We Consistently Fill Two-Thirds or More of Open Senior Leadership Positions with Internal Candidates
Delivering innovative, highly engineered products on time and with the highest quality and safety standards in the market requires a dedicated and talented team. As such, the development, recruitment and retention of employees is one of our highest priorities. We also recognize that the diversity of thought, perspectives and backgrounds is a critical component to success, and we continue to review and improve our diversity initiatives at all levels of the Company to ensure we are recruiting the best and brightest, with a focus on diverse and underrepresented candidates. We are proud to employ approximately 16,000 people across the world and strive to cultivate their skills and promote their wellbeing through strong benefits and a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace environment.
To support the advancement of our employees, we offer training and development programs encouraging advancement from within and continue to fill our team with strong and experienced management talent. We leverage both formal and informal programs to identify, foster and retain top talent at both the corporate and the operating unit level. As a fast-growing company, we have a continuous need for strong leaders. We prioritize promoting from within the organization and continually look internally for emerging leaders. In fact, we consistently fill two-thirds or more of our open senior leadership positions with internal candidates.
TransDigm University
To further develop our employees and future leaders, we established TransDigm University (TDGU). TransDigm University, in partnership with the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, is a formal mentoring and education program with a curated curriculum, TransDigm specific case studies and established leadership serving as mentors. Participants learn and develop more advanced skills leading to higher contribution and satisfaction within their roles, while mentors enhance their leadership capabilities by helping others progress. This program helps identify top performers, improving employee performance and retention, increasing our organizational learning, and supporting the promotion of our current employees.
We have made a marked improvement in our diversity efforts at TDGU – the most recent class is approximately 27% gender and racially diverse, which is nearly double that of the program’s inaugural class in 2019. Our work here is certainly not done, and we will strive to increase diversity further in future classes.
We Support our Veterans
As a company whose business and values are closely tied to supporting the U.S. military, we are dedicated to offering employment opportunities to U.S. military veterans. We recognize the importance of supporting our veterans as they enter the civilian workforce and have reaped the benefits of the wealth of knowledge and skill veterans can lend to civilian business operations – particularly TransDigm’s. Many of our U.S. based operating units have specific programs or initiatives in place that target providing career opportunities to veterans as they transition into the civilian workforce.
Management Development Program (MDP)
TransDigm’s Management Development Program (“MDP”) identifies new talent and prepares them for success within our organization. This program hires recent Master of Business Administration graduates who will work for three eight-month stints at a selection of operating units. Program participants gain experience in developing, manufacturing and selling aerospace components with the intent of becoming fully immersed in the operations of our business. Once the program is complete, MDP participants will be better equipped with the knowledge and experience needed to excel as a manager at TransDigm. After successfully completing the MDP rotations, MDP graduates are placed in a permanent position at one of our operating units to continue driving value.
We have expanded the MDP recruitment program to include nine additional colleges and universities, and we also focused on creating a more diverse class. Approximately 39% of total past and present MDP participants are gender or racially diverse, and we are working to further improve that percentage in the years ahead. TransDigm’s executive team also mentors rising talent on a more informal basis. This informal mentorship achieves several goals, including accelerating the development of top performers, increasing organizational learning, and improving employee performance and retention. The executive team also commits substantial time to evaluating the bench strength of our leadership and working with our leadership to improve their performance. TransDigm University, MDP and informal mentoring demonstrate TransDigm’s ongoing commitment and initiatives towards accelerating the development of our future leaders.
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