Smiths in the workplace

We believe in providing our employees with the means to add value to themselves and the business they work in. We support our employees by investing in improved safety in the workplace, ensuring their statutory rights are upheld, treating our work colleagues fairly and with respect, and developing our talent.

Employees

Smiths continues to be a diverse group of businesses and our people reflect that diversity.

Adding value

Throughout Smiths people are taking action to achieve the best possible long-term performance for our shareholders. We invest in the skills and capabilities of our people and expect them to reflect that investment in their performance in terms of business results.

Career progression

As a global technology group, we offer a variety of roles to help our people progress their career within Smiths in line with their capabilities and performance. We identify potential future leaders and provide them with development tools and opportunities to support their career ambitions and the needs of the business. We also recognise the need to balance internal development and promotion with external recruitment where this is necessary to fulfil our individual and team commitment to add value.

Diversity

We welcome diversity in our workforce, not only to adhere to our legal obligations but also because we believe that everyone needs to challenge constructively and to contribute ideas from their own perspective to support the achievement of business performance objectives.

Succession management

Smiths operates a systematic succession management process for leadership roles. Our businesses identify leadership talent and development needs using common tools and a consistent language. Development plans are monitored by senior management to optimise effective succession opportunities.

Developing talent

Smiths has a number of development programmes designed to evaluate and enhance core leadership competencies. These development programmes are designed and tailored to address a wide range of learning styles, incorporating workshops, experiential learning, mentoring, team working and project experience.

For employees to add value we have to ensure they are properly engaged with and committed to the business priorities. We provide not only the training and development opportunities that represent an investment in both their future and that of the business but also a safe and responsible working environment that encourages mutual respect, provides opportunities for personal growth and rewards individual and team contributions that realise value for the business.

Communication

Communication is crucial to helping employees engage with the business. At business unit level, we have a variety of channels including team briefings, presentations, intranets and newsletters. Many businesses have well-established forums for exchanging information and best practice as well as discussing current business issues including efficiency initiatives, training and development, and environment, health and safety issues.

In European Union (EU) countries we have workplace information and consultation arrangements at our sites. These link to the Smiths European Forum, through which employee representatives from across the EU meet annually to discuss transnational matters with Group executives. This year’s meeting was held in the UK and included a presentation from Smiths Chief Executive, Philip Bowman, on the performance of Smiths and his expectations for enhancing the value of the Group’s businesses.

John Crane, UK

For the last 3 years John Crane Engineering has been promoting self-study through e-learning, initially with a CD-based training course 'Mechanical Seal Foundations', plus various intranet-based study modules and other tools.

This has led to the establishment of a powerful internal e-learning software platform called 'Know-How', managed by a central team responsible for system development and roll-out across the John Crane organisation. After initial piloting of Know-How with engineering employees in India, the system has now extended to more than 500 employee users in over 30 countries. E-learning content is offered through a number of curricula, each comprising multiple courses which include learning content, interactions & exercises, and assessments. Currently there are 5 such curricula available containing a total of more than 50 courses, covering key subject areas such as induction programs, mechanical seal principles, pump principles, and the oil & gas industry.

Know-How will continue to be introduced to other John Crane locations worldwide in a phased roll-out programme, gradually adding more users, courses and functionality. With local management involvement and support, the system will also become embedded in on-going employee development activities, based on regular Training Needs Analysis (TNA) competence assessments.

Horizons

Smiths continues to be actively involved in all aspects of training and developing young people, including initiatives designed to ease the transition from school to work. For example, Horizons is a two-year programme for newly and recently appointed graduates and those early in their career. It provides an understanding of the Group and the business world in general, and develops personal and team working skills.

Smiths Medical, Rockland, USA

Employees from Smiths and other local companies have joined together for a weekly skate at a local ice hockey arena. They have been able to field two teams consistently which provides a non-stop hour of intense action that is nothing short of fun and a great cardio workout!

Smiths Medical, Dublin, USA

The 'Across the Pond Walkathon' was planned and initiated in June of this year and 60 people signed up to walk. There were eight teams, comprising members of various departments promoting collaboration with people who don’t usually sit together.

Prizes were awarded for the first team to reach 100 miles, first team to reach 500 miles, individual with the most miles in a single week, and the team who walked the farthest in the sixth and final week of the race. But, in a wider sense, all who participated were winners, with benefits including weight loss, reconnecting the family unit by walking together, and social interaction.

Smiths Medical, Fraureuth, Germany

Smiths Medical Fraureuth encourages health and exercise initiatives and employees have the opportunity to spend one evening every week together for exercise and sport activities such as volleyball. This has become a popular fixture in which many employees take part.

Smiths Medical, Kirchseeon, Germany

A fitness studio, opposite the company building, is fully certified and recognised as an excellent training unit by health insurance companies. An agreement is now in place with a major insurer who will provide significant advantage schemes for employees who are members of this fitness facility.

Titeflex, Paris, France

Titeflex has enrolled in an innovative project with a company which arranges cultural activities to broaden the interests of employees by offering events outside of their usual environment.

Quarterly activities include lunches with guest speakers, and visits to castles, museums and other places of interest to highlight that great scientists were also writers and artists and that discoveries were made by people with broad knowledge in various fields.

Einstein, for example, was a philosopher and musician and Pascal a writer, engineer and philosopher.

A talk on Leonardo da Vinci introduced him as an artist, philosopher, engineer, discoverer and a self-trained man. This last detail particularly impressed workers, and the new expression on the shop floor is "let's do it à la Leonardo".

Visiting the Museum of Perfume in Versailles illustrated the challenge of producing a consistent product every year. This was of interest to engineers, who meet the same challenge with our products.

Smiths Medical, Rockland, USA

Twenty-six employees took part in a 40-hour college course on 'English as a Second Language' with all of the students passing their final examination. The course contributed to their understanding of our environment, health and safety procedures and training, in addition to complementing their own personal education.