Care for our people

People remain at the heart of the SHV story and integral to our purpose: Courage to care for generations to come.

In 2022, putting people first became more important than ever in the face of such unprecedented circumstances. The lingering effects of COVID-19, rising inflation, and high energy prices all had a profound impact on the lives of our employees. In response, we have increased our focus on supporting their overall physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. Discussions on these topics have taken place across the Groups, resulting in a raft of initiatives to offer tailored support and create awareness of the assistance available. In most cases these initiatives were aimed at local priorities and included measures such as stress prevention programmes and access to financial support organisations.

Mental health was also addressed in senior management meetings including the annual Top 100 management conference. Wellbeing and a safe working culture were also the headline topics at the 2022 SHV European Works Council meeting, with representatives from a number of SHV companies in EU countries.

Rising inflation was the driver for a renewed salary inflation policy across the Groups, designed to provide support, as the cost of living in many countries around the world increased. The policy incorporates clear guidelines on the use of inflation data, intermediate salary adjustments, and structural and one-off measures. In countries suffering hyperinflation, salaries are now reviewed on a monthly basis.

In addition, various Groups and countries took specific measures to directly mitigate local challenging living costs, such as one-off energy allowances and temporary increases in mobility allowances to compensate for high petrol prices.

Finally, we also broaden our scope from regular, usually annual, salary benchmarks to total reward packages, including compensation and benefits such as pensions, insurance, wellbeing benefits, and enhanced mobility schemes. Over the course of 2023, amongst others SHV Energy and Nutreco will continue to review their total offering against the local market and adjust as required.

Caring about people means maintaining safe working conditions for everyone who works with SHV and for SHV. The unwavering aim across all Groups is that every single person returns home safely every single day. We call this philosophy Zero Harm, Zero Incidents.

To monitor safety performance, we measure the number of incidents per 100 employees per year - the Total Recordable Case Frequency (TRCF). With a consolidated TRCF of 1.21, our performance in 2022 represented a significant improvement over the 2021 figure of 1.50. Even so, there remains considerable room for improvement based on industry benchmarks.

As part of a tailored approach to manage safety, each Group has identified their main safety risks based on an assessment of industry specific hazards, Severe Injuries and Fatalities, potential Severe Injuries and Fatalities and other incidents. The main safety risks are the basis for the determination of the Life Saving Rules (LSR), which form a consistent approach to incident prevention. Each Group will (re)deploy a specific, tailor-made set of rules that focuses on the main relevant safety hazards of that Group. Every LSR highlights key standards to prevent safety incidents during activities that analysis has shown to be higher risk. The LSR (re)deployment has started in 2022 and will be continued in 2023 across each Group.

LSR in the Groups include Driving and Vehicles at SHV Energy to mitigate transportation risks. At Nutreco and ERIKS, with higher risk on injuries resulting from entrapment in machinery, one of the first LSR to be deployed concerns Log Out – Tag Out – Test Out which relates to the safe operation of machinery. Mammoet’s LSR includes Safety of Operations, ensuring that employees strictly follow safety procedures and ‘method statements’ – for example, stating which tools and equipment to use. Makro focuses on fire prevention LSR to safeguard that stores are operated with the right equipment as well as employees trained to handle this. At Kiwa, with testing and inspection often taking place at customer sites, the so called Last Minute Risk Assessment, provides the critical last review to address any safety hazards before commencing the work.

In addition, the Just Culture programme, that stimulates an environment where we learn from mistakes by allowing people to safely report incidents, is adopted by several Groups. It aims to create an open, blame free and safe environment to address any safety topic and concern.

From 2022, all severe injuries and fatalities must be reported to the SHV EBD within 24 hours and followed by an immediate investigation. Learnings are then shared across the organisation. Groups also prepare monthly safety updates on TRCF performance, with results and areas for improvement discussed and shared between management teams. To our utmost regret, SHV suffered one fatality during the year.

An SHV-wide Safety Audit was launched to generate insights into the effectiveness of our safety-related efforts. With a particular focus on Life Saving Rules, TRCF reporting, and Visible Felt Leadership, the audit provided support for further improving safety performance.

As in previous years, a cross-Group Safety Week was organised to address and raise awareness of safety-related topics. Visible Felt Leadership is equally essential to maintaining safety, and management teams across the Groups have been provided with relevant training.

We firmly believe that diverse and inclusive teams better understand our customers and stakeholders, enhance business performance, and work more creatively and innovatively. Therefore, we continue to develop a highly engaged workforce that reflects the makeup of the societies in which we operate.

Increasing the number of women holding senior management positions represents one of the key means of achieving this goal. By 2030, we aim to see women occupy a minimum 30% of senior leadership positions – compared to the current 17%. The SBD consists of eleven positions, including three females. The EBD comprises of four positions, none of which is female. All Groups have developed specific roadmaps towards the SHV ambition, focusing on recruitment, development and promotions. In 2022, measuring gender representation was started across SHV based on job grades, making figures directly comparable across the organisation. Different Groups are focusing on different areas of improvement, such as ensuring a balanced pipeline of emerging and high potential talent. Implementing best practices in recruitment, development, and promotions will also play an important role in meeting the targets. These initiatives will all be supported by educational and awareness programs.

As well as increasing female representation in leadership positions, the aim is also for all senior management teams to comprise at least two different nationalities by 2030. Reaching this is well on the way, with 74% of teams across the world already meeting this goal.

The successful Make your message count (formerly called Taking the Stage) training programme continues to empower female colleagues by providing guidance on both effective leadership and combatting bias. The development of Sharing the Stage was also continued, a training programme that brings together colleagues of different genders, cultures, and backgrounds to discuss ways of creating a truly unbiased and inclusive culture. Inclusion was the theme during the Diversity & Inclusion week, supported by several global webinars and workshops as well as local initiatives such as coaching of local HR teams on unconscious bias in relation to the job application process at SHV Energy.

With this in mind, Groups are not only focusing on the development of attractive compensation and benefits packages, but also on clearly communicating these packages both internally and to the wider market. This should serve to improve the transparency and awareness of the SHV offering, not only helping to attract and retain talent, but also to provide transparency into remuneration and fairness of pay.

The launch of internal vacancy sites at Nutreco, ERIKS, Mammoet and KIWA provides employees greater insights into (international) career opportunities within their company and across the Groups, again supporting the aim to retain talents within SHV. At Makro, a new Learning Experience platform allows colleagues to design their own career development pathways, but also enables them to connect with peers in order to share knowledge and ideas.

The newly developed cross-Group Leadership Profile based on the SHV values, meanwhile, will help to strengthen management teams and ensure all levels are equipped with the required competencies. The Leadership Profile incorporates five themes, including Putting People at the Heart and Ensuring Wellbeing. The former highlights the courage to bring out the best in people by treating them with respect and investing in personal growth; the latter centres on a safe, positive, and inclusive work culture. In parallel, the Nutreco values were aligned with those of SHV and introduced to the workforce through value dialogues, a culture champion network and asocial media campaign.

In view of positive feedback from many employees, working from home has been embraced wherever possible in the wake of COVID-19. Many office locations now offer hybrid working. SHV continues to look for more ways to enhance its Employee Value Proposition.

Every initiative related to HR and Safety stems from the unwavering commitment to care for people. As people continue to remain at the heart of our organisation, we will never stop doing all we can to achieve the very best possible working conditions for each and every one of us.

Through the internal campaign "Start from the Heart" SHV commits to investing in people through education.

With a presence in so many countries all over the world, the Groups are uniquely positioned to understand the challenges and needs of their local communities and are encouraged to initiate and support local projects. By supporting educational programmes, we enable people to support themselves.

In recognition of all the great initiatives that take place locally, a Lapwing Award is presented to the best projects each year. The award encourages and acknowledges all the great work being done throughout SHV with respect to "Start from the Heart" activities.