Our People
Our employees are the heart of General Dynamics
We rely on our employees' intimate knowledge of customer requirements and their unique blend of skill and innovation to develop and produce the best possible products and services.
Employee Safety
Maintaining a safe work environment for our employees is paramount. We have clear, consistent policies and standards requiring that we operate in a way that promotes the safety and well-being of our employees.
Across the business, we take measures to prevent workplace hazards, enforce a culture of continuous improvement to ensure our processes help reduce injuries and illnesses, and comply with the governing health and safety laws.
Fifty-seven of our sites operate under ISO 45001, widely regarded as the world’s highest occupational health and safety standard, and more are in the process of achieving certification. Under ISO 45001, workplace safety is not a standalone issue but rather an integral part of the business strategy to maintain a sustainable organization.
As a result of our efforts, many of our business units have been recognized for their success in promoting health and safety among their workers.
SASB identifies recordable cases as an indicator of financially sustainable material impact. As such, our performance has consistently been significantly better than the industry standard.
Employee Well-Being
We are committed to providing our employees and their families the means to lead healthy, productive lives. We invest in their physical, emotional, social and financial well-being to help them achieve their full potential, personally and professionally.
Our well-being programs provides resources, information, motivation and support to empower our employees to make informed decisions. Each of our business units develops and provides customized benefits programs that best meet the needs of its employees.
Diversity and Inclusion
We believe that our competitive advantage lies within our workforce. The unique contributions of each employee are key in our ability to drive innovation and productivity. We proudly support a culture of inclusion and encourage a work environment that respects diverse opinions, values individual skills and celebrates the unique experiences our employees bring to our workplaces. We believe that diversity and inclusion contribute to our Ethos of trust, alignment, transparency and honesty while simultaneously making us a better corporation and enhancing the value we bring to our stakeholders.
We continue to work to improve representation of diverse talent at all levels of the corporation so that we reflect the communities in which we operate. We track, measure and analyze our workforce trends to establish accountability.
We employ a variety of strategies for attracting top talent across diverse categories including college outreach and internship programs, manufacturing pipelines, partnerships with diverse organizations and our employee referral program.
In 2021, 38% of our new hires were people of color and 28% were female.
Learn more about our diversity recruiting efforts
Pipeline Programs and Recruiting
General Dynamics partners with local colleges, high schools, trade schools and universities to provide internship and training opportunities, as well as to participate in job fairs. In many cases, we also provide input on curriculum so that schools match their programs to meet the skills students will need in the workplace. We provide hundreds of internship opportunities to expose students to real-world projects through hands-on experiences. Each year, we offer hundreds of internships across the company, as well as traditional apprenticeships in manufacturing or design competencies. We have relationships with many colleges and universities to offer internships or to participate in job hiring events.
In 2021, General Dynamics offered nearly 700 internship opportunities across the company, as well as another 500 traditional apprenticeships in manufacturing or design competencies.
We're honored to have longstanding partnerships with global diversity efforts through which we recruit for internships and early career positions. Engagement in these efforts strengthens our access to diverse talent and supports our mission and the missions of our partners.
Investing in Our Talent
To provide our customers with innovative solutions, we invest in our workforce by offering programs that develop, grow and draw on their individual potential. Over the past two years, we've invested nearly $235 million in the development of company training activities, and in 2021, nearly 80% of our U.S.-based employees participated in those activities. Our employees have access to many development programs throughout their careers with General Dynamics, including:
- engineering and manufacturing leadership programs
- systems engineering architect leadership programs
- program, project and capture management leadership programs
- nearly 2,000 participants in our tuition assistance program
- active learnings center in our shipyards
- pipeline programs to onboard new hires
- shadow development programs for hourly employees
Retaining Diverse Talent
We understand that recognition, empowerment and awareness are critical to engaging and retaining diverse talent. Accordingly, we recognize employees with outstanding achievements. We also offer learning, mentoring and leadership development programs to increase the pipeline of diverse candidates for positions at all levels.
We take exceptional pride in our 26 employee resource groups (ERGs) and diversity councils that promote equity, cultural awareness and an inclusive work environment. . ERGs are supported and sponsored by senior-level leaders and revered as a cornerstone of our efforts to build an inclusive culture across the corporation. Thousands of employees are engaged in ERGs across General Dynamics including:
- AbilityFirst
- Employee Multi-Cultural Coalition
- Black Engineering Council
- ForWARD (For Women's Advancement, Recognition and Development)
- HOLA (Hispanic Latinx Association)
- Veterans Network/Veterans Council
- GD Pride
- C.O.R.E. (Culture, Onboarding, Retention, Experience)
Supporting our Veterans
We believe that our veterans share our devotion to providing the products and services to our nation that secure our liberty. This shared belief strengthens our dedication to hiring, training and upskilling veteran and active military employees and their families.
Our efforts extend to multiple partnerships with organizations that support efforts that better the position of our external and internal military communities. We offered dedicated employee resource groups and mentoring programs that assist in attracting, transitioning and retaining this critical part of our workforce.
About 17% of our U.S. workforce are veterans. This is three times higher than the number of veterans in the U.S. adult population. In 2021, we hired 2,630 veterans.