Welcome to Enel: training our new employees
It is one thing to know that we are a global Group present on five continents and to be aware of how we are organised and invest in new generations, but quite another to experience it all first-hand. However, this is exactly what 70 young people had the opportunity to do as the first participants in the New Onboarding Training Programme of new graduate employees with no previous work experience, from all over the world.
India, Chile, Romania, Brazil, the United States and Greece are just some of the countries the recruits came from. They all had just three things in common: they were young, they were graduates with no previous work experience and they were hired by the Group only a few months previously (often after an internship). They came to our main headquarters in Rome on 1st July on what for many was their first visit, and often not knowing anyone else. They left a week later after not simply learning a huge amount about the Group’s processes and values, but also being given the opportunity to build up an international network of contacts – a sort of Enel community of tomorrow. In other words, they immediately got a taste of the inclusiveness that is such a pivotal part of our Group’s relationship with its staff.
The Enel Group’s values
The young graduates were welcomed on day one by our CEO Francesco Starace, who wanted to be there in person to underscore the importance of this new training programme. Starace explained the Group’s four core values to the young graduates: trust, responsibility, innovation and proactivity (a day of the week was to be devoted to each one except for proactivity, which would take up the last two days). The CEO then told them that, on a day-to-day basis, nothing particular was required of them apart from being open to their co-workers and the outside world as this is the spirit of the Open Power approach that we have embraced and made our own in recent years. Lastly, Starace highlighted the way in which the different geographical areas and stages of technological development of each nation represent a “journey through time” within the Group and how Enel’s challenge is to nurture all the countries involved to a level where they are using the most advanced technologies.
The young people also received wise advice from Francesca Di Carlo, Head of People and Organization, who told them that they should always challenge themselves and never be afraid to ask questions. She also urged them to be ready to learn and change their working environment. To enjoy a successful career in the Enel Group, employees have no need to hurt those they work closely with, but rather they should take the very best from everyone and keep an open attitude. The company community comes first, so those who work to foster improvement not just for themselves but for everyone, are the ones who get ahead.
Chief Financial Officer Alberto De Paoli, on the other hand, spoke about the Group’s mission, confiding that the real reason we get up in the morning is to solve humanity’s biggest challenges to guarantee a future of progress for everyone. And there are many challenges. Indeed we are using the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs to identify and tackle those obstacles because sustainability is the only way we can save the planet. De Paoli then spoke about some of the Group’s corporate and financial characteristics, starting with our strategy based on four macrotrends: decarbonisation, electrification, digitalisation and urbanisation.
From the control room to the concert hall
But no training programme should be confined to merely listening. After their first day, in which they had their initial contact with the themes of digital transformation and met with our Young Ambassadors, most of the new graduate employees’ time was spent in interactive workshops embracing the themes of diversity, sustainability innovation and communication. The participants were divided up into work groups to come up with ideas and projects to share with others with a proactive yet playful spirit. This was yet another way of fostering inclusion and helping cement team spirit, as well as getting directly to the heart of Enel’s processes.