Being an attractive, inclusive employer with equal opportunities for all

Why this topic is important

Alliander acknowledges the importance of good employment practices and wishes to be and remain a top-class employer, i.e. an inclusive place of employment where employees trust the people they work with, have opportunities for personal development and feel good about what they do. An organisation where, in a pleasant atmosphere, they enjoy collaborating with colleagues, customers, suppliers and partners on the energy supply for a sustainable future.

In 2025, our organisation grew again. We succeeded in completing more and more work with our own people. This is important because the energy grid of the future requires professional expertise, collaboration and continuity. Our employees are an indispensable link in the daily performance of our tasks. In the period up to 2030, network operators and contractors will need an estimated 30,000 additional skilled professionals. That is why we are increasingly working together with other network operators, contractors, training providers, government authorities and industry organisations.

Our performance

For a detailed report on our performance, please refer to the Objectives and performance section.

Composition of the organisation

In order to succeed in our mission, it is essential that colleagues feel free and at home, so that they can get the best out of themselves. That is why we are committed to diversity, inclusion and equity, and to creating opportunities for people with poor employment prospects. We achieve this through our employee networks and other programmes. We also participated in the Pride March in Amsterdam, and during Diversity Month in October, the focus was on the strength of being different. For the group of women in our organisation, colleagues widely shared WOMEN Inc.’s ‘Regel dat ze wil blijven’ campaign, which called for the technical sector to become more female-friendly and make female colleagues ‘want to stay’.

Women in managerial positions

People with poor employment prospects

We strive to ensure inclusion of people with poor employment prospects, focusing those efforts on the target group covered by the agreement on employment between the Dutch government, employers and trade unions to create 125,000 additional jobs for people with occupational disabilities in 2026. We offer sustainability-oriented jobs and paid work experience placements. In 2025, we employed a total of 190 people with poor employment prospects (2024: 180, target for 2025: 188), including temporary workers. We are actively seeking new collaboration partners who have candidates with knowledge or skills that match the work we do.

Future Leader Board: Young colleagues in dialogue with the Management Board

’The Future Leader Board was formed in 2023 as a new body in Alliander's governance set-up. Seven young colleagues sit on the Future Leader Board and engage in quarterly discussions with ExCo and Management Board members about current administrative issues or current topics that they themselves put on the agenda. Through this board, Alliander ensures that the voice of young colleagues, who are our future, is represented in decision-making.

With a solid foundation in place, the Board handed over the reins to a new team in May 2025. We then organised the first brainstorming sessions for and with young colleagues. Those sessions reveal to us what is topical for them in different parts of the organisation. In addition to connection, our organisational culture, career advancement opportunities, collaboration and work processes within the value chain were frequently mentioned. In this context, we are working with the facilities department to see how we can create meeting areas that provide space for connection. We also want to ensure that new colleagues can obtain information more quickly about social activities at Alliander.

The first discussion with the ExCo about connection has also taken place. After this excellent start, we will continue to work on the topics that have been raised and, above all, keep the dialogue going.’

Getting the job done with our employees

In 2025, more than 1,700 new colleagues started with us (excluding temporary workers). Of that intake, 490 colleagues were employed in technical positions. More and more often, employees joining the company are lateral entrants, refugees with a residence permit or from outside the Netherlands. Sector initiatives, such as the Electrical Engineering Task Force, also contribute to attracting new colleagues. The Electrical Engineering Task Force was established to facilitate labour capacity oriented collaboration with other network operators, contractors, training providers and industry parties.

Additional technicians through the Sector Scale-up Plan

Network operators, contractors and the government wish to work together to achieve an increase of 5,000 technicians compared to the current number in 2030. This will be achieved through the 2030 Scale-up Plan (Opschalingsplan 2030), which was launched at the end of 2025. Government funding for this initiative is arranged through the Climate Fund. In order to meet the demand of all our customers, many additional people are needed to carry out the work. The main bottleneck here is the limited training and supervision capacity. This scale-up plan is an important step in a structural and nationwide approach to reducing the shortage of technicians and training capacity. Whereas until now the parties mainly organised their own recruitment, they are now jointly channelling significant investments into regional partnerships under the name ‘Infra Talenten’. A special component is the Energy Skills programme, specifically for refugees with a residence permit. With a tailor-made preparatory programme, the sector aims to help 1,000 refugees with a residence permit find employment in the technical sector.

Inflow

The huge inflow of new employees leads to specific challenges in terms of absorption, knowledge retention and adoption of change. Our absorption capacity is a reflection of how we approach getting colleagues up to speed quickly. This starts early, before the first working day, and focuses specifically on onboarding into the organisational unit and into the daily work. To this end, we further improved the Join the Grid onboarding programme in 2025 and optimised the onboarding day for new colleagues. At the end of 2025, Alliander won two prizes for this onboarding platform at the Learning Technology Awards in London. Furthermore, we offer new employees development opportunities from the start of their employment via the My Development platform. These opportunities focus on the themes of engineering, safety, leadership, personal development and digitalisation.

'A job helps me make my dreams come true'

Work has always been important to Suzanne Jacobs, a member of our team responsible for invoicing and collections. Despite that, she ended up in the Wajong invalidity benefit scheme for young people in 2012 due to personal circumstances. ’That was a drastic change, because I really wanted to participate in society and earn my own money. After a few years, I decided that I wanted to go back to work. Through a talent expedition programme, I discovered that working in financial accounting suits me well. I completed a course and, with the support of a job coach, I started applying for jobs again. That is how I ended up at Alliander in a participation job as an invoicing and collection assistant.’

She found the job application process quite nerve-racking. ’But I did feel that people took me seriously right away. At Alliander, I receive excellent guidance and have the flexibility to tailor my work and working times to my needs. I work partly from home, am learning more and more, and have a variety of tasks. I now have a permanent contract, since August 2024 in fact, and no longer need benefits. And I did all that myself!’

Her job gives her energy, independence and confidence. ’I make a real contribution and enjoy coming to work. Working helps me to look ahead and make my dreams come true.’

Focus on professional expertise

To find solutions for the energy issues of today and tomorrow, we invest in our people. On the one hand, we do this by offering good remuneration and attractive terms of employment and, on the other hand, we offer training opportunities to help our employees get the best out of themselves. That is good for them and good for the company.

Alliander Technical Development

For our technical colleagues, we have Alliander Technical Development. This company school, with four locations in our service area, is responsible for providing technical training within Alliander. The school develops Alliander-wide technical competencies, provides educational courses for gas and electricity, and offers training courses in the field of safety. In 2025, the inflow of participants in the various intensive and long-term training programmes increased to 353 (2024: 250).

‘Mijn Ontwikkeling’

We have implemented the ‘Mijn Ontwikkeling’ (My Development) platform for all employees. This platform gives employees the freedom and responsibility they need to take control of their own learning and development path. On an online platform, they can choose from a wide range of educational courses and training programmes aimed at deepening their professional knowledge, developing new skills or working on personal growth, without any administrative hassle or having to waiting for approval.

Being an attractive employer

For the energy transition, it is essential that the sector is and remains attractive to employees. Based on this vision, employers and unions have agreed the ‘CAO Netwerkbedrijven’ collective labour agreement for network companies that runs until 1 January 2027.

Employee satisfaction

We use the Central Employee Barometer to measure how satisfied colleagues are with their work at Alliander. The commitment and enthusiasm of colleagues at Alliander remains high: 84% are enthusiastic and 94% are satisfied with their work. Colleagues recommend Alliander to others as an employer, and staff turnover is low. However, appreciation, long-term employability and well-organised work processes are topics that require extra attention. Growth of the organisation, clear objectives, agility and cost-conscious working remain important areas for improvement.

Alliander Foundation

In order to remain attractive as an employer, the Alliander Foundation encourages Alliander employees to do voluntary work and offers them support in doing so. A total of €313,000 was spent on more than 150 projects and activities of the Alliander Foundation in 2025.

Employee vitality and sickness absence

In 2025, the sickness absence rate was 4.2% (2024: 4.1%, target for 2025: maximum of 4.3%). Alliander supports employees in taking responsibility for their own well-being. We do this in various ways, such as the Long-Term Employability Budget, which they can use at their own discretion to promote their long-term employability by focusing on things like vitality, development and job satisfaction. Employees can also participate in the Alliander Fit programme, various activities such as running or cycling are organised, psychological assistance is available, and attention is paid to addiction issues.

Sickness absence trend

Anonymous care for addiction

Since 2025, we have offered every employee the opportunity of receiving anonymous and accessible help or advice for addiction or substance dependency problems via Anoniemezorg.nl. The advisers at Anoniemezorg.nl are all experienced professionals. They have had substance dependency or addiction problems themselves and have overcome them. By choosing this approach, we as an employer ensure that the threshold for assistance is low and act to prevent negative escalation.