PROFILE
NBCUNIVERSAL HRD: Diversity & inclusion is a critical part of NBCUniversal’s HR strategy. What specific initiatives do you have in place? SGB: Each country has its own local initiatives aligning with our global strategy. In Australia, we launched OUT, our Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transsexual group. This group has a presence in the US, Singapore and London. Our biggest event so far was our collaboration with beyondblue in this year’s Sydney Mardi Gras parade, where a group of employees and TV talent marched to support a great cause. We are also increasing our presence in women’s groups, aiming to offer mentoring opportunities for women in media. Social responsibility is also close to our hearts. NBCUniversal dedicates a day each year, called NBCU Comcast Cares Day, when all staff work with a local charity for the day. We also participate in a number of other local charity events throughout the year, for example Fitted for Work in September.
HRD: Looking ahead, what is the company’s biggest HR challenge and how will you navigate that challenge? SGB: A key challenge for us in the region is attracting and developing talent to be a first-inclass digital organisation, for candidates and employees – particularly amongst millennials. We are focusing on pipelining talent and increasing our brand awareness with initiatives such as our Campus to Career Program (C2C), which has been very successful in Singapore. This program attracts the best students in targeted universities, and during the six months at NBCUniversal we help them to get ready for the marketplace. This is a great way for us to connect with millennials and their thinking, both as talent as well as consumers. We tap into the C2C Alumni network to fill our entry-level roles and keep in contact with them as they progress in their career. We are currently developing the same program in Australia and looking forward to welcoming our first interns in the next few months. Creative thinking and digital upskilling are key topics in our talent development discussion;
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we will be introducing reversed mentoring in this area in Australia too, as it has been successful in other countries. We’ve made progress from an employee
engagement point of view and will continue to focus on this, looking for ways to keep increasing the NBCUniversal employer brand in key markets like this one.
COMPANY SNAPSHOT NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a motion picture company, television production operations, a television stations group, theme parks, and a suite of leading internet-based businesses. Here’s a timeline of key events in the company’s history
1912 Carl Laemmle’s Independent Moving Pictures Company merges with five other film companies to create the Universal Film Manufacturing Company, headed by Laemmle. For the first time, a single entity encompasses all facets of the movie industry: production, distribution, and exhibition.
1920 Industry innovator David Sarnoff sends a memo to his boss at the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, proposing a broadcast radio network whereby “events of national importance can be simultaneously announced and received”, and “baseball scores can be transmitted in the air”. His vision became a reality in 1926, with the founding of NBC.
1939 NBC begins regularly programmed television service.
1964 Universal Studios Tour opens for business.
1986 GE buys RCA for $US6.4bn. At the time, the deal was the largest non-oil acquisition in US history.
1989 NBC launches CNBC – a foray into the new cable TV industry.
2004 NBC and Universal join together to create NBC Universal. The new company includes a broad portfolio of broadcast networks, NBC and Telemundo; widely distributed cable networks such as USA Network, SCI FI, Bravo, CNBC, and MSNBC; the Universal Pictures movie studio; a television production studio; theme parks in Hollywood and Orlando; and television stations in major markets across the US.
2011 Comcast and General Electric finalise their agreement to form a joint venture – under the name NBCUniversal – consisting of NBC Universal businesses and Comcast’s cable networks, regional sports networks, and certain digital properties and unconsolidated investments.
Source: nbcuniversal.com
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