At TD, employee development is an integral part of our performance development culture across our global footprint, whether it’s TD Securities U.S., TD Waterhouse U.K. or TD Canada Trust. Development is about giving employees the opportunity to build knowledge, skills and experiences that will help them to meet their personal and career goals.

Performance Management and Development
Personal performance and development is a continuous cycle of planning, performing and assessing in our organization. The fiscal year begins with managers and employees setting performance and development objectives that align with team, business and organization goals and priorities. In addition to the ongoing dialogue or coaching that occurs between managers and employees, there is a formal mid-year review and year-end assessment. Performance and development reviews take place with all employees and the process is consistent across the organization.

This process enables employees’ growth by supporting them in establishing a Personal Development Plan (PDP) in consultation with their manager, encouraging them to identify career aspirations and providing access to a wide range of tools and resources, and on-the-job experiences. All employees are asked to create a PDP to set personal development and/or career objectives and track their progress toward those goals. People Managers will engage their employees in development discussions throughout the year to offer their feedback and support.

Leadership and Management Development
Each year, executives continue to receive feedback from their direct reports, peers and managers regarding their performance based on our Leadership Profile. We are committed to our strategy of “Building for the Future” by continually developing our Management Curriculum and building the capability of our future leaders. In 2007, we maintained our focus on cultivating leaders who can motivate and lead people, including through TD’s Leadership Academy, a three and a half day residential program focused on leadership and strategy. Approximately 700 executives participated last year.

Individual and Group Mentoring
In 2007, we introduced mentoring tools and processes for our lines of business in Canada and Wholesale Banking in the United States. These include guides and information to assist those who have identified a mentoring relationship as an effective way to achieve their development objectives, as well as group mentoring activities targeted to specific groups with similar development objectives.

Of particular note are two major initiatives: the first sponsored by our Women in Leadership committee and the second by our Expanding Leadership Opportunities for Members of Visible Minority Groups committee. Group mentoring is offered to a large group of female senior managers and members of our visible minority community. Both initiatives have been successful and we expect other groups to leverage this capability in the future. More than 200 employees at TD are benefiting from group mentoring.

Internal Career Fairs and Resources
Our employees tell us they value the support TD provides them to pursue many different jobs within the Bank over the course of their careers. For example, every year we hold internal career fairs in major cities across Canada so employees across our information and advice first-hand about the wealth of career opportunities at the Bank. In 2007, 2,700 employees participated in the fairs. There’s also our internal job posting intranet site that employees can access. We’ve developed a comprehensive internal online Career Management site that brings together related tools and information and outlines a strategy for individual career planning.

For example, TD employees can utilize Career Advisor, a career management resource designed by expert Dr. Barbara Moses. It combines the powerful self assessment tools of her acclaimed CareerPlanning Workbook and the savvy advice of her international best-seller What Next? with today’s cutting edge e-learning technologies to create a complete electronic career management environment. In 2007, a new module was introduced containing contemporary columns written by Dr. Moses and published in the Globe and Mail. To date there are 14,000 registered employees with 450 active users a month.

Training Programs and Formats
For both staff and management, TD offers more than 300 formal training and development programs. Learning formats comprise instructor-led classrooms, e-learning, self-study materials, on-the-job training and management coaching and mentoring. TD pays for all job-related training and development subject to approval by the employee’s manager. In addition, we also provide 60 “Learning Maps” — tools to help employees identify learning opportunities and specific training, courses and programs for many roles throughout the organization.

We’re continually introducing educational initiatives in response to new employee needs and requests. In 2007, for instance, TD Banknorth launched Management 101, a series of six programs focused on foundational management skills for managers with less than two years experience managing people.

Support for External Education
We also offer tuition assistance to assist employees throughout North America and internationally in improving their career opportunities with TD. Both full-time and part-time employees who upgrade their knowledge by taking courses and seminars offered by universities, colleges and other educational institutions may be eligible for reimbursement of tuition and compulsory textbooks.

In the U.S., TD Banknorth offers a unique scholarship program for children of employees. Recognizing that one of employees’ needs is to provide their children with a quality education, a designated number of children of employees receive a USD $2,500 financial award to assist with their post-secondary schooling.

Recruitment and Internship Programs
We sponsor and participate in initiatives such as internships, associate programs and career fairs that showcase the many career opportunities available at TD. Some examples include:

• Career Edge: As a founding member of Career Edge, a Canadian not-for-profit corporation that offers new graduates the opportunity to learn and gain practical work experience, TD has hosted 261 interns since the program’s inception in 1996, including 19 in 2007.
• Career Bridge: This innovative internship program, launched in 2004, aims to address the dilemma of highly qualified candidates being underemployed upon coming to Canada. TD has hosted 36 internships since the program’s inception, including six in 2007.
• Ability Edge: We participate in this program to recruit disabled persons for internship placements across TD. We’ve hosted 24 internships since the program began in 1999, including two in 2007.
• INROADS: TD has supported this summer internship program for visible minority and Aboriginal youth for two years, providing six internships each year.
• On-campus Recruitment: In 2007, TD took part in more than 130 recruitment initiatives and career fairs at college and university campuses across North America.
• The Mentoring Partnership Program: An initiative of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), through the program we provide knowledge, tools and skills to the mentees to assist them in securing a job relevant to their backgrounds.
• Strive U: In Maine, we participate in this program to recruit developmentally challenged young adults for internships at TD Banknorth, with three placements in 2007.
• Notre Dame High School: The work-study program in Lawrence, Maine, is designed for visible minority and low-income students. TD Banknorth placed three students from this program last year.
• Associate Programs: TD offers a range of associate programs for business undergrad and MBA candidates upon graduation. These programs allow new employees to develop/train in one or multiple business lines before being posted to a permanent role. These programs are unique in that they offer an opportunity for graduates to learn about the organization and our culture and to develop critical networks in preparation for launching their career with the Bank. Our Wholesale Banking business participates in associate training and rotation programs on a global basis, offering our associates the opportunity to work in one of our offshore offices such as the U.K., Sydney or Singapore.

Discover more about our learning and development activities in our Experience TD section.