Our Management Approach

ENMAX works hard at being a great place to work so we can attract and retain outstanding, enthusiastic and committed employees with the talent for going beyond what's expected. In our effort to define how Albertans are energized, we view employees as value and innovation drivers. As an organization, our desire is to create a challenging, collegial and safe work environment, where people are encouraged to do their best while feeling supported and compensated fairly for their work. Click on the following for more description on how we manage our labour relations:

• Strategy and Policies
• Organizational Responsibility
• Training and Awareness
• Monitoring and Follow-up

Our goals and performance with respect to health and safety metrics, workplace diversity and benefits are discussed in the following sub-sections: Health and Safety; Composition of Workforce; Workplace Diversity; Employee Program; Human Rights.

Strategy and Policies

ENMAX has several policies and practices related to employee relations to ensure a safe, respectful and ethical workplace is cultivated. Some of these policies include:

• Principles of Business Ethics
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Respectful Workplace
• Privacy
• Alcohol and Drug
  

Organizational Responsibility

ENMAX has a Vice President of Human Resources, who is responsible for operational employee issues, including health and safety and Human Resources Committee of the Board four times a year. ENMAX's Director of Compliance is responsible for ethics and privacy issues.

Centres of Excellence within Corporate Human Resources develop tools and provide oversight and consistency to the business units.

Business unit Executive Vice Presidents are directly responsible for implementation of policies and practices. They are supported by Human Resources Business Partners.

Training and Awareness

Training, development and providing learning opportunities are important ways in which ENMAX expands employee horizons, while strengthening our organizational capability. ENMAX employees participate in mandatory training such as safety, environmental, code of conduct and ethics, as well as in employee-requested learning to support and enhance career development. Classroom sessions, professional institute courses and conferences, technology-based learning and on-the-job-training are the different ways we facilitate employee training.

In 2009, our workforce participated in a total of 27,305 hours of recorded training and development activities, which were captured by our Learning Management System (LMS).  These courses provide training in human resource development, technical and safety training (provided by our Technical Training Centre(TTC)), customer service, and value-based safety training. This total averaged approximately 16.9 hours per employee, which was significantly lower than the 46 hours per employee we recorded in 2008. In 2008, ENMAX implemented a new billing system in the customer service organization, which required rigorous training to ensure a smooth transition and continued high level of service for customers. Training and development activities stabilized in 2009. ENMAX's LMS does not capture all of the training that takes place throughout the organization.

The following table provides a three-year comparison of classroom training hours.

Three-Year Training and Development Snapshot

On an annual basis, ENMAX employees participate in regular performance and development reviews and experience learning opportunities through career development and job enhancement activities.

Monitoring and Follow-up

Best practices and standards for employee benefits and programs are continually monitored and our efforts improved upon when necessary to maintain and retain our highly skilled workforce.

ENMAX was again recognized as one of Alberta's Top 50 Employers for 2009 – a designation we have earned for the fourth consecutive year. The editors of Canada's Top 100 Employers highlighted the following reasons why ENMAX is considered a top employer:

• new employees receive at least three* weeks of paid vacation, in addition to 10 personal paid days-off and a shutdown during Christmas;
  
• ENMAX considers previous work experience when determining the salary level of new employees;
  
• we help older workers transition to retirement with phased-in retirement options and assistance with retirement planning;
  
• employees receive time off to enjoy the Calgary Stampede Parade – a proud western tradition.

* ENMAX employees with at least 10 years experience on date of hire (using 20 years of age as a starting point for calculation purposes) will accrue vacation at the rate of four weeks per year, until the beginning of their fifteenth year of employment with ENMAX. ENMAX employees with less than 10 years prior experience (as defined above) will accrue vacation at three weeks per year until achieving 10 years prior experience or the beginning of an employee's eighth year at ENMAX, which ever comes earlier.