Con Edison recognizes that one of our most important resources is our people. We work hard to promote inclusion, ensuring that our employees represent the full vitality of the area we serve. Con Edison’s corporate culture is built around a strong commitment to ethical business practices. We look to attract and retain our talented workforce through a competitive employee compensation program consisting of fair wages, augmented by a comprehensive benefits program.
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 2014, 28 percent of our workforce is 35 years of age or younger. More significantly, 48 percent of our workforce has 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 46 classrooms, 31 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 2014, employees spent 505,000 hours doing instructor-led skills-based and leadership training at the Learning Center. Additionally, employees spent over 100,000 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 2014, our employees logged 216,000 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 2014, 139 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 2014, 515 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 effectively use 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.
Con Edison is one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. We provide a wide range of energy-related products and services to our customers through two regulated utilities and our competitive energy businesses:
As noted in its financial annual report, Con Edison had 14,601 employees in 2014. Of these employees, 46 percent are minorities and 20 percent are women. In 2014, minority representation increased from 45 to 46 percent, and the percentage of women remained steady at 20 percent. Of the 846 employees hired in 2014, 51 percent were minorities and 28 percent were women. Minorities accounted for 48 percent of all promotions in 2014. Twenty-four percent of promotions were earned by women.
Of the total women promoted, 68 percent were minorities. The percentage of minorities in officer positions increased from 26 to 32 in 2014, and women made up 25 percent of positions in officer positions.
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.:
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 2014 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.
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.
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 that included: leadership interviews, focus groups, and surveys to find out our management employees preferences for their benefits programs. The ensuing changes implemented as a result of this employee feedback 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.
To promote good health and wellness, the Company offers monetary incentives to union and management employees enrolled in a Cigna plan for completing a basic medical screening and/or health assessment (if applicable). Employees may also qualify for additional incentives if their spouse, also enrolled in a Cigna plan, completes a basic medical screening and/or health assessment (if applicable).
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.
