These are Veolia Water's employees, the men and women in 60 countries who make it possible to provide a quality service. They are the principal stakeholders in the company's development, and as such are of primary importance to Veolia Water. This is why Veolia Water values the staff in all of its business units and pays constant attention to their working conditions, which are often of a higher standard than those generally found in the country where Veolia Water is operating.
A Responsible Human Resources Policy
Valuing people
Veolia Water considers that the skills of its employees are essential to the company's development and makes every effort to continuously develop these skills in a co-ordinated manner.
Initial and continuous training is facilitated by the presence of Campus Veolia Environnement, Veolia Environnement's skills management center, whose sites are found all around the world (China, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Morocco and France). It offers a number of courses and seminars, primarily to facilitate the integration of young apprentices.
When the company is starting operations in a new geographical region, Veolia Water develops specific training programs in order to train local personnel and facilitate their integration within the company.
Developing employees both on a personal as well as on a professional level is of paramount importance as well as the multiskilling and autonomy of all personnel. This is why Veolia Water encourages career development within its business units as well as towards the other divisions of Veolia Environnement (Waste, Energy and Transport).
Health and Safety
"Veolia Water believes that the first right of each employee is a safe working environment."
Conscious of the fact that the working world is ever changing, that working conditions are constantly evolving, that new types of risks are emerging, Veolia Water is committed to a participatory management approach towards health and safety.
Veolia Water has implemented a health and safety at work policy which is an integral part of the company's global management. Procedures have been set up allowing for an internally structured organization to efficiently manage the protection of people and property.
Veolia Water's occupational health and safety management system in France as well as around the world is based on the guidelines laid down by the International Labour Organisation (ILO-OSH 2001). These principles have been converted into safety measures that are tailored to the company's business activities.
This approach takes into account each country's own regulations and has been developed in partnership with the company's employees, who are at the heart of our business thanks to their expertise and experience.
Promoting social dialogue
Veolia Water's operating services work at a very local level. This is why social dialogue in the operational business units is built up from grassroots level as close as possible to employees and to the ground in order to encourage the involvement of its employees.
At this level, social partners give their response to a great number of issues such as how work should be organized and working conditions as well as how to develop skills and reward individual effort.
Dialogue is encouraged as an inventory is made at Veolia Environnement Group level of all the social initiatives that have either been taken individually or collectively, either emanating locally or on a much larger scale. These initiatives are recorded each year in order that everyone can benefit from the experiences. The best "social innovations" are given due recognition and the best are rewarded by an independent jury.