Fostering Workplace Belonging
Employee Resource Group Summer Events
From promoting fair practices, to raising awareness around important issues, to encouraging employees to bring their whole selves to work, employee resource groups (ERGs) are a critical part of KBR’s culture. Our exciting ERG lineup is also one of the reasons KBR was recently named a Great Place to Work-Certified™ company in the United States, UK, India, Singapore, Germany and Australia. As the company continues to develop, so does our community outreach, our global footprint and our ERG participation. Here are some recent examples of our growth in action.
KBR is committed to the promotion of gender diversity across our global businesses and specifically toward the advancement of women in leadership. KBR’s first Inclusion and Diversity (I&D) ERG, ASPIRE, engages both men and women at KBR to advance the hiring, retention, and promotion of women in strategic and leadership roles. The aim is to educate employees and managers about the obstacles women often face in the workforce, spread awareness about work-life balance challenges that disproportionately impact women, and develop a culture of sponsorship and support for high-performing women at KBR.
International Women in Engineering Day
The ASPIRE Oklahoma City chapter kicked off the summer by celebrating International Women in Engineering Day through an educational and inspiring virtual panel. This hour-long event brought together a variety of KBR inventors and innovators from around the globe and garnered great engagement. The ASPIRE UK chapter also led a social media campaign for awareness and developed profiles of several female engineers, which were promoted online and throughout the company.
International Women in Engineering Day virtual panel
Picnic in the Park: Houston, Texas
This June, ASPIRE Houston hosted a Picnic in the Park in the green space by our corporate headquarters. Part member appreciation and part recruitment, the fun event featured lawn games, a photo booth, an opportunity to get a professional headshot, lunch, and a gift for members. ASPIRE Houston also hosted several sessions as a part of their Financial Wellness series over the past few months. You can check them out here.
ASPIRE Houston Picnic in the Park
New Chapter Launch: Baku, Azerbaijan
Congratulations to ASPIRE Baku on their newly launched chapter. The administrative board members recently held a brainstorming meeting to discuss the group’s opportunities, including member professional development, recruitment and a focus on healthy habits. As a result, the team settled on drinking a minimum of 1.5 liters of pure water a day and chose a book to read by the next meeting for inspiration — “Linchpin” by Seth Godin.
IMPACT serves as the launching point for early career professionals (0 to 10 years of work experience) within KBR. Through professional development, networking, community outreach, and career and personal enrichment, IMPACT seeks to motivate, retain and develop our members and transform them into future leaders at KBR. IMPACT was launched in 2001 and has since grown to include 12 chapters in KBR locations across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.
Spotlight on Washington, D.C. Area
IMPACT DC recently held an event at Nationals Park for a Washington Nationals game. Members from Chantilly, Virginia, as well as Patuxent River and Maple Lawn, Maryland, all came together to enjoy a night of food, refreshments, fun and baseball. IMPACT DC continues to support various events centered around networking, professional development and employee engagement in the area, including their Summer Series Happy Hours, which take place once a month from July through September in each of the three hubs. Those in the area are encouraged to check IMAPCT DC’s active Yammer page for details on upcoming events!
Spotlight on Ann Arbor, Michigan
IMPACT Ann Arbor celebrated National Intern Day on the last Thursday in July with an after-work social. The group was delighted to have a good mix of early career professionals and senior mentors turn out for the event — a key staple in connecting and engaging employees of all levels.
Spotlight on Houston, Texas
KBR has strong growth in every nearly every direction, especially for IMPACT Houston. The Downtown and Clearlake chapters merged this spring into one unified IMPACT Houston! Over the summer, IMPACT leadership reached out to KBR’s latest class of interns to join the ERG’s members for all events so they could experience what an exciting opportunity IMPACT is for young professionals.
IMPACT Happy Hour in Houston
- Community Outreach: Members cleared two miles of Galveston Beach during the group’s spring beach cleanup, with another planned on the island in September for World Cleanup Day. Additionally, with blood supply shortages nationwide, KBR’s regular blood drives at headquarters have been an enormous help to the local community. IMPACT Houston members and executive leadership all came out to donate and show their support. This year alone, IMPACT’s donations have gone toward saving more than 300 lives in the greater Houston area.
- Lunch and Learn Series: IMPACT Houston’s “Lunch and Learn” series has been a terrific opportunity for members to peek behind the curtain and get a hands-on look at what makes KBR tick. Charlie Heath, Michael Cain, Tiffany Ryan and the global tax team set a high bar for the Lunch and Learn series right out the gate at its first event. Ryan McKenny held a limited in-person Lunch and Learn about how KBR handles mergers and acquisitions, showcasing a side of the business many young professionals don’t often see. The members also met KBR’s Global Communications and Marketing teams in July. Every participating member received a professional headshot for Teams, Workday and Outlook, helping our members put their best foot forward in all communications.
- Happy Hour and Networking: IMPACT Houston ensures everyone gets a chance to get out of their silos and meet their peers across the company through regular networking events. Members are encouraged to bring managers and new hires to our events so all employee levels can participate. In the spring, IMPACT Houston hosted happy hour events at Part and Parcel, next to KBR tower, and at Sable Gate Wine Bar, owned and operated by two former KBR employees. As always, the networking events created a fun atmosphere for IMPACT members to catch up and connect. This summer, IMPACT took their members to an Astros game at Minute Maid Park, where they visited the appropriately named (but entirely coincidental) “Impact Party Deck.” Over half of all Houston KBR interns attended the game and had the chance to meet our members and learn what KBR is all about. Additionally, they met for a happy hour at “Flight Club,” a darts bar where everyone connected over a few friendly darts games.
In order to attract and retain the most elite talent for our business, it is critical that employees feel safe enough to bring their whole selves to work. KBR is committed to allying with our LGBTQIA+ friends and colleagues to combat the historical intolerance and prejudice they have suffered both at home and on the job. KBR values the responsibility to build a workplace that is inclusive and welcoming of individuals of all kinds, as well as to help celebrate those differences.
Pride and Allies recently launched chapters in both the U.S., led by Gracie Orr, and Australia, led by Joe Cutelle . Based in Houston, Gracie is working with her leadership team to discuss upcoming plans and future ambitions for the chapter, including how they will support KBR’s LGBTQIA+ staff during these challenging times in some parts of the United States. In Australia, Joe Cutelle held a kickoff meeting with a call for folks to express interest in attending a Stonewall workshop on LGBTQIA+ mental health, which received heavy interest.
Also in development for Pride and Allies is a bi-weekly virtual social meeting on Teams, which will be open to everyone. It will offer a safe space for KBR’s LGBTQIA+ community and its allies. If anyone is interested in helping run these sessions, please contact Gracie or Joe.
ARMED FORCES COMMUNITY
This ERG focuses on serving our community of veterans and their supporters. With two chapters based out of Leatherhead, UK and now Huntsville, Alabama, in the U.S., the Armed Forces Community ERG welcomes all veterans and reservists and their spouses and supporters from across the organization.
The global charter allows regional chapters to be established to tailor their activity, and their objectives, to the most pressing local needs. Members of this community sacrifice things on a physical, mental and emotional level that can only really be understood if you have experienced them firsthand. Moreover, those sacrifices, and their impacts, stay with people long after they have stopped wearing the uniform or supporting someone in uniform. KBR aims to support those community members both within and outside of KBR while providing flexibility for chapters to meet local needs.
Spotlight on Leatherhead, UK
The Leatherhead chapter held a Medicine Ball Challenge this summer. The challenge involves individuals cuffing a 3kg medicine ball to their wrist for seven days to serve as a physical, visual and tangible representation of the invisible burden of mental health that so many experience. The challenge aims to create awareness, encourage people to talk about their mental health, and break down the stigmas associated with mental health issues.
The team also hosted a lunch and learn and held a film night with a speaker from BLESMA, an armed forces charity, to discuss the work they do supporting injured veterans.
THAT’S NOT ALL!
All In is KBR's global community dedicated to promoting and strengthening our I&D culture. Visit Allin.KBR.com to learn more about all of KBR’s I&D-related ERGs.
