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Employee diversity

Our commitment to diversity includes a range of initiatives that help our employees to work in an understanding, flexible and creative environment.

Employee Resource Groups

We support associations that represent the common interests of our employees. These provide support and development possibilities opportunities that help us to keep the best people and are a key way that employees can be fully engaged and aligned with the business.

In the US, these associations include the African American Alliance, the Asian Employee Support Group, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender group and Lesbian Support Network and the Hispanic/Latino Network.

Flexible work options

Our flexible working policy enables our people to maintain a positive work-life balance and address personal and professional needs. The initiative is managed locally and includes part-time and reduced hours, home working and job sharing.

Mentoring

We use mentoring to give our employees the opportunity to learn from a more experienced colleague. Again, this is part of our plan to keep the best people.

Recruitment of female and minority employees

We are committed to equal opportunities through our recruitment of employees that represent all people within society, including women and ethnic minorities.

Whilst we have a good representation of women in management positions we recognise that we need to increase the proportion of female employees at the most senior levels in the organisation, and we have set an aspiration, for example, to have more than 25% female representation on the Board of Directors by 2013.

You can read more about our employees' diversity in gender and ethnicity in our Corporate Responsibility Report.

Talent review and succession planning

We place a high priority on our ability to develop talent and enthusiasm in our employees. Through succession planning we can identify and encourage our high-potential employees and ensure that they have a career path that meets their and our needs.

Training and development

By providing our employees with an environment that encourages learning and development, we can allow people to realise their potential. Activities such as on-the-job training, web-based learning and self-study are part of our training and development programme.