Why BG Group?
I joined two years ago. The Company is going through an exciting period of growth and expansion. This combination means individual contributions can really make a difference, which is something I wanted to be a part of. The Company also has a great reputation in the area in which I work.
My business area, social performance, is a specialist area I’ve worked in for my whole career, since 2000. Before I joined BG Group in 2006, social performance was the kind of specialist knowledge that companies sourced through consultants, so it’s good to see BG Group looking to get in-house expertise in the area.
Where do you fit in?
Social Performance describes the way in which we meet our commitments to society, as defined in our Business Principles. It involves establishing and maintaining effective relationships with interested and affected stakeholders in our areas of operation, working with project teams to avoid or minimise any negative impacts of our activities and creating and delivering on opportunities to enhance benefits to our host communities and societies.
What would I need to do your job?
From a technical perspective, you need to have a background in social sciences and, preferably, some experience in the extractives industry. Just as important is an ability to engage with people effectively, whether they’re BG Group senior managers and technical staff or members of local communities and their representatives. Another thing to understand is that social performance isn’t all about ‘being the nice guy’. It’s about managing business risk and opportunity, looking at how to add value to the Company in exactly the same way as someone from a commercial or technical function would approach their role.
And the highlights?
The best thing about my job is the people I meet. In particular, establishing relationships with our local staff, in places like Trinidad, the USA, Tunisia, India and so on, and working on managing social performance issues together is very rewarding. I also enjoy the mix of developing the social performance policy agenda at the corporate centre and then getting out to the assets to work with them to implement it all.
What’s the work environment like?
Dynamic. In a typical month, I’ll make one business visit to an operating country and spend the rest of the time in the head office in the UK. In a typical week, my time will be split between working on various different assets and BG Group corporate work. There are a lot of meetings with people from different functions, such as HSSE, commercial and assurance, contracts and procurement, and I spend a fair amount of time on the phone. The social performance team, of which I’m part, is a great place to be - friendly, motivated and highly skilled people to work with makes for an excellent work environment.
Has BG Group met your expectations?
It pretty much has! I knew it would be exciting, dynamic and rewarding, and it has turned out that way. One thing I would say is that you get out of the job what you put in. The opportunities are all around at BG Group to develop professionally and personally, but I’ve found that it’s up to you to make sure you benefit from these opportunities, and that’s not a bad thing at all.
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