Having well trained, motivated and productive employees is an essential component of our business model, both in terms of cost management and service delivery. Our people are ambassadors of our service and reputation and we recognise their positive contribution to our CR activities.
We employ over 470,000 people in around 50 countries. In a business such as ours, our people are at the heart of delivering excellent service to our clients and consumers and achieving our objectives. We operate a specific ‘People MAP’ implemented across our business globally to ensure consistency in operating practices. It provides a simple framework of objectives, measures and actions that focus on the five key areas of people management and development:
- Attract – recruiting the right people, in the right way and reflecting the diversity of the communities in which we work
- Retain – having the right rewards and benefits and work environment for people to want to stay with us
- Develop – ensuring that people have the right skills to do their job and develop careers with us
- Engage – connecting all our people to our goals, motivating them to achieve them and recognising their achievements
- Perform – having the processes in place to manage and continually improve individual performance
Over the last five years, we have conducted a number of employee surveys to help us better understand how we can maximise employee commitment, retention and discretionary effort, in other words ‘engagement’. Our last ‘Your Voice’ survey was conducted in 2011 and gave over 120,000 employees from 42 of our largest businesses (representing over 95% of total Group revenue) the opportunity to participate.
We had a participation rate of 79% (2009: 71%) with an employee engagement rate of 65% (2009: 69%).
We are delighted that so many employees have been able to communicate their views. They told us that we have built a strong performance culture, that they are clear about what is expected of them and they receive helpful feedback from their managers on their performance.
Employees reported a substantial increase in confidence regarding our corporate reputation, and an improved view of the learning and development opportunities offered by the organisation. Managers feel the Group is making the right changes to be successful, has a clear sense of direction and is successfully focusing on both long-term strategies and short-term results.
Our positive ‘can-do’ attitude means our people are motivated to go the extra mile and the results show that our guiding principles feature as a part of everyday life at Compass.
Equal opportunities
We value the diversity of our people and strongly believe that the more our employees reflect the diversity of our clients and consumers, the better equipped we are to service their needs. As an example of our ongoing commitment, women now hold 20.8% of global leadership ream roles, which represents a 1.6% increase compared to last year.
Reward
Our remuneration policy seeks to deliver improved performance throughout the business, balancing short-term success with the attainment of our longer-term business goals and shareholder return. We work hard to attract and retain people of proven ability, experience and skills. Under our pay and reward programme, in the year ended 30 September 2011, the Group paid gross salary costs of £7,152 million for the continuing business. Within this figure, social security contributions, pensions and other employee costs amounted to £1,232 million.