WHAT are we doing to demonstrate that?
Continuous Improvement in Safety
Safety is the foundation for everything Ameren does. Our focus continues to be consistent improvement in safety performance over the long-term. Every employee is expected to challenge any unsafe act and complete each workday safely. It’s about people and behaviors, not just numbers. At its core, Ameren’s safety strategy involves more than changing procedures—it involves changing culture.
We are putting more emphasis on keeping an incident from occurring in the first place, as well as learning from them. Specifically, it is important that employees improve the quality and quantity of the conversations they have with each other around safety by modeling behavior such as co-worker to co-worker (c2c) interactions and job briefings.
In late 2016, several life-changing incidents, including a fatality, occurred. These incidents serve as a sobering reminder of the hazards many of our co-workers face every day.
Our relentless focus on safety has resulted in meaningful improvements. We believe that one injury is one too many.
Haley Johnson, supervisor, and Dave Bahr, hydro plant technician, talk through a job assignment at Ameren Missouri’s Taum Sauk Energy Center. Bahr values c2c interactions because they are designed to build trust and help employees make safety-focused feedback and learning the norm for Ameren workgroups.
2017 target
20,000
Co-worker to Co‑worker interactions
Crafting and Evolving our Workplace Culture
Our company is best able to achieve our mission, vision and values with the right culture and employee mindset in place. Ameren understands that it takes the right culture to empower co-workers to execute company strategy. With an eye on the ever-changing business environment and utility industry, we have identified seven key competencies that will guide our behaviors:
- Think customer
- Inspire and engage
- Foster innovation
- Drive results
- Champion learning
- Build trust
- Be strategic
Employee engagement at Ameren is strong. We are pleased, but not satisfied, with 2016 employee engagement scores as measured through the Values Pulse Questionnaire survey, which are shown at right.
Co-worker Engagement: % Favorable
Our Innovation Team is 8,600 People Strong
Powering the future takes dreamers and doers, as well as passion and discipline. To that end, Ameren is leveraging the incredible expertise of our co-workers and working with leading technology companies. In fact, our company has dedicated Innovation Action Teams that are taking a long-term view to develop and deliver innovative products and services to our customers. That includes pilot initiatives around drone technology, solar partnerships, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, microgrids and energy storage, to name a few.
While some projects are coming from Ameren’s Innovation Action Teams, a tremendous amount are coming from individuals throughout our workforce.
Darren Ratliff is a problem-solver. He thinks big. Darren recognized that there was room to improve the foundation for steel transmission monopoles, both in design and as a way to save customers money. Working with engineers at Hanson Professional Services Inc. (Ameren’s geotechnical consultant for the Brokaw to South Bloomington project and the Illinois Rivers project), Darren brought his idea for inclined earth anchors to life.
Attracting Top Talent
It takes a variety of backgrounds to provide energy to our bi-state region, and our careers attract candidates from many different disciplines. Ameren’s talent strategy is to keep us poised to meet the following challenges:
- A significant segment of our workforce is nearing retirement age and we have near-term knowledge gaps to fill.
- Technology is rapidly evolving, and our company must keep pace on several fronts.
- Students must get excited about the energy industry and the types of careers now available at utility companies.
Each year, Ameren brings in more than 100 interns and co-ops in key areas such as engineering, finance and supply chain. Careers in Energy Week is one event we participate in to highlight career path opportunities.
CAREERS IN ENERGY
What could you do with a business degree?
Hear from Alexis, a business management major and 2016 Strategic Sourcing intern.
What could you do as an electrical engineer?
Hear from Quamrul, whose Ameren Illinois co-op taught him to connect classroom theories with real-world application.