The foundations of HR policy are PSE’s values and corporate culture, and their development – the three pillars of our policy: Values, High Quality and Improvement. 

PSE’s performance of its functions as a transmission system operator requires unique competencies, including in the areas of power dispatch, project implementation and ensuring that grid assets are maintained in proper condition and that the transmission grid is available at an expected level. For this reason, a high level of expertise and education are essential features of our company’s human capital. 

All our activities addressing professional development of employees are aimed at:

• ensuring that the organisation provides as much support as possible in achieving business objectives,
• taking care of the continuous, planned development of employee competence, consistent with the needs of the organisation, 
• ensuring that the quality of intellectual capital in the organisation is a priority,
• improving the efficiency of cost management related to the implementation of HR processes,
• creating an organisational culture focused on building the highest quality of work,
• providing system solutions to support intellectual capital management,
• creating an image of PSE as an attractive employer both inside and outside the organisation.

Competency model

In 2023, work continued on developing a catalogue of professional competencies covering the knowledge and professional skills necessary to perform the tasks assigned to specific job positions. More substantive areas in the departments of operations, system management, technical standards and ICT were gradually included in the work.

At the same time, we worked on a catalogue of personal competencies which include, first of all, company-wide competencies supporting the implementation of our strategy, necessary for the performance of professional tasks in each position, as well as managerial competencies, important for the continuity of business processes in the company. 

The solutions developed as part of the competency model are created in close cooperation with the business side, also because its employees will be the key beneficiaries. The basic idea is to develop tools to support the achievement of the set strategic objectives and to introduce system solutions to support managers in the process of human resources management, so as to be able to attract, retain and develop employees with competencies that meet the current and future needs of the organisation.

Employees

In our organisation, we do not employ so-called associates whose work is controlled by our company.

Continuous improvement of employee competence is an important element affecting the effective fulfilment of tasks arising from the strategic objectives of our company. PSE conducts a number of development activities that focus on providing the knowledge and skills needed to ensure the proper operation of the National Power System. As in previous years, two dedicated development programmes aimed at the operations services and the dispatching services were important elements of the development activities in 2023. 

In 2023, all PSE employees, regardless of their position and seniority, were able to take advantage of the training opportunities offered in our training catalogue. Some of the training activities were conducted in an online format and some on-site. 

The following forms of development are available in PSE’s training catalogue:

1. Manager Academy managerial training courses where we offer executives and managers tailored training to improve managerial and leadership skills; The choice of training depends on the individual needs of each manager,
2. Specialised and expert training – covering topics related to the tasks carried out by individual employees,
3. Training to develop soft skills – improving personal skills and supporting effective task-focused performance,
4. Adaptive/induction/periodic/on-the-job training – covering all groups of employees regardless of the functional area and hierarchy and providing the baseline, universal knowledge necessary for the job,
5. Industry conferences.

In addition to attending various training courses and industry conferences, employees improve their qualifications also by taking advantage of subsidised study and language courses.

The e-DeK system - current status and development plans

PSE uses the SAP SuccessFactors platform (e-DeK system) for comprehensive support of training processes. This advanced tool provides a quick view of information, streamlines the document flow, and allows training to be more effective owing to unlimited employee access to educational content.

The Learning Management System module, the first to be implemented in 2020, is widely used in providing various forms of training to employees (e-learning, training with a trainer, mixed, sequential, recurrent training, etc.). It also proves to be effective in the area of periodic OHS training management and supports the implementation of the training plan.

In 2023, employees increasingly used onsite training, although training with a trainer offered in an online format remained popular. The system’s ability to provide ongoing reporting and performance monitoring also makes the e-learning formula a popular choice for designing and running mandatory training courses.

The SAP SuccessFactors platform is constantly evolving, gaining a modern look and new functionalities. In 2023, it gained a new minimalist visual theme (horizon). The Training home page was also redesigned, providing users with quick and convenient access to the most important information about the courses.

The platform is used by all PSE employees on an ongoing basis. Given the capabilities of the system and the positive experience relating to its operation to date, the company is planning the implementation of more modules, such as onboarding, objectives, succession and development.

In 2023, PSE provided employees, through the e-DeK platform, with training on a variety of topics to improve their knowledge and skills, which they can use as and when need them or as recommended by their superiors. 

Some of the materials provided were mandatory training courses on topics including cybersecurity, information security, personal data protection, integrated management system, occupational health and safety, and the REMIT Regulation. The company’s extensive library of optional training courses covers various areas, such as creativity, effectiveness, communication, stress management, project management, self-motivation, team building and change management, and it is regularly expanded with new offerings.

As part of health education, we have been periodically providing our employees with first aid training pills starting in 2022. Each of the short training sessions deals with a different emergency response issue. The training pills provide employees with the opportunity to learn the procedures to follow in the case of choking, fainting, loss of consciousness, sudden cardiac arrest or electric shock. The training is one of the many activities carried out by PSE to improve worker safety.

Annual average number of training hours per employee by employment structure and gender

Recruitment and employer branding activities

Good relations with employees begin with the first contact with job candidates, so we attach great importance to the quality of our recruitment processes. In 2023, we continued to conduct our recruitment procedures primarily remotely. Regardless of how we run meetings, we always make every effort to ensure that the processes are professional and transparent. We are particularly keen on attracting new employees from among university graduates, which is why we participated in job fairs and offered opportunities for students and university graduates to gain their first work experience through an internship programme.

Energy Internship programme

In 2023, PSE launched the 10th edition of its Energy Internship programme for students and graduates boasting excellent academic performance.  

The goals of the programme are as follows:

• sourcing young talent from the market,
• building a positive image of PSE as an attractive employer.

In 2023, PSE took on 9 interns under the Energy Internship programme.

Job fairs

In order to increase the effectiveness of our recruitment processes and attract the best candidates to work at PSE, in 2023, our company participated in selected job fair events:

• Jobicon Job Festival,
• Edu Offshore Wind,
• Job Fair as part of the 3rd Poznań Electricity Days,
• Future Energy Congress,
• MS Tech Summit,
• Open Day at the Institute of Electrical Power Engineering “Energy for the Future” and the “Electric Mile” Run event hosted by Warsaw University of Technology (sponsored by PSE),
• Job Fair at Radom University of Technology and Humanities,
• Data Science Summit (Machine Learning Edition),
• Job Fair at Białystok University of Technology,
• Job Fair at Kraków University of Technology,
• 31st Job and Internship Fair at the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology, Warsaw University of Technology,
• Engineering Fair of Jobs, Entrepreneurship, Technology and Accessibility at Silesian University of Technology,
• Student Electrical Engineering Days (with PSE as the main sponsor of the event),
• Online IT Job Fair.

PSE also presented job, internship and apprenticeship offers to students of Warsaw University of Technology in the Catalogue of the Job and Internship Fair for Computer Scientists and Electronics Engineers at the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology, as well as in the Electric Power Engineering Institute’s Directory for students and candidates.

Other initiatives supporting recruitment

Our company continued its employer branding activities in 2023 by promoting job opportunities on PSE’s LinkedIn profile and by running a “Fridays with a Recruiter” outreach campaign on LinkedIn to encourage participation in our recruitment processes. 

In late July/early August 2023, another Digital+ advertising campaign was carried out in cooperation with Pracuj.pl, aimed at promoting PSE’s job offers on social media (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Google, YouTube) and through other channels. 

In 2023, we conducted a candidate experience study for the first time, where we used a survey to ask people participating in PSE recruitment processes about their impressions and asked them to evaluate the process. The data collected will help us optimise our recruitment processes. In 2023, we collected 108 surveys.

New hires in 2023

Leavers in 2023

Difficult conversations

In 2023, we organised a series of webinars on conducting difficult conversations and preventing aggression. The goal of the initiative was to impart knowledge on the best ways to respond and communicate in difficult or conflict situations. Meetings with specialists in this field – a psychologist, a police negotiator and a mediator – were enhanced by a package of podcasts. The proposed topics were met with great interest from the company’s employees and managers. Both the podcasts and lecture recordings are available to our employees as e-learning courses.

Employee Performance Appraisal System

As in the previous years, all PSE employees underwent periodic appraisals based on a simplified performance appraisal system introduced in 2017. The appraisal of employees in specialised positions is carried out on a quarterly basis and concerns the level of task performance. Persons in managerial and executive, expert, and legal adviser positions are covered by the Management Through Objectives individual salary incentive system. Management Through Objectives is a comprehensive and performance-oriented method of evaluation, fostering increased staff commitment to the achievement of strategic objectives and facilitating the monitoring of their achievement. Performance against objectives is accounted for on a six-monthly basis.

Creating space for employee development – mentoring

Due to PSE’s unique role as a transmission grid operator, our employees have a need to acquire specialised knowledge in many fields. A barrier to finding information on the specifics of different areas is the rather complex organisational structure of PSE. In response to these challenges, we created a mentoring programme to support the exchange of expertise among employees and enable new contacts to be established within the organisation.

Participation in the mentoring programme is voluntary, and its participants can range from those who want to share their knowledge with others to those who want to gain expertise from other company employees. 

Participants are paired up according to their reported development needs and the knowledge offered by the mentors. Mentoring pairs themselves ensure the regularity of their meetings and the implementation of the agreed objectives. 

At the beginning of each edition, participants take part in a workshop to prepare them to properly perform the roles of mentors and mentees. Throughout the edition, both mentors and mentees have the opportunity to receive support from the programme’s mentor.

In addition to working in pairs, the programme also offers the opportunity to gain knowledge during so-called “mentoring lectures”, in which in-house experts share their expertise in various fields, allowing them to learn more and more about PSE. The lectures are held twice a month on average and are very popular with mentees and mentors as well as those who do not participate in the programme. 

The second edition of our mentoring programme, in 2023, was completed by 66 mentoring pairs. In February 2024, the third edition of the programme began, with 45 mentoring pairs joining; among the participants in this edition there are as many as 12 mentees and 25 mentors who took part in previous editions, which means that participants in the programme highly appreciate this way of acquiring and sharing knowledge.

In the interest of continuous development of the programme, in the second edition, PSE gave participants the opportunity to participate in an educational visit to facilities related to the power system, but operating outside PSE – the Bełchatów Power Plant and the Bełchatów Lignite Mine. Participants in the 3rd edition of the programme had the opportunity to learn about the operation of the Włocławek Hydroelectric Power Plant.  

Employees covered by a collective labour agreement*

Remuneration of entry-level employees by gender in relation to the minimum wage.

Impact index
Fringe benefit equivalent

Employee health-promoting benefits and programmes

PSE provides an extensive social benefits package. In 2023 it included, among others, medical care, the Employee Pension Scheme, meals subsidies, electricity subsidies, holiday subsidies for employees and their children, subsidies for nurseries, kindergartens and children’s clubs for employees’ children, subsidies for cultural and sports activities, a childbirth benefit, and low-interest housing loans from the Social Benefits Fund. Our employees were also able to take advantage of other benefits such a Christmas gifts for their children, financial bonuses granted twice a year, on Energy Worker’s Day and Christmas, preventive programmes and access to the “Inspiro” audiobook library, or an attractively priced sports package, as well as individual life insurance available on preferential terms.

Work-life balance measures 

Maintaining work-life balance has a positive impact on work efficiency and job satisfaction. Our company has long supported the personal development of its employees, most recently through measures such subsidising cultural and sports activities and providing a library of Inspiro audiobooks. We also hold two competitions every year for children of PSE employees – one on Children’s Day and another before Christmas. These are popular initiatives in which children up to the age of 18 can demonstrate their knowledge of energy industry and their various talents and skills. 

In 2023, just before 1 June, children were given a creative challenge. It consisted of coming up with so-called “savers”, or catchphrases intended to encourage energy saving and eco-behaviour. A total of 125 young artists entered the “Savings” contest, submitting a total of about 180 rhymes. In their rhymes, the children playfully and brilliantly argued that it is worth turning off unnecessary lights and unplugging chargers. The contest committee gave special recognition to the authors of 25 savers, but prizes for creativity and commitment were presented to all the creators. The works of all the children were published in the pages of the company’s magazine “Przesył”. 

As part of the second contest, called “Eco-decoration”, children were tasked with creating a Christmas decoration in the ecological spirit. Entries could be submitted in two categories: natural decoration, or “natural beauty”, and decoration made from unnecessary waste materials, or “recycled beauty”. This game was all about ingenuity, a minimum of waste after work, and an ecological Christmas atmosphere. As usual, the children rose to the challenge and surprised us with their imagination. 231 entries were submitted for the competition. It turned out that stars, baubles, Christmas tree chains and sprays can be made from buttons, nuts, spent batteries and even socks! The children were rewarded for their commitment and creativity, and all the decorations could be admired on the pages of the “Przesył” magazine.