BP has updated its policies such that employees must declare any intimate or familial relationships with colleagues – regardless of whether they feel there is a conflict of interest – or face disciplinary action.
It follows a finding of serious misconduct last year against Bernard Looney, BP chief executive from 2020 to 2023, for failing to fully disclose his relationships with colleagues.
Looney resigned in September 2023 after admitting not being “fully transparent” about his past personal relationships. In December, the BP board said it had been knowingly misled by Looney and he was dismissed without notice, foregoing approximately £32 million in salary and benefits.
Reflecting the influence of BP’s leaders, around 4,500 senior staff have until 1 September to additionally declare any intimate relationships with employees that have occurred in the past three years.
Colleague relationships
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A statement from BP said its conflicts of interest policy was scheduled for review this year following a refresh of the energy giant’s code of conduct in January 2023. It was last updated in 2018.
The review included benchmarking with comparable organisations and examined good industry practice. The new conflict of interest policy applies to all of the company’s 90,000 employees and came into effect at the beginning of June.
BP said: “The policy requires conflicts of interest to be disclosed, recorded and – where appropriate – mitigated. Familial and intimate relationships at work can constitute a conflict of interest.
“Employees were previously required to disclose and record such relationships if they felt there could be a conflict of interest. Now they are required to disclose intimate relationships at work, whether or not they feel they represent a conflict of interest.”
It added that as new policy forms part of BP’s code of conduct, non-compliance could result in disciplinary action.
BP chief executive Murray Auchincloss, who took over on a permanent basis earlier this year, “fully and appropriately disclosed” his relationship with a BP employee prior to his previous role as chief financial officer in 2020.
In December 2021, the British former chief executive of McDonald’s, Steve Easterbrook, lost most of his severance package after the emergence of evidence of more relationships with employees than the one for which he had originally lost his job.
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