COVID-19 has posed a huge challenge for everyone, including our company, which has devoted all necessary resources into ensuring that our workforce was affected as little as possible by the consequences of the pandemic and by working remotely. We reduced staffing costs while also increasing the number of women on the workforce and increasing our investment in training, which exceeded €125,000. In total, our staff have received more than six thousand hours of training as part of around 45 initiatives.
3.1 MRG AND COVID-19
Once of the changes brought about by COVID-19 was our working model. And 2020 was no different from any other year in terms of our ongoing commitment to continue growing as a company. However, circumstances dealt us an infinitely greater challenge, slower progress and a great more many obstacles than expected. Faced with such a major challenge, everyone at MRG showed considerable capacity for resilience, adapting to a highly complex situation and knowing how to direct their efforts and objective to finding successful solutions.
Aware of the situation and with our staff as our priority, at MRG we devoted all necessary resources to ensure that our professionals were affected as little as possible.
Before declaring the state of alarm, all office staff were provided with the materials they would need to work remotely, and clear directives were given for the moment when staff could no longer come to their place of work, which finally occurred on 11 March. All Madrileña Red de Gas office staff had already been working from home for a few days at that point, still providing 24/24 emergency support. We shouldn’t forget that we were one of the first companies to take such a step, and because all staff had the right equipment to work from home, the process as it occurred was both natural and a success.
Working remotely was the best way to ensure the health of our employees and avoid the risk of infection, but we were also concerned about any possible psychological and/or physical consequences of the lockdown. To alleviate this, MRG provided a psychological support helpline, a home physiotherapy service and videos on physical exercise and food. All necessary office furniture was provided, having first been disinfected before being sent out, and staff were also provided with all necessary audiovisual equipment to carry out their work.
Offices were fitted with all appropriate prevention measures for 24/7 staff operating the emergency service, who needed to continue working at the MRG head office, ensuring at all times that visits could be made safely and without risk to workers.
At all times, Madrileña Red de Gas kept all workers regularly informed about the company situation and the measures being taken to ensure the health of our staff and the continuity of the business, including all information published by the various government bodies.
3.2 TEN YEARS OF MANAGING PEOPLE
In these ten years of life, Madrileña Red de Gas has gone from being a company that came about as the result of a division to having resources and a structure that are more efficient, versatile and customer-driven. We are an organisation that knows how to adapt to each new circumstance, shaping a workforce that is more agile, flexible, efficient, youthful and versatile. At the same time, we reduced staff costs, strengthened investment in training and, with new staff members (mostly women), brought in more experience and added further value to the company. In 2020 we achieved the highest proportion of graduates in the workforce, from 21% at the company’s origin to 43% today. The number of women on the MRG workforce has also grown, from 17% in 2010 to 34% today.
In 2020 the number of women on the MRG workforce grew from 17% in 2010 to 34% today
Madrileña Red de Gas continues to be committed to promoting internally, particularly in management, where 54% of staff members have progressed from within the company; 50% of these promotions are female directors, and 37% of this increase are female heads of department.
Moreover, the overall assessment of the company among employees improved by 21% in comparison with previous satisfaction surveys. Survey participation increased by 26%, and the average score given increased by 27%.
Another initiative implemented in 2020 included creating a processes and budgetary control sub-unit to manage the COVID-19 situation, which led to remote working for almost the entire workforce, responding and adapting to CNMC decisions, a commitment to customer-driven digitalisation, cybersecurity initiatives to combat fraud, setting up the processes analysis team and strengthening the legal service, risk management and IT units.
Madrileña Red de Gas continues to rejuvenate its workforce and we will continue to modernise and have a presence in cutting-edge markets within the energy efficiency sector, such as hydrogen and biomethane.
3.3 TRAINING DURING THE YEAR OF REMOTE WORKING
As with other areas of the company in 2020, training provision had to adapt to the circumstances caused by the pandemic and migrated in its entirety to the virtual domain.
With an investment of roughly €1,000 per employee, and around 48 hours of training per individual, we can be satisfied that in 2020 not only did we not stop receiving training, it became an important tool in the fight against the pandemic. We offered our staff training in COVID-19 prevention, aimed at gaining a better understanding of the virus and its risks, placing particular emphasis on what to do in the event of a possible return to the workplace, and of course everything to do with preventing work-related risks associated with working from home. In total, more than 600 hours of training were given.
Other training challenges in 2020, for which MRG devoted around a thousand hours of training, was the need to prepare managers and collaborators for a new working scenario that had forced people to work from home, without bosses or colleagues, or the right working environment, with the potential difficulties that this could entail. Having cohesive and coordinated teams is essential for any business, but in a context of remote working it becomes essential. That is why we thought it so important to train our collaborators in cooperation and working as a team. Having all teams working remotely also had an impact on management, which has had to adapt to new management models that can guarantee the activity as a whole, appropriately and efficiently. Training was needed that could facilitate best practice and the key elements to managing these teams remotely.
On the other hand, within the context of constant changes, it became essential to have proactive professionals with initiative, who know how to lead on changes so that it is not the changes themselves that are guiding our direction. To that end, we provided our employees with tools to help them in their role as leaders of change, training work groups that focused on projects aimed at putting this leadership into practice.
Obviously, work was also carried out during the year on these new ways for us to communicate: calls, video conferences, webinars, virtual presentations, etc.
All this training was a positive additional part of the ongoing training provided on issues of business, systems and languages. In figures, all the initiatives as a whole amount to almost six thousand hours of training, divided into 44 different training activities.
Madrileña Red de Gas also made sure to increase its investment in training. In 2020 the company allocated €127,000 to training, increasing the number of training hours taught by 50%. Compared with the company’s beginnings, when 65% of the workforce received training, today the figure for employee training is 100%.
Over the past ten years training in prevention has always been a priority, and 25% of the annual training programme is devoted to it.
MRG seeks to be at the forefront in new technologies, media and training channels, and we have incorporated a classroom into our offices fitted with all the technological means and conveniences so that our employees can receive most of their training without having to travel elsewhere. We have continued to make progress and have implemented new teaching methods, such as learning through video games and/or workshops aimed working on skills with different methods, helping to turn learning into a pleasant experience.
A decade of growth and learning
Madrileña Red de Gas turned ten years old in 2020. And despite it being the most unusual year we’ve been through, this didn’t stop us from celebrating. As we were unable to come together in the same place, various gifts were sent out to the entire workforce, and a short commemorative video was made.
We also wanted to organise a special event to celebrate the past ten years, during which time we have grown as a team and learned how to do better as a natural gas distributor. The event consisted of an online cooking class in which everyone took part, taught by Carlos Maldonado, winner of the third series of Masterchef in Spain, and who in December 2020 was awarded a Michelin star for his restaurant.
3.4 PREVENTION
There’s no doubt that 2020 will be remembered as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 13 March the Spanish Government declared a state of alarm to limit the spread of infection, which led to the entire population going into lockdown, with major changes in ways of working. A few days previously, on 9 March, Madrileña Red de Gas made the decision to instruct all its staff to work remotely, with the exception of emergency coordinators and operators working on emergencies and auxiliary installations. This meant we needed to focus almost all available resources on managing the various issues relating to COVID-19, with particular focus on preventing risks in the workplace.
MRG focused almost all available risk-prevention resources on managing the various issues relating to COVID-19
The contingency and business continuity plan for COVID-19 was defined and put into place. Implementing the plan effectively required an intensive approach to managing the various risk-prevention aspects related to the virus, such as defining criteria that can be applied to processes and activities, standardising and procuring protective equipment and materials, coordinating preventive activities, applying the protocols indicated by the Ministry of Health regarding contagions, and close contacts and interaction with work inspections.
In terms of self-protection and emergencies, actions that were implemented included revising the building’s safety plan and the safety plans for three LPG and five LNG plants. Additionally, the second management cycle was initiated for assets affected by the regulations established by Royal Decree 840/2015 Seveso III, which began with revising six interior emergency plans for LPG plants with storage capacity of more than 50 tonnes. Work also continued with new batches for testing explosive atmospheres in LPG storage centres. A new cycle was also implemented of regular visits by ADR advisors to affected installations, as well as operational prevention, environment and quality control visits in a broad range of our significant processes.
In 2020 an increase of accidents in the workplace was recorded compared with previous years. As a consequence of three accidents that entailed a leave of absence for workers, the frequency index rose to 11.21 points.