Employees
People are our most vital asset. The individual and collective contributions of Ball employees at all levels are essential to our success. To attract and retain exceptional people, Ball aims to provide an exceptional work environment. We have a corporate philosophy that respects and values our people and is rich in culture from our 131-year history. We work to identify and hire qualified applicants who can meet the evolving challenges we face as a company, and to provide them with benefits and employment practices that encourage and enable them to behave like an owner – one of our Five Keys to Success.
We encourage employees to act as owners by providing competitive compensation and benefits, an inclusive and challenging work environment, skill and career development and an atmosphere of teamwork and respect. In addition to providing a compensation package in excess of minimum wage in every region where we operate, Ball helps its employees achieve their retirement savings goals by providing various retirement benefit programs. In addition to 401k programs, Ball provides pension plans that cover substantially all U.S., Canadian and European employees meeting certain eligibility requirements. Employees in the Netherlands, France, Poland and Serbia are covered under governmental plans.
In 2010, Ball completed the sale of the plastics packaging, Americas business to Amcor Limited. While many employees were hired by Amcor as a result of the ownership change, Ball recognizes that these decisions are very difficult for everyone concerned and we offer outplacement services at no cost to all employees who were not retained by Amcor. We also work to find internal positions for which affected employees may be qualified. Ball provides a severance package of one week for each year of service plus extension of medical benefits for the same period at no cost to the employee.
Above all, employees are treated with dignity and respect as well as with appreciation for their contributions to the company.
SAFETY
Our long-term direction is zero accidents in our facilities.
Employee safety is part of Ball’s culture and requires the active commitment of every employee in the company. We provide safety standards, training and all necessary tools and equipment for all employees. Ball has had a successful track record related to safety performance, with consistently lower incident rates (injuries that require treatment beyond first aid per 200,000 hours worked) than in the respective industries in which Ball operates, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2008, the rate for the metal can manufacturing industry was 5.9, compared to Ball’s overall rate of 2.4.
Safety leadership in each of our businesses completed a comprehensive analysis of occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) to define a minimum set of global criteria for Ball Corporation’s global OHSMS standard. While each division within Ball has a successful safety program, developing a global standard with specific minimum requirements will work to further enhance our safety culture. Ball’s new global OHSMS standard is a compilation of the two leading OHSMS standards - Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 and ANSI Z-10. All Ball manufacturing facilities will be held to the new safety management standard.
Health and Safety Performance
Continuous improvement, accountability and active involvement of employees are the most important factors in consistent safety performance. Safety performance is reviewed with Ball’s management on a monthly basis to ensure progress is being made toward our long-term goal of zero accidents.The key performance indicator of our safety record is our total recordable incident rate. It will take incremental progress to reach our long-term safety goal. We set a goal to reduce our incident rate by 15 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, and we exceeded that goal by reducing our total incident rate by 24 percent. We further reduced our rate by 27 percent in 2009 versus 2008. Our goal in 2010 and 2011 is to further reduce our total incident rate by 15 percent each year.
Internal Safety Awards
To reinforce the importance of safety and to recognize and reward the efforts of plants that achieve certain milestones without a lost-time accident, Ball has a safety performance recognition program. Awards are for consecutive years worked with a safety record of no lost-time accidents or for reaching a million hours without a lost-time accident. Plants celebrate their successes in a variety of ways, such as management providing a barbeque meal for employees.
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2 Million Hours, No Lost Time |
Deeside, U.K. |
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1 Million Hours, No Lost Time |
Bahia, Brazil |
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9 Years, No Lost Time |
Taicang, China |
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8 Years, No Lost Time |
Tianjin, China |
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| 5 Years, No Lost Time |
Bahia, Brazil Chestnut Hill, TN Deeside, U.K. Tampa, FL |
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4 Years, No Lost Time |
Chino, CA Gainesville, FL |
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3 Years, No Lost Time |
Beijing, China |
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External Certifications
Ball Packaging Europe committed to become a world-class safe workplace in 2005 and four years later was certified under Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS)18001. Ball’s European business is one of the first to be granted certification according to the internationally recognized safety standard. Companies are normally granted certification on a plant-by-plant basis, and not as an entire entity.
When Ball acquired plants in Garin and San Luis, Argentina, in 2006, the plants had a total recordable incident rate of 14.6. The existing safety program had minimal structure and little management support. In 2009, these two plants improved their combined incident rate to 8.0 - a 55 percent improvement from 2006. This improvement was the result of a safety culture change through management commitment to making safety a priority.
Ball’s metal beverage container plant in Golden, Colo., first achieved the Star Level of Certification from the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Health and Safety and Health Administration in June 2007. The plant has maintained that certification, again reaching it in June 2010. The Star Program is designed for exemplary work sites with comprehensive, successful safety and health management systems. Companies in the Star Program have reduced injury and illness rates to levels at or below the national average of their respective industries. These sites are self-sufficient in their ability to control workplace hazards. Star participants are reevaluated every three to five years, although incident rates are reviewed annually.
WELLNESS
At Ball Corporation, investing in our people - including their health - is a critical part of business. Ball pays for the majority of health care insurance for employees. To counteract the rising costs of health care and to encourage our employees to be healthy, Ball began a formalized wellness program for North American employees in 2008. In 2010, Ball expanded the program to Europe, where activities are tailored to individual locations depending on specific risk factors, such as smoking cessation.
We are committed to ensuring all employees have access to competitive, comprehensive coverage and to providing benefits that put our employees in charge of their own health care. We recognize that our employees’ health is personal and private and, while we support and promote healthy choices, employees are free to make their own decisions on participating in any aspect of the wellness program.
We held 45 wellness fairs in the U.S. in 2008, representing the majority of our facilities. Nearly 5,000 employees attended the fairs to participate in a health assessment and biometric screening. Biometric screenings take 30-45 minutes and provide employees with an individual health assessment. Employees had the opportunity to follow-up with a private health consultation, if needed.
In support of Ball’s wellness initiatives, our corporate and packaging headquarters buildings in Colorado became tobacco free in 2009. Smoking was previously prohibited inside the buildings. Now, no smoking is allowed anywhere on Ball’s property in Colorado. Employees who want to quit smoking are offered free tobacco cessation coaching.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Ball Corporation’s core values reinforce the necessity that we conduct business in a way that respects human rights. We are committed to meeting or exceeding all human rights laws in all of the countries where we operate. We expect all of our employees, at every level of the organization, to demonstrate consistent respect for the human rights of their co-workers, suppliers, customers, contractors and any other people with which they come into contact. Employees must never impair the human rights of anyone. Each of our business locations offers support programs and local initiatives tailored to the needs of employees and the varying local cultural issues and challenges affecting each plant and its surrounding communities.
Ball’s Human Rights Statement
Respect for human rights is a basic tenet of Ball Corporation’s beliefs and is consistent with our core values and our goal to be a more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable enterprise.
We treat all people with respect and dignity and provide a work environment for our employees that promotes safety, integrity and teamwork at all times.
We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, child or forced labor or other human rights abuses in our operations and we seek to align with customers and suppliers who share our policies and avoid such practices. We recognize our employees’ right to freedom of association and open communication, including the rights of employees to bargain collectively. We respect and comply with all laws in the jurisdictions in which we do business.
Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity
It is the policy of Ball Corporation to attract and retain the best qualified people available without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, veteran status or any other status protected by law. Our nondiscrimination policy applies to applicants as well as employees and covers all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, transfers, promotions, terminations, compensation and benefits. Discrimination or harassment based on any of the above factors is prohibited, as is retaliation against a person who has made a complaint or given information regarding possible violations of this policy. We recognize, respect and embrace the cultural differences found in the worldwide marketplace. We have zero tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind.
TALENT MANAGEMENT & DIVERSITY
Our long-term direction is to recruit, develop and retain talented, diverse employees who share our core values and reflect our communities.
Ball is integrating a six-step, global "people strategy" across all businesses to ensure that employees continue to be Ball’s greatest asset. Human resource leaders in each of our businesses worked together on this strategy, building on the best aspects already in place within Ball.
Ensuring Core Competencies
Our competency modeling tool identifies the knowledge, experience, skill and behaviors required for successful performance in each job. We incorporated these competencies into recruiting, performance, development and succession planning.
Finding the Right People
To ensure that our candidate pool is qualified and diverse, we use a variety of recruitment practices. In addition to posting job openings internally, giving employees the first chance for advancement, we attend professional and diversity career fairs; college and military recruiting venues; and, in the U.S., we have a summer internship program.
Our diversity initiative is designed to engage current employees as we continue to attract new talent. We conduct diversity awareness trainings and programs. We also established five specific employee resource groups for veterans, women, African Americans, Hispanic and Asian Americans. The intent is to identify and give recommendations for creating a more inclusive workplace. We developed partnerships for recruiting from diverse student populations such as the Thurgood Marshall case study.
To further our progress, Ball organized a diversity steering committee, made up of senior leaders, that oversees and emphasizes our diversity initiatives; increases the number of women and minorities in management positions; increases diversity in the applicant pool; increases hiring of women and minorities; reduce turnover of women and minorities; and improve diversity awareness throughout the company. Diversity awareness is included in Ball’s Fundamentals of Leadership training program for new and emerging leaders.
was a sponsor of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Institute, Recruitment Conference and Career Fair in 2008 and 2009. Our involvement supports their mission: "To develop and prepare a new generation of leaders by providing leadership development, scholarships, resources, opportunities and advocacy to Public Historically Black Colleges & Universities, students and alumni."
Ensuring Employee Continuity
Our succession planning process helps to ensure that we are developing our employees with the appropriate skills they need to advance, and our recruiting efforts are designed to fill the gaps. We began a formal talent review process in 2008 with each operating division to discuss critical positions and emerging talent. We completed at least one review for each division since then and scheduled two for each division in 2010, concluding with a global rollup.
Developing the Right Skills
We offer comprehensive learning opportunities to employees to develop their skills and advance their careers. This helps foster employee engagement and improves retention. Our internal training program includes courses on leadership and management. In 2008 and 2009, 381 employees attended these classes from across our global operations. Ball also offers more than 300 free courses online. We encourage employees to further their education and have provided more than $2.2 million to 599 North America employees in the past two years to assist in their pursuit of college degrees.
Ball offers a five day Fundamentals of Leadership class which has been designed to develop the skills and effectiveness of supervisors and managers across the company. It is held three times a year at our corporate offices for employees in the U.S. A similar class was developed for employees in Europe and Asia.
Managing Performance
Setting clear expectations and assessing employees against those expectations by providing useful feedback are essential. We redesigned our performance management review process in 2008 to increase participation. Currently, 92 percent of employees participate in an annual review process and we expect to be at 100 percent in 2010. Our standard performance review now also includes a section on how employees contribute to Ball’s sustainability - including diversity - and workplace safety initiatives.
Increasing Employee Engagement
Competitive wages and benefits, quarterly employee meetings, open houses and volunteer and social events are examples of how we increase employee engagement. Our voluntary turnover rate is world class - generally, less than 6 percent of our workforce leaves in any given year. In 2008 and 2009, our turnover rate was 5.5 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, with more than half of the turnover due to retirements. More than 42 percent of our global operations are organized in labor unions. Despite such a large percentage of union workers, we have not experienced any work stoppages in our operations since 1998. Our low turnover rate and good relationship with unions helps to improve productivity and morale.
