Employee engagement

We believe that employee engagement is a critical driver of business success,helping us improve employee stability and increase our employees’ motivation to deliver excellent service to our customers, leading in turn to sustainable business performance

Having engaged employees helps us improve service delivery for our customers and in turn increases opportunities for business growth. To increase levels of employee engagement we continue to align our efforts to the PRIDE model.

• Protect their basic needs
• Respect them as individuals
• Involve them in the business
• Develop their skills and potential
• Engage them fully

Policies and procedures linked to this model are intended to set clear parameters for action, ensure that the tools and training required to deliver these actions are available and provide for regular feedback on performance and development opportunities in the role.

Monitoring and measurement

The employee engagement survey is a vital tool in monitoring engagement levels. At the end of 2013 we will have data from three global surveys to compare and contrast. The data provides a rich source of employee feedback on areas for improvement and helps us to focus our engagement strategy where it will have most impact in driving business performance.

Our achievements in 2012

We see the role of our first line managers as critical in increasing levels of engagement. In 2012 we introduced new training materials relating to the PRIDE model to develop their skills. Topics included health and safety, managing employee welfare and stress, understanding unions and building union relationships, managing change, coaching skills and building teams.

Gathering feedback from our employees on the factors impacting their levels of engagement is vital in shaping our plans. Work is ongoing following the global employee engagement survey in 2011 and in 2013 we will conduct our next survey. Separately we will be asking the views of our managers on what it is like to work for G4S, why they stay and how we can ensure they continue to do so. In addition we have revised our 360-degree feedback tool which enables employees to provide feedback to their managers prior to their development reviews.

The tool is available in six languages and was used by over 2,000 managers last year.

The need for improved levels of employee communication was one of the themes in the last global employee survey so in 2012 the new intranet site “the hub” was launched to reach a wider audience and provide more opportunity for on-line discussions and forums. The global induction DVD, which contains key messages on our values and ethics and an overview of the global nature of our operations has also been translated into 19 languages and now forms part of the induction for all front line employees.

Freedom of association is an important right for our employees and one we endorse in our Business Ethics Policy and enforce in our HR standards. Union membership has increased slightly to 16% over the last 12 months, with over a third of our employees covered by collective agreements.

In 2012 we revised our European works council (EWC) agreement. The changes reflect good practices that had become established over the last five years but never formalised. The annual works council meeting is seen as a valuable forum for social dialogue by management and representatives and there are high levels of participation from both sides.

In 2012 the EWC meeting was held in London with 26 employee representatives from across Europe attending, together with business leaders including the group CEO and group HR director.

Discussions at the meeting covered a wide range of issues affecting the interests of employees across G4S operations in Europe. This year everyone acknowledged the impact of tough market conditions, but there was an optimistic outlook at the end of the meeting with discussions about plans for growth and how both sides could work together to help develop these.

Our Ethical Employment Partnership (EEP) entered into with the GMB and UNI trade union organisations continues to be a constructive partnership that helps in resolving any challenges that arise which may threaten operational stability if allowed to escalate.

Our priorities for 2013

About 245,000 employees responded to the global engagement survey in 2011. This year we aim to increase the response rates to ensure that the results are even more representative of our employees’ views.

After the successful implementation of our induction DVD for front line employees, one of the priorities for 2013 is our induction processes for new managers. To support this we will be updating our management “on-boarding” tool to ensure it is both more engaging and more widely accessible.