Looking Forward to 2022
Moving Toward a More Sustainable Future
At KBR, our vision statement reminds us that we hire great people who do great things and those great things — the solutions we deliver and the problems we help solve — matter. It’s true, our people are at the heart of everything we do. While we have gone through significant changes at KBR over the past five years, our commitment to sustainability and Zero Harm has not waivered and is still deeply ingrained in our culture. Sustainability is about creating value for the long term and doing things that are right for our planet, communities, people and business. KBR’s sustainability approach is built on a foundation of environmental, social and governance principles (ESG). Each of these three areas have goals that are interrelated, but working toward them in unison is the ultimate objective. Accomplishing those goals is how you create a purpose-driven, sustainable business.
Jenni Myles
Adam Kramer
According to Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Jenni Myles, after the successes of recent years, there’s no slowing down in our journey.
“2021 has been a pivotal year for KBR, with significant steps forward in talent development, inclusion and diversity (I&D), and mental health and fitness,” said Myles. “In 2022, we will hardwire these improvements so they become ‘business as usual.”
We sat down with Myles and KBR legal sustainability expert Adam Kramer to discuss what has been done thus far and what ESG initiatives we can expect in the new year.
Environmental
“KBR is already carbon neutral,” Kramer said. “So, the new overarching goal is to be carbon net-zero by 2030.”
The big question: how will we accomplish this?
“KBR will continue to move energy consumption to green sources and look for opportunities in clean technology — even down to our core business. This includes climate-positive products, technology and services,” he said. “We are also looking at ways to reduce carbon emission from air travel and to reduce the carbon footprint of our suppliers. In addition to this, we are looking at ways to make each of our facilities more energy efficient and encouraging our employees to make more environmentally conscious choices.”
Even sustainability basics like reducing waste, reusing and recycling contribute to a reduction in carbon emissions. The true measure of impact, though, will come with our larger everyday choices, which over time directly impact the environment where we live and work.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to remember or notice, since the impact is not immediate, but each decision has a corresponding consequence, so we must be vigilant,” said Kramer. “KBR understands this, and our people work every day to make sustainable logistical choices. To facilitate this, we have an increasing number of policies and procedures that provide guidance and support toward more sustainable business practices.”
Social
In 2021, KBR launched its first People Perspectives Survey to gather crucial employee feedback. From this we’ve developed actionable plans at both local and global levels to improve our employee experience in 2022 and beyond.
“We are just at the beginning of our technical talent development journey, and while this year’s launch of the ONE KBR Tech Fellows program was an important step, in 2022 we will be building out this strategy to support employees earlier in their careers, in collaboration with our IMPACT employee resource group (ERG),” Myles said.
She went on to note a few other people-focused projects on deck for next year, including two current pilots: one for a new rating-free performance management system and another for a Front-Line Leaders program. KBR will also continue to roll out the Well-being Ambassadors program, and we will unveil new materials to promote KBR’s Employee Value Proposition.
Additionally, KBR’s employee-led resource groups thrived throughout 2021 and there were even a few additions. There was the launch of All In, KBR's global community dedicated to promoting and strengthening its I&D culture, as well as additional ERGs, including IMPACT DC, Armed Forces Community EMEA, and Pride & Allies.
“The All In community is off to a great start and is a crucial part of our approach to I&D,” Myles said. “We look forward to building on this momentum in 2022. My team will be continuing its expansive I&D strategy implementation, including updating I&D improvement plans in businesses and applying key recommendations from the I&D research team throughout the year.”
As with all things related to sustainability, the proof is in the numbers.
“We are working on setting achievable targets and goals for I&D social sustainability,” Kramer said. “To do so, we will have to work on human capital development, such as improving indigenous populations on our contracts and ensuring more minority groups are represented and supported.”
While there’s much yet to come in 2022, there’s one thing we are know for certain — KBR is on the right track. In 2021, KBR’s President and CEO Stuart Bradie Signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge, and KBR placed 80th out the top 100 female-friendly companies globally as ranked by Forbes and Statista.
Governance
The only way to ensure KBR’s environmental and social goals are securely implemented and sustained is to have robust governing policies that take these goals into account.
From corporate governance, such as managing the board of directors, to adhering to the foreign corporate practices act, KBR’s behaviors reflect on us all.
“It’s important to develop global policies that are fair and apply to everyone,” Kramer said. "With large companies such as ours — with nearly 30,000 employees — this can be cumbersome, but it is doable.”
Kramer said KBR, along with many other businesses, utilizes a number of ESG and sustainability frameworks such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board, and the Global Reporting Index (GRI), along with an ESG report produced by MSCI, a global finance company, to gauge corporate behavior and policies. It also acts as a framework for tracking and targeting. MSCI’s report uses a combination of qualitative and rules-based methodology to identify industry leaders according to their exposure to ESG risks and how well they manage those risks relative to peers.
“KBR’s track record continually shows improvement,” Kramer said. “It’s onward and upward in 2022.”
