Our social strategy
The Social pillar of our sustainability strategy embodies our commitment to build a safe, diverse, equal and inclusive workforce focused on customer satistfaction and improving the communities we do business in.
We have continued our focus on developing our social pillar by focusing on our vision and mission for activities in this area. The social pillar of our sustainability strategy recognises the pivotal role of our people and communities in driving long-term sustainable transformation. Our vision is to shape a sustainable future as part of the circular economy while actively supporting and investing in the future of our people and communities. Our mission is to create packaging for good, which is supported by our employee engagement and positively impacting the communities we serve. We contribute to a better world through targeted investments in our people, educational initiatives, recycling and circularity.
In 2020, we refreshed our social sustainability strategy, placing more emphasis on recognising the pivotal role our people and communities play in driving long-term sustainable change. Click on community action to find out more.
Health and safety
An anchor point of our social pillar is team safety, with the clear objective of each and every employee returning home safe to friends and family every day. Prevention of physical harm and support for mental health and wellbeing are a vital part of our organisational commitments and endorsed by a variety of workplace initiatives.
Our approach to workplace health and safety is exemplified by our BSafe! 7 Programme (BSafe! 7), which is supported by our Environmental, Health and Safety team. BSafe! 7 incorporates training and communications, which covers safety topics including traffic safety, machine intervention and work permits.
We continuously raise awareness of health and safety, the role of protective equipment and need for constant improvement in workplace and procedural safety. All our production facilities implement an accident/injury investigation system, including near-misses, which examine root causes and identifies potential short- and long-term corrective actions, and follow emergency action plans.
We regularly review the effectiveness of BSafe! 7 with internal audits, and elements of our safety management, including policies, planning, implementation and operation, corrective action and timely safety reviews to ensure accountability and the ultimate safety of everyone at AMP.
Human rights
We believe that respecting human rights is fundamental. We are committed to respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and to supporting human rights within our business and across our global supply chain.
We are committed to:
- Upholding labour standards: adhering to applicable labour laws and regulations in all the countries in which operate, including taking a zero-tolerance approach for the worst forms of child labour, forced labour, or any other form of human exploitation in our business or supply chain, and ensuring that individuals are paid fair wages.
- Supporting freedom of association: working to promote freedom of association and recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
- Providing a safe working environment: understanding that safety at work is a human right and ensuring that we operate safe and healthy workplaces.
- Reducing environmental impacts: recognising that human rights extend to the right to a safe environment, we are committed to sustainable practices that reduce our ecological impact.
- Preventing discrimination: working to combat and upholding our commitment to zero-tolerance of any forms of discrimination or harassment in our business or supply chain.
- Respecting civil and political rights: respecting all individual rights including the right to freedom of opinion.
To support this commitment, we have implemented a risk management system, which includes a broad range of due diligence and risk management measures. Specifically, within our business, we have implemented policies, procedures and processes to address human rights and environmental-related risks. As part of our approach, we regularly review and assess the effectiveness of these measures. We have established our Speak Up Hotline to allow for the reporting of concerns and encourage anyone who has such concerns to make a report. Further details of our Speak Up Hotline can be found here.
Responsible sourcing
We promote social responsibility throughout our supply chain and expect our suppliers to share in our commitment to social and ethical rights and to doing business in the right way. We expect all our business partners to adhere to the principles and values set out in our Code of Conduct and comply with our Responsible Procurement Policy. That policy sets out our expectations for suppliers, which are based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code principles. We have implemented a robust risk assessment process, which allows us to identify and address social and ethical risks within our supply chain. This process takes a risk-based approach, focusing on higher risk suppliers, based on spend and the supplier’s location and industry. Where we identify any specific risks or violations, we work with our suppliers to implement appropriate preventative measures or take remedial actions as required.
Further information on how we promote social responsibility throughout our supply chain, including in relation to human rights, can be found in our Responsible Procurement Policy, our Human Rights Policy Statement, and our Modern Slavery Statement.
Watch a short video introducing our Responsible Procurement Policy here.
Employee engagement
We believe that open dialogue and collaboration are essential to fostering a positive and productive workplace.
To strengthen our connection with employees, we conduct a biannual Global Engagement Survey inviting employees to share feedback and insights. The surveys allow us to understand what’s working well and where we can improve.
Our recent survey saw a high response rate that shows our employees’ commitment to shaping Ardagh Group. Based on the survey results, we developed action plans for various teams and follow up on our progress throughout the year to ensure meaningful change. Across our regions, we also engage in ongoing conversations with employee representatives, including Unions and Works Councils, to ensure that all voices are heard and respected.
Listening to our employees
Ardagh Group recognises that listening to its employees’ feedback helps to build upon and maintain a company and a culture that attracts, and more importantly, retains talented people. In partnership with Culture Amp, a market-leading employee experience platform, Ardagh launched its first global employee engagement survey in 2022 with a more recent survey taking place in 2024 which received a notable improvement in participation. Action plans are in development across regional operating businesses, facilities and function levels to respond to feedback received in the survey and address areas for improvement.
Employee lifecycle
SAP Success Factors supports our employee lifecycle practices and provides employees with access to digital learning resources that are also accessible via mobile device.
Across our regions, we also engage in ongoing conversations with employee representatives, including Unions and Works Councils to ensure that all voices are heard and respected across the organisation.
- Branding and attraction
- Career marketing
- Assessment and selection
- Recruitment and hire
- Onboarding
- Induction
- Feedback
- Objective setting and review
- Performance review
- Total rewards (Base salary, Benefits, Bonus, and Incentives)
- Employee absence support
- Appreciation and recognition
- Development plan
- Skills development (Functional Excellence, coaching and mentoring)
- Leadership development
- High potential development
- Career pathing
- Talent review
- Succession planning
- Mobility
- Retirement
- Exit interviews
- Knowledge transfer
- Alumni
- Termination
Training and development
We believe in nurturing our employees’ potential and supporting their professional growth. Our approach focuses on continuous development through regular feedback, personalised development plans and clear goal setting.
Our training and development strategy…
- We aim to create a competitive advantage at Ardagh Metal Packaging by fostering a strong learning culture and mindset.
- Focusing on capturing out in-house expertise and combining it with external learning content.
- We will achieve this by spotting and nurturing out talent, adopting a ‘learning for all’ ethos, developing an intuitive learning academy in myLearning and encouraging collaboration across all regional teams.
This strategy is closely aligned to our business objectives, strategy, HR policies, Behaviours, and Ardagh for Education.
We offer all employees access to a language development programme and a digital library of soft skills development content. In addition, we also offer more targeted technical and role-based training such as project management, lean six sigma, sales and negotiation training, as well as on-the-job training models and early careers programmes (apprenticeships and graduate programmes).
We support our leaders through leadership development programmes, digital/workshop learning activities, assessment and coaching/mentoring opportunities with a focus on targeted training topics such as unconscious bias, respectful workplace training, supervisor training, emotional intelligence and leading difficult conversations.
Managing competency and skills in our teams is important to us. We have created a skills assessment tool to help identify skills gaps to support employees on the development of their technical knowledge and skills. Each year, our personal development review process supports quality conversations between employees and their managers on how employees and the business can work together to meet development and career objectives.
Our targeted annual individual Personal Development Review (PDR) process supports quality conversations between employees and their managers on how the individual and the business can work together to meet development and career objectives aligned to our business needs and aspirations.
Remuneration
Reward principles at Ardagh Group help us in attracting and retaining talented employees who are motivated to develop and grow their careers with us. Our total rewards strategy is to provide competitive compensation packages and we regularly review our salaries in the markets where we operate to ensure we stay competitive. We are dedicated to fostering a culture where equal pay is a fundamental value, and we strive to reflect this in all our systems and processes.
We offer comprehensive incentive and benefit programmes tailored to each employee’s position, location and business level to ensure we offer a compelling employment package to all employees. Reflecting our Core Values of Inclusion, Trust, Teamwork and Excellence, our variable remuneration incentive programmes are designed to motivate employees to achieve key performance indicators that are directly aligned to their role, such as productivity, efficiency, quality and financial performance.
The health and wellbeing of our employees is very important at Ardagh Group. Non-compensation benefits, which may include pension and retirement support, or health and wellbeing provision are available to all employees. Our benefits encompass several key pillars*, designed to cater for the individual needs of our employees:
- Base salary
- Bonuses and incentives
- Allowances and cash benefits
- Generous core holiday entitlement
- Additional service holidays to reward loyalty and commitment
- Enhanced family leave
- A hybrid working approach for those who can work remotely
- Pension and retirement funds
- Provision for ill-health or death
- Medical cover and/or on-site healthcare
- On-site gym facilities, funding for wellbeing memberships or activities
- Employee Assistance Programmes
- Life insurance cover
*The general benefit pillars are provided for illustration. The composition of remuneration packages for individual employees is influenced by a range of factors including location, role and tenure.
In the U.S. our total rewards offer typically includes:
We offer comprehensive incentive and benefit programmes tailored to each employee’s position, location and business level to ensure we offer a compelling employment package to all employees. Reflecting our Core Values of Inclusion, Trust, Teamwork and Excellence, our variable remuneration incentive programmes are designed to motivate employees to achieve key performance indicators that are directly aligned to their role, such as productivity, efficiency, quality and financial performance.
For employees globally, depending on location, they may also have access to:
Gender pay gap reports
Community action
We are dedicated to two main areas of action to engage with and contribute to our local communities:
We are dedicated to two main areas of action to engage with and contribute to our local communities:
1. Ardagh for Education
From one generation to the next
Ardagh for Education is on track to bring hands-on, engaging, STEM learning experiences to more than 1.2 million students and upskill 10,000 teachers in over 2,500 schools over a ten-year period.
2. Ardagh in the community
Our goal is to deliver at least one meaningful community involvement project (CIP) at every facility and office location anually.
Our community engagements are influenced by the following three initiatives:
- Education & STEM
- Recycling and the circular economy
- Biodiversity
Education & STEM
The mission of Ardagh for Education is to give back to the communities we operate in through high-quality Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education. We make an impact by upskilling teachers through high- quality training and providing students with hands-on, engaging, STEM learning experiences to enhance their technical abilities and equip them with in-demand, 21st-century skills. We are reaching the most underserved students at all age levels, creating opportunities for employee engagement, attracting young and diverse talent into STEM pathways, and, most importantly, having a strong, positive impact on our people and our communities
Recycling and circular economy
Supporting a circular economy not only aligns with our environmental responsibilities but also underscores our role as leaders in sustainable packaging. Unlike many other packaging materials, metal and glass are both inherently recyclable, with very minimal loss in quality, making them a perfect example of a circular economy product. The use of recycled aluminium reduces energy consumption by over 90% compared with the alternative of producing aluminium cans from its virgin source. Through our Ardagh for Education partnerships and our community involvement projects we aim to educate and engage our communities with this topic while increasing recycling rates in our local communities
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is crucial to human well-being and is increasingly threatened. Habitat destruction, invasive species, overexploitation, illegal wildlife trade, pollution and climate change put the survival of species worldwide at risk. At a group level Ardagh already manages major impacts on biodiversity via our existing environmental management of our major impacts: emissions, water and waste and building awareness of this topic into our management systems. We believe there is always more we can do – and through local collaborations via our community involvement projects we hope to encourage sites, to research local environmental projects and opportunities. Whether that is a school looking to develop a green classroom, a local conservation group looking to restore an area of land or perhaps a community group creating a nature walk.
Social sustainability ambassador network
We believe that to deliver programmes that are truly impactful on our local communities we need a deep knowledge, connection and engagement with our communities. In 2021, we established a network of dedicated Social Sustainability Ambassadors at each facility and office location worldwide. This global volunteer network convenes regularly, sharing stories, inspirations and best practices.