Our goal: 100% of employees trained
In 2021, ENGIE set itself the challenge of training 80% of its employees. It has achieved, and even exceeded, this goal. And, since we do not want to stop there, we have committed to training 100% of our employees every year by 2030.
This promise is genuine. Every year, ENGIE publishes the figures of its training programmes, which are available to the public. “Making this promise openly increases the strength of our ambition. It shows how we have turned our people’s skills into a competitive advantage, and that training is, therefore, a real factor of our competitive performance”, explains Nicolas Rolland, the Head of ENGIE University.
Training dedicated to all. Students, graduates and more experienced employees must all continue to develop their skills and consolidate their know-how throughout their careers. In this fast-changing world, where one half of the jobs of the future does not even exist today, training also rhymes with agility, permanent adaptation and employability.
Adapted and made-to-measure training programmes
Training is one of the pillars of the Group’s strategy, DNA and culture. It speeds up the pace of change and our own transformation. Training enables us to remain the leader in our sector. And obviously, to help our employees to develop their skills and achieve their professional aspirations. The motivation and commitment of our employees are key to the Group’s performance.
We must be capable of multiplying learning opportunities if we want to really achieve this ambitious target of 100% of employees trained. We must find new ways of teaching and creating the conditions in which everyone has the will and the time to follow training. The ENGIE Group employs 170,000 people, who each have their own way of thinking and learning. This is the reason why we have been broadening our training ecosystem for several years, so that everyone can find the right programme for them.
- The ENGIE University. The ENGIE University helps the Group’s 43,000 managers to develop their leadership skills, to take the strategy and the transformation of ENGIE onboard and to improve skills in the various functional entities. Our goal? To enable them to learn, to network, to gain in maturity, to discover their potential and to find inspiration.
- ENGIE Schools. ENGIE Schools offer all the training programmes corresponding to the Group’s major activities (Infrastructure, Renewables, Thermal and Supply and Energy Solutions) to provide structured and coordinated professional training. ENGIE Schools creates the right conditions to learn the skills required to do the jobs on offer and to develop our employees’ careers.
- The Energy and Climate Transition Academy. Founded in 2021 in the form of a school for apprentices, the Academy offers young students and graduates training and qualifications, plus experience in the field as part of a work-study programme in the Group. The trainees have a guarantee that they will acquire recognised professional know-how and build a network in the activities demanded by the energy transition.
>> View our Fast & Curious video about the Academy <<
Training resources our employees
So, what about training resources? The COVID-19 pandemic encouraged us to speed up a transformation that had already started a few years earlier. Some training programmes have been reworked for digital technology. They are now more interactive and shorter, but still just as advanced. And we learned how to build and deploy new programmes in just a few weeks, in order to offer a rapid response to the needs in the field.
Whether online or in the classroom, ENGIE does more than just offer content from a top-down and uniform perspective. On the contrary, the Group is working hard to make its people want to learn. Our dedicated Learning Design Centre team is specialised in training engineering and tests out new ways of training.
By way of example, we are using technologies like virtual reality to speed up the learning process in certain technical jobs. For example, in several training modules in gas or wind turbines, the trainees are able to operate valves or other control tools. This enables them to perform technical operations and to understand their consequences on the systems under very life-like conditions.
Another difference is ENGIE’s will to encourage learning between peers. While we call on an extensive network of partners to deliver our training courses, we also make use of the knowledge that exists within the Group! Our most experienced employees also work as instructors in professional training centres. They give lessons in technical operations and share all the know-how and field experience that they have acquired over the years. As a general rule, several thousands of employees are recognised as “ambassadors” or mentors, who devote a part of their time at work to training and helping their colleagues to progress.
Anyone who joins ENGIE arrives in the Group with a core of skills that will continue to grow and progress. It is an opportunity to create a made-to-measure curriculum and career together.