We strive for diversity in our workforce to draw on all available talents
The size and shape of G4S is constantly changing as the business continues to grow, entering new countries and developing new service lines. Five years ago we employed 365,000 people – now we have more than 585,000 employees in more than 110 countries.
One in three of our employees works in North Africa and the Middle East, one in six in Africa and one in eleven in Latin America. Our employees speak over 50 different national languages.
Diversity is already a source of strength for the group and one that gives us a key competitive advantage. With such a diverse workforce, we are better placed to understand the needs of our customers and identify opportunities for innovation and improvement.
Our employees deliver the service that our customers rely on to keep them and their assets safe and secure. Our success will depend on our ability to attract and retain talented people so that we have the resources to support the challenges of our diverse customers and our continued business growth.
We are building an inclusive working environment in which the best people can thrive and reach their full potential regardless of race, sex, religion or beliefs, disability, marital or civil partnership status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
The chart below shows the ratio of male to female employees across the organisation.
Our policies and practices are created to ensure that local legislation is adhered to and, in the event that none exists, provide minimum standards to which all businesses must comply. Confidential telephone helpline services are available for employees to raise any concerns they have.
As a security solutions company with a clear orientation towards traditionally male-dominated occupations, G4S faces challenges in driving a diversity and inclusion agenda. We also have to think globally but act locally, respecting the cultural differences across the countries in which we operate.
The group HR director takes overall responsibility for embracing these challenges by
> identifying, sharing and developing best practice in diversity and inclusion across the businesses > supporting businesses in improving the diversity of their management teams > fostering an inclusive work environment
Much proactive work on diversity and inclusion is already underway:
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In the UK, work on diversity-specific areas such as gender and ethnicity is part of normal business practice
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In the US we are required to provide detailed information of the composition of our workforce to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and US Department of Labor Office and Federal Contract Compliance Program
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Where appropriate, our US businesses have an Affirmative Action Plan which is reviewed regularly by members of the senior management team
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In South Africa, where legislation promotes diversity and inclusion though skills development and employment equity, we demonstrate and measure our commitment to Black Economic Empowerment Codes in a number of ways. For example, at Mangaung Correctional Centre, the percentage procurement spend on black enterprises, the investment in skills development and the levels of black management control are all monitored closely to help ensure the workforce is truly representative of the local community and small businesses are well supported. The commitment of the management team to diversity and to developing an inclusive culture at Mangaung has paid off in a number of ways. 83% of all employees are black and 80% of all promotions are filled by internal candidates
In other countries there are many great practices which have helped to create a workplace that is perceived as fair and inclusive.
Our aim is to reflect the communities in which we operate at all levels of the organisation. We recognise that achieving this will take time in an organisation of our size and complexity, but we are confident that we are making progress.
Developing Talent Our approach to learning and development is a key element of the G4S “Best People” value. We understand that in order to deliver the group strategy it is essential that we invest in developing the talent within the organisation as well as attracting new people who can bring necessary expertise into the group.
Our talent management programme focuses on identifying the key capabilities of the senior population of leaders across the organisation and understanding our strengths in addition to identifying any gaps that we may have in capability or expertise. We can then develop action plans to maximise the strengths and close the gaps through internal moves, external recruitment or targeted development activity. Overall, our intent is that our best talent is deployed where the best impact and highest value can be achieved.
G4S has, for several years, invested in leadership development to enhance the skills of leaders who are seen as having considerable potential to progress further. To date, more than 70 leaders have participated in G4S’s award-winning Leadership Programme. The aim of the programme is to ensure that the participants have both the commercial and personal skills to contribute to the development and implementation of the strategy. The programme is continually evolving to ensure that it is aligned to the capability requirements of the organisation.
In addition, businesses around the world have invested in developing management capability to assist in creating a pipeline of talent moving through the organisation.
It is also vital that all employees have access to development opportunities to support their career progression. The start point for this is a performance management discussion with their manager which is currently being implemented across the group.
Overall, talent management for G4S is about ensuring that our investment in talent and development is focused in areas which will not only enhance the skills and capabilities of our employees at all levels, helping them to progress, but will also augment the performance of the group.
Best People – we always take care to employ the best people, develop their competence, provide opportunity and inspire them to live our values
Case Study: Developing Talent - Thomas Pilz
Thomas Pilz joined the group in January 2003 as a Management Trainee in our former German business, on a locally-organised scheme to attract talented young graduates into the organisation.
After spending twelve months working in the various parts of the business, getting to know the organisation, he was given his first management role, working as a Project Manager responsible for the successful post-merger integration of the cash operations of Group 4 Falck and Securicor in Germany.
During this time Thomas won a place on the brand new global G4S “Leadership Programme”, which really opened his eyes to the sheer scale of the group, and gave him the opportunity to work and learn alongside colleagues from the USA, Belgium, Hong Kong, India, Denmark, the UK, Barbados and Norway.
Thomas has this to say about the Programme: “It has given me great exposure to the senior management across the whole of G4S, and created a wonderful learning environment, which was a very special combination of formal academic inputs, case studies and informal yet deep conversations with colleagues in our different businesses”.
Whilst he was on the Programme, Thomas visited G4S operations in the UK, the USA, Hong Kong, Macau, South Africa and Austria, and all of this international exposure certainly paid off as in May 2006 he was appointed to the position of Control Centre Manager for the UK Electronic Monitoring business, responsible for running the monitoring centre in Manchester, England.
Since then Thomas’ career has taken another step forward, as in March 2008 he became the International Retail Manager, Cash Solutions, responsible for the international launch of the new service line – “Cash360” – a solution to help retailers across the world manage their cash more efficiently.
Freedom of Association We value our employees as unique individuals while respecting and listening to their collective voice.
G4S believes it is essential to our continued success that we actively seek and consider the views of our workforce – whether directly as individual employees or via their chosen representatives. We have a history of active, constructive social dialogue with unions around the world, many relationships going back decades, and can clearly demonstrate our long-standing commitment to and experience of freedom of association and collective bargaining. Thus, today, there are over 200 union agreements across the group.
Recognised Unions
Similarly, the collective agreement coverage across G4S is very significant, even in comparison with other, traditional, labour-intensive industries, and the graph below shows the degree to which our workforce is currently covered by the terms of a collective agreement.
Collective agreement coverage
The nature of union relationships differ according to local context and culture, but our support for constructive dialogue is demonstrated in the following case study from Argentina
Case Study: Social Dialogue - Argentina
Argentina has a long history of social dialogue and company/union interfaces vary according to segment, geography and even customer. Fluent and close relationships are therefore “a must” for G4S in Argentina, and we have developed constructive, albeit robust, relationships with all the local unions. At the end of 2008, almost 4,000 employees were covered by the terms of a collective agreement, representing 97% of the total workforce. In fact the lowest pay rate in G4S Argentina is already 50% above the minimum wage and 20% above the industry average. So with low employee turnover too, the company is rightly proud to be leading the way among employers in the industry and beyond.
Global Social Dialogue In 2008, G4S entered into an Ethical Employment Partnership with UNI, the global union federation, which will drive improvements in employment standards across the security industry while helping to ensure that employee and union rights are respected throughout the group.
The unique geographic footprint of G4S – where two thirds of our employees are in developing markets – and the complexity arising from different labour relations contexts around the world, mean that a global framework is appropriate and helpful. The agreement reached with UNI will help us work together to drive through improvements in industry standards and employment conditions and have a positive impact on employees, their families and their communities.
Employee Feedback In 2008 G4S decided that, to fully understand and improve employee engagement across the group, all countries should undertake an employee survey at least once every two years. Across the world, our businesses are therefore currently undertaking the first global employee survey of its kind – a massive undertaking in such a diverse business, where most employees are remote workers and a technical solution is not realistic in many markets.
Despite these challenges, we believe that employee engagement is a key performance indicator for our business and that seeking and acting on employees’ views will enable us to improve loyalty and motivation, with consequent enhancement of service and performance.
We work to change markets in which business is awarded at the expense of employee terms & conditions.
We respect employees’ need for time away from work, while acknowledging that many want to maximise their income.
We boost long-term job security by creating new solutions to meet our customers’ business needs.
Strong competition in the industry and weak enforcement in many markets have often driven less ethical employers to routinely cut costs at the expense of their employees’ terms & conditions and, while G4S must remain competitive in its chosen markets, our strategy is to change these markets by raising the professionalism and reputation of the industry as a whole.
The Ethical Employment Partnership agreed with UNI in 2008 is a key element of this strategy and we have agreed a phased roll-out which will help us to monitor progress in achieving our shared aims, while protecting the long-term sustainability of our business.
Across the group, our employees are paid at least as favourably as the terms established by national legislation, collective agreements or industry standards. In more than half of our businesses, even the lowest paid employee receives more than 10% above the local minimum wage. In 23% of our businesses, the lowest paid employee is paid at least 50% above any such established rate.
We will continue to work with governments, customers and union partners to improve conditions for employees wherever the market and economy allows, and to ensure that we retain our position as the premium employer in the industry.
We always consider our employees’ physical and mental wellbeing, especially in harsh or hostile environments.
We are in the business of managing risk, whether that is people, property or possessions. The business is challenging and, in some parts of the world, dangerous. We work in hostile environments, clearing mines, providing armed escorts for convoys and dealing with the fallout from terrorist attacks. In the cash solutions markets we are often a target for attack ourselves. We fully recognise the dangers these challenges present and work extremely hard to ensure that our employees have appropriate training, equipment and back up support to enable them to remove or significantly reduce the risks they encounter at work.
In 2008, 3,348 (0.57% of the workforce) were injured as a direct result of work-related incidents.
% of serious work related incidents
Regrettably 53 (0.0095% of the workforce) employees died as a direct result of attacks on our staff or the assets that they were protecting.
% of attack-related deaths
We continue to work with the police authorities, trade unions and other security companies to bring those who have caused injury or harm to our people to justice and to do all we can to protect our people whilst carrying out their work.
Case Study: Health & Safety - G4S Secure Solutions, UK & Ireland
Six G4S UK businesses have been presented with the ultimate award for their impeccable health and safety standards. Two prison facilities (HMP Wolds & HMP Altcourse), Court Services, GCHQ, Manchester Magistrates Court and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre were recognised with Swords of Honour from the British Safety Council.
This means these businesses are among the top 40 performing companies in the world to have achieved this accolade in 2008.
David Taylor-Smith, Chief Executive Officer of G4S Secure Solutions, UK & Ireland, said: “Winning these awards recognises the dedication and commitment of our people to ensure a consistent level of health and safety excellence.”
A message of congratulations was also sent by Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He said: “I send my congratulations to all of those organisations being presented with a Sword of Honour by the British Safety Council. These awards recognise the crucial success that they and their employees have achieved in their pursuit of excellence in the management of health, safety and environmental matters.”
The welfare of employees is of paramount importance to G4S and all our businesses aim to ensure that employees are supported during difficult times. As the group operates in many countries that are frequently afflicted by natural disasters and occasionally by violence arising from crime or political unrest, our employees are on occasion subjected to trauma or particular financial hardship.
Employees are offered counselling and support when they have been subjected to incidents at work which have caused trauma or distress. The G4S Employees’ Trust is available to make grants to employees to ease financial hardship in a variety of situations.
For example, in early 2008 as a result of the post-election violence in Kenya, over 60 employees were left without homes when they were burnt down during the violence. The local company quickly put in place a programme of support and assistance for those affected which included counselling for those suffering from post-traumatic stress. Financial assistance from the G4S Employees’ Trust Fund helped these employees to rebuild their homes and bring some normality back into their lives.
During 2008, the Employees Trust Fund made grants totalling over £250,000 to over 130 employees who have suffered particular financial hardship. 80% of these employees were based in our new markets businesses.
