EasyJet 2013 Annual Report Download - page 52

50 easyJet plc Annual report and accounts 2013
Strategic report
Corporate responsibility continued
Talent and succession planning
This year we held our first succession review and we
are confident that this will support us going forward
and become a key people process that is part of
our way of life at easyJet.
In support of developing our future talent we
ran the second year of our European Graduate
Programme and during the year we improved
our ranking in The Job Crowd publication of
‘Top Companies for Graduates to work’ from 35th
to 30th and top of the category ‘Transport and
Logistics’ (beating more established programmes
in our sector). This is a great achievement for the
programme particularly as the ratings are derived
from what our graduates think and say about the
programme and represents an improvement on
the previous year’s survey as we are now ahead
of more established programmes in our industry.
Our third year intake started with us on 1 October 2013.
In addition we launched a new engineering
apprenticeship scheme and 10 aeronautical
engineers joined us last November. We are pleased
to say that all of them have now finished their
college learning and are back with us to learn on
the job. We are so pleased by this success that we
have announced that we are seeking another 10 to
join us in the coming year.
We recognise that our approach to reward is critical
to our ability to both attract and retain our people
and drive a performance culture. easyJet offers a
competitive reward package and reviews salaries
annually in line with market rates to ensure
continued alignment to the market. The focus
is on cash and variable pay rather than fixed
benefits. The reward package includes an annual
performance-driven bonus, based on personal and
Company performance, and grant of shares, based
on the performance of the airline which encourages
all our people to contribute towards achieving our
strategic objectives and enables them to share in
our success.
Over 90% of easyJet employees are shareholders in
the Company. As at 30 September 2013, easyJet’s
employee share trust held around 90 million shares
(worth over £240 million) on behalf of employees.
At the same point in 2012, the shares held in these
trusts were valued at around £100 million. The share
price has risen from £5.81 at 30 September 2012 to
£12.78 on the same date in 2013 and over 3 million
share options were granted during the financial year.
These shares are held in a variety of share schemes
such as Save As You Earn (SAYE), Buy As You Earn
(BAYE) and also include reward shares which
easyJet gives to all its employees every year so they
can share in the Company’s success.
The plans have won five major awards to date,
and involve three elements: SAYE; BAYE and
Performance Shares. During the year, all eligible
employees were offered the equivalent of two
weeks’ salary in the form of Performance Shares.
Each scheme is Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs
(HMRC) approved and is open to all our people on
the UK payroll. For our people who are on non-UK
payrolls, international schemes have been
established with similar terms and conditions to
the UK scheme, albeit without the UK tax benefits.
easyJet offers a small number of Company
provided benefits in line with our cost focused
approach. These include insurances and access
to staff travel at cost price.
Our UK people are also eligible to participate in
a Group personal pension towards which easyJet
contributes, as well as having the option to make
their own contributions through salary sacrifice.
In the UK we have also been able to facilitate a
number of additional “flexible benefits” under our
Benefits4me programme. These enable our people
to access programmes and savings which would
not be available to them on an individual basis,
without additional cost to easyJet. These include
our popular environmentally friendly Ride 2 Work
scheme (in 2012, 93 people took up the scheme,
180 in 2013 and now the scheme has had over 700
participants in the five years since its launch) and
a carbon offsetting scheme. A “lifestyle benefits”
programme was also in place in the year offering
discounts on a wide range of products and services.
Our people make further savings in tax and National
Insurance for many of these flexible benefits,
through salary sacrifice. easyJet’s National Insurance
savings contribute to the financing of the scheme,
which is fully outsourced.
Equality and diversity
easyJet is an equal opportunities employer and
our people and applicants are treated fairly and
equally regardless of their age, colour, creed,
disability, full or part time status, gender, marital
status, nationality or ethnic origin, race, religion
or sexual orientation. Applications from disabled
people are always fully considered, bearing in
mind the aptitudes of the applicant concerned.
Capitalising on what is unique about individuals
and drawing on their different perspectives and
experiences adds value to the way we do business.
We recognise that a diverse workforce will provide
us with an insight into different markets and help
us anticipate and provide what our customers
want from us.