People
Build the best place to work
Target
Be the best company to work for in the UK
How we measure this may evolve over time, but for now this means being at the top of the UK’s Best Workplaces by 2030 as measured by the Great Place to Work programme.
OVO Approach
We aspire to create the UK’s best place to work in order for our people to better serve our customers and partner with them on their journey to zero carbon living.
Values-driven business
Our people are the best representation of OVO – they are the creators of our culture and act as our ambassadors. We aim to be more than a team of employees; we aim to be a community of talented, innovative and passionate individuals, working towards the same ambitious vision and goals, constantly challenging each other and OVO to do better and achieve more.
We have an agile, creative and entrepreneurial working environment.We don’t tell our people what to do; we empower them, giving them autonomy and freedom to find solutions, develop new ideas and make independent decisions that best deliver on our purpose and vision. Transparency and two way communication are key to this.
Everyone at OVO lives by the OVO Values. Progress on our carbon reduction targets is now part of our performance evaluations and everyone needs to demonstrate how they live the OVO Values; in fact their bonus depends on it. We are incorporating Plan Zero and the OVO values into every interaction we have with our people, including our contracts, goals, values, training, and our reward and recognition.
Supporting our people
Our people are everything. We want OVO to be a supportive community where everyone at OVO feels they belong and has equal opportunities – wherever they’re from, whatever they believe, and however they live their lives. Our differences strengthen us, lead to new ways of doing things and help us meet the needs of all our customers. Our people are encouraged to own and lead their development journeys via the provision of OVO University, an Institute of Learning Management accredited centre. We want to make sure everyone has a great OVO-life balance and try our best to support them. We offer flexible working hours, competitive parental benefits and we are a Living Wage employer.
Next Steps
Case study
Celebrating our differences
We know that our differences unite us. And that we’re strongest when we include all ideas. So we’ve made OVO a place where everyone belongs. An international community with a universal vision – to power human progress with clean affordable energy for everyone.
We are developing our inclusion and diversity strategy, and have put in place strong foundations to help ensure everyone who joins OVO feels like they belong. This includes:
- An Inclusion and Diversity Steering Committee composed of senior management who champion different areas and ensure principles of inclusion and diversity are embedded across the business.
- Making a public pledge to increase the number of women in traditionally underrepresented roles.
- Normalising the conversation around, and increasing awareness of mental health in the workplace through the Time to Change pledge.
- Tracking and reporting diversity data of both applicants and existing employees to identify challenge areas.
Case study
Raising awareness of mental health
In March 2019 OVO Energy signed the Time to Change Pledge which showcases the company’s commitment to changing the way we talk about mental health in the workplace.
Since signing the pledge we have made progress on our key focus areas and have launched a Time to Change Champions Working group, with over 60 volunteers from across the business. Our focus for the coming year is on raising awareness about mental health and this will be done through a combination of training for line managers and holding events with external experts. We will be looking at what other initiatives we can roll out across the company to ensure we are delivering on every aspect of the pledge.
Case study
Championing female talent
At OVO, inclusion & diversity is about cultivating an environment which is open to all, increases engagement, fosters creativity and gives everyone a greater sense of belonging. Ultimately it’s part of how we make OVO better for everyone. We’ve signed up to the POWERful Women pledge to increase the number of women in senior leadership and technology roles. We remain committed to trying to attract the best female talent to join OVO and want to positively champion this by putting even more focus on our Inclusion & Diversity strategy and achieving the following pledges:
- 40% female Director roles by 2025
- 25% females in Tech by 2025
- 20% female Smart Metering Engineers by 2020
Case study
Living our values
We only have three rules here at OVO, but they apply to everything we do. The OVO values support OVO’s overall vision, shape the culture within the company and help guide our decision-making processes to ensure we’re getting the best possible outcomes for our customers, our employees and the planet. In 2019, we gave our three values a refresh to ensure greater alignment to OVO’s vision and echo the growing narrative around purpose-driven business, sustainability, inclusion and diversity. These three values are: Build Something Great; Find A Better Way, and Be Proud of Your Actions. These values are so important to us that, each year, we nominate and vote for ‘Values Heroes’ from around the business, each of whom are given a £1000 prize.
Sustainable development goals
