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Becoming an employer of choice

We strive to be an employer of choice. Our aim is to engage our people in meaningful work and for them to become advocates for the company and ambassadors for our brands.
Port Phillip Prison employees

Following the successful integration of G4S and Allied Universal, we have focused on expanding our strong foundation. We plan to further engage and empower our employees by facilitating their
professional growth as we move ahead in the market.

Central to these plans was the launch of our new company values and the refreshed Human Resources (HR) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) strategies. Our new HR strategy sets out our aim to be the employer of choice in the marketplace and the lasting changes being made to achieve it. It is targeted at both our existing employees so they can see opportunities for career progression, as
well as anyone considering a career in security and not sure where or how to take their first step.

For us, being an employer of choice means providing an exceptional employee experience. We want our employees to feel that they belong, that they are cared for, their voices are welcomed
and heard, their efforts are recognised, and they have the opportunity to develop and grow. 

HR Strategy:

The HR strategy focuses on four core workstreams, managing the ways in which employees are:

     
  Recruitment icon  Recruited and On-Boarded

Reaching out to the widest talent pools in an effective and efficient way and ensuring new employees quickly feel like they belong and can perform.

   Trained and developed icon


Trained and Developed
Providing employees with the tools, skills and knowledge to do their jobs well and progress their career to the next level.

   Engaged and included icon


Engaged and Included
Building relationships and engagement early, taking care of the safety and wellbeing of our people so they can do the same for our customers.

   Rewarded and recognised icon
Rewarded and Recognised
Promoting fairness and equity and encouraging the right behaviours in line with our values and exceptional efforts made every day.

 

Our Progress:

Toward the end of 2022, we made progress by launching new employee onboarding programs both in North America and our international businesses. With higher levels of employee turnover occurring during their first three to six months with the company, ensuring that the initial experience of our business is a positive one is vital to our continued success.

We want all new employees to be confident and competent to perform their duties successfully, to be well-equipped, and to receive early and ongoing feedback about how they are doing. Listening to our employees' needs and ensuring that we act to address concerns they raise is core to our employee experience and our development as an employer of choice.

In 2022, significant efforts were made to refine and improve opportunities to capture employee feedback at various stages - from onboarding to exit interviews. Our whistleblowing hotlines provide vital feedback about concerns and our onboarding and engagement surveys help us assess the satisfaction of our employees who are the heartbeat of our organisation.

In 2023, we are further streamlining our employee listening mechanisms to ensure response times and follow up are quicker and there is visibility of actions taken.

Employee Engagement:

One of the aims listed in the new DE&I Policy relates to taking action based on feedback from employees. This includes the results from our global employee survey and any pulse surveys conducted in between. With several diversity related questions, the survey provides helpful insight on the extent to which employees believe the company is a diverse and inclusive organization.

In the last survey in 2022, the overall response favourable score for the statement "The company respects and values people from different backgrounds” increased to 87% from 86% in 2019. More broadly, the engagement survey results were extremely positive and heartening to see especially given the pandemic and the business changes since the last global survey in 2019. The survey reached out to well over half a million of our colleagues with more than 418,000 responding to share their views on what they thought and felt about working for the company and what we need to do to become an employer of choice.

The feedback has been reviewed and actions to maker further improvements are well underway with regular progress updates being shared. This will continue throughout 2023 until our next global survey in 2024 when we look forward to seeing the results of our efforts. As well as acting on employee feedback from surveys, building more effective employee communication and consultation mechanisms is key to becoming an employer of choice. We already have established employee forums like the European Works Council and relationships with recognized trade unions both locally and at a global level. Currently, more than 31% of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. We invest in these relationships which support our efforts to drive up employment standards on key issues like working conditions and safety. Not only is Freedom of Association a core human right, it brings benefit via feedback and insights as well as healthy challenges on our operations, too.

Employee Engagement

Our 2022 employee survey showed levels of engagement remain high, with 85% of employees providing a favourable response.

G4S Staff on the phone
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