Society

The Board of Directors of Reykjavik Energy appoints the CEO of the company, writes the job description and determines the terms of employment. The Board of Directors takes into the account the provisions of the ownership policy of Reykjavik Energy, which stipulates that the salaries of CEOs shall be on a par with comparable jobs, but take into account the fact that the company is owned by public entities.

The Compensation Committee of Reykjavik Energy shall review the salaries of its CEOs on an annual basis with regard to the objectives and yardsticks of the company.

Reykjavik Energy places a great deal of emphasis on gender equality and received an Equal Rights Award from the Equal Rights Council in 2014 and a Motivation Award from the Confederation of Icelandic Employers in 2015. Reykjavik Energy is a member of the United Nations Convention on Gender Equality. In 2017, Reykjavik Energy adopted a new model which analyses the impact of every single wage decision on gender wage differences. This facilitated the Group’s task of eliminating gender wage differences, which was completed at the end of 2017.

Reykjavik Energy’s equal wage system received gender pay equity certification in 2018. This certification confirms that the viewpoints, which Reykjavik Energy uses as a basis for its wage decisions and the decisions that have been made on the basis of the model, fulfil the provisions of Act No. 56/2017 on gender pay equity certification and that there are no gender-based discrepancies in the personnel’s wages.

In the graph above, numbers higher than 0 represent wage differences in favour of men and numbers lower than 0 wage differences in favour of women. In mid 2017, Reykjavik Energy started to conduct monthly measurements of unexplained gender wage gaps in the company.

Reykjavik Energy monitors staff turnover in the Group according to, among other things, age and gender. There is a correlation between the economic situation and staff turnover. Staff turnover increased from 2016. This is due to two main factors: Changes in the company and increased demand in the labour market.

Reykjavik Energy is a workplace with a broad gender distribution and efforts are being made to increase the number of female technicians and specialists and the number of males in office jobs. According to a study conducted by Ernst & Young in May 2017, the impact of women in the energy sector is greatest in the Reykjavik Energy Group.

In 2017, the working hours of technicians and field workers at Veitur Utilities and ON Power were changed to increase the opportunities for the men in these jobs to shoulder greater responsibility in the management of their households and also to ensure that the working hours would not be a hindrance for women applying for these jobs. Reykjavik Energy has no figures on the gender distribution among contractors.

There is a long-established tradition among utility companies to hire youths for summer jobs and they make up the majority of temporary appointments. In 2018 there was a significant increase in the appointment of staff to other part-time jobs. Reykjavik Energy and its subsidiaries buy a lot of labour from big companies such as engineering companies and building contractors. Some of the staff of large and small contractors work substantially for Reykjavik Energy or a subsidiary. That group has not been analysed and Reykjavik Energy does not possess any numerical data on the composition of that group.

The non-discrimination policy represents Reykjavik Energy’s commitment to steadily improve in equal rights issues. Reykjavik Energy’s non-discrimination policy is founded on the human rights enshrined in the constitution. In 2018, work continued on, among other things, the industry and technology project with girls and boys from the Árbær school, and consultation meetings and workshops were held with the staff which yielded useful indications on how to implement the priorities being worked on in the field of non-discrimination. There are active equal rights committees in all of the companies of the Reykjavik Energy Group. Each committee operates according to an implementation plan and the highest executive in each company is responsible for ensuring that it complies with Reykjavik Energy’s non-discrimination policy, which is approved by the Board of Directors.

The H figure is an international measurement unit for the rate of occupational injuries. It is calculated as the number of injuries per each million of working hours at the relevant company. It is considered to be an injury if the person is absent from work for at least one day. There were six at the Reykjavik Energy Group in 2018 and 982,074 working hours.

Reykjavik Energy takes the view that no job is important enough to place the safety of those performing it in jeopardy. Reykjavik Energy’s Safety, Health and Working environment policy was reviewed by the board of directors in 2018. The goal is to achieve an accident-free workplace. That goal was not met in 2018. Reykjavik Energy sets clear safety requirements in all of its calls for tender and demands that contractors comply with safety regulations in the execution of projects. Moreover, Reykjavik Energy has issued a Safety Handbook which has been available to the staff and contractors of Reykjavik Energy for many years. The staff of contractors are required to take recognised courses on safety issues. Reykjavik Energy operates a notification database in which the staff can register hazards. These registered hazards provide the basis for reform work in safety and health issues and they have increased from year to year. In contracting, the supervision of safety issues is an integral part of project supervision. The activities of all the companies in the Reykjavik Energy Group are independently certified according to the OHSAS 18001 standard. In 2018, a decision was made to adopt the international ISO 45001 standard. This is a new standard which has a similar structure to other ISO standards and its adoption boosted harmonisation with the quality control work of the Reykjavik Energy Group.

The regular courses on safety issues for the staff are:

• Basic level course in safety, health and work environment issues.
• Fall prevention course
• Enclosed spaces
• First Aid
• TETRA
• Hazardous substances
• Electricity safety management systems
• High temperature course
• High voltage risks
• Electric arc protection
• Risk assessment

Reykjavik Energy has a Safety, Health and Working environment policy, which is regularly examined by its board of directors. Sexual and gender-based harassment in the workplace are not just a human rights issue but also a health issue. The victims of behaviour of this kind often suffer from psychological symptoms. In the wake of the #metoo movement, which started in 2018, a workshop was run with the participation of all employees. Light was shed on the issue and in discussions with the staff the focus was sharpened on how best to identify it.

There are gym facilities at Reykjavik Energy’s headquarters and the staff can use up to two hours of their working hours in the gym a week. An emphasis is placed on the staff availing of the facilities and, among other things, the staff are offered:

• Health checks every 1 – 2 years
• Vaccinations
• Physical posture at work guidance
• Crossfit
• Workouts
• Yoga
• Mindfulness training
• Lectures on health-related issues
• Participation in physical activities such as cycling to work and the Lífshlaup running programme

Reykjavik Energy endeavours to operate in accordance with Icelandic labour law and the Group’s policy in Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) issues and its terms of employment go further than the law in these areas. Reykjavik Energy is aware of the risk of contractors working on its behalf or their sub-contractors not following the rules. For this reason, Reykjavik Energy has, among other things:

• established provisions that authorise it to terminate contracts with contractors who wilfully break Icelandic labour market rules,
• imposed the requirement that invoices for outsourced labour may not be for periods longer than seven hours per day, unless licensed to do so by Reykjavik Energy (such a licence has not been issued) and
• it also sets the requirement that in work contracts wage and insurance payments must comply with Icelandic law.

No cases requiring measures to be taken under these provisions arose in 2018.

The non-discrimination policy of Reykjavik Energy is founded on human rights elements, which are defined in the Icelandic constitution. The company's code of conduct also contains a special chapter dedicated to human rights and non-discrimination. These issues are publicised on a regular basis. In the spring of 2018, the Reykjavik Energy Group hosted workshops with the obligatory participation of all staff on the #metoo movement and its significance for Reykjavik Energy Group’s workplace culture.

The Reykjavik Energy Group closely monitors developments in issues concerning working conditions and culture. There is considerable gender segregation in the workplace and responses to complaints of intimidation or harassment follow registered work procedures. In the workplace analyses, which are carried out every year, questions are asked about intimidation and sexual harassment. Participation in these surveys is higher than 95% and answers are not traceable.

In 2018 there were reports of gender-based harassment and inappropriate behaviour by executives within the Reykjavik Energy Group, which received a great deal of public attention. The Board of Directors of Reykjavik Energy decided to call for an enquiry into the charges, the dismissal of two executives in the group, and an assessment of the workplace culture.

The enquiry revealed that the workplace culture within the Reykjavik Energy Group is generally better than what is to be found in the Icelandic labour market, the incidence of violence is lower, and the dismissals were considered justified. It also exposed shortcomings in work procedures. On one hand, established work procedures were not fully followed and, on the other hand, the work procedures needed to be updated to be brought in line with changes in the regulations. This was remedied before the end of the year.

The scale of intimidation and sexual harassment in 2018 was similar to what had been measured the previous year.

Within the Reykjavik Energy Group there are five operating companies which are subject to special boards. The members of the board of directors of the mother company, who also appoint the members of the board of directors of OR Assets, shall, among other things, possess the knowledge and experience that befits the responsibility which the seat on the board entails. Corresponding requirements are placed on the members of the boards of directors of the subsidiaries. On the boards of directors of the subsidiaries, three of the members shall be Reykjavik Energy employees, one of whom shall be from the executive level and he/she shall be the chairperson. On the boards of directors of ON Power, Veitur Utilities and the Reykjavik Fibre Network, two of the board members shall be external experts in the fields of the relative company. Early in 2019, the CEO of Reykjavik Energy stood down from the boards of directors of two of Reykjavik Energy’s subsidiaries after a recommendations from auditors.

In 2014, women held a majority of seats on the board of directors of Reykjavik Energy, but the gender ratio is equal after the board elections of 2018.

There are a total of 27 seats on the boards of the Group. Currently there are 14 appointed women and 13 men.

Over the past years, Reykjavik Energy has systematically endeavoured to improve the collection of business claims. Reykjavik Energy handles the issuance and collection of bills for all the companies in the Group. Some 5.3 million bills were sent out in 2018 for 1.7 million claims. 74% of the claims were sent to customers electronically last year and that figure is steadily rising.

Reykjavik Energy places an emphasis on helping out people who default on payments. The remedies offered by servicing staff to resolve situations have increased and the entire collection process has been sharpened.

Through its activities, Reykjavik Energy, which places an emphasis on steady improvements, accumulates multifarious knowledge, which can be of use to others. This is due to, among other things:

• the companies in the Group’s leading position in the utilisation of geothermal energy,
• the fact that Veitur Utilities is the largest company of its kind in the country and
• the Reykjavik Fibre Network possesses the most extensive fibre network in Iceland.

Reykjavik Energy believes it is its role to disseminate experience and know-how to others who can benefit from it.

Every year the Reykjavik Energy Group hosts a Science Day in which various development projects are presented. Several staff members of the Group regularly teach at the university and the School for Renewable Energy Science (RES) in Iceland and deliver lectures at specialised conferences both nationally and abroad.

The most widely used knowledge is undoubtedly the know-how that scientists of Reykjavik Energy has acquired in collaboration with many other scientists on the sequestration of geothermal gas emissions in basalt. A broad variety of media outlets around the globe have covered Reykjavik Energy and ON Power’s project in the Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant, which is considered unique.

In mid 2018, a new act on privacy and the handling of personal information came into effect. Reykjavik Energy and its subsidiaries do business and communicate with many people and it is therefore vital to ensure the work procedures of the companies fully comply with the increased requirements regarding the custody and handling of information which the companies need for these communications. Preparations for the implementation of the law in Reykjavik Energy’s operations started in 2016. In 2018, the implementation procedure was completed with the approval of a data protection policy in the companies within the Group. This had been preceded by an extensive revision of work procedures and courses were held for almost the entire staff of the Group.

In 2018, about 140 thousand queries were logged at the joint service desk of Reykjavik Energy, Veitur Utilities, ON Power and the Reykjavik Fibre Network. Most of them were from customers who were submitting meter readings themselves and others were queries or other issues concerning bills. The pie chart shows the breakdown of queries per category and the attachment below focuses specifically on notifications and complaints related to environmental issues. There is also an account of notifications to licensing authorities and their reasons. Collaboration with licensing authorities, stakeholders and customers is important to the personnel of the Reykjavik Energy Group because they focus our attention and priorities on what matters most to people. Examples of this include regular meetings with licensing authorities and the mediation of information from the Reykjavik Energy Group to social networks.