BAA Southampton directly employs 200 people at the airport. Our success is down to our people, and we need to keep building on this so that we always have a talented and committed workforce. Coaching, communicating clearly and involving our employees in improving our business will help make our airport a great place to work for everyone.

Our aim is to attract and retain people by making sure that they:

• are rewarded for the work they do, with a combination of salary and eligibility for an annual bonus
• are encouraged to increase their skills through learning and development, have equal opportunities and can work here free from any bullying or harassment
• feel part of a team and are proud to work at Southampton Airport.

We have a range of policies to support this approach, and we provide training for managers so that they are able to implement these fairly and effectively. Our Employee Assistance Service provide a free helpline run by a specialist organisation to support people in need of advice – either personal or professional; and our occupational health service provides a comprehensive range of assessments, absence management and health awareness programmes.

To support learning and development, the BAA virtual university (Uni) has a wide curriculum of popular learning activities that people can benefit from, depending on their particular development needs. We operate a talent assessment and development scheme where additional development is available for people showing potential across different levels of the organisation. Much of the development of our people is through coaching by line managers, providing on-the-job opportunities for learning, and taking on new responsibilities.

Employee engagement is critical – this means making sure we have good channels of communication within the company so people know what’s going on, are able to contribute and influence, and are kept up to date with company issues that affect them. We conduct an annual employee survey to help us understand what they think of life at BAA – their job, environment and manager, and we act on its results. Some examples in 2007 include: providing recruitment and competency briefings to help people understand how to apply for jobs and promotions, reviewing our performance review process and providing coaching to line managers, holding a development team open day and airside safety day, launching the ‘Eureka’ scheme for staff with innovative ideas, reviewing communications, and reconfiguring the security search area.