At our recent Navigating HR Challenges for the Energy Transition event in Edinburgh, hosted with our legal partners Pinsent Masons, renewables HR leaders gathered to discuss key themes including employee engagement, workforce planning, and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Read on to find out more about the key discussion points on the day.

Employee engagement: a strategic approach

Julia Chalmers, Head of Employee Engagement at SSE Renewables, emphasises the importance of strategic engagement. “When we’re measuring employee engagement,” says Julia, “we look at three core strands to give us a full picture about why anyone would call us a good or a great place to work.”

This approach starts with strategic engagement which, for Julia, is all about giving people a sense of purpose: “do people feel like they’re part of something? Do they feel like they’re contributing to something worthwhile?”

Julia’s insights highlight how important it is that employees trust senior leaders, and that the organisation’s strategy is clear and communicated well. “The big hitting item there is: do they trust the senior leaders and the people who are taking us in that direction? If they have faith in that senior leader population, then typically they’ll have a better understanding and more trust in the strategy of the organisation.”

Next up, cultural engagement is about how it feels to work at the company: “we ask a lot of questions about what we believe are the questions of our culture. So from an SSE perspective that’s safety, inclusion, and ethics: doing the right thing, and decision-making.”

“So we ask lots of questions about standards that we expect from a safe, inclusive and ethical organisation. And lots of questions about behaviours. Do we set the right standards, and do we accept the right behaviours. And that gives us a really full picture of how it feels to work in our organisation.”

The last part, ways of working, focuses on practical, day-to-day operations: “do you feel like we are making it easy for you to be successful, or do you feel like it’s a difficult thing to be successful at our company?”

“We ask about wellbeing, workload, and questions around work-life balance and stress. We ask about your relationship with your line manager, and if that’s strong, and you’re having the right conversations and feeling supported. And then we ask a lot of questions about your team: is it set up for success, can you collaborate?”

Julia’s comprehensive approach to employee engagement provides a full picture of where the organisation stands and where improvements are needed.

Julia also emphasises the importance of industry-wide collaboration. “It’s important for the full industry to be looking at this and to be understanding the questions of engagement that helps us to be an industry. It helps us to work together,” she says.

Her key takeaway for HR professionals is to “pull on lots of data sources” to get a complete picture of employee engagement.

“Employee listening is really, really important – but how people feel about a certain aspect of their employee experience is not always the same as how it plays out in other numbers,” says Julia. “So yes, absolutely core to employee engagement is employee listening, but look at other types of data you have. Are things influenced by how many people have shares in your company? Are things influenced by the amount of people who’ve been recognised in the last 12 months? Do people who’s been promoted feel more strongly about your organisation than those who haven’t?”

“I always think it’s better to pull together your employee listening data, which is absolutely important, but it doesn’t give you all the information that you need, and you need to look at other data sources so that you get a really full picture of what the levers are, and what’s driving engagement in your organisation.”

Diversity, equity, and inclusion: a driver for a high-performance culture

Kieron O’Reilly, Senior Consultant at Brook Graham, spoke about the critical role of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the renewables sector. “We’ve got a bit of a challenge when it comes to talent attraction, and that’s where DEI can be quite strong,” he says.

“The challenge here is attracting and retaining this diverse talent,” adds Kieron, emphasising the importance of bringing together a multi-generational workforce with a range of skills and innovation.

“Now, if we look at the purposes of attracting talent, nurturing DEI is a way of doing it. So rather than focusing on the subject or concept of DEI, what’s really important is that we just look at what it delivers. And it really is a very strong way of bringing together a diverse range of people, finding ways to attract them, retain them, and to create a high-performance culture. I mentioned the different generations working, but we’ve also got so much knowledge and experience coming into the industry from other parts of the energy sector, which is vital.”

“We’ve also got new technologies. We’ve got younger people coming in with new ideas. These need to be melded together. And I think the work around DEI is something that allows those teams to come together and to be high-performing, and that’s where the impact is. So I’d be looking at the impact of the work around DEI, rather than the language of it.”

Kieron also highlights the need to focus on the impact of DEI initiatives in the current political climate: “anything you design, look at the impact. And if it gives value at three levels… the actions that you take… are going to be of high value and worth something to the company in the short and long term,” he says.

“In the news at the moment, it seems to be every day, doesn’t it,” says Kieron, on the current rolling-back of DEI initiatives more broadly. “There’s always something quite strong that’s pushing back on it. But if we actually sit back for a moment, have a look at the purpose of diversity, equality and inclusion: the intention was always to use it as a concept, which then became a tool, to strategise how we can attract and retain the best talent.”

Workforce planning: balancing office and field

Victoria Gilbert, People and Organisational Development Director at Swire Renewable Energy, discussed the complexities of workforce planning. “I see the bigger challenges found in the field, with technicians having the right people in the right place at the right time,” explains Victoria. She stresses the importance of ensuring that field personnel have the right skills, qualifications, and safety focus.

For office roles, Victoria highlights the need to be in the right place to attract talent. “Making sure we’re situated in the right areas to develop the right skills and attract the right people is crucial,” she notes.

Her key takeaway from the event is about the importance of networking and collaboration “Keep talking. And listening,” says Victoria. “In this industry, sometimes we get focused on what we know, versus what other people can bring to the table. These networking events for us are very valuable to just broaden our horizons a little bit.”

Victoria also appreciates the diverse perspectives shared at the event. “Having the people from different backgrounds, different environments – obviously all from an HR, people focused area, but everybody’s business is very different. So us being an independent service provider, we have different challenges versus those that are owner/operators.”

Our second Navigating HR Challenges for the Energy Transition event in Edinburgh brought together people leaders to discuss critical issues facing the renewables industry. From employee engagement to DEI and workforce planning, the insights shared at the event underscore the importance of addressing these challenges for the continued success of the sector. As HR professionals navigate these challenges, ongoing dialogue and collaboration is key to fostering an engaged, resilient, and inclusive workforce.