BAE Systems’ Corporate Responsibility Director speaks with LSST
By Kunal Chan Mehta | Article Date: 11 January 2017
LSST’s students are fully aware that creating a successful business requires more than just financial results. BAE Systems is the world’s most advanced technology-led, aerospace and security solutions company. BAE Systems places its importance not just on what it does – but, rather, how it does. Responsible business is embedded within its strategy and is supported through its Corporate Responsibility (CR) agenda.
Mr Mohammed Zaidi, Deputy CEO, and Mr Ali Jafar, Director of Marketing and Admissions, present Dr Deborah Allen, Managing Director of Corporate Responsibility at BAE Systems, with a series of questions from LSST’s business students:
Photo source: used with permission Deborah Allen
1. What do you do at BAE Systems?
We provide some of the world’s most advanced technology-led defense, aerospace and security solutions and employ a skilled workforce of some 82,500 people in over 40 countries.
Working with customers and local partners, we develop, engineer, manufacture and support products and systems to deliver military capability, protect national security and people and keep critical information and infrastructure secure.
2. What does CR mean at BAE Systems?
Corporate Responsibility (CR) is part of our core culture and values. It enables us to generate sustainable, long-term value for our shareholders, our customers, our people, our suppliers and the communities where we operate.
Our CR report describes how we approach CR – to benefit our business and wider society – under the themes of trust and integrity, our people, health and safety, resource efficiency, product stewardship, supply chain and community investment.
3. What is BAE’s focus on corporate ethics and governance?
Ethical behavior as demonstrated by a company is seen as a key means of maintaining the confidence of external stakeholders. Governance in this area is of growing concern to shareholders, customers, employees, communities and governments.
The place of ethics within a business is seen as a key measure of its legitimate licence to operate.
Employees across all levels of the Group, including our Board, are trained to understand how the Code of Conduct applies to them. We also operate a 24/7 Ethics Helpline and each of our businesses has Ethics Officers, who monitor performance and provide help and guidance if an employee has a concern.
4. How do you identify and recruit talent?
Our business needs employees with a wide range of skills, from electrical engineering to marketing and from software to human resources. This, in turn, means that we have strong relationships with education providers in our key jurisdictions.
This ranges from working with schools to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects through to partnering with trade associations on education initiatives.
We also offer our own training curricula and maintain a strong emphasis on skills development for all employees.
Find out more about BAE Systems’ corporate responsibility: http://www.baesystems.com/en/our-company/corporate-responsibility
View exciting career opportunities at BAE Systems: http://www.baesystems.com/en/careers
Please email the author of this article kunal.mehta@lsst.ac for any questions or comments.