We believe that, in the global market place, the winning companies are those that can put together a team of people with the best knowledge and highest enthusiasm anywhere in the world. I.M. Skaugen thus has a longstanding record of recruiting internationally and developing a multicultural mix of talents.
We have clear policies in place to enhance the recruitment and development of all our people, regardless of gender, religion, ethnic background or nationality. As a company that operates on a global basis, we strive to identify and promote talent wherever we can find it - aided by our non-discrimination policies. For a company of our size, we have a truly global representation and focus; so managing cultural diversity is a key challenge. We have been able to successfully manage complexities of our operations by the use of IT solutions and by being competitively sized. The board believes that the implementation of these policies is well monitored and that the daily activities of the management fully support these policies.
By year-end 2007, the total number of personnel employed by the Group (measured on a gross basis without adjusting for percentage ownership in joint ventures) was approximately 1,680, of which 678 were employed as sailing personnel. Fifty per cent of our sailing staff is now Chinese, which is in line with our China Activity policy. Shore-side staff is mainly divided between our offices in Houston (16 per cent), China (66 per cent), Singapore (6 per cent), and Oslo (9 per cent). We employed at year end 28 different nationalities in our Group.
At the end of 2007, of the total number of personnel working in our offices worldwide, about 35 per cent were female. In the Executive Committee, 25 per cent is female. The proportion of women in senior positions continues to rise. We are in compliance with the Norwegian rules regarding females on the Board of Directors.