BP 2008 Annual Report Download - page 49

BP Annual Report and Accounts 2008
Performance review
Employees
Rest of Rest of
Number of employees at 31 December UK Europe US World Total
2008
Exploration and Production 3,600 700 7,700 9,400 21,400
Refining and Marketing 9,000 18,000 19,000 15,500 61,500
Other businesses and corporate 3,300 700 2,600 2,500 9,100
15,900 19,400 29,300 27,400 92,000
2007
Exploration and Production 3,800 700 7,800 9,500 21,800
Refining and Marketing 9,700 18,400 22,700 16,400 67,200
Other businesses and corporatea 3,500 800 2,500 2,300 9,100
17,000 19,900 33,000 28,200 98,100
2006
Exploration and Production 3,600 1,000 7,600 9,200 21,400
Refining and Marketing 10,200 18,600 23,800 15,400 68,000
Other businesses and corporate 3,100 600 2,300 1,600 7,600
16,900 20,200 33,700 26,200 97,000
aA minor amendment has been made to the comparative figure for Rest of the World to correct headcount data.
People and their capabilities are fundamental to our sustainability as a
business. To build an enduring business in an increasingly complex and
competitive industry, we need people with world-class capabilities,
ranging from deepwater drilling and operating refineries to negotiating
with governments and planning wind farms.
Our 2008 focus has been on reducing complexity and embedding
the performance culture throughout the company. We have implemented
structured transformational programmes in a number of strategic
performance units (SPUs) and the major functions. We have stopped
activity that was being repeated at multiple layers, removed layers
of management and have established the SPUs as the principal
units of delivery.
There is a greater focus on individual performance management.
We have simplified the performance management process and can
clearly identify and reward top performing businesses and individuals.
Our incentive plans provide a direct link between SPU performance, the
individual’s contribution, and the bonus outcome.
We had approximately 92,000 employees at 31 December 2008,
compared with approximately 98,100 at 31 December 2007.
In managing our people, we seek to attract, develop and retain
highly talented individuals in order to maintain BP’s capability to deliver
our strategy and plans. Our three-year graduate development programme
currently has 1,200 participants from all over the world.
We are focusing on the need for deep specialist skills.
Accordingly, we have increased external hiring in infrastructure and
technical areas. The energy industry faces a shortage of professionals
such as petroleum engineers. The number of experienced workers
retiring is expected to exceed that of new graduate hires. To help address
this issue we are developing more robust resourcing plans supported by
initiatives aimed at increasing the numbers of recruits and diversifying the
sources from which we recruit. The external hiring initiatives are
supported by plans for accelerated discipline development, prioritized
deployment and retention schemes.
The continuous improvement we are making to performance
management and reward will help ensure that BP meets the expectations
of these new recruits who are highly mobile and are more conscious that
they have a choice about where to work.
Our policy is to ensure equal opportunity in recruitment,
career development, promotion, training and reward for all employees,
including those with disabilities. Where existing employees become
disabled, our policy is to provide continuing employment and training
wherever practicable.
In 2008, a global diversity and inclusion (D&I) council was established.
This council, chaired by Tony Hayward, is supported by a North American
regional council and segment councils. The aim is to harmonize
processes and tools for managing D&I across all Segments and
Functions. Responsibility for delivering D&I plans sits at the
business/SPU level.
The group people committee, formed in 2007, continues to take
overall responsibility for policy decisions relating to employees. In 2008,
these ranged from senior level talent review and succession planning,
embedding of diversity and inclusion plans in the businesses and the
structure of long-term incentive plans.
We continue to increase the number of local leaders and
employees in our operations so that they reflect the communities in
which we operate. For example, in Colombia, national employees now
make up 98% of BP’s team, while in Azerbaijan, the equivalent proportion
is 83%. By 2020, more than half our operations are expected to be in
non-OECD countries and we see this as an opportunity to develop a new
generation of experts and skilled employees.
At the end of 2008, 14% of our top 583 leaders were female and
19% came from countries other than the UK and the US. When we
started tracking the composition of our group leadership in 2000, these
percentages were 9% and 14% respectively. We continue to raise our
senior level leaders’ awareness of D&I, and further training is planned
in 2009.
We aim to develop our leaders internally, although we recruit
outside the group when we do not have specialist skills in-house or when
exceptional people are available. In 2008, we appointed 73 people
to positions in the group leadership population. Of these, 39 were
internal candidates.
We provide development opportunities for our employees,
including training courses, international assignments, mentoring, team
development days, workshops, seminars and online learning. We
encourage all employees to take five training days per year.
A leadership, development and learning steering group was set up
in 2008. This body of senior executives has responsibility for guiding and
advising on leadership and management development. As part of this,
the steering group oversees the Managing Essentials programme, which
was successfully rolled out in 2007.
Through our award-winning ShareMatch plan, run in more than
70 countries, we match BP shares purchased by employees.
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