Vattenfall UK has secured a silver award for its commitment to supporting the armed forces community.
In 2019 all Vattenfall UK business areas signed the Armed Forces Covenant.
This is a public commitment between Vattenfall and the UK Armed Forces Community to work together to remove barriers that may prevent veterans and their dependants being treated fairly.
For Vattenfall this is about making sure colleagues transitioning from the Armed Forces get the support and encouragement they need to progress their career within the energy industry.
Vattenfall HS&E manager and Heat UK Armed Forces Champion Andy Dodds (pictured) said: “I have recently joined Vattenfall Heat UK and was honoured to be invited to be their Armed Forces Champion.
“As a Royal Navy veteran who completed 25 years’ service, I am excited to be part of something like the Armed Forces Covenant showing commitment to veterans, service personnel and their families.
“As chairman of the local Royal Naval Association branch and involvement in other local veterans’ groups, I see first-hand the importance of the Covenant and what it can achieve.
“The fact Vattenfall has been awarded a silver award demonstrates their commitment to the scheme.”
Since 2019, Vattenfall have developed an Armed Forces (training and mobilisation) policy, and created webinars in partnership with East of England Energy Group (EEEGR), Career Transition Partnership (CTP), Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), and RenewableUK).
It has also supported career discussions, enabled fundraising – for the 2020 Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal Vattenfall created a giant Poppy using lighting on one of our Swinford Turbine and worked hard to ”live” our commitment.
The developer achieved Bronze Recognition Award in 2020.
To attain the Silver award, a company must demonstrate support for service personnel issues and employ at least one member of the Armed Forces community.
They are also required to actively communicate and uphold a positive stance to their employees via established HR policies and procedures.
Lastly, they must show flexibility towards annual training and mobilisation commitments of reservist employees and support the employment of cadet instructors, armed forces veterans (including the wounded, injured and sick) and military spouses/partners.