BP’s performance depends on an engaged, talented workforce, which is diverse and rewarded on merit

We aim to have a good understanding of our future demand for people and where they will come from. We work hard to build our employees’ capability, and reward them in a way that aligns with our goals.

We are focused on ensuring the safety of our employees, engaging with them, and increasing the diversity of our workforce so that it reflects the societies in which we operate. 

The group people committee, chaired by the group chief executive, has overall responsibility for key policy decisions relating to employees. In 2012 subjects discussed included longer-term people priorities; quarterly reviews of progress in our diversity and inclusion programme; the rolling out of our revised performance review procedures; and the continuing development of our learning programmes.

BP employees by region

BP employees by age

Meeting employee expectations

Executive team members hold regular town hall style meetings and webcasts to communicate with our employees around the world. Team meetings and one-to-one meetings are designed to contribute to employee development and motivation by raising awareness of financial, economic, ethical, social and environmental factors affecting our performance. BP also seeks to maintain constructive relationships with labour unions.

Employee survey

We conduct an annual survey of our employees – with more than 55,000 in around 70 countries for 2012 – to monitor employee engagement and identify areas where we can improve. The response rate for the survey was 64% in 2012 and the results show levels of engagement are up across all levels and business areas.

Business leadership teams review the results of the survey and agree actions to address the identified issues. Safety scores remain strong although there is more work for us to do in continuing to embed our operating management system as the way BP operates so people fully understand what it means for them.

We also measure how engaged our employees are with our strategic priorities of safety, trust and value. The group priorities engagement measure is derived from 12 questions about employee perceptions of BP as a company and how it is managed in terms of leadership and standards. Aggregate results for these questions showed a 4% improvement on 2011 to 71%.

Alongside engagement, a new indicator of employee and workplace satisfaction was introduced in 2012, replacing the previous employee satisfaction index (ESI). This new measure is more comprehensive than the previous index and looks at management behaviour, job satisfaction, development and reward. The aggregate score for employee and workplace satisfaction in 2012 was 71%. For comparison, the ESI, based on a narrower set of measures, rose by 4% to 66%.

Divestments

We aim to treat employees affected by divestments, mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures fairly and with respect, through open and regular communication. When divestments do occur, BP seeks the same or comparable pay and benefits for employees transferring to other companies.