Case study: How Atlantica promotes employee development
Atlantica is one of the few companies globally with a strategy and business model focused on sustainable infrastructure, to lead the world’s energy transition towards clean energy and sustainable water. Atlantica seeks to provide attractive opportunities for professional development to its employees Tweet This! and foster effective programmes for managing employees’ talents, to attract and retain the best-in-class talent.
This case study is based on the 2019 ESG Report by Atlantica published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Atlantica believes that by providing a good quality of life for its employees, and by enhancing social and professional development, it will retain and attract valuable employees. In order to promote employee development Atlantica took action to:
- evaluate employee performance
- implement training programmes
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Atlantica has identified;
- How Atlantica proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Atlantica to promote employee development
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 ESG Report Atlantica identified a range of material issues, such as occupational health and safety, economic and financial performance, asset management, climate change. Among these, promoting employee development stands out as a key material issue for Atlantica.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Atlantica engages with:
To identify and prioritise material topics Atlantica engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:
Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
Employees
| · Face-to-face meetings video or phone calls · ESG Report · Website Content · Whistleblower Channel · Social Media · Internal Intranet Communications · Internal Training with Q&A |
Suppliers | · Face-to-face meetings video or phone calls · ESG Report · Website Content · Whistleblower Channel · Social Media |
Customers | · Face-to-face meetings video or phone calls · ESG Report · Website Content · Whistleblower Channel · Social Media |
Business Partners | · Face-to-face meetings video or phone calls · ESG Report · Website Content · Whistleblower Channel · Social Media |
Local Communities
| · Face-to-face meetings video or phone calls · ESG Report · Website Content · Whistleblower Channel · Social Media |
Investors
| · Face-to-face meetings video or phone calls · ESG Report · Website Content · Whistleblower Channel · Social Media · Earning Presentations with Q&A |
What actions were taken by Atlantica to promote employee development?
In its 2019 ESG Report Atlantica reports that it took the following actions for promoting employee development:
- Evaluating employee performance
- Atlantica has built a strong standardised process to evaluate employee performance in its Human Resources platform, Meta4. Part of every supervisor’s mission is to collaborate with each of his or her team members to evaluate performance through the Annual Performance Appraisal (the “APA”), a talent and development management module of Meta4. As part of the individual appraisal process, the supervisor evaluates the performance during the period in nine standardised areas. The manager also identifies individual targets for the coming period and sets training actions in the Annual Training Plan (the “ATP”). Supervisors set individual meetings with their teams once the assessment is completed to share results and explain in depth the action plan defined. Employees can provide their feedback about their own performance, improvement opportunities, proposals, etc. which can contribute to a better performance. This is an ongoing process, normally spread over a year to ensure its effectiveness and practical application success. Once the APA is completed by supervisors Atlantica conducts a calibration process that seeks to ensure that evaluations are consistent and as fair as possible across the entire organisation. In addition, every three years Atlantica performs a 360º feedback process for certain management profiles, including senior and middle management, where managers receive feedback from their supervisor, peers and direct reports. Full confidentiality is guaranteed, as the data is processed and summarised by external consultants. In 2019, Atlantica also launched a “High Potential Programme” for key members of its workforce. The goal of this initiative is to consider the employees’ capabilities towards internal transfers to other positions, functions or geographies. In 2019, Atlantica announced it had agreed with several employees to undertake new roles within the organisation, including changing functions and international mobility. Atlantica also has an internal job site in its intranet where it informs employees of job vacancies in order to promote internal mobility between different departments.
- Implementing training programmes
- Atlantica’s training programmes include the following:
- Atlantica: all new employees must attend Atlantica’s “Introduction to Atlantica” course during their induction period. “More about Atlantica” is a second level of corporate training offered either to employees that hit their two-year anniversary in the company or those who were promoted. In addition, all employees receive training about Atlantica’s compliance policies and management policies on an annual basis.
- Management skills: soft-skill training to improve negotiation, team-work, teambuilding, decision-making, leadership and communication, among other skills.
- Technical knowledge courses, specific to each technical field. For example, Atlantica provides technical, health and safety and environmental and risks training. The effectiveness of this training is evaluated periodically. Atlantica provides an annual training programme on safety awareness to managers and employees, designed in accordance with the risks in the different job positions and work centres as well as with the local regulations.
- Languages: to allow Atlantica’s employees to effectively operate in an international setting, Atlantica offers a number of language courses.
- Health & Safety is a key part of Atlantica’s culture and philosophy and Atlantica offers a number of training programmes to reinforce it. Health and safety training is fulfilled with other specific initiatives to help employees increase their health and safety knowledge. Atlantica periodically issues Safety Bulletins and shares “Lessons Learnt” through videos, specific bulletins, its Safety App and through safety boards held in its assets.
- In addition, Atlantica offers Executive Programmes to certain employees with a certain level of experience, excellent performance and good potential.
- As of December 31, 2019, Atlantica offers over 100 different training programmes to its employees. The final training programme is agreed between the employee and his or her Manager and the Human Resources department.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee
2) Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs
Disclosure 404-1 Average hours of training per year per employee corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education
- Targets: 4.3, 4.4, 4.5
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.1
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.2, 8.5
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10: Reduced Inequalities
- Targets: 10.3
Disclosure 404-2 Programs for upgrading employee skills and transition assistance programs corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.2, 8.5
Disclosure 404-3 Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5: Gender Equality
- Targets: 5.1
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.5
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10: Reduced Inequalities
- Targets: 10.3
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Atlantica, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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