Own workforce (S1)

Alliander employs about 10,800 people (2024: approx. 9,900 employees), including agency workers. In terms of full-time equivalents (FTE), this is around 10,400 FTEs (2024: over 9,400 FTEs). The number of employees in FTEs includes employees converted to FTE based on a 38-hour working week, as on the final day of the reporting year.

The number of employees in service (in FTEs) is recognised in the financial statements under note 24.

Alliander acknowledges the importance of good employment practices and wishes to be and remain an ‘employer of choice’, i.e. an inclusive workplace where employees trust the people they work with, have opportunities for personal development and are proud of what they do. Alliander wants to be an organisation where they enjoy working in a pleasant atmosphere with colleagues, customers, suppliers and partners on the energy supply for a sustainable future.

The total number of employees is made up of the number of employees employed directly by Alliander and the number of agency workers on the final day of the reporting year.

The ‘Other’ category concerns employees who chose not to disclose their gender. The ‘Not reported’ category concerns employees whose gender has not been recorded.

Employees in Germany account for less than 1% of the total workforce, which is why this figure is not disclosed separately.

The ‘Other’ category concerns employees who chose not to disclose their gender. The ‘Not reported’ category concerns employees whose gender has not been recorded.

Organisation and application

Our commitment to employee retention is outlined in policies, targets and measures of various types. Policies regarding our own employees apply to staff employed directly by Alliander on a contract governed by the collective labour agreement. Where indicated, these policies also apply to agency workers.

We comply with Dutch labour law and international human rights and labour standards, as laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of the International Labour Organization (ILO). While they have not been explicitly incorporated into our policy, these declarations do set the frameworks for it. In our policy, we embrace diversity and emphasise freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining and prevention of discrimination.

The HRM (Human Resource Management) department is responsible for personnel policy. The SEQ (Safety, Environment and Quality) department is responsible for safety policy.

Working based on the Objective Goals Strategies Measures (OSGM) model

Based on the strategic topics and the underlying impacts, risks and opportunities, we formulate specific targets in relation to personnel and safety. These have been enshrined in the business plans and translated into concrete strategies and measures. The HR and SEQ departments each have their own OGSMs. See ‘Defining objectives and monitoring progress’ for details of this method.

The topics of personnel and safety form part of the OGSM of every Alliander business unit. Progress towards the targets is monitored on a monthly basis in consultation with the Management Board. Additional measures are formulated where required.

Employment conditions

Within our employment conditions, we distinguish between general employment conditions and health & safety. General employment conditions cover the sub-subtopics of job security and collective bargaining, including the percentage of staff covered by collective labour agreements and work-life balance.

General employment conditions

Impacts, risks and opportunities

To make the energy transition possible, we are growing substantially as an organisation, both by attracting more permanent employees and by bringing in agency workers. At Alliander, we are conscious of the impacts, risks and opportunities of our strategy and business model in relation to our workforce. We are expecting labour shortages to continue to grow over the next few years. Due to the ageing population and growing demand for skilled workers, there are persistent staff shortages in the engineering, construction and energy sectors, especially for technical and IT positions. This poses a risk to our mission to create an energy supply that gives everyone access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy. For Alliander, good employment conditions are an indispensable part of attracting and retaining highly qualified and motivated staff. Good employment conditions also have a positive impact on employee well-being. Alliander remains committed to attracting and retaining well-qualified and motivated staff by offering attractive employment conditions and development opportunities. We take a variety of actions to encourage more people to take an interest in technology. We gauge employee satisfaction in order to respond to the needs of our different groups of staff and offer appropriate support and training.

• Positive impact – Good employment conditions make a positive contribution to employee well-being.

• Positive impact – Alliander’s growth leads to more employment opportunities.

• Risk – A shortage in the availability of technical or other personnel on the market could lead to higher costs.

Policy and approach

Collective labour agreements

Given the tight labour market, employers and trade unions have agreed on a collective labour agreement for network companies that is based on a joint ambition to ensure the sector continues to be an attractive sector to work in. This collective labour agreement will run until 1 January 2027. The collective labour agreement for network companies includes provisions for regular salary increases and extended leave in the event of a death. Agreements were also reached on how to spend the long-term employability budget available to employees, which they can now also use to pay off student loans. The Vitality Scheme and the Sectoral Social Plan were also extended, and the sectoral frameworks for the Early Retirement Scheme exemption were adjusted in line with the Dutch national agreement on early retirement. Finally, agreements were made to carry out several sectoral studies, such as a study into improving the long-term employability of employees who work night, on-call and breakdown service shifts. In 2025, we reached an agreement with the unions on the new Alliander collective labour agreement, which will see the year-end bonus added to the employee flexible benefits allowance (Individueel Keuze Budget or IKB) as of 1 January 2026. As a result, employees will have a larger allowance, giving them more freedom to make their own choices regarding their employment conditions. Alliander and the unions also agreed to increase the allowance employees receive when they are promoted. Employees with contracts under the collective labour agreement make up 99.4% of the workforce (2024: 99.6%). Employees of our German businesses are covered by an equivalent German agreement. Employees not covered by the collective labour agreement include the members of the Management Board, TReNT employees and some of the employees working in our German operations.

All employees who fall under the collective labour agreement, as well as all employees working in our German operations, are entitled to family leave (99.7%). The percentage of entitled employees that actually took family-related leave was as follows:

Sectoral Social Plan

The Sectoral Social Plan, which runs from 1 July 2025 to 1 January 2027, applies to employees who are potentially affected by organisational changes. The underlying goal for the unions and the employers in the Energy Network Companies sector of the WENB (the employers’ association for firms in the energy, telecoms, recycling and environment sectors) is to prevent redundancy and unemployment due to organisational change as far as possible. The Sectoral Social Plan is focused on finding alternative work and offers employees various possible ways to do this.

Senior management

In 2025, we implemented a new policy for senior management. Introduced to maintain Alliander’s standing as an attractive employment option for experienced managers within the framework of the Dutch Senior Executives in the Public and Semi-Public Sector (Standards for Remuneration) Act and international labour standards, the new policy provides room for growth, transparency and recognition, while remaining socially responsible. The policy governs the employment conditions for senior management positions and specifies when the collective labour agreement and company schemes do or do not apply. Where applicable, this policy makes a distinction based on position and authority. The policy has been approved by the Management Board.

Employee participation

Like in 2024, employee participation at Alliander represented over 99% of permanent staff members in 2025. Alliander has a single Works Council at the level of Alliander N.V. The Works Council is directly elected by the employees and is involved in developments, progress towards targets, and measures affecting the company and its employees. The Works Council receives input from organisational unit committees (OCs), permanent committees (VCs) and preparatory committees (VBCs). Organisational units are represented in an organisational unit committee, and each organisational unit committee has a representative on the Works Council. Each organisational unit committee discusses all relevant matters concerning their organisational unit and its employees with the unit’s director. Organisational unit committees can make use of focus groups to coordinate with the staff they represent, as set out in the Works Council regulations. For formal Works Council projects, i.e. requests for advice or requests for consent, the Alliander Works Council can appoint a preparatory committee (in consultation with the business unit committee) to handle the request and submit a draft letter of advice or consent to the Works Council. There are also permanent committees, each of which covers a focus area, such as the Finance, HR, Safety, Well-being and Environment committees. Elections took place in late 2024 and the new members have taken their seats on the Works Council.

The Works Council has monthly consultation meetings with the CEO, which are also attended by the CHRO. Members of the Supervisory Board attend these meetings twice a year. In 2025, the Executive Committee and the Works Council jointly organised so-called ‘Praat maar raak’ sessions, which loosely translates as ‘Get it off your chest’, at 12 different locations. During these sessions, they engaged with employees directly based on their questions and concerns.

Labour market

With labour shortages expected to increase further over the next few years, Alliander has launched various initiatives to attract talented workers and to get a broader target group excited about engineering.

These initiatives include the deployment of engineering promoters, (regional and sectoral) initiatives to encourage people to switch careers to our sector or take training to join our sector, target group campaigns, talent matching and objective recruitment. Working together with sector partners in these efforts, we are focusing specifically on groups such as refugees with a provisional residence permit and women in technology, while also exploring ways for us to transition to a skills-based organisation.

Working internationally

In 2025, Alliander ensured that all HR-related information is available in English as well as Dutch. This includes all documents that employees have to read, consult and fill in throughout their employee life cycle, from onboarding to offboarding, as well as the HR systems they use. Additionally, we have optimised HR services for international employees and their (hiring) managers, streamlining procedures around work permits, A1 certificates for cross-border workers, application of the expat scheme (30% tax break) and workations.

Actions

• On 10 June 2025, the employers and trade unions signed a new collective labour agreement for network companies. For details, see the ‘Collective labour agreement’ paragraph.

• In 2025, a new policy was implemented for senior management, as explained under ‘Senior management’.

• In 2025, Alliander ensured that all HR-related information is available in English as well as Dutch. For details, see the ‘Working internationally’ paragraph.

Objectives and results in 2025

Employee satisfaction survey

The Central Employee Barometer is an important way to measure how things are going with employees, how we are doing as an employer and what things we can improve. We measure this, among other things, by way of an employee satisfaction score and the employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS). This year’s response was similar to last year’s: 74%, topping the sector benchmark of 64%. Among our own employees, the response rate was 83% (2024: 84%). The employee satisfaction survey shows that employees are highly engaged (84% in 2025, 84% in 2024, against a target score of 81%) and feel proud to work for Alliander. In this context, the term ‘engagement’ means that when employees are engaged they enjoy their work. Thanks to the combination of a high eNPS score (36 in both 2025 and 2024 with the target being > 25) and the high score on being a good employer (74%; 76% in 2024), Alliander earned the ‘World-class Workplace’ designation for the third consecutive year. The Word-class Workplace survey compared Alliander against the Dutch average scores of 7.0 for the eNPS and 72% for the good employer score.

The Central Employee Barometer also shows that there are opportunities for improvement in areas such as Alliander’s agility and effectiveness. Half of the employees (50%) believe that Alliander is taking the right steps to become a more agile and effective organisation. This is a drop of 4 percentage points compared to 2024. A considerable number of Alliander employees (26%, 2024: 23%) stated that work processes at Alliander are not well organised, which is in line with the industry benchmark. In 2025, 60% of respondents confirmed that innovations and improvements are indeed converted into solutions that work (2024: 67%). Of all Alliander employees, 65% believe that Alliander’s mission is achievable (2024: 66%). Experience of work-related stress has decreased and is below the benchmark. Nevertheless, some of our teams still perceive their workload as high or very high. The barometer shows that more colleagues are now looking around for a job outside Alliander. The various organisational units and teams have been informed of the most important points for improvement from the employee barometer and can use the results as a starting point for discussions and improvement initiatives.

New hires

Last year, Alliander welcomed 219 new IT staff (2024: 246) and 490 new technicians (2024: 515). This year, like in previous years, we ran a development programme for refugees to train for a qualification in electricity grid installation and maintenance.

A target has not yet been formulated for the number of new hires. The FTE headcount of employees employed directly by Alliander in 2025 came to 8,608 FTEs (target: 8,566 FTEs).

Employee departures

In 2025, 530 employees left Alliander (2024: 863, including 390 due to the sale of Kenter), which puts our staff turnover rate at 6.4% (2024: 11.7%).

• 1In 2025, one employee of undisclosed gender left the company, which represents 40% of the average number of employees of undisclosed gender.

The employee departure rate is calculated by dividing the total employee departures (excluding agency workers) by the average number of permanent employees during the reporting year.

Employees who leave Alliander receive a questionnaire and attend in-depth interviews on their reasons for leaving. Based on the results of these inquiries, we take measures to increase employee satisfaction and reduce staff outflows.

Our plans

In the 2026 reporting year, we will seal a new appropriate collective labour agreement for the sector and Alliander.

Due to the expected persistent labour shortages, we will continue working on expanding the target pool for technical personnel in 2026, through measures such as:

• Increasing the hiring of untapped potential through an industry-wide technical advancement programme.

• Setting up a technical operations school to provide optimal training to technical staff while minimising the burden on the organisation.

• Readying the organisation for international employees.

As of 1 January 2026, we will implement a new transportation policy that will give employees the flexibility to take a smart approach to travel and commuting by choosing the right means of transportation for every situation. This will allow employees to travel sustainably and comfortably, both for work and privately.

Health and safety

Our work involves safety risks. The impact of incidents can be severe. The number one priority is the personal suffering of those immediately affected and their families, colleagues and others around them. An accident often has a direct impact on business continuity (work comes to a halt) as well as on Alliander’s reputation as a business and employer in a tight labour market. Safe, incident-free working is vital for everyone. The safety of networks for everyone involved is therefore our top priority. The possibility that incidents could occur in the energy network makes it even more essential to adopt a targeted approach. To achieve this, we ensure that we understand the risks and take action to mitigate them. The measures we take include procuring safer materials and better work equipment, improving working methods and training our employees and contractors. The safety policy is geared towards specific, higher-risk jobs, such as our technicians who work directly on the gas or electricity network.

Scope of the issue

Work-related accidents and sickness impair the well-being and happiness of those concerned. As an employer and project manager, Alliander always aims to make a positive contribution to the well-being of internal and external employees. Our impact extends further to our contractors and value chain partners. Safe and responsible working conditions are a fundamental human right, enshrined in national and international legislation, and agreements such as OECD, ILO and UN treaties. Safety incidents can also involve other stakeholders such as the general public, visitors or passers-by at locations where we are working.

Alliander is currently facing a variety of issues that lead to increased health and safety risks. These include the increasing speed of the energy transition, staff shortages, increasing material shortages, the outsourcing of work to contractors and the ageing of our assets.

On balance, we are having to handle a much higher workload, under high pressure, with less experienced employees. We have a duty to ensure that everyone gets home safely and to strive for a successful energy transition with zero accidents. Given the challenges, this is an exceptionally hard task. To ensure that we live up to this responsibility, we continued to place greater emphasis on the safety transition in 2025. There are three key aspects to this: safety controls, broad safety expertise and safe behaviour. We work on these aspects for and together with our staff, local communities, suppliers and contractors.

Impacts, risks and opportunities

Safety is the foundation that underpins our strategy and an essential precondition for our work. Health and safety risks are increasing due to the growing quantity of work, high work pressure, the growth of the organisation and the increased outsourcing of work to contractors. The biggest risk of incidents is faced by the employees who work directly on our energy networks. Our commitment to safety goes beyond our own organisation, extending to our value chain partners, contractors, suppliers, customers and local communities. We have a safety management system for identifying and managing the safety risks associated with our operations. Alliander also promotes a proactive safety culture. This results in a learning and performing organisation where ‘continuous safety improvement’ plays a central role.

• Negative impact – Health & safety incidents lead to the injury and death of employees.

• Risk – Safety incidents involving our staff lead to sickness absence, reputational damage, compensation and fines.

Safety

Policy and approach

The ‘Safety Vision’ policy document has been drawn up for safe working on our networks and has been approved by the Management Board. It addresses the following topics:

Safety controls

Together with its partners, Alliander has firmly embedded safety objectives and risks for working on assets in safety systems and structures. Measures to mitigate these risks are included in the production process. Incidents and nonconformities are always reported centrally and analysed, so that we can learn from them. This leads to better risk estimation and to improvements in the associated mitigation measures. Our primary focus is on full transparency. Safety data and information about our assets, projects, processes and risks are collated in conjunction with our partners and are made available to them. This results in a learning and performing organisation where ‘continuous safety improvement’ plays a central role. That enables us to follow new techniques and processes in a safe way.

Broad safety expertise

All staff at Alliander and our partners have the knowledge and skills required to work and act safely. We make sure of this in the selection, training and assessment of employees. Together, we are committed to technical and personal skills. We embed this in selection, assessment, training and education by explicitly defining the skills required for each role. We look at the hard and soft skills of all colleagues, we maintain those skills, and we no longer select technicians based on technical skills alone. New joiners, including those from other industries and speakers of other languages, can be deployed more easily, as the safety risks for numerous tasks have been reduced and the training requirements have been adjusted downwards accordingly.

Safe behaviour

Reducing the accident count to zero demands broad safety expertise and controls in systems and structures, but above all it demands a permanent change in behaviour. We realise that rules alone are not enough to ensure safety.

Actions

• Mandatory training: Safety is continuously embedded by ensuring that all authorised operational employees complete the required training on time, including instructions for first-time visitors, the HSE checklist for contractors (VCA) and life-saving actions. In addition to this, we have our tools tested and calibrated centrally to ensure that technicians have access to the right tools in a timely manner and without having to interrupt their work.

• Life-Saving Rules: Alliander goes by the ‘Life-Saving Rules’. A safe working environment and a culture where a proactive attitude and behaviour regarding safety are central help us raise safety awareness and improve safety behaviour.

Objectives and results in 2025

Our goal is: ‘Everyone safely home! With zero accidents.’ We have not set a target for the Lost-Time Injury Frequency (LTIF), because the number of accidents leading to sickness absence should ideally be zero. On top of that, Alliander forges a culture with a proactive attitude and behaviour where safety comes first. We want a permanent change in behaviour that we can demonstrate by remaining consistently at level 4 on the Safety Culture Ladder. This score is monitored continuously via an internal safety management system comprising internal self-assessments, behavioural audits and topic-based analyses.

ISO 45001

Alliander has obtained ISO 45001 certification for all of its operational organisational units with the highest safety risks. These are the O&S, GVRN, KV and Qirion operational business units. ISO 45001 is the standard for health and safety management systems. Of Alliander’s total workforce, 46% (2024: 49%) of employees employed directly by Alliander and 29% (2024: 31%) of agency workers at Alliander work for an ISO 45001-certified business unit. No quantitative target has been formulated. In addition to an internal safety management system, we have also documented the safety processes and had them tested under ISO 45001. We subsequently had these processes recorded in a central IT application so that they can be consulted by all employees.

Accidents

In 2025, there were 35 lost-time accidents (2024: 41) and 75 accidents without lost time (2024: 71). The majority of lost-time incidents in 2025 constituted falls and trips. There were no lost-time accidents due to electric arcing in 2025 (2024: 3, with 1 resulting in very serious injury). At contractors, Alliander recorded a total of 20 lost-time accidents (2024: 12) and 29 accidents without lost time (2024: 12).

The number of days lost to work-related ill health was calculated based on the company doctor’s assessment of the work-related share of sickness absence reported to the company doctor. Since some of the cases of sickness absence had not yet ended when the original report was prepared, we were unable to recognise all cases. We therefore applied a partial recognition for these outstanding cases. This involved calculating the percentage of cases of sickness absence due to work-related ill health among the completed cases and using this percentage to estimate the share of cases of sickness absence due to work-related ill health in the ongoing cases.

As a result, the method used to determine the number of days of sickness absence due to work-related ill health involves some degree of estimation. The assumption is that employees are, on average, referred to the company doctor after 43 days of sickness absence. For cases of sickness absence lasting 43 days or more, the average duration of sickness absence was estimated at 158 days. The number of work-related sickness absence cases was subsequently multiplied by this average duration of 158 days to get the total number of days of sickness absence due to work-related ill health.

The LTIF figure was 2.2 in 2025 (2024: 2.9). LTIF indicates the number of work-related accidents during the financial year in which Alliander employees were involved and which led to time off work after the accident, expressed per million of man-hours worked. Like in 2024, the LTIF figure was calculated using the average number of FTEs in the financial year and a standard number of 1,600 hours worked per employee.

Adjustments to comparative figures

The table below provides an overview of the adjustments to the comparative figures. The nature and background of these adjustments are briefly explained below.

The coverage rate of the health and safety management system was adjusted from 100% to 96% for 2024, because not all employees have access to the IT tool for the management system. In previous annual reports, we assumed full coverage. For the comparative figures, the coverage rate has now been aligned with the approach used in the 2025 reporting year, which aligns the assumed coverage rate with the ratio between employees with and without access.

The number of days of absence due to work-related ill health recorded in 2024 was based on an inaccurate figure. This was related to the use of data from the external company doctor’s reporting system. As a result, the number of days of absence due to work-related ill health has been corrected from 52,048 to 13,043 days.

To rectify the error and ensure comparability between reporting years, the figures for the comparative year were subsequently recalculated using the method applied from 2025 onwards. This method involves some level of estimation. The assumption is that employees are, on average, referred to the company doctor after 43 days of sickness absence. For sickness absence cases lasting 43 days or longer, an average duration of 158 days was established based on 2025 data. The number of cases of absence due to work-related ill health in 2024, as provided by the external company doctor, was multiplied by this average duration of 158 days.

This method was applied consistently for 2025 and will be reproducible for subsequent years.

Our plans

Our aim remains to achieve the energy transition with zero accidents. Given this responsibility, together with the influx of new employees, maintaining a solid foundation remains a priority in 2026. Understanding and managing the risks is key. This means ensuring that employees know and can locate up-to-date information, instructions and agreements, with a focus on demonstrable expertise. We will increase safety consciousness by embedding the desired safety behaviour into all interventions. We will continue to comply with all laws, regulations and certification requirements in relation to safety.

Health

Policy and approach

Alliander supports employees in taking responsibility for their own well-being. We do this through the Long-Term Employability Budget, by enabling flexible, location-independent working and by giving employees the opportunity to strike the right work-life balance. Investing in long-term employability contributes to retaining employees and enhances Alliander’s attractiveness as an employer. We have specified Alliander’s vision and approach to long-term employability in a communication document. This is not an official policy document.

Staff members unable to work: recuperation

If an employee is not available for full-time work, the sickness absence and reintegration process is led by their manager. The manager receives assistance and support from an in-house prevention and leave specialist (case manager) and a certified occupational health and safety service (the Arbodienst), who can help managers with answers and advice. To maximise the employability of employees, interventions are performed by the collective health insurer Zilveren Kruis. Alliander has two protocols:

1. The time-off-work protocol (a brief summary of the time-off-work process).

2. The sick leave timelines for managers and staff, which contain detailed process descriptions.

Around 10% of Alliander employees take sick leave three times or more each year. For employees of our German operations, the proportion of frequent sickness absence has, for reporting purposes, been estimated based on the proportion of frequent sickness absence at Alliander, as separate source data was not available. Taking sick leave three or more times in any one year is what we call ‘frequent sickness absence’ and is an important indicator for a decline in long-term employability. Alliander believes it is important to pay close attention to frequent absentees, firstly to ascertain the underlying cause of their absence, but mostly in order to resolve it. Managers can also rely on the frequent absence protocol.

Actions

• In 2025, Alliander implemented a new sickness absence tracking system, Newdays. Newdays supports managers and internal prevention and sickness absence specialists by providing up-to-date and structured insights into the sickness absence process. It enables them to take timely and appropriate action, and contributes to effective employee guidance and the promotion of long-term employability.

• As part of creating a safe and healthy working environment, Alliander also struck up a partnership with Anoniemezorg.nl in 2025. This is a platform that gives employees access to low-threshold, confidential (anonymous) support for addiction or dependency issues, such as excessive use of alcohol, drugs, medication, gaming or gambling, without involving their managers.

• All employees, colleagues and managers who are concerned about themselves or someone else can use this service. The advisers at Anoniemezorg.nl are lived-experience experts who provide tailored guidance, including referral to appropriate care if necessary. This new initiative brings a sensitive topic more into the open and supports Alliander in promoting long-term employability and psychosocial workplace safety.

• Every three to five years, every Alliander employee is invited to undergo a Periodic Medical Check, which provides insight into their health and employability. On-call and breakdown service employees aged 55 or above are invited once every two years. Periodic Medical Checks are always voluntary. They consist of an online questionnaire, a medical check-up and a talk with a vitality coach. In 2025, 1,597 invitations were sent (2024: 1,426) and 722 checks were performed (2024: 662).

Objectives and results in 2025

The sickness absence rate was 4.2% in 2025 (2024: 4.1%). This was lower than the 2025 target of 4.3% (2024: 4.3%). The absence rate reports sickness absence (short, medium and long term) for permanent staff over a rolling 12-month period, excluding absence due to pregnancy.

Our plans

The target for the next few years will be to keep the average sickness absence rate below 4.3%. In 2026, we want to achieve this through policy and long-term employability programmes based on mental relaxation, physical fitness and social engagement.

Alliander wants employees who regularly work from home to have a healthy and safe home workspace. In 2025, Alliander launched the Home Working project to ensure safe and ergonomically sound workplaces for employees who work from home permanently or part-time. The project lets employees order a variety of safe and ergonomic products to set up their home workspace. Since Alliander covers the costs, employees will no longer have to pay for such equipment from their personal long-term employability budget. It is expected to be implemented in the first quarter of 2026.

Equal treatment and equal opportunities for all

Alliance is committed to being an inclusive organisation that reflects the diversity of our society in its Management Board, management and workforce. Diversity in terms of gender and culture makes us more innovative and more effective, which safeguards our future. In equal treatment and equal opportunities, we distinguish between inclusion and equality, training and development, and actions against violence and intimidation in the workplace.

Impacts, risks and opportunities

To deliver on our mission, we maintain a focus on inclusion and diversity. We pay particular attention to women in managerial positions, the cultural background of our employees, people from the LGBTIQ+ community, people with poor employment prospects and the age structure of our workforce. This applies both to our permanent and temporary employees, and to all our partners in the energy supply chain. We believe that a safe workplace where everybody feels at home contributes to the welfare of our employees and benefits productivity. However, there are challenges. Inappropriate behaviour has a negative impact on the shop floor and can diminish employee well-being. Moreover, a lack of diversity and inclusion leads to a loss of talent and higher staff costs. To manage and mitigate such impacts and risks, we invest in special employee networks, raise awareness of social safety and pay a great deal of attention to the Speak Up (Spreek je uit) policy so that we can identify and correct abuses.

• Positive impact – Equal treatment and equal opportunities for all contribute positively to the welfare and development of employees.

• Negative impact – Inappropriate behaviour on the shop floor can diminish employee well-being.

• Risk – Insufficient diversity and inclusion lead to a loss of talent and higher staff costs.

Inclusion and equality

Policy and approach

The Management Board approved the current diversity, inclusion and equality policy in 2023. The policy was incorporated into a multi-year plan containing spearheads in the field of cultural diversity, women in managerial positions, management and data, advancement and retention of colleagues from minority groups. Our inclusion policy focuses on five areas:

• Gender: we aim to create equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their gender. We aim to balance diversity in all layers and parts of our organisation. Our policy specifically targets representation of women in managerial positions and in technical positions.

• Cultural background: we aim to create equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of their ethnic background (colour, religion, culture). We aim to improve cultural diversity across all layers and parts of our organisation, with a special focus on greater cultural diversity in managerial positions.

• LGBTIQ+: we aim to create a culture where everyone can be themselves and feels safe to express their sexual orientation, gender identity, relationships or family situation.

• Poor employment prospects: we aim to include people with poor employment prospects, focusing on the target group that falls under the government’s job promise scheme (‘banenafspraak’). We offer long-terms jobs and work experience placements.

• Age: we aim to create a culture where both young and old feel at home and realise their potential.

Actions

• Alliander launches initiatives every year that are aligned with women’s needs to create a more inclusive working environment. To start conversations on this topic, we carried out various webinars and organised the Hi Vrouw (‘Hi Woman’) event. We also expanded our range of safety workwear and continued providing inclusive facilities for women in the workplace.

• Every year, Alliander marks days and occasions that are important to certain groups of colleagues to promote cohesion and inclusion, such as Ramadan, Keti Koti, Coming Out Day and Diversity Month.

• Six employee networks play a role in promoting inclusion and social cohesion, namely: ‘Wij zijn Nexus’ (a multicultural network), Lianne (a women's network), Pride (an LGBTIQ+ network), Young Alliander (a youth network), Mission Possible (for people with occupational disabilities) and Globals (for international colleagues). The Young Alliander network organised a generation show. The Lianne network regularly holds open-to-all events where women can meet female colleagues. The Globals network contributed to the inclusion of non-Dutch speaking colleagues by holding information sessions in English on topics such as the collective labour agreement and the intranet.

Objectives and results in 2025

Women in senior management

The proportion of women in senior management up to N-2 positions, i.e. the Management Board, directors and managers in the hierarchical layer directly below the Management Board), is 40% (2024: 38%), meaning that we met our target of 33% for 2025.

Equal pay

The gender pay gap is -7.4% (2024: -1.3%). Alliander aims to provide equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender, so we have not formulated a quantitative gender pay gap target. In other words, women are paid slightly more on average than men. The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of male employees and female employees, as a percentage of the male employees’ average pay. The pay gap is calculated based on the number of staff employed at the year-end and gross monthly pay in December of the year in question.

The ratio of the total annual pay for the best-paid person to the median annual pay for all employees is 4.1 (2024: 4.2). The ratio of the total annual pay for the highest-paid person to the median annual pay for all employees is calculated based on total annual pay.

Number of participation jobs

Alliander also strives to include people with poor employment prospects. We offer long-term work to people with poor job prospects who meet the criteria of the Dutch Labour Participation Act. With 157.1 FTEs held by persons from this category in 2025 (2024: 145.3 FTEs), we did not hit our target of 186.1 FTEs. Alliander has opted for a realistic growth model based on solid analyses and realistic expectations, which allows us to offer opportunities to people with poor employment prospects. In our experience, the tight labour market also applies to the target group of people with poor employment prospects. Finding suitable candidates requires additional effort. We are looking for new partners who have candidates with the right level of education. Alliander’s demand for candidates currently exceeds the supply.

The number of participation jobs is made up of the number of permanent employees and agency workers who, on 31 December, are registered with the Employee Insurance Agency UWV as having an illness or disability that is making it harder for them to find work. Employees who have a registration and employees participating in the practical route* are counted. *Practical route: The municipality conducts what is known as a ‘wage value measurement’ to determine whether an employee is capable of earning the Dutch minimum wage and forwards the result to UWV, which then includes the employee in the target group register. These employees are counted until the application is completed.

Age structure

The age structure of our workforce is based on the number of permanent employees on the last day of the reporting year.

Our plans

We will continue to build an inclusive and diverse organisation. In 2025, we shaped our policy, regulations, financial resources and assistance opportunities so as to make it easier to create, source, fill and make a success of participation jobs and the people who work in them. We aim to comply with the statutory target by 2029. In 2026, we will decide which measures we can implement and monitor.

Training and development

We invest in our people with good employment conditions and training opportunities to tackle today’s and tomorrow’s energy challenges. Employees are encouraged to develop their professional skills with a range of training and development opportunities. Special attention is devoted to safety training for specialist roles or roles involving specific risks.

Policy and approach

After launching the Learning and Development model in 2024, which had been approved by the Management Board in 2023, the first academies for specific organisational units went live in 2025. The academies will serve to structure and classify training courses and other interventions to support each unit’s strategy. In 2025, we took important steps to better organise and use certificates within the various organisational units. Employees can use the My Development platform to check which certificates they have attained.

We also set up academies that focus on five topics that are strategically important to Alliander: engineering, safety, leadership, personal development and digital. In these academies, the first training courses and interventions are being identified and made available to everyone at Alliander.

My Energy Plan is the approach we are using to set agreements and targets for permanent staff. It enables us to pay attention to the performance, conduct and development of employees. In My Energy Plan, pay is no longer linked to performance assessments. My Energy Plan forms the basis for meetings between employees and their managers.

Actions

• In 2025, we collaborated with a managed service provider for training. This is an external partner that performs supplier management on our behalf and meets Alliander’s external training needs. The associated digital platform gives employees access to the Academies. Moreover, by engaging this service provider, Alliander can offer unlimited learning to the majority of permanent employees (as from 2025). This means we are making training courses equally available to the majority of own employees, subject to a set of ground rules, and so are offering equal opportunities for development.

• We offer various training programmes and opportunities for development to make teams better able to perform and learn. In addition, the right professional knowledge and skills are available when needed and we apply a broad approach to talent development, both professional and personal. These learning and development opportunities are offered by way of team coaches and training and development programmes. They are part of our talent management and trainee programmes.

• We have a general onboarding programme called ‘Join the Grid’ that gives new employees an inspiring and efficient welcome. This programme is mandatory for all new employees and consists of several activities during the first 100 days after joining Alliander. In addition to the general onboarding, most departments have their own specific onboarding programmes. During the first or second month of employment at Alliander, every new colleague takes part in the Introduction Day, which offers opportunities to network, ask questions and learn more about their role in the energy transition, the organisation’s structure and the importance of safety. In total, we have 15 e-learning modules containing practical information, essential safety guidelines, useful details about the organisation, our strategy and the work we do together. Finally, we organise various webinars that new colleagues can sign up for during their first 100 days. A webinar is an online session that provides useful information and helps new employees grow their personal network. These improvements have enhanced the overall onboarding experience for new employees.

Objectives and results in 2025

In 2025, Alliander invested 3.8% of its wage bill in employee training (2024: 3.6%). The aim is to ensure equal learning opportunities for all employees. No target has been formulated yet.

Career centre

The career centre supports all Alliander employees who are exploring their next career move. No colleagues became redundant in 2025 (2024: 4), and 448 (2024: 415) people made use of careers advice and coaching. In 2025, 44 employees managed to find a new job or an appropriate alternative (2024: 65). Our career counsellors support employees in finding a suitable and future-proof role, taking into account both personal ambitions and organisational goals. We believe that everyone is worth investing in, and we do this by offering internships, secondments, and training. We talk to employees about their future development in their current role or elsewhere. Investing in our employees in a timely manner enables us to ensure a strong internal labour market where everyone has the opportunity to make the most of their talents.

Our plans

Employees improve their performance, conduct and development in meetings with managers through My Energy Plan. In 2025, we made unrestricted learning available to all employees with an Alliander contract. Career and development pathways are also available for critical target groups in the production chains. We aim to further develop this in 2026.

Actions against violence and intimidation in the workplace

Policy and approach

Code of conduct

The code of conduct sets out how we deal with each other, business and personal interests, business assets, health and safety, and the environment. In this way, we protect Alliander’s customers, relationships and reputation, and jointly safeguard a pleasant and safe working environment. Code of conduct violations are handled fairly and may result in disciplinary measures. Depending on the severity of the violation, measures can range from a (formal) warning to termination of employment.

In order to identify and address possible misconduct on a timely basis, we have Speak Up processes in place for employees and managers, describing where and how employees can report inappropriate behaviour or suspected misconduct and how managers should handle such reports. Various options exist, such as the scheme for reporting suspected misconduct, the complaints procedure for inappropriate behaviour and the general regulation on complaints. The Management Board monitors the effectiveness of and compliance with Alliander’s code of conduct. Every six months, the Management Board informs the Supervisory Board of its findings and observations via the Audit Committee. These reports are based on investigations into suspected violations of Alliander’s code of conduct.

The Internal Audit department acts as a fraud disclosure desk and investigates reported incidents in accordance with the investigation protocol. Every new employee, including Management Board members and agency workers, is given the code of conduct when they start work. In addition, employees are required to periodically complete an e-learning course on integrity, which covers topics from the code of conduct. With this, we aim to state clearly how employees should behave towards one another, what standards and values we cherish in our organisation and how and where they can report inappropriate behaviour. In this way, we can all safeguard a pleasant and safe working environment.

Acting with integrity

The integrity e-learning course helps employees to become and stay conscious of integrity requirements and challenges. Integrity issues and ways of dealing with dilemmas in this field are also discussed in team meetings. Aspects covered include a safe working environment, anti-corruption measures, prevention of conflicts of interest, dealing with gifts, and handling confidential information. Articles and blogs by managers and directors focusing on integrity risks are also regularly published on the intranet.

Reporting channels

Alliander is committed to fostering a socially safe organisation and working environment, where employees feel comfortable, can be themselves, and can act in the best interests of both the organisation and society. This means doing the right things (in line with our strategy) in the right way (according to our values), with our code of conduct as the basis.

To ensure social safety, we have several reporting channels available to employees: the complaints procedure, the whistleblower policy and the aggression help desk. Although these channels are intended for different types of concerns, they share an important common goal: they jointly contribute to creating an ethical, safe and respectful working environment for everyone at Alliander.

Handling complaints

The complaints procedure for inappropriate behaviour, the scheme for reporting suspected misconduct and a whistleblower policy are in place so that employees can report suspected misconduct safely and in a structured way. In addition, the regulation on complaints related to employment conditions – previously applicable only to reorganisations – is available as a procedure for objecting to all decisions affecting employment conditions. Employees can also raise concerns in confidence with nominated officers within Alliander.

Whistleblower policy

The whistleblower policy encourages employees to report every complaint or inappropriate situation within the organisation. More information about the whistleblower policy can be found under ‘Business conduct (G1)’. Every six months, the nominated officer for the whistleblower policy provides the Management Board and the Audit Committee of the Supervisory Board with a list of whistleblowing reports received and the actions taken in response.

Aggression help desk

We have seen an increase in aggression towards Alliander employees, both from customers and local residents. To support employees in these situations, we have set up the Aggression Help Desk. This help desk provides access to training, toolboxes and protocols for prevention, intervention and aftercare. Employees can report incidents to the Aggression Help Desk using a form in the safety management system. This allows us to gain insight into the nature and extent of aggression and to implement targeted measures.

Although the help desk serves as a central point of contact, willingness to report incidents of aggression is low, partly due to a lack of awareness of the resources available and because aggressive behaviour has become normalised in our society. As a result, we are not aware of the full extent of the actual impact of aggression on our employees and the organisation.

It is important for Alliander to convey unequivocally that aggression is always unacceptable. Raising awareness, strengthening communication and improving access to support contribute to building a safer working environment.

Actions

• In 2025, we took several measures to strengthen social safety within Alliander. We updated the ‘How we do things at Alliander’ e-learning course and now also have an English version of it for our international colleagues. These interactive modules help employees recognise and assess integrity issues, including dilemmas and practical situations related to social safety.

• At the beginning of 2025, we set up the Multidisciplinary Integrity Team (MDT) to follow on from the Social Safety working group. Made up of representatives from Risk Management & Compliance, HR (Advisory and Diversity & Inclusion), Internal Audit, the Works Council and SEQ, as well as confidential advisers, the MDT prioritises and coordinates integrity-related actions. To support these efforts, we organised several workshops on social safety and integrity to increase knowledge and provide employees with practical guidance within the organisation.

Objectives and results in 2025

Personal safety

The 2025 Central Employee Barometer shows that 87% (2024: 87%) of employees view Alliander as a socially safe workplace. Since Alliander aims to make sure all employees experience their working environment as socially safe, we have not formulated a quantitative target for this. However, 7% (2024: 7%) of our colleagues indicate that they experienced inappropriate behaviour last year like abuse of power, bullying or discrimination. Of these cases, 99% involved verbal misconduct and 1% physical misconduct. 8% of our employees have suffered inappropriate behaviour by customers or members of the public. This appears to be a social trend, which is having a major impact on our colleagues. Approximately nine out of ten employees (92%) feel safe to openly discuss mistakes. There is a positive trend in perceived appreciation when employees express a dissenting opinion.

Reporting to confidential advisers

The number of times people reported situations to confidential advisers increased to 149 (2024: 116). Of these cases, 13 concerned discrimination (2024: 10). Alliander aims to provide a safe and respectful working environment where inappropriate behaviour is prevented, and ideally there is no need to make any reports of inappropriate behaviour at all, so we have not formulated a specific target for this. The number of serious human rights incidents remained at zero. We found no reported cases of non-compliance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). These reports to confidential advisers did not give rise to fines or compensation for discrimination or human rights breaches. The rise in the number of reports is partly due to the growth of Alliander’s workforce and the greater awareness of confidential advisers within the organisation. In 2025, employees had eight confidential advisers (2024: 8) they could turn to, one of whom was an external confidential adviser (2024: 1), to report incidents of inappropriate behaviour such as discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying, aggression and violence.

Reporting fraud and incidents

The fraud disclosure desk completed 15 investigations into fraud and incident reports in the year under review (2024: 31). Alliander aims to provide a working environment where integrity and compliance are safeguarded, which prevents fraud and incidents so there will ideally never be a need to report anything, which is why we have not formulated a target for this. Following the completed investigations, the management involved decided to impose a measure or sanction in four cases (2024: 23), including summary dismissal, termination of the employment contract through a settlement agreement and termination of the business relationship with an external party. Apart from reports of fraud and incidents, there were 63 cases where managers decided to impose sanctions (2024: 80) varying from an official warning to a settlement agreement. These cases ranged from attitude issues and behaviour (including inappropriate behaviour) to issues around employee performance.

Our plans

Alliander will continue to focus on strengthening social safety in 2026. In January, we organised the third sector-wide Integrity Week in collaboration with other energy companies and suppliers, which involved various activities, including a webinar and an in-person event. In addition, the Integrity working group will carry out targeted actions, such as developing toolboxes on sexually inappropriate behaviour, reviewing integrity procedures and organising workshops for teams within Alliander.

To further enhance the effectiveness of policies and measures, efforts will focus on formalising review processes and conducting more targeted research among employees, with specific attention for vulnerable groups and victims of inappropriate behaviour.