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SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2021

Employee
training and
development

Our people are the key assets of our business. We are committed to providing training and development opportunities to strengthen our teams in all regions. We take measures across the organisation to contribute to the health and safety of our employees.

Vision and core values

Over the past few years, the two EPG divisions have been developing ‘Single Organising Ideas’ that are supported by a set of core values.

A Single Organising Idea (SOI) brings together the economic, environmental and social purpose of a company in an inspiring statement that employees and stakeholders can contribute to and benefit from. In 2021, EPS continued the implementation and activation of ‘Maximising Circular Value’. LPR rolled out its vision ‘Together towards a sustainable future’ and the new set of core values across the organisation, following a similar approach at EPS. They created a ‘culture guide’ that was distributed to all employees to explain this new vision as well as the underlying core values. Country managers hosted workshops locally to support the implementation.

Moreover, working groups were set up in each country to give more substance to the values and make them more practical. Project ideas were generated to further embed the core values across LPR. In each country, one of these projects will be implemented, such as building an expert network to support the value ‘expertise’.

LPR colleagues are enthusiastic about the values, as they match the DNA of the division. Like at EPS, from 2022 the values will be integrated in performance reviews and career management.

In 2022, we will give more attention to the leadership profile that matches the core values of the organisation. We will organise leadership training for the top 30 leaders of both EPS and LPR. Together, we aim to define a new value proposition and leadership profile that is required to support our ambitions, and that links well with our core values.

LPR EPS Nalynie Biekhram Group HR Manager-2

"We invest a great deal in the development of people, both in digital tools and in other learning and development programmes.”

Nalynie Biekhram, Group HR Manager

Training opportunities and e-learning

In 2021, we completed the integration of e-learning into the HR system, MyHR. This integration further enhances learning opportunities for our employees. It allows us to tailor e-learning courses to specific function groups and to monitor the completion of the courses. We have been developing a training matrix that gives a clear overview of the qualifications of each function group and the mandatory courses to be followed, for example modules on our core values.

Last year, the activation of the e-learning platform was top of mind. We actively brought the platform to the attention of our employees, and this shows in the results: more than 5,400 e-learning modules were completed. In addition, the e-learning curriculum was expanded with new content, for example on internet security, remote working and management at a distance. In 2022, we will continue to add new and attractive content; activation remains key, also to increase the traffic on the e-learning platform.

In addition to e-learning, EPG also offers tailor-made training opportunities. There are training budgets available that are deployed based on the needs in the organisation. Also, internal knowledge transfer contributes to learning. Staff members regularly organise training programmes around their area of expertise for their colleagues, either online or in person. 

Personal development

In 2021, all managers at EPG received performance management training. In this training course they were provided with tools and skills to better guide the personal development of our employees in performance reviews and career planning. In 2022, the focus will be on our recruitment process to ensure the talent that we attract aligns well with our core values. All managers will receive training on recruitment skills, to support them in hiring new colleagues who fit our ambition.

An emerging topic at EPG is the gender balance in leadership positions. Across the organisation, women are well-represented in the total workforce. However, we see that women are underrepresented in leadership positions. To address this, we started a working group on diversity and inclusion. This working group looks into what is needed to enhance career opportunities for women and to create more awareness of female leadership across the organisation.