AVANGRID has formal policies and procedures around health and safety in order to establish accountability. We also support a healthy and safe workplace by encouraging a culture of shared responsibility, starting with a firm commitment from the executive team and extending out to bargaining units, management, contractors and each individual employee.
PROMOTING EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
At AVANGRID, supporting employees’ health and well-being is paramount. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, AVANGRID Health & Wellness launched programs designed to promote employee physical, financial and emotional health and social connectedness.
As the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged employees’ overall health, well-being and sense of community, AVANGRID expanded access to its Engage health and well-being app to all employees, a free benefit that had previously been available only to participants in the company’s medical plan. The Engage app offers employees a holistic approach to well-being and provides informative resources for physical and emotional health. By submitting top health goals into the program, like stress management or smoking cessation, along with interests, such as fitness or personal growth, users can receive tailored information and resources.
Connecting with others and getting exercise was never as critical to maintaining good emotional and physical health as it has been during the pandemic. To promote physical health and social engagement, AVANGRID conducted two company-wide activities challenges through the Engage well-being app in 2020, including a “Fall Trailblazers” team competition in October. Over 100 teams across AVANGRID participated in the challenge, and together achieved nearly 145 million steps in one month.
Understanding that good financial health is another key to overall well-being, AVANGRID forged a partnership with Utilities Employees Credit Union in summer 2020 to provide employees and their families access to educational financial resources. Through this program, all AVANGRID employees have free access to e-courses and webinars designed to strengthen money management skills, build resilience for uncertain times and promote financial empowerment. In October 2020, AVANGRID launched an extensive mental health initiative to provide support and valuable resources to employees in need. The approach included professionally led mental health webinars, a manager training course to help leaders better understand how to support their team members and a program to train specialized mental health “first aid” advocates within the organization.
Finally, in a year when reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses, like influenza, was more important than ever before, AVANGRID rolled out its annual “flu” vaccination program in September 2020, which offered thousands of free vaccines to all employees as well as family members covered under the company’s medical insurance plan. Despite pandemic challenges, AVANGRID succeeded in conducting 15 on-site vaccination clinics safely.
All these programs will be expanded in 2021 to further support employees’ overall health and well-being.
CERTIFICATIONS
In 2020, Avangrid Renewables and Avangrid Networks completed their ISO 45001: 2018 Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems audits and became certified.
As safety is a core value at AVANGRID, Environmental, Health & Safety has adopted the international ISO standard for occupational health and safety to save lives by improving the safety of employees, contractors, visitors, customers and other interested parties. This standard helps to ensure the reduction of workplace risks and the creation of better, safer working conditions.
