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Corporate responsibility report 2006 > Proper and respectful treatment of employees
Corporate responsibility report 2006
Chief Executive's introduction
Smiths at a glance
Managing corporate responsibility and business ethics
Proper and respectful treatment of employees
High standards for health and safety in the workplace
Respect for the environment
Contributing to the communities in which we live and work
Assurance statement
Summary financial performance
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Proper and respectful treatment of employees
A great place to work
In 2006 John Crane Brazil was voted one of the top 100 'Great Places to Work' in Brazil through a confidential survey held by the Great Place to Work® Institute (www.greatplacetowork.com). To be included, a minimum of 70% of employees had to reply spontaneously. The final score was based on employees' assessment (75%) and HR policies and practices (25%).
Horizons
This year, employees early in their career took part in 'Horizons', a two-year development programme designed to develop individual and collective capabilities. Horizons is popular with participants and their managers, who report that it gives participants self-awareness and confidence and enables them to assume greater responsibilities more quickly.
Code: Employees
  1. Smiths recruits, selects and promotes employees on the basis of their qualifications, skills, aptitude and attitude.
  2. In employment-related decisions, Smiths complies with anti-discrimination requirements in the relevant jurisdictions concerning matters of race, colour, national origin, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, religious belief, age, or physical or mental disability.
  3. All Smiths employees shall be treated with respect and dignity. Accordingly, any harassment or bullying is unacceptable.
  4. Smiths respects the right of each employee to join or not to join a trade union or other bona fide employee representative organisation.
  5. Smiths believes in good communications with employees and in promoting consultation, co-operation and teamwork on matters of mutual concern.

Smiths is a diverse group of businesses and our people reflect that diversity across the globe. Smiths Group and its businesses employ just under 32,000 people in 46 countries on six continents. 57% of our employees are located in North America and 23% in the UK. The remaining 20% are predominantly located in Germany, France and Italy.

Reaching full potential
We introduced our 'Full Potential' programme three years ago to grow sales and enlarge profitability. People in every part of the business are taking action to achieve the best possible long-term performance for our shareholders. We invest in our employees' skills and capabilities to help them achieve their full potential, which in turn helps Smiths and its businesses to succeed. Current priorities across the Group are developing our talent, succession planning and engaging our employees in pursuing their full potential.

Developing talent
Smiths Group and our individual businesses invest in identifying and developing the talents of employees. Smiths provides employees with challenging work that stretches their capabilities, and embeds this with training and development activities tailored to their individual needs. In 2006, Smiths introduced a new process for the most senior people, integrating the performance review with the overall 'full potential' goals of the business. Our aim is to drive this process deeper into the organisation in future years.

Succession planning
Smiths has a systematic succession management process for senior leadership roles. The Group identifies leadership talent and development needs, and follows this up with individual development plans that are monitored by senior management to help secure effective succession when required.

We aim, through these means and others, to develop fully the capabilities of our employees and to deploy them in the most effective way. Employees are encouraged to advance their careers across the Group where this makes sense for their development and for the business. Our selection processes are focused on an individual's capabilities and record of performance.

Engaging employees
For employees to reach their full potential, we have to make sure they are properly engaged in the business. Not only do we provide the training and development opportunities that represent an investment in both their and the Group's future, but also a safe and responsible working environment that encourages respect, gives them the scope to apply their capabilities and to assume responsibilities, and enables both individual and team contributions to be recognised.

Communication is crucial to helping employees engage with the business. At business unit level, we have a variety of channels including team briefings, presentations, intranets and newsletters. Many businesses have well-established forums for exchanging information and best practice as well as discussing current business issues including efficiency initiatives, training and development, and environment, health and safety issues.

In the UK, we have organised workplace information and consultation arrangements at all our sites. These link to the Smiths European Forum through which employee representatives from across the European Union (EU) meet annually to discuss trans-national matters within an EU context. This year's meeting was held in the UK and included a presentation by the Chief Executive on the Group's financial performance and prospects.

Aims for next year
  • We will continue to offer a range of training and development opportunities that match people's needs with the needs of the business.
  • We will continue to develop new programmes to enable our people to reach their full potential.
 
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