UTC is committed to treating employees fairly, respecting their interests and providing safe working conditions and open communications.

• Increase overall favorable responses to the 2009 biennial employee survey by 3 percentage points
• Ensure zero tolerance for work-related fatalities and serious injuries
• Reduce global lost workday incident rate from .49 to .17 and recordable incidents from 1.42 to .64 from 2007 to 2010

Key Performance Indicators

      

Improving the human condition

While an injury-free workplace is our goal, the inherent risk in our industrial settings continues to present challenges. To eliminate occupational fatalities and serious injuries, we investigate each incident for root cause, take corrective action and design safer working conditions. We also support innovative behavior-based approaches, like Otis' people-based safety process, which encourages employees to actively observe their peers to help them recognize safe and at-risk behaviors.

• In 2008, our worldwide lost workday incident rate fell to 0.26 and our worldwide recordable incident rate fell to 0.97. Tragically, four employees lost their lives in 2008 and 35 were seriously injured. There is no higher priority than employee safety and we continuously apply measures to achieve hazard-free workplaces

Open and free access to education is an important benefit for all UTC employees. In 2008, 15,197 UTC employees in 54 countries furthered their education with support from our unique Employee Scholar Program (ESP), which covers the costs of accredited degree programs and provides paid time off for study. We invested $91 million in the ESP in 2008 and more than $780 million since the program’s inception in 1996.

• Challenging economic times require difficult actions and this was true in 2008. While companies cannot guarantee employment, they can ensure opportunity and UTC does through our Employee Scholar Program. When business conditions necessitate a workforce reduction, we offer our unique employee education program to separated employees for at least one year following separation.

At UTC, talent is critical for global business growth and a diverse workforce makes us stronger and more competitive. UTC supports INROADS, a non-profit organization providing career training and internships for minority youth. UTC’s 20-year partnership with INROADS has provided more than 2,000 internships and more than 200 interns have become UTC employees. In 2008, UTC was recognized by INROADS as its top corporate partner for providing internships to 293 students.

Nothing is more important than employee safety. We deploy the highest possible standards globally and maintain a culture that strives for the safest working conditions. We continue to put corrective actions in place to eliminate both work-related fatalities and serious injuries, and we will not tolerate standards and performance other than zero.

The Employee Scholar Program (ESP) was established in 1996 as a long-term investment in providing UTC with the best educated workforce of any company anywhere. The program funds tuition, fees and the cost of books for any accredited degree program in which an employee chooses to enroll. Rewards for completing a degree include grants of UTC stock or comparable compensation. Since the program’s inception, our ESP has helped employees earn more than 26,500 degrees.

UTC has conducted biennial, global employee surveys since 2000 to measure employees’ opinions on management communication, job satisfaction and understanding of UTC priorities and to assess levels of employee engagement. To respond to survey results, UTC forms employee action teams to address concerns and recommend workplace improvements. We use spot surveys in interim years to provide directional results and ensure action teams are implementing meaningful changes. The 2008 spot survey results showed improving favorability.