gender balance at bae systems
Post on 20-Oct-2014
34.718 views
DESCRIPTION
More info about me available at: http://jasoncates.blogspot.co.uk/TRANSCRIPT
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
Contents
Contents Page 1
Preface 2
Executive Summary 3
Context
Current Laws and Guidelines 4
Macro-Economic Environment 5
Major Issues
Broad Industrial Issues 6
Corporate Breakthroughs 7
Conclusions 9
Recommendations
Davies Report 10
Company Specific 10
Formalities
Harvard Referencing 11
Word Count/Word Limit: 2758/3000
1
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
PrefaceBAE Systems is a multinational aerospace and defence firm with its headquarters located in London
and its main share listing on the London Stock Exchange FTSE 100 index. The company had 93,500
employees worldwide in 2011 with the bulk of these being employed in the UK and US. (BAE,
2012f)(BAE 2012g)
BAE’s current operations include the assembly of a range of military projects. These include
the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers and the Astute class submarines for the UK government.
BAE is also involved in the development and assemble of the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35
Lightning II jet fighters which are sold to varies markets including the US and Saudi Arabia. (BBC,
2006) (Global Security, 2006)
Sales in 2011 stood at £19,154m (€23,211m) with net profit for the year standing at £1,260M
(€1,526m). This saw a 14% fall in company sales in 2011, but due to significant cost savings being
made, net profit increased by 27% in the same year. (BAE, 2012g)
BAE’s current board of director is made up of twelve members consisting of its Chairman
Dick Olver, three executive directors and eight non-executive directors. Three of these positions are
currently held by women with Paula Reynolds being the most recently appointed in 2011 as a non-
executive director. (BAE, 2012g)
“We continue to evaluate our governance arrangements against our own experiences and changes in
best practice.”
Dick Olver, Chairman (BAE, 2012g)
2
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
Executive SummaryCurrent Laws and Guidelines
BAE’s current European operations are mainly focused in the UK and Sweden. The governments in
both countries are currently against imposing quotas concerning the enforcement of gender balance on
company boards. However, if current targets are not met, quotas may be imposed at a later date. The
European commission has also suggested using quotas if the current situation is not improved.
Current Performance
BAE Systems currently meets the recommendations of the Davies report. This includes a
quarter of BAE’s board of directors being women. However, this currently falls short of the EU’s
2015 and 2020 targets of 30 and 40 per cent respectively.
9% of BAE’s new recruits in the last year have been female; this is compared to the industrial
average of 2%. In terms of graduate recruitment, BAE is currently in line with the rest of the industry
with women making up 12% of new recruits.
Macro-Economic Environment
Austerity programmes in many of our key markets as well as the withdrawal of allied troops
from Iraq has seen company revenues fall in recent years. This has caused us to make a number of
redundancies over the last year as well as reduce the number of new engineers we recruit. This will
see progress slow over the next few years in regards to employing more women into the company.
Recommendations
Increase female representation on the board of directors in line with current EU targets. (30%
by 2015 and 40% by 2020)
Increase female graduate recruitment to 16% of total by 2015.
Appropriate disclosure of information regarding pay differences between men and women
and action being taken to address such differences.
Continue and strengthen our participation in training programmes promoting female
participation and leadership within the industry.
3
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
ContextThis report will focus on the changing enthuses on gender balance within the European corporate
environment. It will then consider how this may affect BAE’s future recruitment and HR policy.
Recommendations will then be made on how to address these considerations.
Current Laws and Guidelines
Our main markets outside the UK and US are Saudi Arabia, India and Australia. However,
BAE also has operations in Sweden upon the acquisition of a number of subsidiaries there. Therefore,
as this report is focusing on BAE’s European operations, it will mainly be focusing on BAE’s
operations in both Sweden and the UK. (BAE, 2012a)
The respective authorities in both countries are currently against imposing quotas in regards
to the number of women companies should appoint to their boards. However, actual performance
concerning this issue is at a stark contrast when comparing the UK’s performance with that of
Sweden. Sweden is currently one of the world’s top performers with a quarter of its board
membership being women. This is compared to the UK’s 15% female membership. (Sweden, 2012)
The basis of this is the cultural belief in Sweden that sharing power equally regardless of
gender makes a society more democratic and just. This has been put into practice through the use of
“a well-developed welfare system” allowing both genders to balance their family lives with their
working lives. It is also emphasised within the countries education system with women being awarded
two-thirds of Sweden’s undergraduate degrees. This has helped Swedish companies achieve this 25%
figure in regards female board membership. As such, the need for quotas is not as prominent in
Sweden as it may be for other countries in which we operate. (Sweden, 2012)
In terms of the UK, Business Secretary Vince Cable has stated he is against imposing quotas
and that the UK was “making the voluntary approach work”. This includes having a target of 25% to
be achieved by 2015 in regards to the proportion of board membership being women. This is
4
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
compared to the current figure of 15% being achieved by FTSE 100 companies. BAE currently meets
this target with a quarter of its board being female. (City AM, 2012)(BAE, 2012b) (BBC, 2011a)
Although this policy of targets over quotas is currently being followed in both Sweden and
the UK, there is a possibility that this might change in the near future. Future changes concerning
these policies may likely come from the European Commission which will override the current views
held by both, the Swedish and British governments. This is an issue we’ll have to be consider when
determining future HR policy. (BBC, 2012a)
It is the view of Viviane Reding, the EU’s Justice Commissioner, that even though she would
rather not use quotas, current national policies have so far “not brought about satisfactory results". As
such, the commission is open to imposing such quotas if current increases in gender balances are not
accelerated. This includes aiming for EU wide targets of 30% by 2015 and 40% by 2020. (BBC,
2012b)(City AM, 2012)
This is an issue we’ll have to consider regarding future appointments to the board. This is due to BAE
being 5% short of Reding’s 2015 target. As such, we must ensure appropriate action is taken at the
earliest opportunity in preparation of potential quotas being implemented. This will better place the
organisation in the longer time regarding this issue. (City AM, 2012)
Macro-Economic Environment
Governmental austerity programmes and the withdrawal of allied troops from Iraq have seen
the defence budgets of many of our key markets scaled back. This has had a negative impact on
company performance with revenues falling by 14% in 2011. This has meant that cost savings have
had to be made including scaling back recruitment and the implementation 2942 redundancies. This
has included a number of women being made redundant as well as a reduction in the number of new
women being recruited into the organisation. This scaling back of the workforce will likely slow
progress being made in regard improving the gender balance within the company workforce. Again,
this is an issue that will have to be appropriately considered and planned for in order to ensure the
issue remains at the forefront of BAE’s HR policy. (BBC, 2011b)(BBC, 2012c)(BAE, 2012c)
5
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
Major IssuesIndustrial Issues
First Woman Awards
The “first woman awards” supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers has established the
“First Woman in Engineering and Manufacturing” award. The aim of the award is to recognise and
promote the role of women in the traditionally male dominated industries. This is due to the UK
currently lagging behind in regards to the proportion of its engineers being women. (Currently 8%
compared to Portugal’s 40%) The awards were founded in 2004 by Real Business and the CBI with a
previous winner being Rosalind Murray, a submarine designer here at BAE. (PE, 2012)
Further Education and Development
Semta in partnership with EAL, the engineering industries qualifications body, have
developed a new qualification aimed at aiding female career progression in traditionally male
dominated industries. This includes the UK engineering industry and is jointly funded by employers,
Semta and the UKCES employer investment fund. This involves making £400 available to each
woman to help develop the skills needed to fulfil senior management positions such as effective
communication skills. It is said to have benefitted 350 women so far including 100 here at BAE
systems. (ET, 2012)(PandCT, 2012)
“It really has made a difference to my confidence as now I feel more comfortable in applying for
more managerial roles, to get the best out of my potential."
Stephanie Otoole, Senior Materials Planner at BAE Systems (ET, 2012)
The UK government in conjunction with engineering employers has also developed the
“Skills 2020” strategy. The aim of this strategy is to develop and fill the skills gap currently faced in
the UK engineering industry. This is particularly aimed at women who are continuously encouraged
and monitored during their “career skills development”. It is hoped this will help support more
women in gaining leadership roles in companies such as our own. (Opportunity Now, 2012)
6
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
Corporate Breakthroughs
Leaders share their secrets
We have recently held host to several senior female personnel from the military including
Malinda Dunn, a “retired US Army Brigadier”. This event allowed women in our organisation to
network and share stories about balancing their private and professional lives. It has also given them
the opportunity to discuss “the need for greater diversity” and the effect this will have on BAE’s
future performance. (BAE, 2012d)
Mentoring in action
BAE has also implemented a new mentoring scheme to help guide and support new potential
leaders within the organisation. This includes the implementation of “speed-mentoring”. This allows
employees including women to network and raise issues with multiple managers in an informal
environment. This allows employees to build networks that will last for the rest of their careers. We
are also training line managers to help support and motivate female employees to reach their full
potential within the organisation. It is hoped that this will increase the number of female trainees on
BAE’s leadership programme to 20% of total participants. (BAE, 2012d)(Equal Opportunities, 2011)
Women’s network
We have also established a women’s network within our munitions division as well as a
companywide “Women’s Forum”. These give women the opportunity to share experiences and are
based around building self-confidence and sharing insights into achieving future success. Our
munitions network was founded with the help of International Women of Excellence and is based on a
similar network established at IBM. It is hoped this will give our female employees increasing
opportunities for career progression here at BAE Systems. (BAE, 2012d)
“The Global Women’s Forum was especially useful because it addressed the aversion many women
feel towards self-promotion in the workplace”
BAE Employee (ET, 2012)
7
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
Work-life balance
BAE also allows for more flexibility concerning employee working arrangements. This
allows for more diversity within our workforce providing employees with outside commitments the
flexibility to join our workforce. This also “improves organisational efficiency” providing BAE with a
more flexible workforce. This reduces the need for future redundancies in times of falling customer
demand and industrial uncertainty. (BAE, 2012d)
Recognition of female employees
In June 2010, BAE’s commercial director Michelle Rushbrooke won the “first woman award”
in the manufacturing category as discussed earlier in the report. Our corporate responsibility director
Dr Deborah Allen was also a finalist in the award category. Helen Barratt, a construction capability
manager here at BAE, won the award in 2009. This was awarded based on the role she played in the
development and delivery of the Astute class nuclear submarine for the UK government. Helen, like
many of the women we’re trying to promote at BAE, worked her way up the organisation over time.
She first joined BAE in 1985 as an administration assistant and joined the construction environment
in 1997. She was promoted to her current position in 2009 overseeing “submarine construction
capabilities” here at BAE. (Where to Work, 2009) (Where to Work, 2010)
BAE recently appointed 17 year old Micha Knight as the 1st woman since the 1980s to be
recruited as an apprentice wielder at the Barrow shipyards. She was previously turned down for a
position as an electrician at the shipyards. However, after attending college and gaining an NVQ in
wielding, BAE then decided to give her an apprenticeship at the shipyards and is currently
progressing beyond anyone’s expectations. (BAE, 2012e)
Implementation of “Skills 2020”
We at BAE see the “Skills 2020” strategy as a way of breaking the perception that the
engineering profession is a male only industry. This is being done by us going into schools and
talking with the potential engineers of the future, both male and female. So far, initial responses have
8
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
shown “90%” of young people have had a positive shift in their perception of the engineering industry
due to these workshops. This has helped BAE increase its annual female employee intake to 9% of
total and 12% in terms of graduate recruitment. This is compared to the industrial average of 2% of
total recruitment and 8-16% in terms of graduate recruitment. This sees 19% of BAE’s global
workforce and 17% of BAE’s Executive Committee being female. Even though this is a rise in female
recruitment, we still far to go in terms of having a gender balanced workforce. (Equal Opportunities,
2011) (BAE, 2012g)
Santander awards
In 2011, BAE won the "Inspiring the Workforce of the Future" award which is sponsored by
the Spanish bank Santander. This was awarded based on our work in inspiring female career
aspiration within the engineering industry. This work is shown in our above average recruitment of
women into our workforce when compared to the rest of our industry. This proves that BAE is a role
model for the rest of the industry and is leading the way in having a gender balanced workforce.
(Equal Opportunities, 2011)
Conclusions
In conclusion, BAE as stated above has proven itself as a role model for the industry.
Nonetheless, improvements still need to be made which will all be outlined in the recommendations
that follow. These recommendations will consider the expectations of local governments as well as
the European Commission. However, these recommendations will also be realistically achievable and
appropriate to BAE. This is to ensure the effectiveness of the board is upheld. As forcing new
vacancies into the board simply to comply with diversity targets may compromise board efficiency
and corporate effectiveness
It is hoped that these recommendations will see BAE retain its position as a role model within
the industry. These will keep us ahead of the situation if and when future quotas are imposed ensuring
corporate effectiveness and long term stability is maintained.
9
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
RecommendationsDavies Report (BBC, 2011a)
This report endorses the recommendations of the Davies report as a bare minimum for future
performance regarding gender balance here at BAE Systems. These recommendations are as follows;
Clear objectives concerning the proportion of women we intend to have on our board by 2015
This should match or exceed our current proportion of 25%
Annual disclosure of information regarding female representation on our board of directors,
as well as in our senior executive roles and BAE as a whole.
An open recruitment process and “meaningful disclosure” of information regarding how we
intend to increase diversity within our organisation. This includes the need for equal gender
representative within BAE Systems in all stages of the decision making process.
Company Specific (City AM, 2012) (Equal Opportunities, 2011)
However, due to the significant progress BAE has made in recent years, we envisage BAE aiming
for more ambitious targets concerning gender balance. This will see us exceeding the above
recommendations and come more into line with the expectations of the European Commission.
Our company specific recommendations are as follows;
Increase female representation on the board of directors in line with current EU targets. (30%
by 2015 and 40% by 2020)
Increase female graduate recruitment to 16% of total by 2015. This will see us at the higher
end of the industrial average in regards to female graduate recruitment.
Appropriate disclosure of information regarding pay differences between men and women
and action being taken to address such differences.
Continue and strengthen our participation in training programmes promoting female
participation and leadership within the industry. This includes taking full advantage of
government and social funding made available for such training.
10
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
Harvard ReferencingBAE (2012a) About US. Available at: http://www.baesystems.com/AboutUs/ [Accessed: 2nd April
2012]
BAE (2012b) Our Board of Directors. Available at:
http://www.baesystems.com/our-company-rus/our-people/board-of-directors?
_afrLoop=23695764538000&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#%40%3F_afrWindowId
%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D23695764538000%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state
%3Dfm0w969n7_4 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BAE (2012c) Strategic Review: BAE Systems at a Glance. Available at:
http://ara2011.baesystems.com/strategic_review/index.html [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BAE (2012d) Diversity and Inclusion: Developing an inclusive workplace. Available at:
http://www.baesystems.com/our-company-rus/corporate-responsibility/working-responsibly/
investing-in-our-people/diversity-and-inclusion/developing-an-inclusive-
workplace;baeSessionId=1KL4P2yYhknKVmyy0Mt9ncx49GHWJdvR9JGv0g5jZyzv8hXgP1tg!
1084437069?_afrLoop=72648614112000&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=null#
%40%3F_afrWindowId%3Dnull%26_afrLoop%3D72648614112000%26_afrWindowMode
%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D188e7xvu5o_4 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BAE (2012e) Micha bears the torch for women engineers. Available at:
http://www.astuteclass.com/2012/01/micha-bears-the-torch-for-women-engineers-2/ [Accessed: 2nd
April 2012]
BAE (2012f) Company Info. Available at: http://www.baesystems.com/CompanyInfo/index.htm
[Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BAE (2012g) BAE Annual Report 2011. Available at: http://bae-systems-investor-relations-
v2.production.investis.com/~/media/Files/B/BAE-Systems-Investor-Relations-V2/PDFs/results-and-
reports/reports/2012/ar-2011.pdf [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BBC (2006) Saudi Arabia buys 72 Eurofighters. Available at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5262120.stm [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BBC (2011a) Davies report calls for more women in boardroom. Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/12560121 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BBC (2011b) BAE Systems to announce nearly 3,000 job cuts. Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15063827 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
11
Strategic HRM Gender Balance Jason Cates
BBC (2012a) David Cameron won't rule out women in boardrooms quotas. Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16958852 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BBC (2012b) EU considers laws to put women into top jobs. Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17257676 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
BBC (2012c) BAE Systems's annual sales fall by 14%. Available at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17054577 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
City AM (2012) Cable: quotas for women on boards not needed in UK. Available at:
http://www.cityam.com/latest-news/cable-quotas-women-boards-not-needed-uk [Accessed: 2nd April
2012]
Equal Opportunities (2011) BAE Systems: challenging gender stereotypes. Available at:
http://www.eortrial.co.uk/default.aspx?id=1153854 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
Electrical Times (2012) New EAL qualification supports female industry workers. Available at:
http://www.electricaltimes.co.uk/news/article.asp?articleid=6114 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
Global Security (2006) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) BAE Systems. Available at:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-35-bae.htm [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
Opportunity Now (2012) The Santander Award - BAE Systems. Available at:
http://www.bitcdiversity.org.uk/awards/on_awards_2011/on_awards_case_studies_2011/santander/
bae_systems.html [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
Professional Engineering (2012) IMechE accelerates drive to get more women into engineering.
Available at: http://profeng.com/news/imeche-accelerates-drive-to-get-more-women-into-engineering
[Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
Process and Control Today (2011) Semta supports women in science, engineering and manufacturing
industries in the North West with launch of new programme. Available at:
http://www.pandct.com/media/shownews.asp?ID=31340 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
Sweden (2012) Gender equality: The Swedish approach to fairness. Available at:
http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Society/Equality/Facts/Gender-equality-in-Sweden/ [Accessed: 2nd
April 2012]
Where to Work (2009) BAE Systems wins prestigious women's award. Available at:
http://www.wherewomenwanttowork.com/news/news.asp?id=1370&articleid=934 [Accessed: 2nd
April 2012]
Where to Work (2010) BAE Systems wins prestigious women’s award. Available at:
http://www.wheretowork.com/news/news.asp?id=1370&articleid=1095 [Accessed: 2nd April 2012]
12