Retaining talent is just as crucial as attracting talent, particularly with the high costs of recruiting and developing new people� To keep those working for us and thus preventing the loss of knowledge, it is essential that we offer the right balance of career growth opportunities, recognition and reward and work satisfaction� An essential part of this has been to ensure that all our employees benefit from a positive work environment that values the performance of individuals and teams, encourages mutual respect and facilitates effective communication� We maintain an open door practice that gives our people multiple avenues for expressing and ensuring the resolution of any issues, and we ensure that employees receive regular performance appraisals and career development reviews through our global employee appraisal framework, Croda Aspire� Our corporate target for all employees to receive an annual appraisal by the end of over the past few years, but we are very pleased to report that 81�2% of employees received an appraisal by the end of 2015, demonstrating a substantial increase from our baseline year of 2012� We are committed to achieving 100%, so have extended this target and hope to achieve it by the end of 2017� Widening our reach and strengthening our brand Last year, we launched a global recruitment system that means we no longer have to rely on local agencies and websites to publish our vacancies.