Building a better working environment

Published on Friday, 17 August 2018

Creating a work environment in which everyone feels motivated to give the best of themselves and where happiness is the key to success, is a secret recipe that our companies have implemented as Enel Group companies in Colombia. This has been possible through the implementation of a series of actions and good practices, which have allowed our workers to have work-life balance, as well as a bright and sustainable future.

Sustainability that translates into our workers’ happiness

Our constant efforts to promote gender equality, job development, occupational safety and healthy life choices in all our workers, through multiple policies, practices and initiatives, have made Enel - Codensa and Enel - Emgesa worthy recipients of the 2018Andesco Sustainability Award, in the category of best working environment. This is an important achievement that beyond recognizing us as a place where people want to work at, it sets us apart as a place where people can grow.

This award, granted by the National Association of Public Utility and Communications Companies, is intended to support, promote and value the contributions of organizations through their Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. The award is based on the Sustainable Development Goals, and it acknowledges companies who possess a holistic and comprehensive vision of sustainability across all their departments.

This year’s edition evaluated performance and sustainable practices in five different environments that combine labor, market, social, environmental and corporate governance aspects, for which an excellent grading had to be obtained. Crowe Horwath (which had the support of The Global Compact Colombian Local Network) evaluated 15 of our initiatives before being choses as finalists, and we excelled in the category of working environment. Some of these initiatives are: a project for the reproduction of threatened fish species and fish repopulation activities in the Southern Colombia Hydrobiological Resources Experimental Station, in the department of Huila; the project for the Restoration of the Social Fabric and aiding startups in our area of ​​influence near the El Quimbo Hydroelectric Plant; our robust and transparent corporate governance practices, our client transparency and content delivery strategy implemented through our social networks and our Bosque Renace project, through which we protect and preserve 690 hectares of high Andean forest.

Once again, this award proves that integrating sustainability into the companies’ corporate strategy and operational decisions is our way of taking action, and it gears change towards a new energy era for the benefit of our stakeholders and in order to boost development through innovative and sustainable initiatives.

“For Enel Group Colombia, being recognized through this award as having the best work environments is a source of pride. This acknowledges the effort and work we have put into this by implementing different initiatives in favor of gender equality, quality of life for our workers, and occupational health and safety”

– Lucio Rubio Díaz, General Director of Enel Group Colombia.

Toward a more equitable company

Seeking to tear down the walls that have historically separated men from women in the workplace, in 2014 we implemented the EQUIPARES Gender Equality Management System, with the aim of building a harmonious environment where all our workers, regardless of their gender, had the same opportunities for growth and development within our organization.

As companies in a traditionally male-dominant sector, such as electricity, we took this challenge upon ourselves and the Ministry of Labor recognized this by granting us the Labor Equality Gold Seal (EQUIPARES). Thus we became the first companies in the electric sector to obtain the highest possible award within this category. Additionally, we came fourth place among the top ten private companies with the best labor equality practices in the country, according to the gender equality ranking developed by AEQUALES, the District Department for Women and the College of Advanced Studies in Administration (CESA) and we also received an award for being the company that has climbed the most positions in this ranking since it was created in 2015.

Contributing to our workersquality of life

In seeking to maintain a positive work environment and wellbeing for all, we continue cultivating through the creation of multiple benefits that allow our people to perform their tasks to the best of their abilities. Flexible schedules, which offer them the possibility of selecting the time in which they start and finish their workday; remote work, which allows them to work from other places; employee birthday, which gives them a free morning or afternoon off on their birthday, are just some of the more than 50 measures that we have implemented for our workers, in order to improve their quality of life and also their family environment. Thanks to these policies, in 2015 we were recertified as a Family Responsible Company, granted by the Más Familia de España Foundation.

Since we started this mission in 2012 and by the end of 2017, over 87% of our workers had used some of our quality-of-life benefits, and 96% believe that these benefits have contributed to strengthen their work-life balance.

Without a doubt, this motivates us to continue working to advance and strengthen a positive work environment for the benefit of each of our workers. We know we have a long journey ahead, and this only impels us to take bigger and bolder steps.