Our people are our biggest strength and driving force. Their expertise, commitments and determination are crucial to the success of Globaltrans. We place great emphasis on the well-being of our employees and we are fully committed to creating a safe and supportive workplace, promoting equal opportunities and encouraging professional growth. As an employer, we must foster a culture where employees can thrive and feel respected, listened to, and appreciated. This approach is in line with our culture and the fundamental values of the commitments, policies, and initiatives of the Group.

Workforce size and mix

In 2022, average employee headcount increased 2% year on year to 1,781 employees (2021: 1,750). Overall headcount as at the year end declined 1% compared to 2021 to 1,768 employees (2021: 1,777). BTS continued to employ the most people within the Group as a result of the continuing shift to employing in-house locomotive crews. Our workforce comprises 29% of women and 71% of men. We have a young talent pool with more than 65% of our employees within the age group of 30–50 years.

Diversity

Equality, inclusion and diversity are fundamental building blocks that must be seen by every company as a source of strength, and integrated into the culture and business strategy. We firmly believe that our different backgrounds and perspectives enable us find better business solutions, attract and retain the best people, and help make Globaltrans a better place to work.

At Globaltrans, we foster a culture of equal opportunities and rights between men and women, nationalities, religious affiliations, sexual orientation and people with or without physical disabilities.

Our philosophy is to treat everyone with fairness and respect. We value and embrace our employees’ individuality and respect them for their performance, talents, and contributions. By offering equitable employment to all of our employees, we want to eliminate all forms of discrimination. The Group’s Diversity and Inclusion Policy outlines this zero-tolerance approach to discrimination, and any violations are cause for disciplinary action. This approach seeks to ensure that no cases of discrimination occur.

Training and education

Developing talent and improving employee performance are essential to a business’ long-term competitiveness and success. We strive to retain our people and their knowledge and enable them to grow professionally by providing them with the experience and skills they need.

To better understand the exact capabilities our employees need, we look at identifying the training needs of each employee in our organisation.

To help our people improve their skills, contribute more effectively, and become more future-ready, we regularly host training events, seminars and skills workshops tailored to individual work requirements. Many of the training and development courses we offer, including those that cover sustainability, social, strategic and personal development issues are available online through our intranet.

By offering an array of training and development tools, we keep our employees engaged in their jobs and with the Company.

Over the course of 2022, the Group increased the number of training hours by 1.4 times, devoting 78,106 hours to learning and development activities (2021: 55,780 hours).

Motivation

Globaltrans is taking proactive steps to achieve continual improvement by trying to provide the best possible employee experience. Our goal is to inspire and motivate our people and provide them with a safe, creative and collaborative workplace and culture. We are determined to keeping in close touch with our colleagues and meeting their needs. We can best serve our people by listening carefully, collaborating together and adapting.

We are committed to maintaining a motivated and productive workforce that values being part of Globaltrans. To retain talent within the organisation, we must continually improve working conditions, provide career development opportunities and offer attractive compensation and benefits as well as rewarding work and opportunities for learning and development. Our staff reward packages can vary for every subsidiary and include but are not limited to:

  • Social insurance (compensation and paid leave in case of pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare);
  • Medical coverage for employees and their closed ones;
  • Reimbursement of home-to-work transportation costs and fuel expenses for personal travel;
  • Gym membership;
  • Education of employees’ children and grandchildren.

In addition, the Group reviews different types of requests and provides financial assistance in challenging circumstances and on special occasions. Eligible employees can participate in various incentive schemes operated by the Group.

Corporate culture and internal communications

Globaltrans strives to be a people company. Respect, mutual appreciation, transparency and collaboration form the basis of our corporate culture. We believe that these values contribute to sound business decisions, foster a trustworthy and supportive workplace, and help to achieve better outcomes in everything we do.

At Globaltrans, we listen to every employee’s voice. For us, it is a powerful way of helping our business grow and progress. That is why we prioritise, promote and practice open communication with our people.

All employees are encouraged to raise any issues and concerns and provide input and feedback to improve the business. Our communication channels enable everyone to learn more about our performance, major events and projects, and to connect with senior management. To understand our employees’ needs and improve their experience, we conduct various surveys and some Group subsidiaries also have employee intranet and helplines.

Health and safety

As a proactive and responsible employer, Globaltrans places the highest priority on health and safety and wellbeing of its employees. The Group is committed to maintaining high standards of occupational safety and to complying with all health and safety regulations and legislation. This approach has been firmly embedded in our culture for many years.

Our Code of Conduct and Human Rights Policy sets out our commitment to act in a socially responsible manner that protects our people, suppliers and partners, all of whom we expect to share that commitment. Globaltrans has health and safety procedures, practices and policies which are being continuously reviewed. We strive to ensure that all levels of the Group conform to the rules.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the tragic accident in 2020, that claimed the life of one of our colleagues, the Group took the decision to reconsider and reinforce all aspects of its safety culture in order to take it to the next level. Our vision for occupational health and safety is zero harm. For us, this means taking every precaution to reduce each potential risk to zero. In 2022, we formulated and shared our philosophy on occupational safety in the Group’s Health and Safety Policy in order to strengthen our workplace safety programme. It is intended to provide guidance on safety-complaint conduct and to help us improve and promote our culture of zero harm and risk awareness among our people, thereby reducing the number of work-related incidents. Whilst we have a positive occupational health and safety track record because most of our employees work in a low risk environment, we remain focused on our ultimate target of zero incidents.

In 2022, thanks to the efforts of our employees, Globaltrans reported zero work-related incidents for the second year in a row. Our continued focus on implementing best practices has meant we have made significant progress enhancing employee safety over recent years. We again achieved the target of a zero LTIFR1 in 2022.

 


1 LTIFR (Lost-Time Injury Frequency Rate) is the number of lost time injuries multiplied by 1,000,000, divided by the employee total hours worked in the reporting period. 

Last updated: 15.03.2024