2022 performance overview

January

The Group launched a unique Wellbeing Mentors program. Wellbeing mentors are employees of the Group working in different positions and professions who, in addition to their direct duties, also provide emotional support to their colleagues. More than 20 colleagues became mentors after completing psychological counseling training specially designed for them. Currently, mentors have about 10 conversations a month with their colleagues on various work and life topics.

To achieve a greater gender balance in IT and engineering positions, we continued our collaboration with the Women Go Tech program. In the 1st quarter, 10 women from our organization improved their technology skills in a 6-month training program, while another 7 employees were mentors to participants from other organizations.

February

For the second time, Health Month was held in the Group - a series of events about healthy lifestyle, wellbeing, sports, food, fashion and much more. The events that took place throughout February had one goal - to disprove common myths that sometimes stop us from eating healthier, practicing less common types of sports, or mislead us in the abundance of information about viruses. To dispel these myths, 10 lectures and workshops were organized during the Health Month.

March

During the 1st quarter, the Diversity and Inclusion Group (an employee resource group) organized 4 educational virtual events, which attracted an audience of almost 200 employees. Topics of presentations and discussions were diversity and inclusion in international energy companies, recognizing discrimination and interpreting non-discrimination laws, best diversity and inclusion practices in other organizations, etc.

The Group conducted an employee survey called "Equal Opportunities Ruler", which assessed equal opportunities status in areas such as organizational culture, attitudes to discrimination, HR processes, etc. The "Equal Opportunities Ruler" is certified and managed by the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson of Lithuania. After evaluating the results, the Group was awarded 8.9 out of 10 points (10 points is the highest rating), which shows that equal opportunities are ensured in the Group.

We distributed guidelines to managers on how to ensure equal opportunities in the selection of successors for strategic positions, thereby increasing the share of female successors.

As the number of English-speaking employees in the organization increased, we worked on the inclusive communication and awareness by introducing a monthly newsletter in English. In the middle of the year, we started publishing part of the news on the intranet only in English and increased the number of translated (bilingual) news.

To find out what could increase the inclusion of geographically remote employees, we organized focus groups and during the hackathon we found out that the most useful actions would be the broader network of informational screens and the use of a mobile app - we plan to respond to these needs in 2023.

May

We launched the #EnergiseEquality initiative to promote a dialogue on equal opportunities and a better understanding of the Group's strategic goals related to gender balance. Its purpose is to create a platform for employees to discuss and share views on the importance of gender equality in the Group and in life. We built the initiative on the international Barbershop Toolbox methodology dedicated to engage women and men in dialogue, developed by the UN Women Iceland. We are the first in Lithuania to implement this methodology on the company level. At the beginning of the project, at the opening event, 120 employees tested the method and engaged in a dialogue. Later, the Group's employees (9 women and 9 men, from top-level executives to experts) became moderators of the method and led their first discussions in pairs to almost 100 colleagues. After gathering insights on how to strengthen gender equality at work, the moderators gathered to plan actions and continue discussions in 2023.

In commemoration of the International Day against Homophobia, the Group organized a virtual "LGBT Awareness Day", where more than 60 employees gathered to learn about the experiences of the LGBT community in everyday life and ways to support LGBT co-workers.

The Wellbeing Mentors project was recognized as the winner of the "Personnel Management Good Practice Competition 2022".

June

Invited by the Diversity and Inclusion Group, part of the Group's employees participated for the first time in the "Baltic Pride 2022" march "For equality and peace" to show support for LGBT colleagues and the community, while symbolically contributing to the efforts of reducing homophobia and discrimination.

During the strategic session, top-level managers were introduced to the importance of equal opportunities, diversity, gender equality and the involvement of men in this topic. During the workshop, they were engaged in solving managerial challenges related to diversity and inclusion.

July

We have raised awareness among the 5 main recruitment agencies we work with by sending out Letters of Expectations asking them to provide an equal number of male and female candidates for shortlisting when further selections are made for top management roles.

Solving the dilemma faced by our colleagues on how to occupy school-age children during their vacations, this summer we decided to try something new - for the first time in our main office, we opened and partially financed a weekly children's day camp. During the camp we organized programming classes, sports activities, excursions, and other activities for the children of employees. After receiving positive evaluations, the camp will be organized next year as well.

August

We have introduced a rule that hiring managers, before starting each employee selection, must personally commit to ensure equal opportunities during the selection process in the Group's internal selection management system. This means not asking discriminatory questions, applying the same selection criteria, and following the principles of equal opportunities set out in the Group's Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy. Without agreeing to commit, the selection of employees is not carried out.

We increased the inclusion of employees on childcare leave (mostly women) - we started distributing a newsletter for employees on parental leave, opened "GROW Academy" trainings, created memos for employees and managers, in which we described methods of communication, development, and smooth return after a career break.

The Group's Strategic Plan for Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing 2022-2025 was presented to the employees. It has two strategic directions: 1) recognition of diversity and improving inclusion; 2) supporting wellbeing. Priority areas are set for each of them.

September

Hiring managers have attended training on non-discrimination, avoiding bias and other responsibilities during the recruitment process. 321 managers (72.0% of all managers), talent attraction specialists and human resources business partners participated in the training, after which we shared the training materials with the rest of the managers. A memo was also prepared and distributed to all these groups with tips on how to avoid discrimination in the selection of employees and encourage their diversity.

We invited our key stakeholders involved in the recruiting to ensure that equal opportunities were created for men and women before making decisions.

Wellbeing mentors started a new phase of the initiative and created a list of services for teams - from now on, mentors not only consult colleagues personally, but also conduct lectures, interactive workshops, and facilitate discussions for teams. Mentors conduct about 15 activities for teams per month.

A pilot study of employee well-being was conducted in the Ignitis Group Service Center, followed by data analysis and testing of wellbeing-improving actions in selected teams. It was decided to transform the questionnaire into additional questions in periodic employee experience surveys, to systematically monitor employees' well-being.

October

The Lithuanian Diversity Charter conducted a study to assess how the 20 largest Lithuanian companies are ready to ensure equal opportunities. Companies were assessed by whether they have clear diversity goals and are working towards them, whether they disclose employee diversity data, whether they track their equal opportunity situation and report on progress, and so on. In this study, the Group received the highest rating of all twenty companies and took first place.

In response to the need, wellbeing mentors prepared and conducted psychological resilience training for 5 teams working in customer service centers in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys. When an additional need was observed, the same training was conducted for 19 engineering teams from Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai, Panevėžys, Utena and Alytus. After these meetings, recommendations were prepared for managers on how to take care of the wellbeing of employees, how to improve their working environment and create a better work experience.

November

To encourage more female applicants, we started an experiment and from now on, all job postings will have job titles in the feminine ending first, with the masculine ending in parentheses.

Managers of various levels took part in 4 experimental format trainings for the development of emotional competences, in which resistance to the risks of burnout was developed.

8 short video clips with advice from a professional psychotherapist for developing emotional resistance to tension, stress, perfectionism, etc. have been released for all employees.

We started once a week 15 min. duration remote mindfulness meditations, to which all colleagues can join and practice different methods of attention management.

December

In collaboration with employees' representatives, we developed and prepared the Harassment and Abuse Prevention Policy, which set the prohibition of violence and harassment, describes forms of inappropriate behavior, preventive measures, the procedure for handling reports, and set the protective measures for those who reported harassment and abuse and victims as well. An important role in this policy belongs to the part of prevention, in which the Group committed to take educational and communication actions. Based on the policy content, live format training was developed and tested.

In commemoration of the International Human Rights Day, we implemented a visual campaign for employees about interpersonal communication and forms of microaggressions at work, promoting a culture of respectful, empathetic communication.

By encouraging women colleagues to speak in the media throughout the year and share their expertise in public, we increased their visibility and citation numbers..