Aqualia’s professionals
With 7,952 employees world wide, Aqualia continues to grow and consolidate itself as one of the leading companies in the ambit of the management of the integrated water cycle thanks to a staff of professionals who are committed to their work.
Commitment to equality and diversity
Equality between men and women in access to employment and to opportunities relating to the development of their professional careers is a fundamental principle in Aqualia, which continuously works to give visibility to the talent of the women working in the company.
Aqualia’s work in this matter hinges around the second Equality Plan for 2015 – 2018, approved jointly with representatives of the major trade unions nationally and that includes specific measures to fight against inequality for reasons of gender. For the third consecutive year, these measures have been distributed to the entire staff through the training in equal opportunities included in the employees’ training sessions.
(19) In 2017, Aqualia will start the procedures for renewing the "Distinction for equality in the company" for three years.
Aqualia is also a leader in equality for other organisations and actively participates in forums and initiatives to debate and share its experiences of the challenges and opportunities that arise in the company when implementing and developing equality policies.
Notable in 2016 was the company's participation in the "Towards gender balance in the management of companies: opportunities and challenges" seminars held and organised by the Secretary of State for Social Services of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, EEA Grants(20) and the initiative "More women, better companies" for the adoption of measures that increase the presence of women in premanagement, management and management committee posts.
Aqualia has also undertaken awareness campaigns that go beyond the employment ambit for International Women's Day, the fight against breast cancer and gender violence.
Empowering female talent
Women represent only 19.7% of the workforce in the water sector(21). In Aqualia, this figure rose to 28% of the staff in 2016, six percentage points more than the previous year (22% in 2015).
Traditionally, women –because they joined the employment market later– have represented a lower proportion of workers in companies, especially in some sectors such as water management.
In 2016 there was a notable increase in women in management posts compared to the previous year.
(20) Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Space with the participation
of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
(21) Inter-American Development Bank, 2016. Infographics: Does water have
gender? Home surveys – most recent available data for 17 countries.
(22) The number of employees in Spain has been taken into account in calculating
the percentage of women.
Aqualia’s strategy seeks to balance the number of women in the organisation and reduce gender inequalities, especially in access to posts of responsibility within the company, through a programme to develop women by reinforcing their presence, visibility and participation in the company's organisation.
Aqualia also takes part in other external initiatives designed to promote the number of women in management posts such as the development programme for management of women with high potential in the EOI (Industrial Organisation School) in which two women from the company took part this year.
Zero tolerance for gender violence
Aqualia undertakes an important work every year to end gender violence through the publication, start-up and participation in various awareness campaigns to mobilise employees and the public.
Diversity and social inclusion
In the ambit of diversity, Aqualia works for the social and employment inclusion of the disabled and other vulnerable groups, contributing to normalise their situation, improve the group’s employability and enrich the working environment.
Aqualia with the best talent
The professional development of employees is a priority aspect for Aqualia, reinforced in 2016 with a substantial increase in the number of training classes and of the hours of training received per worker compared to 2015.
Aqualia's objectives regarding the training discipline of its employees are fully aligned with the company's strategic objectives, focused on improving the workers’ productivity and occupational health and safety.
In addition, the current map of posts and functions was enlarged and consolidated in 2016, standardising and extending it to identify and frame all current personnel in the company with greater functional effectiveness, involving an improvement in existing information and a better analysis of the current personnel in the area.
Main training figures in 2016(23)
In 2016, 59% of the employees of Aqualia were given training. By gender, among the employees who receive training, 57% were men compared to 66% for women.
(23) Spain scope. Including training data for expatriate personnel and persons in the Las Tablas International office.
The company's specific training programme is focused on the continuous strengthening of occupational health and safety and the specialisation of technical training in the water sector.
Aqualia also works to develop training maps for specific and critical groups in the organisation such as the heads of service, laboratory personnel and customer service.
The assessment of the effectiveness of the training courses on the control groups in 2016 reached a general average of around seven points out of a total qualification of 10, which will serve to identify new training needs in the training catalogue for 2017.
Young talent. Collaboration with academic institutions to train young professionals
Every year, Aqualia collaborates with universities, business schools and other institutions to support employment insertion and for students and recently graduated young persons to undertake internships in the company.
The company maintained 27 active collaboration agreements with public and private universities and two agreements with business schools in 2016.
The University of Oviedo, with which Aqualia collaborates in the international master course on "Operation and Maintenance of Water Treatment Plants” in the university, recognised the support of Aqualia in the practical training of students and graduates in 2016.
Aqualia and the Industrial Organisation School (EOI) signed an agreement in 2016 for collaboration to train professionals in the Water Engineering and Management master course given by the public state foundation. This agreement will allow the company to participate in the process of training those who will be leaders in the sector in future years as well as spreading its vision of the management of the integrated water cycle as a fundamental element for the development of societies and key for the backbone of modern societies.
Another of the activities to promote the integration of young people in the employment market was the participation in 2016 in Company Day in the EOI(24), advising students who have terminated their postgraduate master on questions relating to the professional environment in a first contact with the water management sector.
Within the framework of the Dual Alliance for Professional Training(25), Aqualia signed new agreements in 2016 – adding to that signed in 2015 with the Instituto Pere Martell in Tarragona – to promote, drive and develop professional education in Spain. In total, there are already nine collaboration agreements with professional training institutes and one with professional associations.
(24) Industrial Organisation School.
(25) State network of institutions and companies committed to the development of
quality duel professional training in Spain.
Prevention culture in occupational health and safety
Sensitising and raising awareness from the prevention perspective is an essential question to guarantee a safe and healthy working environment for the workers.
Although the recent development of the indicators is not positive, two questions must be taken into account. Firstly, that the company's accident rates are significantly lower than the average results for the second sector and, secondly, that the development of the ratios maintains an evolution that is similar to the national trend.
For a further year, the company has renewed its certification for its occupational health and safety management system according to the OHSAS 18001 standard – globally, nationally and internationally – and has started the necessary work for the transition during the next year to the new standard which will replace the current certification and will give the system a more integral vision of the management with a focus on prevention.
Focus on prevention management
Aqualia has continued to progress during the year in the effective application of the focus on prevention management in health and safety within the starting of a Web portal(26) that improves the obtaining of information at the contracts level and is an effective management tool for controlling and monitoring.
Compared to previous years, Aqualia has maintained its programme of visits to contractors with a high accident rate and the visits undertaken in 2016 gave rise to the preparation of specific programmes for improvement in 21 selected contractors throughout the country.
In addition, new measures were implemented in 2016, included in the Prevention Culture Improvement Action Plan, that strengthen the work of raising the individual and group awareness of employees regarding the guidelines for safe work in any circumstance.
(26) Associated with the occupational risks prevention management computer system designed in 2015.
Work also continued during 2016 on the development in the Aqualia occupational health system in which representatives of the major trade unions and company management collaborate to improve safety conditions through dialogue and the design of best practices at the global level.
Road safety
Prevention in the ambit of road safety and the promotion of safe driving is also an essential question to improve the quality of occupational safety in the company. Progress in the framework of the Aqualia road safety campaign in 2006 included:
- A new health and safety policy was signed that reaffirms the company's commitment to road safety.
- Work was also undertaken on compiling information on traffic accidents to assess the incidence indices.
- A sworn declaration was requested on the workers’ driving capacity, especially regarding the points maintained on the driving licence.
Healthy Company
The Healthy Company programme encourages employment well-being by promoting physical activity and sport, healthy food and habits and collaboration with the community.
The management unit in Lerida was the first work centre to start the initiative, joined in by all the workers, offering incentives and activities proposed by the employees themselves to live a healthier life, such as special prices in the gymnasium, nutritional advice and the distribution of fruit in the work place, organisation of group activities and sports competitions, among others.
Aqualia started the assessment of the workers’ psycho-social risks in 2016
The objective is to progress and to continue deepening on questions surrounding the concept of occupational health and to detect prematurely the most frequent health problems among the workers and then to define specific measures that contribute to improving the results.
The actions carried out in 2016 before the start of the risk analysis included:
- Definition of the assessment method to be used.
- Undertaking of a study to determine the "analysis units," allowing the diagnosis surveys to be managed with greater effectiveness.
- Awareness workshop for 20 persons in which prevention technicians, human resource managers and workers’ representatives took part.
Aqualia: an example of occupational health and safety
Every year, Aqualia takes part in forums and meetings, together with other leading institutions, to discuss best practices carried out in the company within the ambit of the prevention of occupational risks.
Notable in 2016 was the participation in the Foro Altanto 2016 and in the Third Prevention Culture Meeting, organised by the Andalusian Institute for Prevention Culture (IAPRL) and the obtaining of recognition for its work in the workers’ health and safety.
