The EDF group is one of the top industrial recruiters in France, with more than 8,135 employees hired under permanent, fixed-term and work-study contracts in 2019. EDF has made work-study programmes a key component of its skills sourcing and “human ambition”, with 7,200 work-study students in 2019, meaning that more than one out of every 100 work-study students in France is trained by the EDF group. The EDF group also plays an important role in the integration of young people, with 15% of work-study students coming from deprived areas and another 15% from rural areas.
Recruitment is focused primarily on technical, hard-to-fill, rare or developing professions. The proportion of managers recruited externally remained stable at around 28% at Group level, as did the proportion of women recruited despite a decline in the attractiveness of the industrial sector.
Boosted by its employer brand, EDF, which is constantly innovating to maintain the Group’s high level of attractiveness, maintains its position as the top energy company among engineering school students in all rankings (Universum, Randstad, Epoka), is considered one of the best employers in the Glassdoor ranking, and has already been awarded the top spot for gender parity in the Capital 2018 ranking. EDF came third in the Happy Trainees ranking, measuring the level of satisfaction of work-study students and trainees, in the category of companies hosting more than 1,000 young people.
The EDF group’s digital image was recognised in the recruitment category by the French Human Capital Awards (Trophées du Capital Humain).
The re-insourcing of external sourcing and the use of agile methods delivered impressive results in 2019 as regards recruitment quality and a reduction in candidate selection times. The internal sourcing system was a resounding success at the entities. Operating as a genuine internal head-hunting firm, this system makes it possible to source candidates from all of the Group’s departments inFrance (EDF and subsidiaries). This method also respects the EDF group’s employment strategy, which gives priority to internal mobility and redeployment over external recruitment.
In 2019, 91% of vacancies were filled internally. This was made possible through proactive initiatives designed to boost the employability of its employees: ten “RéGlo” seminars held in each region to recruit and support Group mobility explaining the regulatory aspects of mobility within the Group, internal job forums, regional e-forums for employees and experimental schemes promoting the functional mobility of employees (reciprocal undertaking contracts, insertion contracts (contrats d’avenir) in the event of site closures). Declining departments have been supported through a specific project called My Job, designed to enhance the visibility of pools of qualified employees and solidarity between departments for EDF. Through this, almost 920 employees found a job in line with the Group’s needs in 2019.
In order to meet its needs for specific skills by 2020, the EDF group introduced a scheme in 2019 for internal work-study programmes(1) for employees undergoing retraining for positions that meet the Group’s future human resources needs. Several employee work-study programmes have been designed in partnership with the Paris Saclay University and Global Knowledge(2) mainly for data analyst positions.
In order to break down the barriers to mobility, a major project involving all divisions and regions has been implemented to simplify processes, by promoting transparency and supporting employees in their efforts such as, for example, the opportunity for employees to apply for certain jobs in faraway locations without having to relocate (My Local Job), or to facilitate discussions of financial issues (the before and after financial assessment). A detailed review of the way in which the Company supports mobility is also underway.
The EDF group acts responsibly to promote diversity and respect for human rights alongside its stakeholders: employees, subcontractors and employee representatives. Its work also affects the general population as a contributor to the development of the regions in which it operates.
The EDF group has adopted a new “Group France”(3) skills development policy focusing on investment in the changing needs for skills, in line with its CAP 2030 strategic framework, working to prepare the Group for the future. This new policy, which has now been rolled out in all Group companies in France, also aims to transform training and professionalisation practices and adapt them to the changes occurring in its divisions at an ever-increasing rate, in order to improve the long-term employability of employees, and continuously adapt them to the needs of its divisions and subsidiaries at the lowest possible cost. It commits the Group to the following goals: to secure the skills required by its divisions and prepare for the jobs of tomorrow, to ensure the employability of its employees and to treat training as an investment in human capital, as illustrated by the €594 million spent by the Group on skills development in 2019.
This policy addresses the following areas for improvement: the evaluation of training courses, to assess the transfer of knowledge and its subsequent implementation; the digitalisation of skills development resources, to meet new learning needs and improve access to certain training courses, with a confirmed educational and economic relevance; the introduction of a wide range of methods beyond so-called classical training (acquisition or development of professional skills and knowledge), to include and develop professionalisation (reinforce the skills acquired, primarily on the job) and increase the number of possible variations, combining the advantages of all available methods to produce “blended-learning” skills development, along with the need for better support for internal mobility and retraining and continued efforts in terms of work-study programmes, promotional training and support for employees changing professional categories.
The Group is continuing its efforts to improve the accessibility and intelligibility of the training available, by using the Group intranet and increasing the visibility of the training available through the launch of the training module of the new “MyHR” HR IS. In 2020, the internal platforms hosting e-learning modules will be combined and access procedures will be simplified. The range of training available in cross-disciplinary skills (languages, office automation, quality of written documents, oral communication, professional posture, personal development and quality) has been enhanced through special digital platforms. These efforts to improve the accessibility of training address one of the corporate social responsibility goals (see table below), and also one of the priorities of the new policy. This can be used to measure and ensure a level of harmonisation between the French subsidiaries in this “Group” commitment, and also to guide the ongoing efforts of the Company, and all its divisions, to ensure the long-term employability of its employees.
(1) Also see section 3.3.3.1.1 “Employee employability and enhancement of the internal social elevator”.
(2) Global Knowledge is the largest training group in the world dedicated to IT and Methods.
(3) This affects subsidiaries whose registered office is in France, employing more than 50 employees.
