Our Aim to Become an Employer of Choice
Employees at Johnson Matthey’s site at Billingham in the UK.
Evidence suggests that employees who feel connected to their employer’s business achieve significantly higher results than employees who lack a sense of engagement. There is a business case for Johnson Matthey becoming an employer of choice if it is to recruit and retain the most talented people. At the same time, employees themselves want to work for a company that has inspirational vision and a strong reputation.
Our Ammonia, Methanol, Oil and Gas (AMOG) business (part of Process Technologies) based at Billingham in the UK aims to become an employer of choice and decided to explore what employees think about the company.
Six focus groups involving staff from the site were held during 2008/09 which were followed up with an online survey. So what did people in the business feel about working for us? Did we stand the test of ‘employer of choice’?
Overall, people were proud to work for Johnson Matthey and the AMOG business and saw the science of catalysis and our expertise in it as key strengths that were highly regarded. More senior people had more positive views about the business and Johnson Matthey as a whole, together with a greater sense of direction, while more junior people related more to their immediate teams.
On the downside, there was a sense that the Johnson Matthey group and its AMOG business were fragmented with a low company profile, particularly in the North East of England where the business is based, with a feeling that the Johnson Matthey name is not so familiar to the public. Full employee engagement is vital if we are to achieve our sustainability goals: our Sustainability 2017 programme is all about ambitious growth targets and high performance. The next step for AMOG is to hold two further focus groups to look at how employees might best be engaged in pursuit of the Sustainability 2017 objectives and develop the right strategies.
Being an employer of choice with good leadership and a strong sense of purpose brings benefit to both company and employee: a win–win outcome in the drive towards sustainability.
Other Social Case Studies
- Raising Awareness of Health and Safety in the Home
- Charity of the Year
- Sparking the Interest of Young Patients
- Tradition of Training at Redwitz
- Improving Employee Engagement and Satisfaction
- Investing in the Community
- Giving with a ‘Giving Tree’ at Christmas in West Deptford
- Attracting the Best Talent
- Engaging our Employees and Enhancing Performance with Better Visual Communications
- Raising Sustainability Awareness – One Employee at a Time
- Johnson Matthey – One to Admire!
- Generating Genius