The global “war for talent” is still on. Two years ago, KBR launched an enhanced people strategy shaped by employee feedback, detailed analysis, research and best practices, with the goal of making KBR the best and most exciting place to work while supporting sustainable business growth.
That strategy was built on a framework of four core areas, all underpinned by the delivery of excellent human resources solutions and services. Those areas are:
Building Our Reputation as a Great Place to Work
We will put purpose at the heart of our employer brand, offer fulfilling careers to the best people, and empower those people to work in ways that work for them.
Creating Conditions for People to Flourish
We will create an inclusive culture, centered on our employees’ experiences and perspectives, with a deliberate focus on mental well-being to help our people achieve peak performance.
Capitalizing on Capability
We will proactively manage talent and succession for leadership and mission-critical roles, open up development opportunities to all our people, and support them with ongoing feedback and coaching.
Helping Realize the Potential of ONE KBR
We will support the development of KBR’s global credentials and expertise, and help teams move further and faster together, while sharing resources and simplifying processes.
We’ve come a long way, but there are still improvements to be made to ensure KBR can recruit the best talent and inspire them to stay. While the framework of our people strategy hasn’t changed, KBR’s People function has refreshed the employee value proposition (EVP) to better communicate what KBR is committed to delivering to current and prospective employees, how we’re doing it, and how it sets us apart as a global employer of choice.
KBR LINK had the opportunity to sit down with chief people officer Jenni Myles to discuss the enhanced EVP and what our people can expect in 2023.
Jenni Myles
Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer
A Differentiated EVP
Why has KBR revamped its EVP?
We’ve been pleased with the progress we’ve made through the EVP we’ve had in place for the past couple of years. But after testing the EVP and gathering feedback, we realized that we needed to better capture the KBR story for both current and potential employees. We wanted to communicate who KBR is, what we do, and how we value our people all in a differentiated, emotional way.
Ultimately, the goal is to appeal to these amazing experts through our shared purpose —of doing work that matters and that is changing the world — by connecting to our strong values, and by delivering an outstanding employee experience. And that last piece is accomplished by building on what we’ve been doing really well over the past year, which is providing an environment where people can belong, connect and grow.
All of these aspects of the EVP are captured in this new graphic.
Why is Purpose at the center of the graphic?
Our president and CEO Stuart Bradie talks about how crucial connections are — to our business and to each other. One of the most important connections any of us has at KBR is a connection to a shared purpose of delivering solutions that matter to the rest of the world. The opportunity to do that amazing work is what draws people to KBR.
What are some examples of how we’re bringing the Purpose aspect of the refreshed EVP to life in 2023?
Though we will be piloting some initiatives across certain parts of the business, our approach is to continue building on what we’ve been doing well, to mature what we’ve started, and to translate our success to other parts of KBR.
To better communicate the Purpose aspect, we will be launching monthly onboarding sessions featuring members of our executive leadership team (ELT). What better resource to learn about the company and to hear about how great KBR is and how much our people are valued than from our most senior leadership — and right out of the gate? We want new additions to our team of teams to feel special and welcome from the beginning of their journey with us.
We’re also going to launch a ONE KBR Global Hackathon. When I travel around, I meet these really great young graduates who are dedicated to the customer mission but have no idea who KBR is, how special the company is, nor the career opportunities available. The hackathon will be sponsored by IMPACT — our employee resource group (ERG) dedicated to helping connect and develop our early-careers team members — but it will be open to anyone from across KBR. It will be a global opportunity to help our people explore the company and to learn about some of the high-profile things we do across the business.
What are some examples related to the other aspects of the EVP?
There are numerous examples for each that our people can look forward to, but I’ll highlight just a few here.
Starting with Belong, our ERGs are one of the best ways we have to provide our people with outlets for connection. In support of that ongoing mission, we’ll be hosting a virtual conference for all ERG leaders and board members, ELT sponsors, and our ERG leaders’ managers. This will facilitate collaboration and connection between all our ERGs so that we can better support our people and the folks who’ve stepped up to lead our ERGs in addition to the work they do for the business.
For Grow, I’d like to mention our KBR Pathways internal career fairs. We launched this initiative earlier this year after reviewing feedback from People Perspectives survey. Many of our people asked for a resource like this, and we listened and delivered. Our first event featured our Government Solutions Science and Space business unit. Our people heard about the business and what kinds of jobs exist and also learned how to find out more in Workday and to set alerts. We have so many openings for positions with relevant skills in both functional and technical areas. And we know that often people get to a point in their journey at a company where they want to progress or think they’ll have more opportunity or a career challenge if they leave. We know how amazing our people are, and we don’t want them to leave! So we want to make sure we’re being proactive in promoting those internal opportunities to our people first.
And as benefits were another big area of feedback from our 2022 People Perspectives survey, I’ll share a few examples for Reward. In 2023, we will be putting together campaigns to highlight the uniqueness of our benefits offerings in various global regions and to educate our people about the benefits they have. We’ll also be launching our employee share purchase plans in more markets and reinforcing our people’s role in driving up share prices. And one last example is the launch of a toolkit to support KBR people who take periods of military leave. We have so many veterans and reservists who want to continue serving their country, and we want to provide a seamless, positive experience for them before, during and after they take leave.
It sounds like there’s a lot to look forward to! When will our people start hearing about some of these initiatives?
We will be regularly communicating about these and many other new or enhanced initiatives and programs in the coming months.
I would like to close with a thought that we really believe at KBR: our people are the heart of everything we do. Without them we can’t deliver for our customers. Without them we wouldn’t be leading the way in pivotal areas like climate change, national security and energy transition. All of us in the People function are excited to continue our mission of delivering an employee experience that excites and fulfills, and that brings the best talent here and keeps them here for years to come.
