Employee costs and numbers (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Additional information [abstract]

Employee costs and average number of employees

			$ million
Employee costs	2020	2019	2018
Wages and salariesa	7,600	7,497	7,931
Social security costs	729	733	743
Share-based paymentsb	728	694	669
Pension and other post-retirement benefit costs	852	948	1,154
	9,909	9,872	10,497

			2020			2019			2018
Average number of employeesc	US	Non-US	Total	US	Non-US	Total	US	Non-US	Total
Upstream	4,800	10,600	15,400	5,800	11,000	16,800	5,900	11,500	17,400
Downstreamd	5,800	37,800	43,600	5,700	37,300	43,000	6,000	36,300	42,300
Other businesses and corporatee	1,800	7,300	9,100	2,100	10,600	12,700	1,900	12,100	14,000
	12,400	55,700	68,100	13,600	58,900	72,500	13,800	59,900	73,700

a Includes termination costs of $1,237 million (2019 $182 million and 2018 $493 million). Reinvent bp restructuring accruals of $714 million and provisions of $428 million for employee termination payments were held at 31 December 2020.

b The group provides certain employees with shares and share options as part of their remuneration packages. The majority of these share-based payment arrangements are equity-settled.

c Reported to the nearest 100.

d Includes 19,100 (2019 18,100 and 2018 17,100) service station staff.

e Includes 0 (2019 2,500 and 2018 4,000) agricultural, operational and seasonal workers in Brazil.

The reduction in the average number of employees in 2020 compared to 2019 is principally a result of the reinvent bp programme and divestment activity.