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Social
Recruitment, Training, Development and Diversity
Johnson Matthey’s employees are respected as the group’s most valuable resource and play a vital role in building a sustainable business. We are committed to recruiting high calibre employees and providing them with the information, training and working environment they need to perform to the highest standards. All employees are encouraged to develop to their maximum potential, supported by human resources policies and practices that are strategically linked to the needs of the business and our customers.
The skills, qualities and wellbeing of employees underpin the company’s success. An effective, streamlined recruitment procedure supports the steady requirement for high calibre graduates and career foundation training programmes are in place to engage new recruits. We also offer training and development programmes at middle and senior manager levels. Employees from acquired businesses are actively encouraged to attend programmes to expose them to the wider group culture and help them integrate. Our extensive portfolio of training is provided at our facilities around the world and programmes include presentations from senior executives to anchor the course content to the company’s strategies and progress.
Our aim is to retain high potential and high performing staff. Providing career development opportunities for employees assists in staff retention and in turn, succession planning and the sustainability of management. Recruiting well qualified staff is vital to support business development, particularly in new and emerging markets such as in Asia, and this is achieved by appropriate manpower planning, local recruitment and the encouragement of international and cross divisional mobility. The group has a management skills inventory database to help to identify and match suitably qualified internal candidates to promotional and development opportunities globally and / or across our divisions as we strive to place the right people with the right skills in the right places. Beyond satisfying the immediate business needs, the company is committed to developing a more internationally diverse workforce to support its global business.
The group’s gender balance remains almost unchanged this year at 79% male and 21% female. The group recognises the importance of creating an enhanced environment for the development of women in management and during the year has introduced an initiative to increase awareness of this issue. As part of this, managers have been encouraged to use the annual appraisal with their female staff as an opportunity to understand aspirations, identify any perceived obstacles to progression, discuss opportunities for career development and highlight details of the group’s family friendly policies.
Employee Relations and Communication
The quality of our employee relations is a priority for the company and Johnson Matthey is proud of the high level of commitment and loyalty from its employees. We have a low voluntary staff turnover (5.4% in 2009/10, see the Group Key Performance Indicators section) with many employees staying with the company for their whole careers.
Effective communication with employees is important and in particular, face to face dialogue. Communication is exchanged through the in house magazines, attitude surveys, regular news bulletins, presentations to staff and team briefings. Employees are also encouraged to access the group’s corporate intranet, sustainability intranet and website.
The company supports employee share ownership and employees have the opportunity to participate in share ownership plans, where practicable. Under these plans, employees can buy shares in the company which are matched by a company funded component. Employees in six countries are able to contribute to a company share ownership plan or a 401k approved savings investment plan. Through these ownership plans Johnson Matthey’s current and former employees collectively held 1.83% of the company’s shares at 31st March 2010.
Johnson Matthey also sponsors pension plans for its employees worldwide. These pension plans are a combination of defined benefit and defined contribution pension arrangements, savings schemes and provident funds designed to provide appropriate retirement benefits based on local laws, custom and market practice. In 2009/10 there was a major change to the Johnson Matthey Employees Pension Scheme in the UK (JMEPS). Following a full consultation exercise with around 2,000 employees who were affected by the change, from 31st March 2010 those employees ceased to accrue further benefits based upon their final salary. From 1st April 2010 those employees will accrue benefits based upon their career average salary and may also make defined contributions to their pension which are matched by the company up to 3% of pensionable pay. This is in line with the pension arrangements for UK employees who joined JMEPS since 2006. These actions were deemed necessary to preserve the long term strength and integrity of the pension funds and of the company itself. Further details are provided in the Financial Review section. The design of the career average section of the scheme is geared to providing overall benefits of a similar level to the previous final salary section but has removed or reduced some of the liabilities that the company could potentially face in the future. The changes only affected UK based employees.
In 2008/09 the global economic slowdown had made it necessary to reduce employee numbers at some of our manufacturing sites and our monthly employee numbers continued to fall during the early part of 2009/10. A minimum point was reached in June 2009 and since then, employee numbers have increased by around 7%, as we have seen a recovery in demand for our products.
Johnson Matthey continues to maintain good and constructive relations with all recognised trade unions which collectively represent 33% of all group employees worldwide. During 2009/10 no working time was lost within the group due to employee action.
The corporate sickness absence rate during 2009/10 was 2.1% compared to 2.2% (restated) for 2008/09. We continue to increase investment in sustainable health and wellness programmes to support the longer term health, wellbeing and performance of our employees.
Community Investment
Johnson Matthey has a strong tradition for good community relations and the company and its employees are actively involved in programmes worldwide. We have an important contribution to make to the economic development of our local communities, not only as an employer but also through collaboration and investment, both financial and in kind. Johnson Matthey is a member of the London Benchmarking Group (LBG).
Guidance on site requirements is detailed in the group EHS management system and a review of community investment activities across the group is carried out each year. In 2009/10, the review indicates that 98% of Johnson Matthey’s operations with over 50 employees participated in activities within their local communities. These activities are wide ranging and include charitable giving, support for educational projects, the advancement of science and economic regeneration projects. Employees also participate in activities or hold community related roles outside of the work environment. The company is supportive of this broader community engagement, allowing employees time off during working hours as appropriate. The review also demonstrates that a higher proportion of sites have specific budgets for community investment and are setting objectives for their activities.
Johnson Matthey’s long history of support for charitable causes continues today through group and business programmes. The causes we support reflect the areas in which the group’s technologies have a benefit and the issues which strike a chord with our employees. At a group level, Johnson Matthey operates a charitable donations programme which includes support for organisations working in the areas of environment, medical and health, science and education, social welfare and international development. The programme includes an annual donations scheme where a number of charities are selected triennially and receive a donation from the company each year for a three year period. In 2009/10 48 charitable causes received an annual donation through this scheme. The group's programme also considers individual requests for support throughout the year and a further 44 charitable organisations received donations on this basis in 2009/10.
The group also has a specific programme of support focused on promoting the understanding and awareness of science among children and young people. During the year we have worked with StemNet, a UK organisation that creates opportunities for young people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), to develop practical materials for use in school STEM clubs. The programme we have devised, called ‘Sustainability is Precious’, has been trialled by several schools and will be rolled out nationally later this year.
Johnson Matthey continues to operate its annual charity of the year programme and employee views are considered when deciding on the charity. The group is supporting Alzheimer’s Society in 2009/10 and further details on the partnership are available in the Sustainability Report. Johnson Matthey’s sites around the world also lend support to many other charities locally and nationally through donations, employee time or loans of company facilities.
Johnson Matthey is supporting Royston’s BID initiative. John Gourd of Johnson Matthey (centre) with Oliver Heald, MP for Hertfordshire North East (left) and Geraint Burnell of Royston First (right).
Royston, UK is home to Johnson Matthey’s global headquarters and is the company’s largest site. For several years the company has supported the town’s initiative to become a Business Improvement District (BID) and has provided management time and £50,000 of financial support. Achieving BID status requires local businesses to vote in favour of making a small increase in their business rate payments. These are then directly reinvested to provide funds for the improvement of the town’s facilities with the aim of creating a better place to live and work. Royston successfully gained its BID status in April 2009 and Johnson Matthey continues to be involved in the implementation of the improvement plans.
In the financial year to 31st March 2010 Johnson Matthey donated £458,000 to charitable organisations. This figure only includes donations made by Johnson Matthey and does not include payroll giving, donations made by staff or employee time. The company made no political donations in the year. We will continue to support a wide range of charitable causes in 2010/11.
Stakeholder Engagement
Johnson Matthey has a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in hearing from or working with the company. These include customers, employees, fund managers, shareholders, communities, governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and national and international trade associations. We aim to provide meaningful and transparent communications to meet the needs of all stakeholder groups and deliver information to them in the most appropriate format. These formats may include annual performance reports, participation in performance indices (Carbon Disclosure Project, FTSE4Good, Dow Jones Sustainability Index, for example) or one to one discussions on specific topics. We communicate with our stakeholders throughout the year and engagement is integrated into business decision making processes.
The company is actively involved with the Chemical Industries Association (CIA), the European Precious Metals Federation (EPMF) and plays a leading advisory role through participation in a number of sector trade associations and government bodies. The company is also engaged with national and local government to inform the development of policy in areas where Johnson Matthey’s technology and products can play a pivotal role.
Neil Carson, Chief Executive of Johnson Matthey, is a prominent member of the Corporate Leaders Group and is a member of the Advisory Board for the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership. A number of the company’s senior management are involved in the UK government’s sustainability and climate change initiatives. Johnson Matthey’s executives have also made a contribution to a range of organisations and committees during the year, such as the Carbon Trust, and the company continues to participate in numerous government consultations. We have also continued to support the activities of Forum for the Future and the Green Alliance.
At regular meetings with the company’s major shareholders, matters relating to sustainability and corporate social responsibility may be discussed together with the performance and development of the group’s businesses.
During the year Johnson Matthey was awarded the Chemical Industries Association 2009 Award for Environmental Leadership. It also received two awards at the inaugural Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) Hermes Transparency in Governance Awards, one for Best Practice Disclosure on Sustainability and a second for Best Practice Disclosure on Stakeholder Engagement. The company is committed to achieving high standards of reporting and disclosure to enhance openness and dialogue between the company’s board and its investors and other stakeholders. Winning these two awards recognises our commitment to maintaining a well run company and to achieving best practice in our corporate governance reporting.
Throughout the year the company has sought to engage with its stakeholders to garner views on how we report our sustainability performance and the level of confidence it provides. A structured survey was devised and input was received from suppliers, customers, NGOs and institutional investors. This is being used to direct the structure of our reports going forward.
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