Investing in People
Our Human Resources (HR) organization and activities support Autoliv's overriding profitability target by making sure that our Company offers an attractive and safe workplace and by making sure that we have enough skilled, talented and motivated people to maintain growth.
TRAINING Investments Tripled
We have increased our investments in employee training and development programs to a record high of 6.5 days per employee per year from less than two days five years ago.
We offer a wide range of such programs, including on-the-job training, job rotation and international assignments. Our belief is that by investing in these programs we will get a highly motivated workforce. By giving our employees a broader view, we are increasing the workforce mobility and developing our organization to be more global, flexible, dynamic and target-driven.
We also have a program for identifying employees with high potential who are offered development plans, including leadership training and expatriate positions.
In order to attract and recruit high potentials externally, a global trainee program has been introduced. This first program has ten participants representing six nationalities and an average age of 28 years. Of the participants, 40% are women.
We believe that building a network of highly qualified people and developing the organization to be less hierarchical is an investment for the future. By encouraging our employees to grow, we will grow our business. By providing our employees with a more global view, our organization will strengthen its competitive edge in a global environment.
In addition to attracting and retaining talented professionals and skilled workers, our target is not only to have a balance between men and women, but also a diversity of age groups and nationalities.
Additionally, as a minimum, 70% of our newly appointed managers should be internally recruited. To meet these targets, a new succession-planning program for all key positions worldwide was introduced two years ago.
NEW Safety record
To remain an attractive employer, we invest in the well-being of our associates. These investments range from safe and healthy workplaces and competitive compensations to ethical principles and promoting sustainable development.
All of our plants' safety records are benchmarked. In 2005, ten plants met our tough target of zero injuries, compared to seven plants in 2004. The graph to the left shows the injury rate (i.e. number of injuries per 200,000 work hours) for the entire corporation.
INNOVATIVE EMPLOYEES
Another operational indicator of our global manufacturing monitoring system is the number of improvement suggestions per employee.
No one is better in proposing improvements to the manufacturing processes than the line operators themselves. We therefore encourage our employees to be creative and we benchmark globally the suggestion rates at our plants.
During 2005, we received 33% more improvement suggestions per employee than in 2004, which should contribute to additional productivity improvements over the next years.
PRODUCTIVITY CONTINUes TO IMPROVE
In 2005, we improved our labor productivity by 7%, exceeding our target of 5% improvement.
A broader measure that we monitor is the value added per headcount. Since 2001, it has increased by 6% per year on average to nearly $76,000 per head compared to the average headcount cost, which has increased by 5% per year to an average of about $41,000 per head (see graph). During 2002 and 2003, the value added and the average headcount cost were boosted by the stronger Euro. These variables are also affected by the move to low-cost countries, where manufacturing is less automated and therefore the value added per head is lower.
Equal Opportunities
Our Ethical Code draws on the "Global Sullivan Principles of Social Responsibilities" and on the UN's "Global Compact". Consequently, we:
–Promote equal opportunities for all employees at all levels irrespective of such issues as color, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity or religious beliefs.
–Strive to increase the number of women in managerial positions, which is reflected in our identification process for high-potentials.
–Condemn the exploitation of children, physical punishment and other forms of abuse.
–Provide safe and healthy workplaces.
–Respect our employees' voluntary freedom of association.
–Compensate our employees to enable them to meet, at least, their basic needs and provide the opportunity to improve their skills and capability in order to raise their social and economic opportunities.
(see www.autoliv.com under "Governance".)
Well-balanced WORKFORCE
The average age of our employees is only 35 years, which reflects the Company's rapid expansion over the past few years.
Almost half of our associates are women, also with a similar age distribution.
HIGHER LABOR PRESENCE
Reduction of absenteeism in our plants is an important target for us, especially in Western Europe, where our absenteeism has historically been 6-10%.
The absenteeism levels in our plants in America, Eastern Europe and the Rest of the World are 2-3% despite almost identical manufacturing processes in all assembly plants globally. One reason for this difference in absenteeism is the public health care compensation programs in Western Europe.
During 2005, by targeting and focusing on absenteeism we successfully reduced the absenteeism in several West European facilities.
TRAINING DAYS
NEW SAFETY RECORDS
innovative employees
HIGHER VALUE ADDED
employees by age groups
HIGHER LABOR PRESENCE