Employees

Training

Our current workforce has a median age of 43, and in the last 10 years has become younger, with a more equal distribution of employees over the various age spans. As of 2013, 33 percent of our workforce is 35 years of age or younger. More significantly, 49 percent of our workforce has less than 10 years of service or less. Much of our training and development programs address those employees who are within the first 10 years of service with us. In order to develop our changing workforce the company offers numerous ways for employees to develop their careers, both in the classroom, and on-the-job.

The Learning Center is Con Edison’s training, meeting, and conference center in Long Island City, New York. The facility has 35 classrooms, 39 laboratories, a library, auditorium, and cafeteria. The Learning Center offers more than 800 classes, covering technical courses, as well as skills enhancement and leadership development for Con Edison of New York and Orange and Rockland employees. In 2013, employees spent 565,000 hours doing instructor-led skills-based and leadership training at the Learning Center. Additionally, employees spent 145,000 hours doing eLearning on such topics as Enhancing Customer Relations, Standards of Business Conduct and Safety and Environment training. Many employees participated in multiple training courses. The Learning Center also coordinates periodic Technically Speaking Seminars and Strategic Issues Seminars which are designed to allow employees to learn more about what goes on around the Company and industry related issues. Employees who attend Technically Speaking Seminars are eligible to receive Continuing Education Units (CEUs) through the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

We recognize that training can’t just happen at the Learning Center- some skills must be learned and refreshed on the job. Our Documented On-the-Job Training (DOJT) can be conducted at a workout location, yard, or jobsite. In 2013, our employees logged 212,000 hours of DOJT.

The company also offers three levels of mentoring programs – corporate, executive, and women-in-non-traditional-careers. These programs are designed to allow employees to share knowledge, and to foster career development at all levels of the company. In 2013, 112 employees took part in the mentorship program.

The company offers employees the benefit of a tuition-aid reimbursement program, allowing them to develop their skills in an academic setting. Employees qualify for up to 100-percent reimbursement of tuition costs after successfully completing a degree in a field related to the work of Con Edison. In 2013, 509 employees took advantage of tuition aid as they worked towards advanced degrees.

Finally, the Career Center is an online site that provides employees the resources to achieve personal and professional success through Career Development. The site is designed to help employees learn how best to play to their strengths, how and when to network, and how to set short- and long-term career goals. In 2013, the first ever Talent Management Course Catalogue was released on the Career Center site. Designed to provide employees with key information about courses and programs that are available to help strengthen leadership and management skills, 34 courses, 12 programs, five workshops, five seminars, and four assessments are detailed as learning opportunities. This tool will be critical for employees to help themselves in their career development journey.

Diversity

We are committed to making every voice heard and fostering an inclusive workplace for our employees to realize their full potential. Diversity at all levels of the company helps us see and understand the needs of our customers, the communities we serve, and the employees we work hard to recruit, develop, and retain.

Valuing diversity and inclusion is not only the right thing to do, it is vital to our success in delivering energy products and services to our customers safely, reliably, efficiently, and in an environmentally sound manner. As our customers, the communities we serve, and our employees continue to change, so do we.

In 2013, Con Edison employed 14,653 people, of whom 45 percent are minorities and 20 percent are women. Con Edison hired 911 employees in 2013. Of these, 54 percent were minorities and 36 percent were women. Minorities earned 50 percent of promotions, and women earned 18 percent of promotions. Of the total women promoted, 68 percent were minorities. The percentage of minorities in upper-management positions increased from 25 in 2012, to 26 in 2013. The percentage of women in band-4 and above positions is 29 percent. For more information on these and the other activities that support the diversity of our workforce, please visit the company’s 2013 Diversity Annual Report.

Diversity is a part of our recruitment strategy – the company uses a portfolio of Internet resources, job fairs, partnerships, search firms, and its internship programs to find the right employees to join our company. Once hired, they have access to a number of employee organizations including Women in the Field, LGBT Pride, and Moms ON IT, groups which have been designed to promote inclusion and a safe place to share experiences and advice.

For more information on these and the other activities that support the diversity of our workforce, please visit the company’s 2013 Diversity Annual Report.

Corporate Culture

A company-wide Voice of the Employee survey for Con Edison of New York and Orange and Rockland employees allowed the company to identify three areas as cultural imperatives at Con Edison, Inc.:

• Openness, fairness, and trust
• Cost consciousness
• Enhancing stakeholder relationships

As the company strives to change our culture, our leadership is making significant efforts to address these three cultural imperatives. Every month, the Corporate Leadership Team meets for a full day to discuss the evolution of our culture change. A significant focus of 2013 was the integration of the business case and change management into “people systems.” For every change to programs or plans that in some way impacts our employees, leadership took special note to communicate the ”why,” or business case, behind those changes. We strive to develop messages that are clear, include facts, and reach hearts.

While we continue to work on these areas from the top-down, 2013 saw the development of grassroots efforts at the organizational level as well. One example was the development of a culture team in EH&S. This team, with representatives of all levels from each of its five departments, met bi-weekly to discuss culture and identify activities that could improve overall morale and move the department in a positive direction. Results included the establishment of career development seminars for the EH&S organization, a review of the department’s work-life balance guidelines, and an increase in networking opportunities. The team is looking forward to progressing more in 2014 with the development of an EH&S culture survey and focus groups.

Our Central Operations group has also exemplified what it means to evolve our culture. They’ve established “Excellence Teams” which are teams that cut across Central Operations’ organizations to drive performance in particular areas of focus. In 2013, there were nine Central Operations Excellence Teams which included teams looking at safety, improving union/management relations, and enhancing the customer experience. This program continues to evolve and will certainly achieve continued success in 2014.

We will continue to strive to be open, fair, trusted, and trusting, in all our relationships, both externally and internally. The company’s efforts focus on identifying observable behaviors, recognizing how perceptions become realities and how culture change can only happen as assumptions, mindsets, and ultimately, behaviors change. Changing culture is also about cascading new behaviors down throughout the company. This change will take time because behaviors are well-rooted but we will be diligent and persistent in working to bring about this change throughout all levels of our business.

Compensation and Benefits

Con Edison offers a competitive compensation and benefits program to attract and retain management and union employees. The wages and benefits of union personnel are negotiated with their respective labor unions Local 1-2, Utility Workers Union of America, and Local 3 and 503, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

In 2011, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation of our compensation and benefits programs for management employees which included: leadership interviews, focus groups, and surveys to find out our management employees preferences for their benefits programs. The ensuing changes, which went into effect in 2013, include everything employees perceive to be of value resulting from the employment relationship including compensation, paid holidays, vacation, sick leave, long-term disability insurance, medical insurance, a prescription drug plan, vision care, dental plan, commuter transportation reimbursement accounts, health-care and dependent-care reimbursement accounts, group term life insurance, a stock purchase and 401(k) savings program with a company match, and retirement benefits.

The company also provides wellness programs that include annual flu vaccinations, a smoking cessation program, in-house counseling services for employees and family members with substance abuse problems, outside work-home wellness counseling for employees and their families, eldercare counseling and information services, life-planning seminars, and discounted admission to cultural institutions.