Human capital development and communications

[97] The indicator was calculated by comparing the number of hours attended (113,985 in 2018) with the total number of employees (4,742 in 2018).

Chart no. 39 – training hours: distribution by type of training and by qualification (2018)

TABLE NO. 41 - SOCIAL INDICATORS: TRAINING (2017-2018)

(*) The types of traditional courses have been simplified for presentation purposes and re-aggregated, for the two-year period; it should be borne in mind that the item “technical operational” refers to training courses for the acquisition of technical skills; the item “governance model” includes the courses provided in the regulatory framework and relating to governance.

With regard to the personnel selection and development process, in 2018 the Parent Company’s dedicated unit carried out initiatives to benefit the company’s employer branding, and internally implemented actions to develop human capital
skills.

In particular, with regard to the employer branding, the company:

• defined a new selection procedure applied throughout the Group, which regulates selection activities carried out in the external labour market;
• implemented the Success&Factor platform through recruiting marketing (RMK) to centralise and track workflows and streamline selection processes;
• published the first searches for external personnel for the Group’s companies in the Careers/Join Us section of the institutional website, leaving the brands visible;
• used innovative tools and methods to make preselection and recruiting processes more efficient (e.g. Challenge);
• held the Recruiting Day event focused on active participation and teamwork, attended by the HR managers of the group companies (see dedicated box).

Initiatives to develop the skills of internal staff included:

• the creation of development paths and activities aimed at developing human capital, with particular reference to talent;
• internal assessments aimed at understanding the potential of employees, promoting their growth and supporting them in the process of continuous improvement.

Collaboration with universities and high schools

Acea develops partnerships and cooperation with universities, participates in study and research activities, is available for meetings between companies and students and stipulates agreements for the promotion of internships and apprenticeship training.

During 2018 the main initiatives bringing together the working world and the university that Acea participated in were:

• Luiss Career Day, “Young people and work” 21st edition, an event that allowed recent graduates and students close to graduation to meet companies and learn about job opportunities;
• Job Meeting 2018, an initiative organised by the Faculty of Engineering of La Sapienza University in Rome, aimed at graduates and undergraduates of all fields of study to bring them closer to the worlds of work, education and guidance;
• Almalaurea Career Day “Al Lavoro - Rome”, an event promoted by the Almalaurea consortium of 75 universities, bringing together the human resources managers of companies and students;
• Career Day “Campus&Leaders&Talents”, organised by the Faculty of Engineering of the Tor Vergata University of Rome with the aim of fostering direct contacts between students and companies and creating concrete job opportunities;
• “CV at Lunch” is an initiative of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Rome Tre to guide young people towards the working world and allow companies to meet potential candidates;
• Job Day Inclusive Mindset, an event organised in collaboration with the Metropolitan City of Rome for human resources managers of companies to present them candidates with disabilities and belonging to protected categories;
• UniClamOrienta Placement, an initiative of the University of Cassino to guide young people towards making appropriate work-related choices and to giving companies an opportunity to identify suitable candidates for internships.

As part of their collaboration with universities and schools, in 2018, Group companies took part in a number of initiatives with different aims (work-study programmes, agreements, etc.).

In particular, Areti hosted work-study programmes organised with the Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale Galilei involving a total of 42 students of the Electrotechnical course of study: the students spent 35 days in the company for a total of 3,360 hours, during which they came into contact with the company’s operations under the guidance of 50 company tutors, also participating in the daily activities within the company and in the field.
 
Acea Produzione initiated a work-study programme with Istituto Aldo Moro of Fara Sabina (RI), hosting one student from the school supported by two tutors at the hydroelectric power plant of Salisano (RI).

Acea Ato 5 has signed agreements with the Sole 24 Ore higher education school and the Sant’Anna secondary school, taking part, with its own specialist experts working as teachers, in the Master’s Degree in Energy and the Environment and in the University Level II Master’s Degree in Environmental Management and Control: Efficient management of resources, after which there was an internship.

Gesesa signed three work-study agreements with the Istituto Tecnico Industriale Bosco Lucarelli of Benevento, the Istituto Tecnico Professionale of Telese Terme and the Liceo Artistico of Benevento and has collaborated with the Faculties of Engineering and Economics and Management of the University of Sannio, launching the specialisation in Management of Integrated Water Services and welcoming students in the company with internships.

Finally, the companies in the Environment Segment, and in particular the waste-to-energy plant in San Vittore del Lazio, partnered with the Elis Consortium to set up a work-study programme with the Istituto Tecnico Industriale of Cassino.

As in past years, once again in 2018 Acea partnered with SAFE, centre of excellence for studies and training on issues related to energy and the environment, for the Master in Energy Resource Management, now in its 19th edition, with lectures on issues like digital transformation, wastewater treatment and distribution in the water sector. In addition, in light of the high cultural and social value resulting from the collaboration with the centre, ACEA DAY was organised, a day entirely dedicated to students completing the SAFE course, showing them the Group’s production facilities and organising a visit to the cogeneration plant of Tor di Valle in Rome.

Acea helped fund the Master in Sustainable Development (MARIS) organised by the Tor Vergata University of Rome by offering 3 scholarships for children of three employees, and offered two scholarships to students of the course of Elis’s Digital Engineering which presented the project Big Data & Machine Learning, ranked first in the intercompany contest Elis Innovation Day 2018. Finally, in collaboration with the ELIS Consortium, it launched the School-Business System project that involves more than 30 large companies and 100 schools throughout Italy, to inspire, guide and excite young people with respect to the future and contribute to the innovation of the national education system, helping students to discover their talents and orientation to work.

As mentioned above, the company utilises the professional skills of its staff in university master’s degrees and courses, and under the scope of technical projects. In 2018, qualified company staff worked as teachers or with company testimonies under the scope of university master’s degrees, dealing, in particular, with issues related to energy the environment, sustainability and innovation.

In 2018, the Group companies hosted a total of 31 internships and 18 curricular internships. During the year, 22 young people were hired who had previously participated in internships.

Incentive systems and staff evolution

The Performance Management system represents the operational application of the new Leadership Model implemented in 2018 and was designed with the following objectives in mind:

• promote individual contributions and strengthen the behavioural dimension of performance;
• ensure the continuous improvement of performance at individual and team levels;
• connect the assessment not only to the result (the measure of the “what”), but also to the behaviour (the measure of the “how”);
• promote a process of assessment of people’s individual performances connected to the achievement of measurable objectives and observation of the relative behaviours.

In this perspective, performance is understood in a global sense, as a set of directly measurable results, and observable behaviours of the person with respect to a specific objective.

The adopted remuneration policy envisages short-term and longterm fixed and variable remuneration measures (MBO, LTIP).
The long-term (three-year) incentive Plan (LTIP) is reserved for CEO and senior managers, made up of Managers from the Group with strategic roles and responsibilities.
The earning of any bonus with a three-year cycle, is aimed at ensuring the continuity of company performance, guiding the actions of management towards medium- and long-term results and triggering virtuous mechanisms for the creation of value for stakeholders.

For 2018, the LTIP calculation system remains calculated as a percentage of the Gross Annual Remuneration (GAR) and is subject to the achievement of objectives of an economic and financial nature (Gross Operating Profit - GOP and Return on Invested Capital - ROIC), identified by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Both objectives are linked to the appreciation of shares on the stock market (Total Shareholder Return - a measurement of the performance and appreciation of the value of Acea’s shares compared to a basket of comparable companies). At the end of each three-year period of reference, the bonus is paid, if necessary, based on the degree of achievement of the economic and financial and profitability objectives. The long-term incentive reached maturity with the end of the 2016- 2018 cycle and the amount of the bonus will be paid with the amounts due in 2019.

The short-term (annual) incentive system, Management by Objectives (MBO), is applied to senior and middle management (managers and executives). In order to create a synergistic link between strategy and operational management of the company, the MBO system requires the payment of variable remuneration based on the achievement of individual qualitative and quantitative objectives, related to the specific areas of activity performed, and of the Group, assigned at the start of the year, as well as the assessment of the congruity of organisational behaviour with respect to the leadership model.

For the actual payment of the bonus, the mechanism connected to the MBO system provides a system of “access gates”, consisting of four Group objectives, three of an economic and patrimonial nature and one linked to the qualitative aspects of the services provided (Gross Operating Profit, Net Profit, Net Financial Position and QUALITY AWARD).

The system provides for the definition of a catalogue of Group objectives with a set of indicators to be assigned to managers to transform strategic lines into actual results.
In 2018, a training seminar was held for HR managers and operating personnel to underline the links between sustainability objectives and objectives in the MBO system catalogue.

Internal communications

At Acea, a Unit dedicated to internal communications contributes to the promotion of the intragroup corporate culture, ensuring the dissemination of information to all personnel through the various communication channels and supporting engagement activities with the aim of developing the staff’s endorsement of the Group’s values and corporate objectives.

The Intranet portal, the JAMP intragroup social collaboration platform and live streaming connections are the main tools used to convey and disseminate corporate initiatives and projects.

In 2018, the intranet portal was expanded to include two new sections: one called Smart People, referring to smart working, which provides information on the submission of job applications, timing and guidelines for the use of agile work, and the other dedicated to Sustainability, which illustrates the company’s commitment to this topic with a focus on an analysis of the material actions and objectives of the 2018-2022 Sustainability Plan.

In addition, the Internal Control and Risk Management System page was created in the Rules and values section to provide information on Group procedures, rules and guidelines, and in the Management Systems section the new Occupational Safety - Acea SpA page was created, dedicated to the issue of safety in the workplace in Acea, with information on the mission of the Occupational Safety Unit, documents and notices, procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency, training course materials and a video gallery with videos to raise awareness on the subject.

The internal communication initiatives carried out during the year mainly concerned the dissemination of the pillars and strategic objectives defined in the Group’s industrial plan and related issues: sustainability, territory, innovation, safety, engagement, welfare and solidarity.

Some of the major events related to sustainability include:

• the launch of an awareness campaign called SOSteniamoci - Noi per la Sostenibilità to promote a culture of sustainability among employees;
• the organisation of an internal conference on the topic of Sustainability and Energy Efficiency organised for the European event M’ILLUMINO DI MENO;
• the installation of a Water Kiosk and an Eco-Compactor at the headquarters for World Environment Day with the aim of reducing the consumption of disposable plastic. Subsequently, other Group companies also installed Water Kiosks at their offices;
• the organisation of the initiative THE WEEK THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE, conceived with the intent to stimulate a proactive involvement of employees in separate collection of waste and to encourage a new cultural approach that considers waste as a resource.

The promotion of solidarity characterised some internal communications campaigns in support of initiatives, including: 
the collaboration with the Telethon Foundation to raise awareness of rare genetic diseases among employees, which gave rise to Telethon Week, during which the company headquarters hosted the volunteers of the Foundation for fundraising for scientific research, and Acea Solidarity Mondays, a series of days dedicated to fundraising by non-profits at the headquarters.

In order to promote the topic of welfare in its many forms, specific internal communications campaigns were carried out to support the projects launched by the company:

• the agile “smart people” work project aimed at strengthening the relationship of trust between the company and its employees;
• the MY WELFARE initiative, aimed at promoting welfare initiatives carried out by the company for its employees and their families. The project included a first phase of recognition of the welfare services already offered by the companyand by the CRA, the launch of a survey aimed at all staff to verify their level of knowledge and use of and satisfaction with the services available, and then the collection of ideas and suggestions for improving them and/or adding new services;
• the anti-smoking campaign LET’S NOT SMOKE AWAY OUR HEALTH, designed to raise employees’ awareness of compliance with current legislation on the prohibition of smoking in the workplace, which, in addition to the dissemination of new Group Regulations, has provided for the creation of two external areas reserved for employees who smoke at headquarters (see also the section on Protection of health and safety at work);
• KOMEN DAY, dedicated to primary and secondary prevention activities carried out with the contribution of the non-profit association Susan G. Komen Italia, thanks to which employees received more than 150 free health visits;
• the provision of free annual check-ups for employees and their families, to provide guidance on their general state of health and information on healthy lifestyles (see also the section on Protection of health and safety at work).

Among the initiatives aimed at stimulating the engagement of the staff and the consolidation of the link with the local community, internal communications:

• directly involved employees as teachers and ambassadors (promoters) in collaborations with schools in the area where the Group operates (the already mentioned IdeAzione, Barbiana and Scuola dei Mestieri projects; see also Staff training and development);
• organised the annual intragroup sports tournament (football, swimming, etc.);
• organised the Christmas event with traditional delivery of Christmas packages;
• distributed to all employees the publication ACEA Novecento which tells about Acea’s 100+ year history through the photos of men and women who have worked and are working in the company.

Remaining on the topic of innovation, in 2018 the design of a new corporate intranet portal was started, which will be the main tool for disseminating the Group’s strategic choices, mission and policies. To this end, two design thinking sessions were organised involving over 50 Group employees.