Employee Benefit Plans-various
✓ Provide employees with secure retirement
In order to encourage employees to plan their future retirement through long-term savings, KTB has formulated the "Regulations Governing Retirement of Employees" with reference to the "Labor Standards Act" and the "Labor Pension Act." Employees that can apply for retirement are those who have served in KTB for more than 15 years and have reached the age of 55, those who have served for more than 25 years, and those who have served for more than 10 years and have reached the age of 60. KTB has also set up the "Labor Retirement Reserve Supervisory Committee" to review, check, and supervise issues related to the employee's retirement reserves. A total of 8 Labor Retirement Reserve Supervisory Committee meetings were held in 2023.
With regards to the retirement system, for those who are subject to the "Labor Standards Act," KTB allocates 15% of the total salary of the employees to the "Company Pension Account" at the Bank of Taiwan every month starting 2012. When employees retire, the retirement pension is calculated based on the base unit of their service years and the approved average monthly salary for the final six months before their retirement. Furthermore, the Company hires external actuaries on an annual basis to assess the allocation status and ensure compliance with legal regulations. In 2023, NT$35.45 million was recognized and allocated (old system) to the retirement plan. For the employees who are subject to the "Labor Pension Act," 6% of the individual employee's salary is allocated to their own individual labor pension account at the Bureau of Labor Insurance on a monthly basis. In 2023, NT$36.12 million was recognized and allocated to the retirement plan.
✓Care for important moments of employees
KTB has formulated the "King's Town Bank Co., Ltd. Working Rules," which specify the various benefits and leaves employees are entitled to. In addition, KTB has also set up the "Employee Welfare Committee" to be in charge of employee welfare matters and formulated the "King's Town Bank Enforcement Rules for Employee Benefits" as the basis for the utilization of employee welfare fund. Employee welfare fund, deposited in a special account, is exclusively for welfare purposes, and cannot be utilized unless approved by the Employee Welfare Committee. Benefit allocation is calculated in accordance with the following guidelines: 0.1% of the total monthly operating revenue and 0.5% of the monthly salary of each employee are allocated for employee benefits. All employees (including those who are on probation period) of KTB are entitled to the same rights and obligations. A total of 4 Employee Welfare Committee meetings was held in 2023.
✓Care for the daily needs of employees
We care for the actual needs of our employees and provide them with various benefits. These include a daily 1-hour leave, health check-up services that exceed legal requirements every two years, employee preferential loans, group insurance, health lectures, departmental meal expenses, discounts on arts, culture, and entertainment activities, special agreements with childcare centers and daycare classes, discounts on e-commerce purchases, telecommunications discounts, accommodation discounts, car purchase discounts, and free legal consultation services from contracted law firms. These benefits cover the categories of food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and entertainment, ensuring that our employees are well taken care of wherever they go.
Diversified Recruitment Channels
KTB proactively invests resources in recruiting outstanding talents with potential, with local residents as the main recruiting targets. In addition to general external recruitment, we put great emphasis on industry-academia cooperation, which includes campus recruitment, internship program, courses co-organization, career coaching programs, company visits, and seminars, to assist students in their career exploration, and at the same time, to find our future partners.
▣ Promotion Program of "Friends to Comrades"
KTB values employee retention. A good retention rate not only reduces recruiting costs but also boosts organizational morale. However, we have also noticed that the highest turnover rate occurred during the probationary period, mainly due to incompatibility with the jobs or corporate culture. In order to encourage employees to recommend outstanding talents, expand the company's talent introduction channel, and reduce frictional turnover rate, we have launched the "Talent Recommendation Incentive" subsidy program in 2022, in which employees who recommend talents and apply for the job vacancies announced in the recruitment website will receive the recommendation incentive after the recommended talents being formally employees, and the employees who made the recommendations will be given the retention incentive again when the recommended employees have served for the company for two years. In 2023, there were six new recruits recommended by employees, with a retention rate of 83.33%.
▣ College and University Internship Programs
Since 2017, KTB has been promoting internship programs in colleges and universities, including semester internship program and summer holiday internship program. In the internship, senior employees are assigned to work together with students to complete daily tasks, so as to facilitate the student's understanding of the outlook of the finance industry through practical experience. The internship also helps students combine theoretical knowledge and practical experience to reduce their inability to adapt to the workplace after they are formally recruited in the future. From the academic year of 2022 to 2023, a total of 20 interns were recruited. In July 2023, 10 interns successfully transitioned to full-time employee after passing their probationary period assessment, resulting in a retention rate of 50%. We expect that a well-designed internship program can effectively assist students in transitioning from academia to the workplace more seamlessly. Additionally, companies can leverage internship programs to identify and recruit talented individuals early on.
▣ The Youth's Employment Ultimate Program
Since August 2020, KTB has responded to the Ministry of Labor's "The Youth's Employment Ultimate Program," providing not only employment opportunities for youth, but also practical vocational training. We assigned senior employees to act as training instructors to lead and guide students to familiarize themselves with skill sets, on a one-on-one basis, and regularly track and provide feedback to them. In this way, these students may have a less steep learning curve in their future work and acquire useful skills. By January 2023, we have hired a total of 177 employees under this program.
Talent Retention Measures
Hiring outstanding talents is the foundation of a company's growth. Creating a place that attracts talents and allows them to demonstrate their strengths is a key value of a company's existence. Only in this way can we move forward together with a common goal and become a prosperous company.
▣ Comprehensive Remuneration Structure
Based on the position and responsibilities of the employees and the operating performance of KTB, the departments, and the individuals, KTB has formulated a comprehensive remuneration structure and system. Performance evaluation and remuneration are carried out in accordance with the "Regulations on the Annual Employee Performance Evaluation," "Regulations on the Employee Benefit Payment," and "Regulations on the Distribution of Annual Bonus," approved by the Board of Directors. Remuneration includes base salary, additional pay, allowance, and annual bonus. In addition, with reference to the salary and remuneration level of peer companies in the same industry, we adjust the base salary in a timely manner to provide our employees with competitive and motivating salary and remuneration.
In 2023, the total compensation expenses for KTB amounted to NT$10.82 billion. The highest individual total compensation within the Company is 16.4 times the median total compensation of all employees and 11.7 times the average total compensation of all employees. The percentage increase in the highest individual total compensation is 2.7 times the median percentage increase in total compensation for all employees (calculated as the percentage increase in annual total compensation for the highest-paid individual divided by the median percentage increase in annual total compensation for all employees, excluding the highest-paid individual).
Regarding the implementation of salary equality, KTB complies with labor acts, including Labor Standards Act, Gender Equality in Employment Act, and Employment Services Act, and provides fair and reasonable salary and remuneration based on the ability and experience required by the position, without gender discrimination. The salary and related performance assessment of managers are also proposed to the "Remuneration Committee" every year for discussions to examine the reasonableness of the correlation between personal performance, company operational performance, and future risks. The average monthly salary of employees at KTB is 1.9 times the minimum wage in Taiwan. The ratio of female to male employees at all levels of KTB for total salary and remuneration and for the regular salary and remuneration ratio (female: male) in 2023 are shown below:
Long-term Reward Mechanism
In addition to the salary mentioned above, KTB regards every employee as its partner and believes that KTB's steady growth lies in the team's cooperation and profit-sharing. In 2010, we launched the employee stock ownership trust, and the employees formed the "King's Town Bank Employee Stock Ownership Association." It has been agreed upon that KTB allocates a certain amount from each member's salary and deposits it to the trust organization for long-term investment and management of KTB's stocks. The Company also allocates additional relative incentive bonuses based on members' performance evaluations from the previous year and the amount members contribute voluntarily. Through "from employees to shareholders," KTB gives its employees a sense of value in the workplace and the meaning of their hard work. As KTB grows and appreciates, we also assist our employees to build up their own assets so that they can enjoy a secure retirement in the future. The employee stock ownership trust participation rate for 2023 was 89.05%, with a cumulative return rate of 182.09%.
Employee Benefit Plans
As employees devote most of their time and efforts to work, it is the responsibility of KTB to help employees achieve a work-life balance. In addition to the statutory labor and health insurance, KTB has introduced a number of measures and programs to take care of the employees in multiple aspects, such as the important moments of their lives, daily needs, emergency assistance, and retirement. The average welfare expense in 2023 was NT$1.2345 million (Note).
