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is different than it would be if we were What about diversity hiring? Are from 11 percent to almost 14 percent owned by private equity. Competitors you attempting to hire more over the last three years and have a mi- who have private equity ownership have women? nority population of nearly 30 percent. a slightly different contract strategy – Arold de Vries: Austal is an equal A more diverse employee base makes us certainly harsher than ours. opportunity employer that values diver- stronger.

sity and inclusion. We have established

Sue Haley: We hire mostly full-time aggressive goals in the hiring, training employees. We use contract or tempo- and promotion of females. We source rary employees as needed to meet cycli- females into the industry through inno- cal business demands or speci? c proj- vative branding and focused recruitment ects. With our clear focus on culture and strategies complimented by training. We values, hiring the right people and retain- leverage our external partners by requir- ing them ? ts our business model better. ing them to adopt the same philosophies

Austal has in encouraging female partic-

Don Keeler: On average, Austal has ipation and engagement. The business 10% contract employee support. The recognizes diversity as a critical talent most desirable is to hire direct and resource and considers diversity recruit- source contractors for special projects ing a strategic step in building a strong or spikes in demand. highly-engaged workforce.

Are you currently hiring and if so, Arold de Vries: We hire the best what is the number one position person for the job. Some people might or skill that you need to ? ll? ? nd it a dif? cult thing – the concept of

Sue Haley: We are a project-manage- a female yard manger. Although, we do ment-driven business. Quali? ed project have one in Sweden and we have one in managers and skilled crafts men and the Ukraine. But, the problem is, there’s women who ? t our entrepreneurial busi- not many to choose from. We’re de? - ness model are always in demand. nitely not ahead, certainly not the U.S. companies. The ones that are out there

Arold de Vries: We are currently hir- are in high demand. We simply want the ing and have open positions in virtually best person for the job. But, we need to every department. Our largest number of do a lot better in this regard.

job opportunities are in engineering, pipe ? tting and pipe welding, marine electri- Sue Haley: We are continually focus- cal, out? tting, machinery, test and trials ing on ways to recruit and retain a more and leadership positions. Anyone inter- diverse workforce. We have hosted di- ested in working at Austal can get details versity fairs to educate and engage our on our open positions and training op- hiring partners, have created women’s portunities at www.austaljobs.com. forums at our larger sites to promote community and understand issues, have

Arold de Vries: We need engineers sought diverse student groups for our that can design a ship, project managers on-site community college programs, and currently we need purchasing per- and have requested women/minority sonnel. In the yards, we haven’t yet seen applicants for our apprenticeship pro- a shortage of those skill sets – especially grams. We have increased the percent- in Eastern Europe and the Far East. age of female employees at our sites www.maritimeprofessional.com | Maritime Professional | 41 34-49 Q3 MP2015.indd 41 9/18/2015 10:04:05 AM