Starting in January 2020, country- and site-specific pandemic plans were enacted encompassing special access controls to ensure business continuity and special work arrangements, including work-from-home, flexible working hours and reduction of non-essential works. CLP provided necessary protective equipment to the workforce, increased deep cleaning and temperature testing at work sites, offered physical and mental health and wellbeing support and assistance to all employees, and also provided special leave for purposes of self-isolation, care and family reunion. Proactive communications with employees and their families continue.

The Company is pleased to advise that 2020 was the first year since 2015 that was fatality free for both employees and contractors. The teams have engaged widely with employees and contractors on innovative ways to promote and accelerate health and safety priorities, with a significant focus on high consequence, low probability events. Global history in high risk industries shows that as time passes after a catastrophic event, improvements in driving health and safety can dissipate. A chronic sense of unease is maintained in these high risk workplaces, knowing that complacency can creep into any work. Consequently, CLP is continuously looking for ways to energise and engage its teams on health and safety.

There is an observable improvement in several key measures when comparing the Group’s 2020 performance against 2019. The improving ‘lagging’ measures include: fatalities; overall lost-time injuries (LTI's); restricted work injuries (RWI's); medical treatment injuries (MTI's); and first aid injuries (FAI's). The most significant difference from 2019 to 2020 has been the reduction in injuries on major projects, noting there has also been a reduction in major project activity. This will be a focus as further major project activity ramps up in 2021.

Whilst CLP acknowledges what the Group has achieved, it is not nearly enough. The Company has more work to do to reduce the potential for serious harm within its work.

CASE STUDY

Recognition of CLP China’s support to employees during COVID-19

In 2020, the impacts of COVID-19 were felt across the world. CLP China introduced a comprehensive range of measures to safeguard the wellbeing of employees and families and ensure continued safe and reliable operations.

The outbreak of COVID-19 first impacted CLP China’s operations early in 2020. The response to COVID-19 required many employees to remain on site in remote locations for extended periods. To encourage and support employees to stay healthy and well, CLP China management delivered supportive messages via letters and videos, visited local sites when possible, distributed anti-epidemic kits, and organised dialogue between management and employees on wellbeing matters.

CLP China launched its Work-Life Coaching Programme in May 2020, providing training and resources on physical, mental, social and financial health issues for employees, and additional resources for managers on leadership and change management. The programme also offers counselling and advisory services to employees and their immediate families on work-related and personal challenges. Very positive feedback has been received since its launch, with employees sharing that access to timely and professional counselling support helped them resolve their issues during challenging times. CLP China was pleased to receive external recognition of its efforts to promote sustainable development of enterprises and health management of employees under normalisation of epidemic prevention and control, winning the "Health Management Innovation Case" national award at the 2020 People’s Workplace Health Management Forum.

Manager – Human Resources (China) Pamela Wang receives the "Health Management Innovation Case" national award as CLP's representative.

At the end of 2020, CLP had 8,060 full-time and part-time employees, compared with 7,960 in 2019. A total of 3,910 employees were engaged in the Hong Kong regulated electricity business, 417 in Hong Kong non-regulated electricity-related businesses, 609 in Mainland China, and 2,762 by the businesses in India, Southeast Asia, Taiwan and Australia, with the remaining 362 employed by CLP Holdings in Hong Kong. Total remuneration for the year ended 31 December 2020 was HK$6,368 million compared with HK$6,054 million in 2019, including retirement benefit costs of HK$606 million compared with HK$593 million in 2019.

CLP engaged over 17,000 employees and contractors on a full-time equivalent basis at the end of 2020. Utilisation of contractors was maintained at similar levels reflecting the ongoing work in major construction projects and major planned outages in Australia, while the lower contractor usage in Hong Kong compared to 2019 was due to the completion and commissioning of the first new generation unit (Unit D1) in mid-2020. Tracking of temporary manpower supply resources was introduced in Hong Kong to strengthen governance and improve utilisation. Over 30 key contractors participated in a forum organised by CLP to share best practices and advocate for good employment practices across the sector.

Employees and contractors by region

Investing in building pipelines of skilled engineers and technicians in preparation for energy transition and to address future skills shortages continues to be a key priority.

A suite of new and refreshed development programmes targeted at Graduate Trainee and early- to mid-career levels launched in Hong Kong in 2020, focused on building future leadership capabilities and technical competencies and accelerating the readiness of young engineers to take up leadership positions. These programmes aim to progressively develop technical, innovation, project, commercial and change leadership skills at different career stages and to increase exposure to different cultures through experiences in CLP’s operations in Mainland China and further afield.

32 Graduate Trainees and 27 Leaders of the Future management trainees commenced programmes in 2020. In addition, 16 high-potential engineers successfully concluded their participation in a cross-business engineering development programme. CLP continued to strengthen resourcing of innovation, major projects, business development and energy transition-related activities and projects, recruiting 32 senior hires in 2020 into critical roles. The Group's careers website was relaunched to enhance attractiveness to candidates interested in the new careers and opportunities that energy transition presents.

CLP’s Executive Development Programme, targeted at enterprise leaders, was refreshed to strengthen development of the skills required to lead transformation under complex social and political influences. The programme combines leadership, energy transition and business simulation elements, and is conducted in partnership with the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and Tilt Global.

In order to be ready for the opportunities provided by the Greater Bay Area development, CLP continued to provide cross-cultural training opportunities for staff in 2020 through virtual delivery of programmes focused on national affairs, business leadership and management, offered by institutions including the Tsinghua School of Economics and Management and Ivey Business School. Over 70 professional and managerial staff participated in programmes this year. Staff based in Hong Kong and Mainland China continue to participate in cross-border secondment opportunities.

Recognising the challenges faced by students graduating during the COVID-19 outbreak, 59 graduate interns joined CLP in Hong Kong to gain work experience, half of which were in environmental fields. In total, CLP more than doubled the work opportunities for university and vocational college graduates in Hong Kong for 2020, compared to 2019.

In 2020, CLP’s employees received on average 42.5 hours of internal and external training and development, compared with 40.1 hours in 2019. This reflected a strong focus on delivering critical health and safety, operational and compliance training together with pivoting to virtual delivery wherever possible.

Employee training

CASE STUDY

Recognition of CLP Power’s efforts to nurture engineering talent

CLP Power places great emphasis on people development and skills transfer, and is committed to nurturing talent to meet the needs of the energy industry in Hong Kong.

Simulated training with enhanced practical experience is made available to trainees.

Evolving from CLP’s first corporate training school established more than half a century ago, the CLP Power Learning Institute (CLPPLI) was established in Hong Kong with a mandate to develop engineering talent at all levels, from skilled technicians to experienced qualified engineers. CLPPLI’s Technician Trainee Programme supports young people to develop technical skills in construction, operation and maintenance of the power generation and supply network, as well as whole-person development to equip them to succeed in a rapidly changing industry. Technologies such as virtual, augmented and mixed reality are applied to enhance practical skills training, together with job rotation.

In 2020, CLPPLI’s efforts were recognised externally by the Hong Kong Management Association, including awards for "Best in Career Development" and "Excellence in Technician Trainee Career Development". Two of the Institute’s trainers also won Outstanding New Trainer Awards. In addition, two employees won prestigious apprenticeship awards: the Sir Edward Youde Memorial Outstanding Apprentice Award, and the Vocational Training Council’s Outstanding Apprentice Award. One of the awardees is CLP Power’s first female apprentice.

CASE STUDY

Accelerating the development of future leaders

CLP’s talent development programmes accelerate the readiness of future leaders to support business transformation and growth.

CLP’s talent development programmes aim to provide leaders with the future-focused skills and experiences required to address future strategic challenges and support CLP to become the Utility of the Future. Participants develop technical, innovation, project management, commercial and change leadership skills through stretch roles, coaching and mentoring support, structured training and visits to CLP’s operations in Mainland China and further afield.

CLP encourages mobility of high potential staff between Business Units and Groups to gain experience in adapting to different cultures and exposure to different technologies, business models and regulatory contexts. Talent programme participants have gained experience in Smart Grid, Innovation, Procurement, Internal Audit, Renewables projects in India and Mainland China and mega construction projects.

Jane Huynh, talent programme participant and Process Engineer in CLP’s Hong Kong Offshore Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Terminal project.

CLP has set several Group-wide gender diversity targets which support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly the commitment to SDG 8 – Decent Work & Economic Growth. Female representation at all levels was maintained or increased in 2020. CLP’s Women in Leadership percentage increased to 27.3%, while Women in Engineering increased to 11.5%. This progress reflects the Group’s commitment and efforts in attracting and developing female employees, and the focus on creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Increasing female representation in Graduate Trainee Programmes, ensuring that women are well-represented in development programmes, and retaining experienced female staff are key priorities.

In 2020, CLP set an aspirational target to achieve gender balance over time in its Hong Kong Graduate Trainee intake (19% female in 2020) in order to address significant under-representation of women in operational professional and leadership roles. Efforts to develop women continued across the Group in 2020, including the mentoring programme for more than 40 female engineering students in Hong Kong to provide exposure to CLP’s operations and help them become more work-ready, the annual Female Engineer Networking event with 26 female engineers participating from across the Group, and establishing a local Diversity and Inclusion Council in India. To date, seven female engineers have progressed from mentoring into CLP’s Graduate Trainee Programme.

Inclusion is an essential ingredient that unlocks progress. Recognising this, EnergyAustralia established Gender Affirmation guidelines and new LGBTIQ+ community groups, receiving recognition for its efforts at the 2020 Australian Workplace Equality Index Awards. EnergyAustralia’s comprehensive gender affirmation guide contains information about gender, gender affirmation, and available support and guidance for leaders and co-workers who may be supporting employees undergoing transition.

Following certification of CLP’s Hong Kong operations as a Fair Wage Employer in 2018, follow-up assessment was conducted in 2020 and confirmed extended recognition for another year.

CASE STUDY

Encouraging female engineers through mentoring

The mentors and mentees have attended a retrospective workshop to work on a team building task together, review their mentoring progress and plan the way forward.

CLP mentors female engineering students to strengthen its talent pipelines and support development of the engineering profession in Hong Kong.

Since 2015, CLP’s Mentoring Programme has provided opportunities for female engineering students from Hong Kong universities to better understand the engineering profession, gain exposure to the energy industry and promote CLP as a preferred employer for female engineers. Over 230 women have participated in the programme to date as mentees and mentors. Over 80% of the mentees expressed increased interest in an engineering career post programme.

Mentees from the 2017/18 and 2018/19 programmes, Rosa Tam and Debbie Lui, have both joined CLP as part of the 2020 Graduate Trainee intake after graduation from university. Through the mentoring programme, Rosa and Debbie broadened their horizons through sharing sessions and visits to CLP assets. Currently, they are undertaking various job rotations in different business units to build their technical knowledge and leadership competence. Rosa shared, “CLP's Learning Institute provides training for graduates on technical and communication skills, and provides opportunities to put knowledge into practice. They not only care about my knowledge, but also about my learning and progress. I can strive for excellence and make great improvements at CLP”.

In response to these developments and trends, CLP is developing and implementing action plans to upskill and empower employees to respond rapidly to changing customer needs and drive breakthrough improvements, provide physical and virtual work environments that facilitate collaboration, and equip employees to leverage new technologies. Looking ahead, cultural change efforts to encourage idea generation, experimentation and ownership will accelerate, along with helping employees adapt to structure and process changes.

More than 3,900 Hong Kong employees have now participated in Design Thinking training since launch in early 2019. The programme nurtures a people-centric innovation culture in CLP Power, providing practical problem-solving frameworks for product and service development with users’ needs in mind. To date, employees have applied Design Thinking in projects spanning across digital transformation, productivity, safety and customer service.

Across the Group, more agile team structures and working environments were established in Hong Kong and Australia to encourage collaboration and speed up decision-making. COVID-19 accelerated ongoing digital transformation and adoption of new ways of working to facilitate collaboration, with implementation of tools and policies supporting remote and flexible working.

In 2020, over 30 employees gained professional accreditation in data analytics skills, building their capability to leverage technology and data in new and insightful ways to enhance the customer experience and operation excellence. During the year, data analytics training was extended with over 300 employees completing courses ranging from awareness to advanced analytics skills.

CASE STUDY

Defining the Future of Flexibility at EnergyAustralia

Workplace flexibility at CLP is a business issue, helping CLP to attract and retain a more diverse workforce and complementing workplace digitisation initiatives.

In 2020, EnergyAustralia trialled a new workplace flexibility approach called “Energise”, providing employees with more choice on leave including choosing Public Holidays, offering two “Recharge Days” and removing the mandatory office closures.

Following the success of the trial, EnergyAustralia identified an opportunity to re-design work structures, providing teams with flexibility in how, when and where they work. "Energise" was re-launched in November, offering team-based protocols to flexible working. Under this approach, leaders are empowered to make decisions, balancing operational needs with the individual needs of their team members. Teams will develop their own "Energise" plans aligned to the guiding principles, considering flexible work solutions that work for customers and other stakeholders.

EnergyAustralia's "Energise" initiative empowers teams to develop effective workplace flexiblity plans.

In 2020, CLP conducted employee engagement surveys across its Hong Kong, Mainland China and EnergyAustralia workforces. Pleasingly, response rates were high and employee engagement scores improved. While there is more to do to develop CLP’s culture to support and enable CLP's transformation into a Utility of the Future, the improvement over the past three years is proof that actions taken are making a difference.

This year, CLP Power Hong Kong entered international human resources firm Randstad’s Hall of Fame as one of the world’s 12 most attractive employers in 2019, after having won ‘Most Attractive Employer in Hong Kong three times in five years.

Through its Boost Health and Wellbeing programme in Hong Kong and similar programmes in India, Mainland China and Australia, CLP provided resources and training to support employees’ long-term physical, mental, financial and social wellbeing and address additional stresses and challenges brought by COVID-19.

CLP provided mental health first-aid training, online mental health wellbeing resources on how to stay mentally well during COVID-19, and training for over 300 managers in dealing with mental health and emotional issues in the workplace. CLP was recognised as a "Mental Health Friendly Supreme Organisation" by the Advisory Committee of Mental Health and Department of Health in Hong Kong for its ongoing efforts to promote mental health awareness and employee resilience. Additionally, an enhanced support programme for employees with long-term injuries or illness was launched in Hong Kong, providing individualised rehabilitation support to assist recovery and return to work.

CLP continued to help employees in Hong Kong to address housing affordability issues through its Home Loan scheme, which provides additional financial support for employees seeking to buy a first home. Since the scheme was launched in early 2019, 74 employees have received assistance. Company support for employees to undertake advanced degree studies was also enhanced.

CLP Power is the first Hong Kong company recognised as one of the world’s twelve most attractive employers in 2019 and named a member of the Hall of Fame for 2020/2021 by Randstad, after receiving Hong Kong’s Most Attractive Employer Award in Randstad Employer Brand Awards in 2019, 2018 and 2016.

As a company working across hundreds of sites in the Asia-Pacific region, ensuring that everyone who works for CLP is safe, secure, treated fairly and with respect, is at the core of how CLP works, and underpins long-term success. The Group’s human resources policies and procedures are intended to ensure compliance with all local laws and regulations in relation to compensation and dismissal, recruitment and promotion, working hours, rest periods, equal opportunity, diversity, non-discrimination and harassment and those covering benefits and welfare in the markets in which it operates. CLP takes immediate action to investigate and address any suspected breaches or issues that are brought to its attention and carries out independent audits to identify any risks of legal non-compliance and to take remedial action if any risks are identified.

Beyond compliance, CLP recognises its responsibility to respect human rights at work, as laid out in international principles, standards and laws. In 2020, CLP refreshed its Value Framework, expressing respect for all internationally recognised human rights relevant to its operations as a core belief, and embedding human rights in the promises made to stakeholders about how CLP upholds its values.

CLP became a signatory of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Call to Action for Business Leadership on Human Rights, and of the Good Employer Charter established by the Labour Department of Hong Kong, pledging to be an employee-oriented employer implementing good human resource management practices.

Human rights due diligence continued, with reviews of compliance with Group Labour Standards conducted in all business units, and with selected contractors in Hong Kong in preparation for progressively embedding CLP’s standards into procurement requirements. Opportunities to strengthen controls on working hours in emergency and non-emergency situations were identified and are being addressed.

CLP prohibits the employment of child or forced labour in any of its operations. The steps it takes to prevent such practices included stringent checking and control procedures in selection and on-boarding processes, and training for key contractors who provide manpower or services to operations. CLP did not identify any operation or supplier as having a significant risk of child labour, young workers exposed to hazardous work or forced or compulsory labour in 2020. There was no breach of laws and regulations in relation to child and forced labour across CLP in 2020.

CLP monitors pay carefully to ensure that it is competitive and rewards employees for individual and company performance. It complies fully with any local legal requirements with respect to minimum wage, and in practice its remuneration and benefits often significantly exceed local legal requirements. Following certification of CLP’s Hong Kong operations as a Fair Wage Employer in 2018, a follow-up assessment was conducted in 2020. This reaffirmed the certification, and recognised the market-competitiveness of CLP’s remuneration, progress made in providing pay progression opportunities for technical staff that encourage multi-skilling, and in enhancing employment status and pay for technical trainees to encourage them to take up careers in the power industry.

Core employee benefits are reviewed regularly to ensure they are fit for purpose and sustainable. Recognising its efforts to provide sustainable retirement benefits, CLP again received Good Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Employer and e-Contribution awards from the MPF Schemes Authority in Hong Kong, and an award for the Best ORSO (Occupational Retirement) Scheme in the 2020 Best of the Best Country Awards granted by Asia Asset Management.