Social Performance : Labour Practices and Decent Work
Goals and Performance
In 2007, the Enbridge Human Resources (HR) Council, which is the executive HR leadership team consisting of senior HR professionals who represent all business units, defined a long-term strategic plan to address Enbridge’s business needs.
Key initiatives related to the plan are:
Talent Management and Workforce Planning – In 2007, Enbridge expanded our workforce to support business growth. By the end of the year, our workforce comprised more than 5,500 regular employees (full time and part time) in Canada and the U.S. and, by mid-2008, it comprised approximately 5,700 employees. As well, in addition to our regular employees, we employ temporary and contract employees to support seasonal and project work associated with specific projects.
Enbridge’s leaders actively manage the attraction, retention and transition of our workforce. Their work focuses on talent management practices in employee engagement, leadership and workforce development, succession management, mentorship, and knowledge transfer.
Enbridge is committed to advancing our culture of leadership and employee development at all levels in the organization. Succession management is a significant focus as we seek to attract, develop, engage, retain and promote our leaders of today and tomorrow.
Through 2008, Enbridge will continue to enhance our leadership and employee development programs with a focus on expanding our mentorship, project management and leadership programs.
In addition to offering a broad array of in-house leadership and employee development programs, Enbridge offers a Tuition Reimbursement Program. This program provides financial support to employees who advance their education through external learning programs in support of their careers. Enbridge also offers a company-wide scholarship program to help employees’ children access post-secondary education.
Performance management – Performance management at Enbridge is central to our ability to meet our business objectives and manage and sustain a high-performance workforce. Leaders help employees contribute to Enbridge’s business success by developing performance objectives that are aligned with Enbridge’s strategic business goals. They provide regular performance feedback to employees to guide their performance, work planning and ongoing development in each performance year.
Effective performance management ensures strong performance, provides an opportunity for leaders to recognize and reward performance, and gives leaders the information they need to support employees’ ongoing development with a view to advancement. Performance management also supports Enbridge’s success during periods of growth and change, and in the face of losing an increasing number of experienced employees to retirement. A huge part of performance management is our commitment to effective people management practices, including employee recognition, identification of high-potential and succession candidates, and enhanced employee development planning.
Total compensation – In 2007, the energy industry continued to be dynamic, thanks to strong commodity prices and countless opportunities associated with the oilsands. In such an environment, competitive total compensation is needed to attract and retain key talent. In Enbridge’s case, competitive total compensation is particularly important, as we need to continue to expand our workforce to meet the needs of our most aggressive growth strategy in our history.
Enbridge has a full array of compensation and benefit programs designed to attract and retain talent. In addition to base salary, most regular non-union employees participate in an annual incentive plan, which rewards performance relative to predefined targets established at company, business unit and individual levels. Mid-term and long-term incentive plans are also extended to management level roles.
On the benefits side, we offer a comprehensive selection of life, health and dental coverage, along with defined-benefit and defined-contribution pension plan options. We review these programs regularly to maintain our competitive position, and to ensure we are meeting our employees’ needs.
In 2007, we reviewed our mid-term and long-term incentive programs. We enhanced the competitiveness of these programs by increasing the target delivery of longer-term incentives to members of our senior management. We also validated that the design of our long-term incentive vehicles – and the eligibility of certain roles for these vehicles – continue to be appropriately aligned with our organizational strategy.
We continue to work at ensuring that our employees understand their compensation programs and, to that end, introduced Total Compensation Statements to our employees in Canada. These personalized statements quantify the value of the pay, health and retirement benefits that Enbridge provides. Feedback from employees on these statements has been positive and, as such, we will continue to provide them each year, complementing a similar document that we provide to all of our employees in the U.S..
Our total compensation programs continue to evolve to meet business needs. Beyond delivering a competitive level of total compensation, we think that our programs’ design and flexibility will be critical in helping us respond to changing workforce demographics.
Positive work environment – Enbridge is committed to developing and maintaining a diverse and inclusive work environment, and promotes a healthy and positive work environment. Company policies affirm our strong commitment to treating all employees with dignity and respect. We also subscribe to the principles of a fair and equitable work environment.
Our work environment promotes a diversity of roles and enriched job experience through project work, secondment opportunities, cross-business unit mobility, and participation on cross-functional teams. Enbridge also supports employees who are interested in actively contributing to the communities in which we live, work, and operate, through a variety of volunteer opportunities and through our annual United Way campaign.
The value of mentoring and being mentored also contributes to a positive work environment. Mentorship programs, both internal and external, offer an additional opportunity for Enbridge to support employee experiences in their role and workplace.
We regularly recognize our employees’ achievements through a range of formal activities and programs. These activities and programs include service awards, monetary gifts, recognition through our internal communications channels, and creating opportunities for challenging assignments.
Employee communications – Enbridge continues to enhance and define our employee communications practices to ensure that employees are informed of business information, change, and career opportunities, using the most appropriate communications tools, and the active support of supervisors to communicate with their teams.
Effective communications ensure that employees are informed about Enbridge, and are engaged in their work here, particularly during these times of enormous growth.
Enbridge’s leaders seek to foster an environment committed to open and frank communication. We offer a dedicated channel for employees to communicate their feedback to our leaders through our annual Employee Perspectives survey. We also use a number of one-way and two-way communications vehicles to regularly exchange information with them. Among these are:
- our Intranet (which we significantly improved in 2007 and 2008 in response to employee feedback),
- Link, our quarterly employee magazine, which we revamped in 2007 and 2008,
- our employee annual report, and
- regular electronic bulletins for various business units.
In addition, we hold annual employee meetings across the organization to ensure that employees receive the latest information about Enbridge’s plans for strategic growth, about our CSR strategies and plans, and about our increasing investment in talent and people. These meetings provide an opportunity for employees to meet with Pat Daniel, our Chief Executive Officer, local senior leadership, and guests to discuss Enbridge’s challenges and opportunities, and to raise questions about our changing workplace, business and employee programs.
In 2007, we held employee meetings in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Houston, as well as at various field locations. Each concluded with a question-and-answer period.
Employee Involvement and Engagement – Enbridge’s annual Employee Perspectives Survey is a dedicated channel for employees to provide confidential feedback to their leaders.
Using the feedback, Enbridge’s leaders gain insights and understandings that they apply to their management practices, and which we integrate into various programs. As well, on an ongoing basis, leaders monitor their personal communications practices, in support of enhancing our employee engagement, and meeting the objectives of our People Strategy.
Participation in the 2007 Employee Perspectives Survey was high. Hewitt Associates administered the survey and 82 per cent of employees across all business units participated. Enbridge’s employee engagement score exceeded the North American average, and exceeded several benchmarks, including the averages for all Alberta employees, the Canadian oil and gas industry, and the North American energy industry.
Key findings from the survey were that Enbridge employees think that:
- Enbridge’s organizational reputation and people-focused policies are among our key strengths.
- challenging and enjoyable work keeps them engaged.
- Enbridge should continue to focus on improving performance management, employee recognition, communication of career opportunities, and work process efficiency.
Labour Relations and Collective Bargaining – Enbridge believes that healthy and cooperative labour relations – built on trust, respect and integrity – contribute to our business goals and objectives. We continue to maintain and foster a cooperative approach to the union/management relationship through joint committees with our various unions and industrial councils. These committees meet regularly to resolve outstanding matters, as well as to advise on and discuss issues of mutual concern. For more information, please see section LA4.