Work-life considerations and providing opportunities are keys to meeting the needs of today’s employees. Twenty-something engineers working alongside 40-year veteran technicians. Employees in London or Sydney collaborating with colleagues in Washington or Orlando. Telecommuters teaming with on-location workers. With such a widely diverse professional, personal and geographic landscape, how does Lockheed Martin build a culture that feels like home to everyone? For Ken Disken, senior vice president of Human Resources, the answer is threefold: By respecting employees’ different needs and preferences By implementing corporate-wide programs and policies to address them By fostering leaders who embrace Lockheed Martin’s cultural vision.
“Lockheed Martin looks different today than it did 20 years ago or even five years ago,” Disken says. “We’re bringing in more than 4,000 college new hires every year, we have retiring Baby Boomers at the other end of the age spectrum, and we’re moving into new growth areas through acquisitions and global expansion. It’s important that we have a universal culture that applies to the entire Corporation, so our employees understand the terms, conditions and opportunities for success across the entire enterprise.” To adjust to shifting workforce demographics and meet the individual needs of diverse employees, the Corporation and its companies offer a variety of programs aimed at providing professional development and work-life balance. Through LM People, the Corporation has standardized much of the career planning and professional training available to employees. It has introduced LM HealthWorks to promote fitness, a healthy diet, smoking cessation and other wellness programs, and to provide medical clinics and personal health assessments. To improve work-life balance, many locations offer telecommuting, flexible work schedules, and schedules that permit longer weekends. Some sites also sponsor car and van pooling, offer staggered start times, and provide public transit benefits to ease the commuting burden.
“We must continue to find ways to meet our employees’ needs that fit with the business needs of a particular location,” he says. “Every site will find the right approach for its population and mission, but the location, culture and the corporate culture have to be mutually reinforcing.” While there are many factors contributing to the changing composition of Lockheed Martin’s workforce, none has been more pronounced than the aggressive recruitment of new talent to meet staffing needs as veteran employees retire. “In 2009, the Corporation still feels it is strategically important to hire at our current pace from college campuses,” says Leslie Chappell, director of University Relations. “Lockheed Martin is one of the largest corporate employers of entry level talent in the United States,” she says, “and we’re the nation’s largest employer of engineers and scientists coming out of college.” “Work-life balance is very important to this group,” she says. “They’re also attracted by flex time, tuition reimbursements, memberships to the gym - that kind of thing.” Chappell notes, “People coming out of college now are more interested in whether there’s career advancement opportunity and an ethical and socially responsible environment.” That emphasis bodes well for Lockheed Martin, she says, because strong leadership, financial strength, innovation and career opportunity are the areas where the Corporation ranks high in surveys of college students. As new talent joins the workforce, the Corporation also is looking to ensure that the knowledge of its late-career employees is preserved and that it accommodates those who want to ease into retirement. “We’re looking at some things right now in the area of pre-retirement that would facilitate veteran employees to better balance their work and personal needs, such as greater use of part-time schedules so as to retain their skills as they go into retirement,” Disken says. “We also are considering approaches to be more engaged with our retirees.” In addition, many retirement-eligible employees are voluntarily deferring retirement and extending their careers. At the same time, he adds, the Corporation is looking at ways to strengthen career planning and access to corporate-wide opportunities for mid-career employees and employees in other countries. Indeed, the reason Lockheed Martin has been so successful is that it has adapted to change and gotten out in front of trends and challenges, Disken says. “The time is right to unify our culture and move it forward as the next step in unifying our company,” he says. |  | | "We must continue to find ways to meet our employees' needs that fit with the business needs of a particular location. Every site will find the right approach for its population and mission, but the location culture and the corporate culture have to be mutually reinforcing." - Ken Disken, senior vice president of Human Resources
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