Bp’s Performance Contracts

Performance contracts are an essential component in our decentralized approach to product and service delivery. They are a key driver for improvements in performance throughout our organization. Each of our three business segments - Exploration and Production, Gas, Power and Renewables and Refining and Marketing - has an executive committee (ExCo), headed up by the chief executive of the segment. Together with the heads of the functions, the deputy group chief executive and the group general counsel, they comprise the group chief executive’s meeting - under the leadership of John Browne, the group chief executive. Performance contracts are in place at this, and every other level of our group. The group chief executive has a performance contract with the board of directors; the heads of all Business Units (BU's) and Strategic Performance Units (SPU's) have a performance contract with their ExCo. At an operational level, performance contracts are in place for the performance leaders who run the many performance units that make up our BU’s.In every instance, the performance contract not only ensures that SPU’s, BU’s, performance units and individuals operate in compliance with group policies, but also frees and challenges them to achieve outstanding results.

UNIT 6 Labour Force: Training, Wages, Safety

Text 1

Pre-reading task

a) Discuss the following questions before reading the text.

1. Have you heard of such terms as “labour”, “labour force”? What do they mean, in your opinion? When do people can start working and retire in our country? Do all people of this age work? If not, why? Give you suppositions.

2. Is qualification necessary for all kinds of jobs? Would you prefer high-skilled or low-skilled work? Why? What do you think of immigrants who move to other countries in search of a good job?

b) Key words: labour, retirement, income, employment, social security system, pay rate, skill, training, net advantages, a dependent.

Look up the key words in the dictionary to find out the exact meaning. Write them out.

Reading The Labour Force, its Quality and Supply

The structure of population affects the size and make-up of the potential working population most of all, but there are many other influences as well:

- retirement ages,

- the trend to earlier retirement,

- the age levels for compulsory education,

- the percentage remaining in higher education,

- the percentage of women working.

Not everyone who is in the potential labour force, that is who is not a dependent (retired, in education or a child), is willing to work because certain influences make work an irrational option to choose. These are:

- The “poverty trap” where it is possible to receive a lower net income from employment than was obtained while un employed;

- The nature and structure of the social security system which may delay or even deter the effort to seek work;

- The extremely low rates of pay available in many jobs, especially those requiring little training;

- The poor job security of many low paid jobs. There is also competition from school students who are willing to work on a part-time basis in these jobs. The supply of workers is very elastic into such occupations;

- Many of the jobs available are only part time and are not a sensible proposition for a person attempting to bring up a family, especially given the existence of the poverty trap.

As the economy develops, employment patterns change.

In modern economies the quality of the labour force is of greater importance than sheer numbers. It is essential, therefore, to maintain the levels of education, training and skill of the workforce and to ensure that they are appropriate to the needs of the time and of the future in so far as that can be forecast. Most people in the European countries have accepted the role of the state in providing, through taxation, minimum levels of education. There used to be a similar consensus about the state financing most of higher education but there has been a shift of government emphasis towards student loans and to private funding.

In the field of training it is natural that the greatest burden should be on employers but that is not fairly shared if only a few firms in an industry (usually the large ones) have full training programmes while the other firms rely on “poaching” for their own recruitment.