Employees and social conditions

Verdo is one of the biggest workplaces in Municipality of Randers. We therefore feel positively obliged to contribute to growth, to create new jobs locally and to give something back to the communities in which we operate.

Policy

As an attractive place to work, we want to be able to retain and develop our existing employees and attract new employees. Moreover, we want to help meet the demand from educational institutions for apprenticeships, traineeships and internships and offer work experience arrangements for citizens on sick leave or who are unemployed.

Close to half of our 534 employees spend their working days on construction sites, at storage facilities and in production, where the physical work environment is extremely important. We are therefore strongly focused on our employees’ working environment and on bringing down the number of accidents at work. We also give priority to our psychosocial working environment and employee well-being in general and conduct regular workplace assessments (WPAs). Among other things, we look at work-related absence and commit to reducing any such absence and increasing the job satisfaction of our employees through the formulation of clear action plans.

We believe in the power of diversity in the workplace and are therefore working to increase the number of female managers at several levels.

Efforts and results

In 2018, a wide range of activities were again organised for Verdo employees, and many participated in running and cycling events or accepted the offer of Verdo-sponsored tickets for the home games of Randers FC.

We participated in a number of educational and career fairs to attract ‘smart and professional hands’ and graduates with an interest in the energy sector. We held a number of energy-themed events for schoolchildren aimed at providing insights into how electricity and heating are generated and supplied to their homes.

Increased intake of apprentices and trainees

We have generally been welcoming an increasing number of apprentices in recent years. However, numbers declined from 2017 to 2018. In 2018, the target for Verdo Teknik A/S was for apprentices to account for 20 % of the total number of technicians.

Averaged over the year, this target was met. For Verdo Energy Systems A/S the figure was 13 %, and for Verdo Energiteknik A/S it was 11 %. In 2018, the target was four trainees for the group as a whole. However, we had a total of 12 trainees.

Focus on working environment

In 2018, we registered a total of nine accidents at work, which resulted in a total of 38 days of absence. Moreover, we registered 115 near-accidents. So as to reduce the number of accidents at work among our technicians, they have all received safety training via instruction videos, followed by a test.

To ensure a healthy working environment, in 2018 we also mapped the psychosocial working environment in all departments by means of workplace assessments (WPAs). Where a need for action was identified, the problem was described in detail and analysed, and an action plan was prepared and followed up on.

Women and men in management

Diversity in the workplace is a strength for our employees and our business which we can convert into results. In 2018, we therefore continued our work to increase the number of female managers in Verdo.

We saw a positive development for level-2 management positions in that the number of female managers went from 22 % to 23 %, thereby meeting our target of 20 %. Level 2 comprises staff functions, for which the recruitment base is generally wider and more diverse than for level-1 management positions.

Verdo also wants to increase the number of women members of the Supervisory Board. Elections to the Board of representatives were held in 2018. Seven women were elected out of a total of 29 members, corresponding to 24 %. Two women were elected to the Supervisory Board, including one employee representative, taking the total share of women on the Supervisory Board to just under 17 %.

A number of subsidiaries have their own supervisory boards. Members of these supervisory boards are recruited from among members of the management team in the Verdo Group, which means that they are subject to the same gender diversity target. The target was not met by any of the subsidiaries. Verdo offers management training and individual programmes which support the personal development and specific managerial responsibilities of managers at management levels 1 and 2. In 2018, the management training was supplemented with individual mentor programmes for new managers and project managers. Female talents are encouraged to participate in external management courses, supplemented with internal career guidance.

Sponsorships

As a company, we are under a certain responsibility, and we would like to give something back to the communities which we are part of.

We support the world of sport, most notably as the main sponsor of Randers FC, a sponsorship which dates back to the early days of the club. We also sponsor women’s and men’s handball, basketball and e-sport teams.

We strive for diversity in our sponsorships. Therefore, we support ‘Værket’ and its wide range of cultural events in the form of opera and ballet, music, theatre and shows for the whole family.

Active citizenship and social responsibility are all about our relations with the rest of society. We therefore reach out where we feel that we can make a small difference for a group of people who – for health or financial reasons – are normally unable to go to the theatre or to watch a football match. What we offer is a modest helping hand, but with great effect.

Conclusion

Our employee benefits contribute to Verdo’s attractiveness as a workplace, as well as having helped to ensure that our active efforts to recruit more apprentices and students have borne fruit. We have recruited more female managers, but unfortunately did not meet our target. Judging from the positive feedback which we have received, we have succeeded in giving something back to society via our sponsorships.