Global Site
Global website - en
Global website - fr
Global website - de
Global website - es
EADS中国
Managing competencies
Aerospace and defence is an industry with exceptionally long product cycles, where specific types of skills, such as some forms of engineering and project management, are expected to be in short supply. Consequently, EADS can identify the skills it needs many years in advance. While valuing all employees, the Group identifies the strategic core competencies it will need for programmes many years in the future. In order to build the Group’s strength in core competencies, the Human Resources function is introducing new career paths to encourage employees to develop these critical skills. Training budgets for core competencies are at least 30% of our total training expenditure, and certification is being sought for such programmes. An important achievement for 2009 was the construction of a jobs catalogue. This helps the process of recruiting, workforce planning and training people.
Recruiting
EADS needs to recruit externally approximately 1,000 engineers a year to meet the needs of our programmes, and these skilled individuals are in short supply. The Group is not only working closely with universities in its home countries to attract engineering students and facilitate technological cooperation, but also increasingly with universities worldwide. Additionally, our expert engineers and technicians help to design courses, and some of our experts sit on their boards. This gives us the opportunity to improve the education of the best talent worldwide, and also assists our international growth. Within Europe, the Group is one of the most recognised employers of engineering graduates. During recruitment, we have a policy of hiring from a fully diverse range of people, with, for example, targets for female recruits.
Rewarding careers
With many employees spending significant periods of their working lives at EADS, it is both in the interests of the Group and a duty to our employees to help them to develop their careers. To improve career development, we are in the process of widening the application of development programmes. Several common training programmes have been created for use across EADS Divisions, to pool resources and ensure that the best technical expertise is shared across the Group. The career path of experts has been improved, allowing them to have rewarding careers without becoming managers. Our Experts Policy, set up in 2006, has led to the granting of 'expert' status to approximately 1,250 employees in the technical domain alone. Experts have increasing influence, playing an important part in issues such as product development and innovation. For more, please see Hall of Fame.
