measurable criteria over the periods. Through the performance system, structured in two fundamental dimensions (numerical-based and competency-based) the Bank transfers its strategies into the field.
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Indicators related to customer orientation, profitability, efficiency and risk management significantly affect the numerical performance score. The individual rankings, which are compiled by combining the numerical performance scores calculated with the measurements taken on the dimensions of goals, development and size, form the basis of the performance bonus payments.
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The individual performance bonuses, which are determined and paid on the basis of periodically conducted individual performance reviews, are intended to strengthen the Bank’s customer-focused business model, to promote an approach to work which is focused on marketing and effectiveness, to increase company loyalty by motivating personnel and to provide tangible benefits to those whose individual achievements are compatible with the Bank’s corporate objectives.
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The current budget determined by the Bank’s Board of Directors is paid out to recipients as an individual performance bonus at three-month intervals together with their monthly salaries in the months of February, May, August, and November and is based on objectively defined and numerically expressible specific criteria.
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In the Individual Performance System, which has been set up to focus mainly on marketing in line with the Bank’s strategies and goals, bonuses are paid to reward those who contribute more to the realization of the Bank’s strategies and goals. While calculating bonuses, different coefficients are used according to branch segment and scale, individual performance ranking and job position criteria. Sales group personnel bonuses are calculated in direct proportion to the individual performance points in each section.
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Aiming to motivate employees towards increasing their corporate engagement and to reward individual achievements aligned with the Bank’s corporate strategies, Ziraat Bank included all Head Office units within its performance management system in 2018, as well as the units subject to numeric performance measurement, taking into account the competence-based evaluation system. 
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Within the framework of Ziraat Finance Group’s basic approaches, endeavors are underway for the inclusion of all overseas subsidiaries within the scope of the individual performance and competency evaluation and bonus system practices that are currently in place at domestic subsidiaries. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia subsidiaries have switched to the premium system, and other subsidiaries are planned to be included in the system in the near future. 
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Premium payments started to be offered to employees of overseas branches from the 3rd quarter of 2022. The results in all subsidiaries and branches abroad will be followed closely in the coming period, and systematic improvements will be made.

The advance in technological developments, digitalization of work processes and the new generation’s changing expectations of working life require new designs for the employee experience, especially in the recruitment, career management and talent management processes.
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Ziraat Bank will continue to prioritize its activities to transform processes into an agile structure that is able to respond to changing requirements more quickly, to increase employee satisfaction, to design processes to enhance the employee experience, to expand digitalization, and to use data analytics. In this context, the Bank plans to implement projects to integrate employee experience designs and smart technologies into HR processes in 2025.