Own Workforce

Based on the DMA described in the chapter Material Sustainability Matters it was found that people in Alpiq’s workforce could be negatively affected by certain impacts and risks. Specific risks associated with job requirements (environment, shift work etc.) are properly observed and remunerated in workers’ contracts. Moreover, Alpiq performs a continuous follow-up on health and safety outcomes, with particular attention to the blue-collar population, and includes measures to improve both the physical and mental health of its workforce.

With respect to human rights policy commitments, Alpiq respects and upholds human rights in all aspects of its operations and always complies with the applicable labour laws where people are employed. In the absence of national legislation, Alpiq applies international standards such as the conventions of the International Labour Organization.

In order to monitor compliance with human rights commitments, Alpiq operates the “Speak up! Line” in compliance with the EU DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of European Union law. Alpiq wants all employees to feel free to report issues openly and ensures that employees who raise a concern in good faith do not suffer any disadvantage as a result. All Alpiq employees have access to the “Speak up! Line” and can report identified company-related irregularities and/or misconduct.

Alpiq has a non-tolerance approach towards the violation of human rights. In case of human rights impacts due to misconduct by an employee or manager, Alpiq conducts a thorough impartial investigation (led by Compliance) to define the most appropriate consequence, depending on the results of the investigation. The consequences can range from measures to mitigate and eradicate this misconduct to the termination of the contractual relationship with the perpetrator.

In alignment with internationally recognised standards, Alpiq also adheres to the OECD Guidelines for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct as well as to the International Labour Organization Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, which include the prohibition of forced and child labour, the prohibition of discrimination in employment and occupation, and the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

To foster the prevention of workplace accidents, Alpiq has had a Group Health & Safety Policy in place since January 2021. Outside Switzerland, all employees working in power plants, as well as office-based workers in Italy, Spain and Hungary, are covered by occupational health and safety (OHS) management systems certifying the local Alpiq subsidiaries according to ISO 45001.

Alpiq’s Code of Conduct aims to eliminate harassment and discrimination, while promoting equal opportunities as well as diversity of inclusion. The Alpiq Code of Conduct states that employment-related decisions must be based on merit, without regard to a (potential) employee’s race, nationality, ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, martial or family status, disability or other characteristics protected by law. To advance diversity of inclusion, Alpiq is committed to increasing the female presence in leadership positions, with a target of 35% of female employees in top management by 2030. The company’s people success (talent review) process aims to increase the visibility of female talents inside the company and focuses on creating deve­lopment plans for those talents, in order to support the internal pipeline for the succession of key roles. Furthermore, Alpiq is a member of Advance and collaborates with other institutions focused on female professional development (e.g. Girls Getting Started in Switzerland).

To allow for active engagement with the workforce, Alpiq has a body of workers’ representatives with whom the company conducts continuous dialogue and feedback exchange on its strategy and workforce needs in all applicable countries.

The type and frequency of Alpiq’s engagement with its workforce depends on the country. For instance, in Switzerland the PEKO/COPE attends the EB meeting twice a year, while there is a continuous exchange with the Head of Group HR. In other countries, such as Spain, Germany or France, the Work Council is involved in any important decision affecting the workforce and in the consequent nego­tiation with company representatives (led by HR).

Moreover, the company organises several Alpiq Insight sessions per year to inform the workforce about the progress on company strategy and related measures affecting both business and people.

Communication between the workforce and the company takes place mainly through the workforce’s representative bodies. All country-related matters are to be discussed between the local Work Council and local HR. In Switzerland, where Alpiq’s headquarters is located, the Head of Group HR has the operational responsibility to engage with the PEKO/COPE. Any country-related matter that cannot be clarified between the local Work Council and local HR shall be escalated to the Head of Group HR.

Alpiq assesses the effectiveness of its engagement with its own workforce through a survey conducted two times a year, which includes questions regarding the communication flow between the company and its employees.

To gain further insights into the perspective of people in its own workforce, a special task force will be developed in 2025. The taskforce is based on a grassroots movement led by employees (both women and their allies) and will address problems and issues that women face in their professional lives that hinder their development and professional growth. After a first analysis phase to identify, propose and implement necessary measures, the goal for this taskforce is to become an employee resource group (ERG). While the focus in 2025 will be on women and cultural diversity, further topics are planned to be addressed from 2026.

To provide or contribute to remedy in the case of material negative impacts on people in its workforce, Alpiq operates the “Speak up! Line” in compliance with the EU DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of European Union law, as previously mentioned. It is Alpiq’s aim that all employees feel free to report issues openly and to ensure that employees who raise a concern in good faith do not suffer any disadvantage as a result. The “Speak up! Line” enables Alpiq employees to report issues such as harassment and discrimination, but also other potential violations of the Code of Conduct.

In case of breach of the Code of Conduct, Compliance will investigate the case. If HR receives a complaint from an employee or detects potential misbehaviour, but there is no obvious breach of the Code of Conduct, a process is started to clarify the situation with the line manager of the employee who has potentially misbehaved. If this clarification is not satisfactory, Alpiq’s internal network of coaches will act as mediator. If misbehaviour is detected, the employee that showed misbehaviour will be included in a performance improvement plan or, depending on the severity of the case, directly dismissed.

Planned actions to manage material IROs related to Alpiq’s own workforce include the following:

• Preparing for compliance with the EU Pay Transparency Directive
• Defining Alpiq’s mobility framework
• Developing an Inclusion of Diversity roadmap
• Reviewing talent pipelines from a gender perspective
• Investigating technological possibilities to improve collaboration
• Offering modern and flexible working models
• Integrating external service providers as a guarantee of employee engagement (e.g. Great Place to Work)
• Gathering regular employee feedback
• Providing Secure Base Leadership training
• Implementing a graduate programme
• Improving leadership qualities for Alpiq managers by offering specific trainings, 360-degree evaluations and coaching
• Increasing employer branding activities, along with a new employee value proposition and Alpiq’s candidate, employee and alumnus journeys

Several actions to mitigate material negative impacts and deliver positive impacts on Alpiq’s own workforce have already been taken, including the following:

• Reduction of meeting times, by working with shorter default meeting slots in Outlook and allowing for short breaks between meetings
• Roll-out of graduate programmes to ensure greater diversity in teams by including younger generations
• Establishing a common understanding, framework and wording for leadership-related situations, by running several training cohorts in Secure Base Leadership at IMD
• Establishing an internal coaching network, based on the Secure Base Leadership principles, which will collaborate with HR to act as an internal advisor to employees and allow Alpiq to collect first-hand inputs from its workforce

Alpiq’s actions to manage business pressures without compromising employee wellbeing also include hiring temporary staff to fill critical resource gaps.

The effectiveness of the actions taken is tracked and assessed through the yearly employee surveys. After conducting these surveys, the results are analysed, and a new action plan is created based on the outcome of the analysis.

In order to mitigate material risks arising from workforce impacts, Alpiq is collaborating with Great Place to Work to evaluate its situation not only from an internal perspective, but also against an external benchmark. This allows Alpiq to gain a comprehensive understanding of its situation and helps to prioritise potential actions for improvement. Following a 68% participation rate in the survey conducted in November 2024, Alpiq has achieved the Great Place To Work certification for 2025 in all its countries. The company also recorded its highest-ever Net Promoter Score (NPS), increasing from +1 in 2022 to +42. The survey results highlight strengths in fairness, camaraderie, pride and safety, while areas for improvement include meeting culture, clarity of vision and development

Furthermore, a Global HR Information System will be implemented in 2025 containing employee data, which will allow Alpiq to have an accurate and up-to-date picture of the workforce.

Alpiq protects employees by using their data responsibly. Data stored due to its relevance for decision-making (e.g. for performance evaluation or identification of areas of improvement) is protected from misuse by centralising it in a global system (currently in place for data in Switzerland and the Czech Republic) or in the HR department. The Global HR Information System that will be implemented in 2025 will further improve data protection.

Responsibilities for the management of material IROs are spread over many different people in HR. In particular, the Centres of Excellence “Talent Experience and Development” and “Organisational Development” allocate resources to the management of Alpiq’s material impacts.

Alpiq’s organisational targets are set between the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter, always in alignment with the budget and the medium-term strategic direction. These targets are presented to and approved by the EB and serve as a basis for creating the Alpiq value chain targets as well as the EB members’ own goals. Once this process is concluded, the organisational and value chain targets are communicated to the whole organisation, to ensure that alignment occurs at division and team levels by establishing goals that support the overall targets.

The organisational value chain and EB targets are constantly monitored and the NRSC is informed of the progress. As part of the continuous progress monitoring, potential shortfalls or needs for improvement are identified and tackled in a timely manner, either by adjusting the strategy to environmental circumstances or by putting in place the necessary actions.

The following chapter discloses figures that provide some insights into the characteristics of Alpiq employees. These figures do not include employees of P2X Solutions, Entegra Wasserkraft AG and Isento Wasserkraft AG, which are fully-consolidated entities, but whose employees do not have an Alpiq contract and are therefore not counted as own employees. The total headcount of 1385 employees corresponds to 1326 FTEs. The FTE figure reported in the Financial Statement differs because it includes employees that do not have an Alpiq contract but work in the fully-consolidated entities mentioned above.

The following table and chart show Alpiq’s employee headcount by gender and year:

The following table shows the employee headcount in countries where the undertaking has at least 50 employees representing at least 10% of its total number of employees (in 2024):

The following table shows information on employees by contract type, broken down by gender (for the year 2024):

Finally, the last table in this chapter shows the total number of employees who left the company during the reporting period (the year 2024) and the rate of employee turnover (= employees who left divided by the total number of employees at 31 December 2024) for this same period:

It was decided to also disclose the characteristics of P2X employees on a voluntary basis (not required by CSRD). P2X Solutions has a total of 18 employees (11 male and 7 female), all based in Finland. Seventeen of these employees are permanent employees, and there is one temporary employee.

The global share of Alpiq employees covered by workers’ representatives is 51%. This share includes countries that have at least 50 employees and represent at least 10% of the company’s total employees.

Alpiq has local Work Councils but no European Work Councils (EWCs) or European Company Work Councils (SE-WCs) as the overall number of employees based in EU countries is less than 1,000.

Alpiq has set the goal to have a share of 35% women in top management by 2030.

In 2024, Alpiq had 21% women in top management, compared to 18% in 2022 and 25% in 2023. The reason for the decline of this share in 2024 is that Alpiq changed the base population used to calculate the female representation in top management:

• 2023 report: EB and EB-1 (32 employees)
• 2024 report: EB and Job Grade 10 (75 employees)

The new and larger pool of employees used as the base for the calculation reflects those employees holding strategic positions and decision-making roles that influence the direction of Alpiq much better. Alpiq thereby takes a full commitment to enable the development of female leaders from an early stage. Whilst the current percentage of 21% women in top management is not yet at the level Alpiq aims for, measures and strategies are being developed internally to increase this share.

The following table shows the distribution of Alpiq employees by age group:

It was decided to also disclose diversity metrics of P2X Solutions on a voluntary basis (not required by CSRD). P2X Solutions has four men and two women in top management, thus a top management gender distribution of 66.7% male and 33.3% female.

The age distribution of P2X employees is as follows:

• Under 30 years: 1 employee (5.6%)
• 30 to 50 years: 14 employees (77.8%)
• Over 50 years: 3 employees (16.7%)

As part of its social protection measures, Alpiq protects its employees in case of injury. In Switzerland, accident insurance is compulsory and regulated by the Federal Law on Accident Insurance (UVG). Accident insurance protects Swiss employees from the financial consequences of occupational accidents, non-occupational accidents and occupational diseases. Article 66 of the UVG describes that for certain companies, especially those with higher risk potential (including industrial companies), employees must be insured with SUVA. Alpiq has the SUVA accident insurance for all Swiss employees, as well as an additional accident insurance with AXA that gives employees access to private insurance benefits in case of hospitalisation due to an accident.

In other countries, employees are covered by social protection against loss of income due to injury and acquired disability according to local regulation.

Another important aspect of social security is the protection against loss of income due to parental leave. Alpiq aims to meet or exceed local norms for maternity, paternity and other types of parental leaves. Across Alpiq’s European operations, practice varies in line with local requirements and norms.

In Switzerland, after the birth of a child, the mother is entitled to be paid maternity leave of 14 weeks (98 days) and the father to two weeks’ (10 days) paid paternity leave. Mothers on maternity leave are not allowed to work unless they voluntarily decide to return to work after the first eight weeks. Paternity leave can be taken within six months of the birth of the child. Alpiq pays 100% of the maternity and paternity allowance, while 80% of the allowance is reimbursed to Alpiq by “Ausgleichskasse Schweizerischer Elektrizitätswerke” (AKEW). The additional 20% is covered by Alpiq itself.

In Spain, mothers and fathers are both protected during 16 weeks after the birth of a child. During these 16 weeks, the government covers 100% of the social security contribution base. If the salary of the employee is higher than this base, Alpiq Spain covers the rest in order to esure a combined salary coverage of 100%. Mothers and fathers can ask for extra leave without salary until the baby reaches the age of one year, with a guarantee that their positions in the company are kept. An extension beyond the baby’s first birthday is also possible, but in this case Alpiq does not guarantee that the employee’s position will be kept.

In France, the standard maternity leave is 16 weeks and maternity leave is paid. The social security system covers the mother’s salary during maternity leave up to a certain limit, and Alpiq France covers the difference between this limit and the mother’s actual salary. Standard paternity leave in France is 25 days This is also covered by social security up to a defined limit, while Alpiq France covers the difference between this limit and the employee’s salary. If the mother gives birth to more than one child, the maternity and paternity leaves are extended.

The percentage of Alpiq employees who participated in career development reviews (called “People Success”) in 2024 is 89.9%, with 70.4% of participants being male and 29.6% being female employees.

The total average number of recorded training hours per employee was 16.3 hours, with a gender split of 55% male and 45% female recorded training participants.

The above figures do not include P2X Solutions. At P2X Solutions, each employee received one business day of training by calendar month on average.

Twenty-five percent of Alpiq employees are covered by a health and safety management system (in Switzerland, this is either ISO 45.001 or EKAS). As for Alpiq employees with an asset risk profile, i.e. employees who work in power plants and therefore have a higher risk exposure than office-based staff, 96% are covered by a health and safety management system (ISO 45.001 or EKAS in Switzerland).

There have been zero fatalities, and zero work-related ill-health was recorded for Alpiq employees in 2024. However, there have been three reported work-related accidents among Alpiq employees in 2024, namely one minor finger cut as well as two slips and falls. The Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR) of Alpiq employees is 1.2 based on 1,000,000 hours worked. The number of recordable work-related injuries of workers who are not employees but whose work and/or workplace is controlled by Alpiq amounts to two (both minor slips on asset construction sites).