Composition of the organisation
Alliander has a diverse workforce, both in terms of competencies (in addition to our many technicians and IT staff, we have experts in change management and finance) and in terms of age, gender and cultural background. We believe that we need diversity to fulfil our mission – ensuring everyone has access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy – during the challenging energy transition of today. Within our company, we need to reflect the level of diversity within society, among our customers, and in the labour market, so having a policy on diversity and inclusion forms part of our corporate social responsibility.
Employee breakdown by gender and age
An organisation where everyone feels at home
Alliander aims to be a diverse company where every employee can perform to the best of his/her abilities. At the same time, we target achieving a varied workforce with a good balance in diversity at all levels. We are convinced that diversity makes us an attractive employer for talent, gives everyone the opportunity to show their best side, and contributes to the quality of our decision-making and innovative capacity. That is why we encourage the recruitment of women in leadership and technical positions, employees with a migrant background, and people with poor employment prospects.
Launch of ‘Wij zijn Nexus’
On 20 May, the day before the international Cultural Diversity Day, we launched our cultural staff network initiative, called ‘Wij zijn Nexus’. This network ensures that we continue to discuss cultural diversity. It helps to make our HR processes more inclusive and provides training for employees whose position when starting with us differs from that of indigenous Dutch employees.
Diversity Day
On 6 October, we celebrated Diversity Day. More than 200 employees participated and made the most of this opportunity to get involved in online webinars or workshops on diversity and inclusiveness. In addition to collaborating with other organisations on diversity, we launched a partnership with AGORA in 2020. This partner also subscribes to our mission to offer fair opportunities for all.
Percentage of women in leadership positions
The percentage of women in leadership positions at the end of 2020 rose to 29.0% (2019: 26.9%). This score is attributable to the diversity policy pursued by Alliander in recent years. The main key points of this policy are demonstrating exemplary behaviour and explicit support at the top of the organisation, setting specific targets, and ensuring equal opportunities for women in selection procedures. Our target is to have women in 33% of leadership positions by 2024. At year-end 2020, the percentage of female members of the Management Board increased to 25% due to the creation of new board positions. The current composition of the Management Board represents a good balance in terms of diversity of expertise, background, experience and age. The percentage of women in the Supervisory Board is 50%.
Employees with a migrant background
In order to present ourselves to current and potential employees with a migrant background, we explicitly focus on the diversity within our organisation. Using role models has proven itself an effective strategy. In addition, we recruit through specific channels and make use of our ‘Wij zijn Nexus’ network, Echo (a mentoring programme for graduates with a migrant background) and Agora (a network organisation that supports diversity and inclusion).
Offering opportunities to people with poor employment prospects
Alliander believes that people in work feel more engaged with society. This is why we have been helping people with poor employment prospects to find work since 2009. Alliander feels obliged to do everything possible to give people with poor employment prospects a greater chance of finding a job. Having a job often determines whether a person can participate in society or not. Alliander also endorses the significant societal importance of the government’s job promise scheme (‘banenafspraak’) that aims to create permanent positions for people with an occupational disability. In 2020, we offered a total of 108 people a job or work experience placement.