Employee engagement
We aim to conduct our business sustainably without causing harm to people or the environment. The requirements defined in this policy and throughout our Business Management System are mandatory at all levels of the organisation.
We launched our first employee engagement survey at the end of 2019 with an 82% completion rate which is consistent with the global benchmark completion rate of 80% for all companies.
The areas where our employees scored us as needing attention are communicating more often as a Group and between departments and creating opportunities to provide constructive ideas on how to improve our processes. In 2020 we launched our internal ‘Bright Ideas’ campaign, but we know we still have work to do.
Diversity
We aim to conduct our business sustainably without causing harm to people or the environment. The requirements defined in this policy and throughout our Business Management System are mandatory at all levels of the organisation.
Our workforce consists of over 400 personnel recruited from more than 30 countries, and the significant experience and skills they bring to GMS helps us to conduct our business from a global perspective.
For cultural and legal reasons, the extent to which we can employ offshore female personnel is limited due to local labour laws which stipulate that women cannot work in an inappropriate environment and hazardous jobs/industries.
Succession planning
Given the situation in the Group, as well as the small size of GMS, it is a reality that many posts will be filled by external hires. A basic succession planning process is in place but is rudimentary in nature and has not been the priority of Management in 2019.
Ethical practice
The Group operates responsibly in accordance with the formal legal and regulatory disclosure requirements expected of a UK listed Company. Our Code of Conduct sets out the basic rules of the Group and its purpose is to ensure we work safely, ethically, efficiently and within the laws of the countries in which we operate.
All our staff receive Code of Conduct training as part of their induction and our reputation and success is dependent on our staff putting the Code into practice in all our dealings with our stakeholders. GMS also maintains an awareness of human rights issues, which is reflected in our suite of Group policies including our Anti-Corruption and Bribery Policy, Anti- Slavery Policy, Social Responsibility Policy and Whistleblowing Policy.
Learning and Development
We ensure all of our people maintain the relevant technical and regulatory training required to fulfil their job roles. As seafarers, all crew maintain their relevant STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping – a worldwide convention that ensures a lateral standard of training is achieved across all countries in the world) qualifications that licenses them to operate our barges in accordance with International Maritime Organisation requirements.
For barges operating within the offshore Oil & Gas Sector, we also ensure all crew complete additional required training in areas such as, but not limited to, offshore safety and awareness training and emergency response training.