Corporate Social Responsibility

As an international provider of applications and services in space and aviation, but also of defence technology products, the company’s own corporate responsibility is an indispensable basis for sustainable economic success....

In the reporting year, RUAG International recognised its own corporate responsibility through a number of activities. The focus was on issues such as ensuring fair employment conditions, supporting employees effectively, safeguarding staff health and safety, and handling environmental resources in a sustainable way. Particularly in coronavirus times, the health and safety of employees took centre stage. The field of corporate responsibility, in particular responsibility in business relations with customers and partners, is described in greater detail in the section on Compliance & Governance.

Remuneration

Key to RUAG International’s financial success and its responsibility towards society is the honest and fair way in which it interacts with all its employees. The basis for this is fair remuneration. To this end, RUAG International has its salary structure reviewed on a regular basis. In Switzerland, the salaries of all employees are analysed using Logib – a wage equality tool from the Swiss Federal Office for Gender Equality. In negotiations with the employee representatives in Switzerland, it was also decided at the end of January 2020 to grant all eligible employees a general annual salary increase of CHF 400 and to increase the salary budget for individual salary measures by an additional 0.4 %. Among others, employees in terminated employment and employees with a fixed-term employment contract until 31 December 2020 at the latest were not eligible. The total increase thus amounted to 0.8 %.

Diversity

RUAG International was particularly active in the area of diversity this year – especially as its employees come from 70 different nations. The company was one of the main sponsors of the Swiss Diversity Award Night. At the Diversity Award Night, recognition prizes are awarded and public relations work is carried out to promote diversity and inclusion in Switzerland. In addition, various employees act as mentors for the Swiss TecLadies organisation. The mentoring programme is available to girls between the ages of 13 and 16 who are interested in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics): they are accompanied by a female mentor for 9 months. More generally, the influential American organisation Women in Aerospace (WIA) is working to increase the visibility of women in aerospace. RUAG Space acts as a bronze sponsor and offers its female – and male – employees an important platform for professional networking.

Training & Education

Within RUAG International, special attention is paid to training and continuing education. Worldwide, the company trains 126 apprentices – 114 abroad and 12 in Switzerland. RUAG International also employed around 53 interns in 2020, giving them their first professional experience in an exciting environment. Furthermore, various student organisations and activities are supported. RUAG Space contributes financially and with its expertise to academic projects at ETH (ARIS: Academic Spaceflight Initiative Switzerland) and supports the EPFL Rocket Team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).

The numerous commitments in all areas led to RUAG International’s exceptionally good rating in the renowned employer ranking of the market research company Universum. Swiss engineering students ranked RUAG International in 9th place – two notches higher than last year.

Various constructional and operational improvements were made to further increase employee safety at many production sites, particularly RUAG Aerostructures in Emmen and RUAG Ammotec in Thun and Fürth. Despite Corona, all essential safety training was carried out – in line with the protection policy.

Employees get involved

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Employees get involved

Especially in coronavirus times, more people were in need of help than usual. Employees at both the Australian and US sites got together to collect and distribute food. Employees also donated blood and plasma at the Defence Blood Challenge. Active support for the visually impaired was also provided by the workforce in Malaysia. They repaired tandem bicycles and enjoyed a ride together afterwards.

Throughout the year, RUAG Australia continued or expanded its partnerships and fundraising activities with charitable organisations. Five hundred 1:69 scale F/A-18 models were produced and sold within the company for the Soldier On Australia charity and a donation was made. And for WIRES, Australia’s largest animal welfare organisation, employees collected almost 25,000 Australian dollars through an internal appeal for donations.

Promoting the fascination of space

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Promoting the fascination of space

Space has fascinated people since time immemorial – no wonder the space exhibition at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne is so popular. Thanks to the support of RUAG Space and other partners, the “Space-Experience” exhibition at the Swiss Museum of Transport has been extensively updated. One highlight of the new exhibition is the thermal protection foil manufactured by RUAG Space, which protects satellites from extreme heat and cold. At the Swiss Museum of Transport, visitors can feel the same effect directly on their skin.

Refurbished not discarded

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Refurbished not discarded

In the reporting year, we continued our collaboration with the non-profit organisation AfB social & green IT. This foundation refurbishes used PCs and laptops. Not only is this great for the environment and saves CO2, it also fulfils the foundation’s mission to create work for people with disabilities (AfB). In 2020, RUAG International partnered with the foundation to hand over 305 laptop and desktop computers. These will be professionally refurbished and go on sale via the foundation’s own online store.

Improvements for the environment

The manufacture of RUAG Ammotec products generates biological as well as chemical wastewater. In December, RUAG Ammotec commissioned an extension to its own wastewater treatment plant and a filtration plant at the Fürth (DE) production site, where part of the chemical wastewater is pre-treated. As the plant is classified as a “direct discharger”, the treated wastewater can be discharged into surface water body. This means that around 12,000 cubic metres of treated wastewater can be reused for production purposes. A joint CO2 universal target agreement with the FOEN (Federal Office for the Environment) is still in place until the end of 2021 for all sites in Switzerland owned by RUAG International or RUAG MRO Holding Ltd. The target reduction was also exceeded in 2020, primarily due to the changeover of the dual fuel urner system in Emmen from oil to natural gas.

Fewer Accidents

Reportable work accidents per 1,000 full-time positions (FTE) fell to 18 cases in 2020 (24 the previous year). Days lost due to accidents dropped to 198 in comparison to the previous year (330). The decrease is also linked to the unbundling at the beginning of 2020 and the associated reduction from 9091 FTE to 6299 FTE. No fatal work accidents were recorded.

​​​​​​​Together against coronavirus

RUAG Ammotec supported the city of Fürth with disinfectant and protective masks. A total of 200 litres of surface disinfectant was produced in-house and 1,000 FFP2 masks went to public facilities such as daycare centres and retirement homes in the city. And to ensure that all employees at Ammotec’s site in Fürth were equipped with mouth and nose coverings, the crisis team had masks made by a local sewing studio.