Our Performance and Achievements

Annual group wide data collection processes are used to gather core information on Johnson Matthey’s employees and the key data sets are presented below. Employee data relates to the financial year 2008/09 (unless otherwise stated) for the continuing businesses and excludes 841 employees transferred out of the group with the completion of the sale of the Argillon Insulators and Alumina businesses on 26th November 2008.

Employee Numbers

The following tables set out the average number of people employed by Johnson Matthey and the net change in the number of people employed during the 2008/09 financial year by geographical region and by employment contract.

Although in overall terms the group employed 729 more people on average in 2008/09 than in 2007, the table above shows that there has been a net annual reduction of 182 people in the group between 31st March 2008 and 31st March 2009. This reduction is largely made up of decreases in North America and the Rest of World, offset to an extent by increases in Asia and an increase in temporary contract employees in Europe. Within North America and the Rest of World, the largest reductions in employee numbers were in South Africa (-157), Mexico (-123) and the USA (-56).

The quality of our employee relations is a priority for Johnson Matthey and the company is proud of the high level of commitment and loyalty from its employees. We have a low voluntary staff turnover (6.4% in the financial year 2008/09) with many employees staying with the company for their whole careers. The table below sets out the employee turnover for the financial year 2008/09 by geographical region. The employee turnover figure is calculated by reference to the total number of leavers during the year expressed as a percentage of the average number of people employed during the year. The analysis does not include agency workers not directly employed by Johnson Matthey.

The graph below sets out the group’s employee turnover over the past five years. Voluntary employee turnover has fallen year on year since 2005 but overall group employee turnover has increased in the 2008/09 financial year. As a result of the global economic slowdown, a number of Johnson Matthey sites around the world have had to reduce employee numbers and adjust working patterns, particularly those facilities which supply the automotive related markets. In most cases these adjustments necessitated the release of agency and temporary staff, although some have also required redundancies among permanent staff. These difficult decisions were not taken lightly. In all cases, consultations were held with those affected and, where appropriate, their union representatives, in accordance with local legal and best practice requirements.

Trade Union Representation

Johnson Matthey continues to maintain good and constructive relations with all recognised trade unions which collectively represent 34% of all group employees worldwide (34% in calendar year 2007). The following table sets out the average number and percentage of Johnson Matthey's employees who were covered by collective bargaining arrangements and represented by trade unions by geographical region during the financial year 2008/09.

From 2nd June to 11th July 2008, production was affected at the company’s precision casting plant in St Catharines, Canada, by a six week strike involving 47 members of the USW (United Steelworkers) union. The matters at issue were finally settled by local negotiations and production resumed on 12th July. Other than this event, no working time was lost elsewhere within the group due to employee action.

Our autocatalyst plant at Germiston, South Africa, was affected by two one day national ‘stay-aways’ on 23rd July and 21st August 2008. This was not due to direct employee action against Johnson Matthey. The ‘stay-aways’ were part of the COSATU (Confederation of South African Trade Unions) organised rolling mass action campaign protesting at job losses in South Africa due to the effect of power cuts, particularly in the mining sector. Production at the Germiston plant was affected on both days but Johnson Matthey customer deliveries were not interrupted.

Diversity

The figures below set out the gender breakdown of Johnson Matthey’s employees by geographical region and the gender breakdown of employees recruited into the group for the 2008/09 financial year.

Gender breakdown for the group is unchanged from that reported for calendar year 2007. In 2008/09, 29% of new recruits were female, an increase of 4% from calendar year 2007 (25%).

Training and Development

There has continued to be a high level of training activity during 2008/09 and the following table sets out, on a total and on a per employee basis, the days of training and the spend on training during the 2008/09 financial year. The training spend does not include the cost of in house training or the cost of the employees’ wages during training.

The number of days of training per employee across the group is lower than in calendar year 2007 but the overall spend on training has increased by 12%, reflecting the ongoing investment in skills and training to continue the development of our employees.

The graph below demonstrates the rising trend in total training spend per employee over the past five years. The strong and continuing commitment to the training and personal development of all our employees is reflected in the fact that during 2008/09, approximately 447 internal promotions were actioned. This represents 38% of all the appointments made in the year and is equivalent to one internal promotion per 19 employees within the group.

Read more about recruitment, training and development

Attendance

The overall attendance rate during 2008/09 maintained the good performance reported in calendar year 2007. The average number of days lost per employee in 2008/09 due to sickness and unplanned absence was 5.3 days. This represents 2.0% of lost time per employee in the working year.

The corporate sickness absence rate during 2008/09 was 2.0% compared to 2.1% for calendar year 2007 (2.1% for 1st January 2008 to 31st March 2008). Most businesses are increasing their investment in sustainable health and wellness programmes to support the longer term health, wellbeing and performance of employees.

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