People
Waste is a complex business. Everything changes fast. By investing in our people we can come up with the smart, sustainable solutions that our customers and society need. So, we want them to continue work for us with plenty of energy. That’s why we take care of the new talent we attract and the people who already work hard for Indaver every day. A safe work environment for our staff is our key priority.
Context
Because of a higher life expectancy, in many countries the retirement age is increasing. Staff are expected to continue working for longer. Employers want to help their staff to do that in an achievable and motivated manner. Employers and employees are therefore working together for sustainable employment.
Attracting and retaining skilled staff is also a challenge. There is a particular shortage of staff with technical skills. Young people who are entering the job market now, want to have a job that makes a difference and that has added value for society. That is how they choose their employer.
Our approach
Sustainable deployment of talented staff
Under the slogan ‘Stay on the journey with Indaver/SVEX’ we guide our employees throughout their career with Indaver. We use a metro map for a visual representation of our sustainable employment policy. The four pillars of this policy form the four main lines on the map, with dozens of branch lines so that it can be tailored to suit the individual.
- Healthy/Energy: we help our employees to stay physically and mentally fit.
- Competent/Expertise and skills: staff can constantly hone their competences, skills and potential.
- Drive/Motivation and involvement: we stimulate enthusiasm among our employees.
- Work-life balance We help our staff to find the right balance so that they remain productive.
Employer branding to attract talent
Indaver wants to attract talented people. We play to our strengths using a targeted approach. We use social media channels to share our vacancies. With posts about the company and its activities we strengthen our image as an employer. We are building a community of talent. Our own employees are our best ambassadors: They share Indaver’s posts on their own social media networks. They increase our brand awareness. They give their friends and acquaintances insight into what it’s like to work for Indaver. We take part in job and trade fairs to showcase our appeal as an employer. Our employees talk about Indaver and about their jobs.
Developing traineeships
We want to increase our appeal to starters and students. We are therefore developing a traineeship. We can take on interns by coordinating projects better and working with educational establishments. The intern gets a peek behind the scenes and can then be an ambassador and promote Indaver to their fellow students. Indaver gains access to the latest findings and developments in the area being studied by the students doing their internship.
Involved and enthusiastic staff
Every employee has their own role to play in Indaver's success. We involve our people in the decision-making process and give them the autonomy and the authority to do their work effectively. We pole our employees’ opinions regularly, to ensure they are engaged and that they know their work matters.
Gaining the right knowledge, quickly and efficiently
A lot of employees enjoy seeking new challenges. In their careers at Indaver they are keen to have further training or to acquire entirely new knowledge and skills. We want to teach them that knowledge quickly and efficiently. Using ‘structured learning’ we determine the minimum skills and knowledge employees need for each role and which learning methods are the most appropriate for gaining that knowledge and skills.
Arming staff against unhealthy stress levels
We help our employees to maintain their physical and mental health. We monitor the balance between capacity and workload and make it a priority to combat unhealthy work pressure and stress. Prevention is key: We arm our employees against burnout, stress and absenteeism.
Care@work: well-being policy for long-term illness or psychosocial issues
If employees have a (long-term) absence from work for physical or psychosocial reasons, Indaver ensures their bond to the company is not broken. The employee receives support so that afterwards he/she will be able to return to work quickly. In 2018, Indaver in Belgium, worked out its vision and action plan together with the employee representatives. Prevention is the key to stop a worse situation. Contact, dialogue and consultation are vital. Managers play a key role. In 2018, they therefore received care@work training and followed a course on how to ‘detect the signs of psychosocial risks’. To tackle psychosocial risks quickly, such as stress, conflicts or bullying, there is a confidential advisor at all locations. Staff can prevent stress and burnout through workshops such as energy@work. There they discover what gives them energy. They can get career advice or have burnout coaching.
Safety: our priority
Safety is everyone’s responsibility, at all levels and in all roles.
In an effective safety culture the main aim is prevention, as well as responding and correcting. We encourage our employees to alert us to unsafe situations. In our incident management we also continually analyse the root causes of incidents. This allows for quick preventive interventions and the development of actions based on hard facts, to avoid a repeat occurrence.
The more frequently unsafe situations are reported and addressed before there is an accident or damage, the smaller the risk of all other types of accidents. We use the Safety Pyramid to create a safe working environment.
Second safety award FM Global Award for Indaver
Two of Indaver’s facilities have now been awarded Highly Protected Risk Status by FM Global. FM Global, a global player in insurance, is responsible for Indaver’s fire and risk insurance. HPR is the highest status that an installation/location can acquire – and it’s difficult to obtain. Meath in Ireland has had the award in the bag since 2017, then in 2018 FM Global awarded this status to Doel in Belgium. Only one other waste-to-energy installation achieved this before Indaver. This status demonstrates how much effort Indaver has made on technical safety. FM Global conducted an extensive audit in Doel, with a risk analysis of all the vital installations and buildings for fire safety and breakdown of machinery. The auditors praised our continual efforts to raise the bar.