In the Workplace

Our goal is to provide employees with the opportunities, resources and environment to allow them to make an effective contribution to the business.

Our objective is to ensure that no employee or applicant for employment receives less or more favourable treatment. Our recruitment and selection policy is therefore based on objective criteria consistent with applicants' skills, abilities and potential. No applicants or employees will be unfairly discriminated against on grounds of criteria not relevant to the performance of the job.

We have adopted a number of objectives aimed at reducing staff turnover and absenteeism through offering secure jobs, job mobility and high quality social protection. All Veolia Water UK companies have introduced the personal development system to provide a more structured approach to employee learning and career development.

In 2008, over 2,800 Veolia Water UK employees received training (some employees were trained more than once). During the year, in addition to vocational and professional courses, training was provided on health and safety in practice, driving assessments, diversity at work, and stress management.

Training is provided by Campus Veolia Environnement in Staines; the Centre provides training for Veolia Environnement group businesses in the UK. Veolia Water Southeast staff regularly participate in environmental awareness and safety training as part of the company's maintenance of the environmental management standard ISO 14001.

The health and safety of our staff is paramount and we continually train and urge our staff about the need to work safely. Following a comprehensive review of our health and safety performance in 2008, and as part of Veolia Environnement's Year of Safety 2008, we set about changing our culture to one of "zero harm". We believe that we can be successful only if everything we do is achieved without harm to people, the environment or property. There were 23 reportable accidents in 2008, the same number as the previous year despite an increase in scope to include 625 additional Outsourcing employees. There were no fatalities.

At the suggestion of our Chairman, the Rt Hon John Gummer MP, a new Health & Safety award was created in 2008 to share good practice. The award is given to Veolia Water Outsourcing employees who exceed requirements for creating a safe environment at work. The award will be extended to all Veolia Wwater UK employees in 2009.

At Veolia Water, we are committed to ensuring our employees are healthy and happy at work. We also recognise that people lead busy lives and there is a growing demand on us all to meet responsibilities outside the workplace. With this in mind, we have expanded our flexible working policy to apply to all staff, not just those with children or carer responsibilities.

We continue to work positively and progressively with trade unions. We also consult our workforce annually for views on a range of company and personal issues. The response rate to the 2008 employee survey was 69%, an increase of 2% on the previous year. The overall score for staff satisfaction increased to 64% from 59% in 2007.