Our people

Our capabilities and customer relationships all ultimately derive from our people. Across the Cohort Group, our people can make a difference, fulfil their potential, develop their careers, and be rewarded for what they do.

All our subsidiaries are agile partnerships, delivering innovation that is truly mission critical. Our people provide independent, results-driven action, and in delivering this service, our people play a major role in the security of nations.

We recognise that success hinges on the attitudes and behaviours of our people. We create a climate and culture that encourages them to deliver outstanding performance for our customers, operating with uncompromising ethics. We encourage our people to role model our brand values that capture and articulate the spirit of the Group.

We are committed to making all of our businesses stimulating places to work with all of the benefits of a small, agile company but with the interesting and engaging work opportunities of a large company. We employ large numbers of highly qualified engineers, mathematicians and scientists and work at the highest level of strategic capability committed to responding to our customers’ needs. The depth of expertise and passion for defence and security of our people makes the critical difference for our customers. We constantly encourage them to think and do things differently, and to strive for innovative ways to create real value.

Supporting our people

Training and development

The success of our business depends on our ability to deliver innovative solutions to our customers. This drives us to attract and nurture the best talent and to nurture this ability within our employees, providing them with a stimulating workplace and career development, and supporting the creation of long-term value for our business. Many training schemes operate at subsidiary level, including the use of online solutions such as LinkedIn Learning and Skillcast.

At Group level, our Leadership Development Programme (LDP) is designed to equip our current and future leaders with the skills to deliver the strategic priorities of the business effectively and to respond to the competitive and changing environment we operate within. Following completion of the last LDP in February 2024, we commenced the latest round in May with a group of 17 participants from across the Cohort Group. The Group’s executive directors and senior representatives of the subsidiary businesses attended the launch event and will play an important part in the key events of the LDP process.

Recognising business excellence

Every year we recognise the great achievements of teams and individuals across the Group through the Cohort Business Excellence Awards. Nominees consistently demonstrate overwhelmingly how they have 'played their part', many in a way that has had a real impact on national security. We recognise and reward our people for taking the initiative to think differently and deliver solutions that really benefit our customers and improve the way we work.

Reward and benefits

To ensure that we attract and retain the best and brightest people we provide our people with a competitive reward package which reflects their individual job responsibilities and contribution to business performance. We recognise and celebrate individual and team successes, provide learning and career progression opportunities, and offer a range of benefits (including Cohort plc share schemes) as part of a total package, which rewards employees fairly and competitively for the job they do.

Apprenticeship and graduate programmes

Across the Group we run several apprenticeship and graduate programmes, incorporating both technical and non-technical specialists. There are currently 21 (2023: 14) graduates in the MASS and SEA graduate schemes, 23 (2023: 12) apprentices and 20 (2023: 2) internships/student placements in our schemes across the Group. The UK-based Cohort businesses are utilising their apprenticeship levy funding for new apprentices or to add to the skills of existing employees. We have supported the National Apprenticeship Week with presentations on apprenticeships and career paths at local schools.

We have continued to work with local schools, colleges or universities across all the Cohort businesses.

Our values

We underpin our growth strategy in this complex market through strong corporate governance, and a culture that emphasises our four key values. We cultivate an environment where every decision is guided by those values, ensuring sustainability and long-term focus across all parts of the Group.

Each of our businesses have a unique business offering, way of working and personality, but the values we share create a culture that underpins how we all succeed.

WE ARE EXPERT

We are knowledgeable and share our expertise.

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE

We act with integrity to make the right decisions.

WE ARE PRACTICAL

We deliver what works for the right situation.

WE ARE DYNAMIC

We think innovatively and adapt quickly.