Reconciliation Action Plan 2016-2018
A message from our CEO, Glynn Phillips The development of BAE Systems Australia s first Reconciliation Action Plan marks an important milestone for our company. It is part of our ongoing Reconciliation journey that will see our organisation focus on sustainable initiatives and programs that will enrich the lives of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees and the wider communities in which we operate. We recognise that Inclusion is good business sense. It encourages our employees to embrace difference, brings people together from all walks of life, facilitates creativity and, as Australia s leading defence and security provider, it helps to ensure that we can offer innovative solutions for our customers. Our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) will support and guide the diverse and inclusive culture that we aim to create. This plan details our commitments and aspirations for 2016-2018 which will form an enterprise-wide approach and sit under three pillars: Building capability through procurement Engaging our people and communities and Employment and development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples Our RAP will help us build awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and we see its actions and targets as our roadmap to success. Our Company is focused on increasing engagement with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities in which we operate, increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees at BAE Systems as well as forming sustainable relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses. Thank you Reconciliation Australia for your guidance and support in the development of our RAP. Our business BAE Systems aims to be Australia s leading capability partner across all domains. We work hard to maximise industry involvement in all of our projects and employ over 3000 people in urban, regional and remote locations across our country. We have a diverse range of cultures within our organisation and, as detailed in this RAP, we are working to establish a more accurate baseline measure of the number of employees. This will enable us to further our understanding of cultures within our workplace. This will also help us to design and implement initiatives to best support these cultures. Through our RAP and Inclusion programs, we will build a workplace where people respect and support each other, as well as our customers and suppliers. Our RAP The RAP details our commitment of how we will achieve sustainable action within our organisation and the wider community. At the heart of our RAP are three key pillars: Building capability through procurement Engaging our people and communities and employment and development. These will focus our actions and targets to ensure our efforts will enrich the lives of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees and the wider community. Our RAP, our vision, our business Our vision To build a diverse and inclusive workplace by placing emphasis on understanding and embracing the various cultures of our employees, customers, suppliers and stakeholders. We want to build and sustain relationships with the peoples in the communities in which we operate and develop meaningful Reconciliation outcomes through employment, procurement and engagement opportunities. About the artwork & acknowledgements About the artwork: This artwork design was created to reflect on BAE System s core disciplines of Air, Land, Sea and Systems. The three circular rings evoke kinetic movement and symbolise the innovative new technologies which are central to BAE Systems. The integrated dot patterning represents BAE System s continuing engagement and connection with communities. This original artwork design was created by Marcus Lee. Marcus Lee Design is a creative design agency accredited by Supply Nation. Acknowledgements: We recognise the traditional owners and custodians of the Australian land. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and future and thank them for holding the memories, the traditions, the culture and hopes of peoples. BAE Systems Australia acknowledges the Kaurna Plains School and Corporate Culcha for providing valuable insight, contributions and guidance on the development of our RAP. 2 3
Our Reconciliation journey Relationships Through developing relationships with peoples and communities, BAE Systems commits to building knowledge and understanding of the deep history and cultures of Australia s first peoples within our organisation and in our wider networks. We want to empower our people to build sustainable relationships within communities to support our commitment and achieve our ultimate vision for Reconciliation. Our Inclusion strategy is central to our corporate culture that has helped to make our company an employer of choice in Australia. Our Reconciliation journey began in 2013 when our Company started developing a strategy to support the Indigenous Opportunity Policy (now known as Indigenous Procurement Policy) requirements. This work was the catalyst for building the foundations of our Reconciliation initiatives. One of the first steps was to become Supply Nation members. Supply Nation is a leader in supplier diversity in Australia and connects corporate organisations with Indigenous businesses with the aim of establishing and maintaining commercial relationships. We worked with Supply Nation to diversify our supply chain. This helped to demonstrate how we could work with and support businesses to build their capabilities and meet our varied business requirements. In 2015 we launched our 2015-2020 Inclusion strategy which a committed to further support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the areas of business, employment and community engagement. It was an important step for our organisation as we moved from compliance to sustainable and meaningful Reconciliation action. Since then, we have deliberately targeted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our recruitment strategies, endorsed and encouraged the celebration of cultural events recognising Australia s first people, as we worked towards this milestone our RAP. To support the development and implementation of the RAP, our RAP working group was established and comprised a broad range of key business representatives as well Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to engage with and begin building community relationships. The team invited the Kaurna Plains School and Corporate Culcha; an Indigenous workforce and cultural awareness training provider to participate in the working group encouraging them to share their valuable cultural insight during the development process. Our RAP is an organisational commitment championed across the business with key support from our Chief Executive, Management Board and our Inclusion champions. Our RAP working group continues to play a key role in supporting our leaders and their team to raise awareness and champion our RAP. We look forward to building on our current activities and initiatives, delivering on our RAP targets and contributing to Reconciliation in Australia in the coming years. Our (RWG) will actively monitor the RAP development and implementation of actions, tracking progress and reporting BAE Systems will celebrate and participate in National Reconciliation Week (NRW), by providing opportunities to build and maintain relationships between peoples and other Australians We will develop and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, communities and organisations to support positive outcomes We will raise internal and external awareness of our RAP to promote reconciliation across our business and sectors We will grow our knowledge of the communities in which operate and develop sustainable relationships with these communities BAE Systems RWG will oversee the development, endorsement and launch of the RAP Terms of Reference will be established for the RWG We will ensure that we have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples represented on our RWG and will extend this invitation to our employees Our RWG will meet quarterly to monitor and report on our RAP implementation as well strategising initiatives and opportunities to support our RAP We will host NRW celebrations at major sites each year and these events will be registered via Reconciliation Australia s NRW website. Our organisation will support an external NRW each year and promote this via our Intranet Our RAP working group will attend local community NRW events and encourage our leaders to attend where possible We will publish a resource via our Intranet for our employees that details NRW activities in the communities in which we operate We will develop and implement a community engagement plan which will detail the way we will work with our stakeholders and communities We will identify a group of key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations across Australia with whom we can approach to provide assistance on how we contribute to Reconciliation and what role we can play We will develop and Implement a communications strategy to ensure that our RAP is communicated broadly across our internal and external stakeholders We will promote Reconciliation through ongoing active engagement with all stakeholders We will identify key contacts within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in which we operate and investigate opportunities for us to work together on our Reconciliation journey We will develop an interactive map for employees that provides information about each of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in which we operate April 2016 Quarterly 27 May- 3 June, April 2016 Inclusion and Corporate Communications teams, RWG and RAP Champions 4 5
Respect At BAE Systems, we aim to create a diverse and inclusive culture for our employees. To achieve this, we understand that respect is a key factor to attracting, retaining and developing our people. We will ensure that our organisation continues to build awareness, understanding and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and peoples by embracing the histories, knowledge and lessons they share. Our RAP is designed to foster a culture of respect, inclusiveness and sustainable action. At BAE Systems, it s a team approach and everyone s got a part to play. We will work to provide learning and engagement opportunities for our people and networks to increase understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories and achievements We will develop and implement a cultural awareness training strategy to determine and understand the cultural training needs of our employees across our business We will engage and partner with Supply Nation certified and/or training provider to develop and deliver this training program May 2016 Inclusion and Learning and Development teams We will provide opportunities for RAP Champions and RWG members, our Human Resources team and other key business leaders to participate in this training We will investigate opportunities to include this training into our organisation s induction program following the initial implementation into our business March 2017 We will work to educate and engage our employees in understanding the significance of cultural protocols, such as Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country, to ensure there is a shared meaning We will develop, implement and communicate a cultural protocol document for Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country that will be displayed on our Intranet We will develop a list of key contacts for organising a Welcome to Country and maintaining respectful partnership within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in which we operate September 2016 We will ensure that a Traditional Owner is invited to provide a Welcome to Country at least one significant event per year We will encourage our leaders and employees to perform Acknowledgement of Country at major internal and external events We will acknowledge and celebrate NAIDOC week and provide opportunities for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to participate in local community events We will review HR policies and procedures to ensure they encourage employees to participate in NAIDOC week We will encourage all employees to participate in NAIDOC week as well as promoting opportunities for staff to celebrate with their cultures and participate in community events during NAIDOC Week through internal communications channelswe will publish a guide to local community events for NAIDOC week viainternal communications channels We will hold a minimum of one event at one of our major sites to acknowledge and celebrate NAIDOC week and will acknowledge NAIDOC week and associated activities via our internal communications channels First week of July, HR Shared Services RAP working group 6 7
Opportunities BAE Systems aims to create opportunities for people through employment, community engagement and building business capability. We recognise that by focusing on these key areas we can create opportunities, leading to positive outcomes that will support Reconciliation. We will investigate opportunities to and increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment We will investigate opportunities to attract, retain and develop employees We will develop and implement an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment and retention strategy through consulting with employees and our broader networks Job advertisements will advise: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are encouraged to apply and will be advertised via media channels Review HR and recruitment procedures and policies to ensure they promote participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees and future applicants in our workplace. We will investigate working with Supply Nation certified and/or recruitment consultants to build our talent pipelines Build and develop relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander liaison officers at universities and TAFE institutions in the communities in which we operate to actively recruit and retain Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees Investigate professional development opportunities for employees Investigate the development of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment pathway programs such as Internships or Work Experience programs Investigate how to establish a more accurate baseline measurement of the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander BAE Systems employees April 2016 September 2016 March 2017 June 2017 October 2016 January 2017 Recruitment Manager and RAP recruitment champion Recruitment Manager & RAP recruitment champion and HR Shared Services We will investigate opportunities to incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander supplier diversity within our organisation We will develop and implement Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Procurement Strategy We will develop an Procurement Toolkit that will be available on BAE Systems Intranet to educate employees and procurement officers We will appoint Supplier Diversity champions within our business to educate and build engagement around supplier diversity We will review procurement policies and procedures to identify barriers to businesses to supply our organisation with goods and services. We will develop and communicate to our employees a list of Supply Nation certified businesses and refresh content quarterly We will enter into a minimum of one new commercial contract with an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander owned business per year We will continue our membership and support of Supply Nation BAE Systems will be represented at the Supply Nation Connect conference We will investigate the development of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander procurement training program to deliver to identified roles across our business May, March 2017 Head of Commercial and Procurement - Corporate 8 9
Tracking progress and reporting Reporting our RAP achievements, challenges and key learnings to Reconciliation Australia We will complete and submit the RAP Impact Measurement questionnaire to Reconciliation Australia We will consider participating in the RAP Barometer Biennial Through our RAP, we will work to deliver programs that enrich the lives of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees and the wider communities in which we operate. Raise awareness and understanding of our RAP internally and externally detailing key learnings, achievements and challenges BAE System s RAP will be published on our intranet and website We will publish a minimum of three internal Weekly News stories March 2016 April, Corporate Communications team BAE Systems RAP progress report provided to our Inclusion pillar champions and Management Board June and December Review, refresh and update BAE Systems RAP Review, refresh and update BAE System s RAP based on learnings, challenges and achievements from our previous RAP March 2018 and RAP working groups Send draft BAE System s RAP to Reconciliation Australia for formal feedback and endorsement. For enquires about our Reconciliation Action Plan please contact: au.reconcilation@baesystems.com 10 11
For more information contact: BAE Systems T: +61 (0)8480 8000 E: auswebinfo@baesystems.com W: www.baesystems.com/australia This document gives only a general description of the product(s) or service(s) except where expressly provided otherwise shall not form part of any contract. From time to time, changes may be made in the products or the conditions of supply. BAE Systems 2016 all rights reserved. Permission to reproduce any part of this document should be sought from BAE Systems. Permission will usually be given provided that the source is acknowledged and the copyright notice and this notice are reproduced.