People are the key to our success, identity, and legacy across the UK.
At Raytheon UK, we are working towards a fully inclusive environment for our colleagues by investing in a diverse and talented workforce. Through creating skilled jobs and supporting future generations to succeed in careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) we are strengthening the communities in which we operate.
Working on our company culture has been my number one priority since I took over as CEO. I want everyone to feel that Raytheon UK is a warm and vibrant place to build their careers.
– Raytheon UK CEO Jeff Lewis
Leading the way on equality
Women in Defence Charter
Recognising that our industry still has a long way to go in gender equality, in 2021 Raytheon UK was one of the first major defence companies to sign the UK government's Women in Defence Charter. The charter pledges gender balance across the defence industry and fair opportunities for women at all levels.
As a signatory of the Charter, Raytheon UK is committed to 30% representation of women on all levels of the business by 2030.
Whether you’re designing and testing a product in our manufacturing facility or in a C-suite role, we want to see equity across our organisation.
Case study: Women in Defence: Nadia, apprentice software developer
In 2019, Nadia was looking for a career change.
While she was scared of taking the risk, when Nadia got the opportunity to join Raytheon UK as a software development apprentice family and friends encouraged her take the leap.
I never thought I’d be able to change careers after having my little girl but my work ethic and the people around me gave me that push I needed.
Nadia is proud to be part of Raytheon UK’s Women in Defence commitment – and of her contribution to breaking down gender biases in relation to STEM and defence careers.
It’s important for younger generation of girls to be aware of STEM activities and career opportunities early on. We all need to play a part in breaking stereotypes and introducing diversity.
To further strengthen Raytheon UK’s diverse talent base and our engagement with local communities, we have invested in a range of Employee Resource Groups – such as Raytheon Alliance for Diverse Abilities, Raytheon Women’s Network and Raypride.
First major defence company to partner with Business Disability Forum
Raytheon UK is the first defence company to become a partner of the Business Disability Forum. The Business Disability Forum is a non-profit organisation that works together with our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) team and Diverse Abilities Employee Resource Group to build an environment at Raytheon UK where people with disabilities can thrive and perform without any barriers.
Our partnership with Business Disability Forum helps challenge us to look across our policies, processes, and facilities to ensure they are fully accessible for people with disabilities. Together, we are building a modern disability-smart organisation.
We are so pleased that Raytheon UK has become a partner of Business Disability Forum, to demonstrate and live their commitment to getting it right for disabled people and to enable all their employees to bring their whole selves to work. Defence is a sector which is likely to see a higher share of acquired disabilities whether that is injury in combat, PTSD or sensory loss.
– Diane Lightfoot, chief executive of Business Disability Forum
Employee Community Support
Every year, our employees spend thousands of hours volunteering in our communities, giving help to the most vulnerable in our society and working to inspire the next generation into careers in STEM.
Employee Resource Groups
To strengthen Raytheon UK’s diverse talent base and our engagement with local communities, we have invested in a range of Employee Resource Groups – such as Raytheon Alliance for Diverse Abilities, Raytheon Women’s Network and our early-career development network.
Global Month of Service
We work with national and local organisations across the UK to support the communities around our sites. From volunteering at foodbanks, taking part in park clean-ups and donating to hospices we aim to ensure that we’re helping our communities in whatever way we can. Volunteering is very much a grass-root-led activity and is spearheaded by our volunteer network.
Each April, we run our Global Month of Service (GMOS) initiative, encouraging volunteering as a way of giving back. During GMOS 2023, 77 volunteers spent more than 800 hours helping in their communities.
In 2022, our Glenrothes colleagues were officially awarded for their initiative during the global pandemic. The team had used their tech expertise to quickly shift production to ventilators, helping the NHS save lives.
Talent attraction, development and engagement
We take a partnership approach with schools and universities throughout the country to help inspire the next generation of tech and engineering leaders. We aim to have 20% of our workforce become STEM Ambassadors.
Another of our targets is to have 90% of our apprentices converted into employees by 2025. We are currently employing 80 apprentices and are looking to grow this number every year.
Cyber Academy
We run annual Cyber Academy workshops for university students, veterans and the unemployed to help support the education of coding. We deliver this through basic, intermediate and master classes to help plug the global cyber skills shortage.
Cyber First
Our team has begun leading a group of SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) to build an education and training system to support diverse cyber talent in Southwest England.
Quadcopter Challenge
The Quadcopter Challenge is one of our main programmes to inspire the next generation into STEM careers. Open to schools and Air Cadets around the UK, we offer the STEM challenge to 13 to 14-year-old students.
Every year, students from across our four nations are tasked with building a full-scale quadcopter - a four-bladed, remotely piloted drone – and guided through the process with help from our STEM Ambassadors.
Partnered with RAF Cadets, 2023 saw the Quadcopter Challenge students consider how their designs could help emergency services, with a focus on meeting rapid responder needs and safety.
In the latest challenge 76 teams took part, with more than 1,360 students mentored since 2015. The 2023 champions were announced in December at RAF Cranwell.
Mental Health
Raytheon UK treats mental health as critically as any other area of health and safety in work. Our employees have access to a network of mental health ambassadors; colleagues who are trained to listen and provide counsel on a range of problems and concerns. We also work with Combat Stress, an organisation that helps former service members cope with mental health related issues.
Case study: ‘Fortunately we are moving towards a place where people in the defence industry can speak about how they feel and seek help’ – conversation with a Raytheon UK mental health ambassador
One of our ambassadors discusses why supporting mental health is key and what Raytheon UK is doing to change attitudes toward mental health in the defence sector.
‘Our position now is much improved to a decade ago. Fortunately, we are moving away from thinking that talking about feelings is a weakness, and towards a place where people can actively speak about how they feel and seek help around really important issues like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.’
‘There is a general acceptance now in the armed forces and the defence sector that mental health is really important, and we are starting to provide the necessary systems and services to support people.’
‘We are really lucky here at Raytheon UK - the business has developed a number of support systems to help employees across the country deal with mental health issues. The first one is the Mental Health Ambassadors programme – we go through a series of training sessions, teaching us how to be mental health first aiders, showing us how to listen to our colleagues and signpost appropriate sources of help.’
‘More widely, there are seminars that run for Raytheon UK teams across the country on understanding some of the signs of people struggling and how we can take an active effort in helping us and those around us’.
Keep up to date
Follow the latest Raytheon UK news via our social media.
