The G4S approach Add this

From calming difficult situations to protecting diplomats to ensuring the safe delivery of cash, there can be few companies whose people have greater responsibility than ours. They handle situations with great customer focus, passion and care. We recognise that, as we provide services for customers in often challenging circumstances, our people are the public face of the company. Therefore we work hard, using our values as a common thread, to ensure we attract, retain and develop the right talent at all levels and to help us in our ambition of constantly exceeding our customers’ expectations.

Our commitment on labour practices is to:

  • Respect the standards outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
  • Promote equality and diversity.
  • Provide a working environment that protects the health and safety of employees.
  • Offer relevant training to enable employees to fulfil their potential.
  • Respect employee and union rights, ensuring a positive employee relations climate.
  • Responsibility for this aspect of our CSR programme sits with:

                HR Director, Secure Solutions (UK & Ireland) 
                Chair, CSR Steering Committee, Cash Services (UK)

 

Diversity

Diversity is already a source of strength for G4S in the UK and Ireland and one that gives us a key competitive advantage. We want to build an inclusive working environment in which our people can thrive and reach their full potential regardless of race, sex, religion or beliefs, disability, marital or civil partnership status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Our policies and practices are written to ensure that people understand what is required, the importance of complying and the consequences of not doing so. We encourage our people to report suspected discrimination or harassment by using formal procedures laid out in our anti-bullying, whistleblowing and Dignity at Work policies. We also have a telephone helpline which allows disclosures to be made in confidence.

As a security company, with a clear weighting towards traditionally male-dominated occupations, we face challenges in driving the diversity and inclusion agenda. However, we work hard on this as part of normal business practice and in 2008 signed an agreement with Remploy, a specialist employment services organisation. This agreement will open up opportunities for people with disabilities and health conditions to work at more than 1,000 sites operated by Trillium and provided with security services by G4S. However, there is still much to be done to raise awareness of the business benefits of diversity, and to implement strategies to harness these benefits. Therefore at the end of 2008, the role of Group Head of Diversity and Talent was created to develop and implement a diversity strategy across G4S globally.

Health and Safety

G4S plc has a health and safety policy which acts as a minimum standard for all G4S companies. In adopting these standards, we seek to create a workplace which enables employees to feel safe and secure and where management takes a proactive interest in employee welfare. G4S has invested millions of pounds in crime prevention measures to protect our employees: providing retail security officers with enhanced physical protection training; and using the latest technologies in security equipment and tailored body armour to protect cash in transit couriers. The investment in health and safety by G4S hasn’t gone unnoticed. In 2008, six G4S sites were awarded coveted Swords of Honour by the British Safety Council: HMP Rye Hill, HMP Altcourse, HMPWolds, Manchester City Magistrates Court, GCHQ and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre.

Training and development

We invest heavily in the training and development of our people and are members of both the Security and Justice Sector Skills Councils. We have worked in partnership with these Councils to develop National Vocational Qualifications which are recognised and applied across the markets in which we operate. Employee training and development is provided at all levels and in many different formats:

  • As the majority of our people have to be licensed to work, we pay for and issue them with licences following the successful completion of mandatory training programmes. In 2008 we paid for over 2,700 SIA licences.
  • We have a dedicated training academy and training centres for our security and cash operations. These training facilities are equipped for on-line learning and simulation exercises while training is delivered by those with accredited training qualifications and operational expertise.
  • We have also introduced trainers with ‘RovingTraining Status’, as approved by Skills for Security, to provide continuation training across our sites.
  • Since its launch in 2007, 117 operational employees in the UK cash business have completed the ‘Bridging the Gap’ programme and 20 have been appointed into their first line management roles. And, to ensure that our managers do not forget what it is like at grass-roots level, there is the opportunity for them to spend at least one day a year going ‘Back To The Floor’. In 2008, 495 employees took part, including the CEO and every member of the executive management team in our security business.

Communication

Our employees are part of the G4S success story and have helped build what is now a global brand. Therefore we take every opportunity to update them with news of the company’s successes and examples of best practice to make sure that they are engaged and feel part of these achievements. We communicate with our people in a number of ways including:

  • Over 200,000 copies of internal newspapers/magazines delivered to employees in 2008.
  • The intranet – news, policies and information available to over 7,700 office-based employees.
  • An employee self service portal – enabling 15,000 employees, often working in remote locations, to carry out business processes, complete routine correspondence online and get up-to-date information on organisational issues.
  • Three roadshows a year at ten locations across the UK and Ireland for 1,000 managers in our security business.
  • Executive roadshows delivered to all operational employees working in our cash business UK wide.

In order to develop and grow our business we depend on our people to deliver excellent service every day and in every way. Based around the G4S values, our recognition awards seek to celebrate some of the amazing and courageous things our people do to help secure our customers’ worlds. This year we celebrated the achievements of hundreds of outstanding people who had made a significant contribution to the business, their colleagues or customers.

Representing our employees 

Across G4S, we engage in genuine and active dialogue with a wide range of social partners, and have more than 70 formal relationships currently in place with trade unions around the world. In the UK, our relationship with the GMB, one of the UK’s largest unions, has continued for more than 40 years.

Our relations with our employees and their representatives are extremely important. We have established global minimum standards for employee relations, which set out our commitment to principles such as the ILO Core Labour Standards and the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are fundamentally committed to constructive social dialogue and believe that long-term partnerships with employees and their representatives, including trade unions, can help us raise standards wherever we operate.

Ethical employment partnership 

In 2008, we launched our Ethical Employment Partnership to protect the needs of our employees, customers and shareholders. It will also drive improvement in employment standards across the global security industry. We reached the agreement with UNI, the global union federation, to ensure that employee and union rights are respected throughout the company. The agreement aims to drive through improvements in industry standards, employment conditions and wages, and have a positive effect not only on the company’s employees but on their families and the communities in which they live and work. It also recognises that a company’s social and ethical responsibility should cross borders. This will help us to ensure that our ethical policies relating to employment are fully implemented.