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Employee Development and Learning


To achieve our vision of being the leading utility in the United States, we must have energized employees, delighted customers and rewarded shareholders. Having a team committed to excellence and innovation—and providing that team with opportunities, skills and support—is essential. We recognize that our people are our greatest asset and that to delight our customers and reward our shareholders, we must energize our employees by investing in their development and well-being with a continuous learning environment that is aligned with rapidly changing business needs. We also must provide a clear indication to our employees of their accountability and our overall expectations, and we must develop and implement programs to retain employees over the long term. Some examples of programs and initiatives enhanced or implemented in 2006 include:
Performance Management Program, which ensures that employees have a clear understanding of their goals and expected behaviors and how those are linked to the company's goals and aligned with our vision and values. Additionally, the program focuses on employee development to ensure that every employee is continually learning and developing to position themselves for future business challenges.
Leadership Academy, which is designed to provide directors, managers, superintendents and first-line supervisors with high-quality workshops dedicated to enhancing their leadership skills. Many of the workshops are led by PG&E officers, and the curriculum is progressive, allowing for the introduction of new workshops as needs are identified.
Leadership Coaching, which is an ongoing partnership designed to help employees throughout the company produce fulfilling results in their professional lives. Through the process of coaching, employees deepen their learning, improve their performance and enhance their quality of life.

Helping Employees Take Control of Their Careers

 

We are also working closely with our three labor unions on workforce planning and training. There are regular meetings with the IBEW Local 1245, ESC/IFTPE and SEIU/IUSO to discuss staffing levels, including the filling of new positions and employee training.


One way we are addressing future staffing needs is through an aggressive effort to place employees into apprenticeships which we jointly developed with IBEW Local 1245 and ESC/IFTPE. PG&E currently has 800 employees participating in statecertified programs. Most apprenticeship programs are three years and include both classroom and on-the-job training.


Tyler Davidson, a former electrician, went through a challenging three-year on-the-job training program to secure his job with PG&E.

As we anticipate replacing thousands of retiring employees in the years ahead, a critical challenge is ensuring a transfer of knowledge from our existing workforce to our next-generation employees. In response, PG&E has developed a knowledge transfer toolkit and supporting methods aimed at ensuring that, at a minimum, plans are in place for transferring valuable employee know-how to our next generation of employees. We are also looking at ways we can embed knowledge transfer in our daily work activities, giving us another powerful approach to eliminating the risk of knowledge loss, and ensuring service continuity and safe operations.

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