Our focus is to inspire the next generation of talent by supporting science, engineering, technology and maths (`STEM´) education, alongside our commitment to employees and to the communities where we operate, both in the UK and globally. We continue to make good progress in this area, whilst remaining practical in some of our longer-term objectives.
Diversity in the workplace and community volunteering remain key priorities for Victrex, with a target to deliver 10,000 hours of volunteering by employees in our local communities over the medium term.
To find out more, see our Sustainability Report.
Employees (as at year end)
-
In 1993
60
-
In 2024
1131
Average number of people employed during the year
Our employees
The breadth and depth of talent across our workforce at all locations continues to be important to Victrex, particularly as we move further downstream towards selected semi-finished products, ensuring we have the capabilities both at a manufacturing level, and across our business. In an increasingly competitive global market, ensuring that we attract, engage, develop and retain our people remains a consistent theme for Victrex. Each year we run an organisational capability review following our annual strategic review. This supports us to identify and develop the capabilities and experience we need to deliver our business strategy. This is led by the Chief Executive Officer, supported by the Group Human Resources Director and the Executive Directors of each business unit.
Inclusion and Diversity
As an inclusive employer we continue to be fully supportive in our engagement of current and prospective employees regardless of gender, age, disability, ethnicity, etc. We have continued to ensure all our recruitment and selection processes support an inclusive approach at every stage of the process. This has included working with external recruitment agencies on supplying us with diverse shortlists as a critical part of our agreement with them.
For more information on Inclusion and Diversity please see our Sustainability Report.
Development
Digitalisation remains at the cornerstone of our learning strategy. The enhancement of our learning infrastructure this year is a key enabler to support this approach. Our Management for Success programme has continued to roll out with further enhancements to the self-led learning tools.
In FY 2024 we had 47 employees (41M:6F) on apprenticeship programmes including 5 employees (1M:4F) completing their qualifications. 6 employees (4M:2F) started professional qualifications in FY 2024 and 13 employees (4M:9F) completed professional qualifications.
Wellbeing
Our priorities for the health and wellbeing of employees are unwavering. Occupational health and private medical services are available for all employees in all locations. Our focus on wellbeing services includes on-site medical checks, provision of financial education sessions and driver safety for company car owners and frequent travellers. This year we have introduced a new behavioural approach to driver safety and training for traveller safety.
Recognition
Our well established recognition programme ranges from instant and functional awards through to our annual CEO Awards, which have become the showcase of the year, with an increased number of categories to reflect the global talent across our business.
Involvement
We continue to ensure that our colleagues remain informed of business updates and are able to take part in two-way discussions. We do this through a variety of communication channels, both formal and informal.
- Our quarterly Global Staff Briefings allow our employees to ‘stay in touch’ with our leadership team and hear about business updates and also gives them the opportunity to ask questions.
- Brendan Connolly, our Non-executive Director for Workforce Engagement, has been meeting with our employees globally to listen to employee voice, explore views and drive employee engagement. His fifth annual report can be found on pages 94 and 95 of the Annual report.
- This year we conducted our 2024 Employee Engagement Survey and achieved a 91% response rate and a 73% engagement score, which was an increase of 4% against the last full survey in 2022. Across the ‘six steps to workplace happiness’ we achieved a good score of above 70% in all. We continue to be focused on reviewing the results and creating and delivering action plans to drive improvements and have carried out many face-to-face sessions this year with our teams to highlight areas for improvement as well as areas to celebrate. As a result of our high score, Victrex was included in The Sunday Times Best Places to Work 2024 list.
- Our quarterly regional Employee Forums continue to give our employees an opportunity to feedback on broader employee experience and provide an employee view to planned business initiatives and projects.
Community volunteering
Victrex seeks to inspire the next generation of talent, with a growing Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (‘STEM’) programme and community partnerships, in both the UK and globally.
Continuing to support our local communities and participate in regional and national events which inspire the next generation of employees is a big focus for Victrex.
Full details on our activities in the year can be found in the Sustainability Report.
As a business we continue to
- provide a clean, safe working environment which meets all legislative requirements and all the necessary training and support for employees to operate safely within it;
- provide appropriate remuneration for work carried out and equal opportunities for development and career advancement;
- be intolerant of any unacceptable working practices such as any form of discrimination, bullying or harassment;
- prohibit illegal activities on our sites; and
- promote fair, ethical and transparent business practices both within our business and in dealings with external stakeholders.
