Employee Engagement (2018)

As part of Horizon 2020, People Engagement is high on Umicore’s agenda. We are convinced that engaged and effective employees are key to our success. The people survey is an important tool that we use for measuring progress and to define specific action plans to achieve our goal. In spring this year, we conducted the seventh edition of our People Survey. The survey offers colleagues the opportunity to express themselves freely and give their opinion on a range of important topics associated with their work and Umicore.

The questionnaire is simpler and more efficient than in previous years. Umicore continues to guarantee 100% privacy, as completed questionnaires were processed by external supplier Korn Ferry.

Overall participation was at the very high level of 81%, with highest participation in Asia Pacific (93%), South America (89%) and North America (85%), reflecting the success of the online approach and most of all an increasing level of engagement.

Our overall average is now for the first time above the Chemical Industry norm and even approaching the High Performing norm, with clear progress made in several areas since our last survey in 2014.

One of the strongest trends is increased confidence in our future as a company.

The survey also demonstrated that our Employer Brand Pillars are truly representative of the daily reality of Umicore. One of the general trends that emerged was the different pattern of responses depending on age group and we need to examine carefully how best to take account of all aspirations.

The breakdown of local results was shared with the teams on each site which are meant to lead to local action plans. One first approach has been the long-awaited launch of our new intranet tool, Umicore Connect, and Umicore will gradually achieve greater benefit from the digital workplace in general during 2019

The 2014 People Survey revealed progress on several fronts in Electro-Optic Materials’ (EOM) business unit, except in collaboration. To address this, the iTeam program was launched to strengthen team collaboration. Through strong focus on communication and a bottomup approach, EOM scored top class results on all dimensions surveyed in 2018. Building on this success, EOM launched a follow up platform, ‘Let’s connect’, through which all employees are connected to the EOM strategy by translating business, customers, people and environmental targets and results to the shop floor.