Parizska 11
110 00 Praha 1
Tel.: + 420 222 321 648
Fax: + 420 222 321 650
email: veolia@veoliavoda.cz
Veolia Voda employees benefit from special conditions and services. Social dialogue and trade-union cooperation are essential for frank communication with employees.
Major employer
In 2005, the companies in the Veolia Voda Group in the Czech Republic set up the Malá voda (Little Water) association of employers to negotiate the higher-level collective agreement with the trade union Dřevo, lesy, voda (Wood, Forest, Water). This association builds on the traditionally good relations with the unions at our water companies. The cooperation between the Veolia Voda employers' association and the trade unionhas resulted in balanced work and social benefits for employees.
Educating employees
Veolia Voda has long focused on the skills development and training of employees as a Group priority. This is an integral part of the corporate culture and an important distinguishing factor on the market. Comprehensive staff training is provided by our own Instituteof Environmental Services (IES).
The IES operates in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Certain programmes and training courses are also available in other European countries. IES education and training activities comprise general courses, seminars and practical training, including many special periodic training courses, degree programmes, secondary-school programmes and apprenticeships.A number of training courses are accredited by the Ministry of Education.
Work safety
Work safety stands alongside employee training as another area of strategy established internationally for the whole Veolia Water Group.
A permanent section is devoted to this subject in the in-house magazine Voda je život (Water is Life).
Work safety in Water is life 1/2011
Work safety in Water is life 4/2010
Work safety in Water is life 3/2010
The basic occupational health and safety rules contained in the Labour Code and ISO standards are also incorporated into the Work Safety Code.
Besides their technical training, staff are also instructed in first aid. In recent years, two of our employees have saved lives by using basic first aid learnt at these courses.
Life-saving employees..., Water is Life - News - 1/2010 and 9/2010.
Through its educational projects, Veolia Voda provides guidance on environmental protection and green behaviour to the general public, customers and, especially, children.
Education and training
The following projects and activities are provided by the company under its external education policy:
Projects supported by the Veolia Voda Group and the Veolia Foundation
Golden Nut, a competition for creative and talented children
Awareness raising
Veolia Voda interacts with the public on water conservation, nature conservation, water quality and water savings by organizing numerous events and projects:
This trend is also discussed elsewhere:
Internet forum on http://www.vodovoda.cz/,
Internet forum on http://www.zvodovodu.cz/.
Corporate volunteering and volunteering with the company
Veolia Voda is more than a professional supplier of water services - it is also a socially responsible company that strives to improve the quality of life in those areas where it operates.
An important activity in the past few years, particularly in interpersonal relations, has been the promotion of employee volunteerism. In order to give all employees the chance to become involved as far as they are able and willing, there are two basic ways in which they can be of benefit to the world around them:
Corporate volunteering
This entails organized (usually team-based) events where the company releases employees during working hours to provide aid to the needy.
Since 2008, the Group's companies in the Czech Republic have held corporate volunteering days,usually involving entire work teams.
So far, 18 volunteer days have been held:
In 2010, corporate volunteering was given the green light throughout the Veolia Voda Group. For 2011, all companies are preparing at least one volunteerism event in each region in the Czech Republic where the Group operates to show their support for the European Year of Volunteering 2011.
Volunteering with the company
Once a year, each employee can enter himself or herself in two grant schemes in the regions: MiNiGRANTs and BioGRANTs.
These schemes promote volunteering regional projects intended to serve the community, with employees helping out in their free time — after work or on holiday. By entering these projects in the selection procedure, employees may obtain funding for them.
Most cases concern the long-term active involvement of employees in public life because many of them play a role in various NGOs or are involved in working for the common good of their communities, e.g. as volunteer fire-fighters and rescue workers, as social service volunteers, in the organization of extracurricular activities for children and young athletes, or as conservationists and volunteers caring for cultural heritage, etc.
Veolia Voda is highly committed to social issues, especially through the Veolia Foundation, which it founded in 2003. Together, we draw up in-house and foundation projects or participate in the projects of other organizations.
The Veolia Foundation is a company foundation (endowment fund) establishedin 2003, since when it has pursued its objectives and mission.
Objectives and mission of the Foundation
In 2010, the objectives were extended to include
The Veolia Foundation works on a regional basis and is active in most parts of the Czech Republic.
Social projects run by the Foundation
Social projects are currently the Foundation's main focus. The Foundation channels financial support either directly to specific individuals and groups, or makes it available to organizations. While funds are intendedprimarily for in-house projects, the Veolia Foundation also provides donations and activities for other organizations and their projects.
Social projects (apart from the Foundation)
Water for Africa - collaboration between Veolia Voda and People in Need
Veolia Voda Česká republika has prepared a special set of water carafes with an African motif. Under the Water for Africa project, Veolia Voda donates proceeds from the sale of these carafes to People in Need,which uses the funds for water projects, including the repair and construction of new sources of drinking water for schools in Ethiopia in eastern Africa.
News about the project:
http://www.kohoutkova.cz/o-projektu/
http://www.clovekvtisni.cz/index2.php?id=283&idArt=1710
Sheltered cafes
Veolia Voda supports sheltered (training) cafes, designed for the psychosocial rehabilitation of people with mental illnesses and to assist their subsequent integration into everyday life.
This project originated in 2008 in Prague, where we collaborate with three training cafes (Café na půl cesty, Mlsná kavka, and V. kolona) operated bythe Green Doors civic association . Its aims are, inter alia, to contribute to the development of community care, to participate in public debate on the concept of psychiatric care in the Czech Republic and to cooperate with other governmental and non-governmental organizations to create a comprehensive system of care for people suffering from mental illness.
The principle of this cooperation is to offer tap water in the drinks menu. The company provides the cafes with glassware (jugs, carafes, and glasses), aprons for serving personnel and printed materials for customers on the quality of tap water and the association's activities.
Since 2009, Veolia Voda has worked with the Slunečnice non-traditional training cafein Zlín, operated bythe IZAP civic association.This association for the integration of healthy and handicapped children and young people, going by the name of "We Want to Live with You...", offers its wheelchair-access coffee shop as ameeting place. Every year, it organizes interesting events, such as Bartender of the Year, the main partner of which is Veolia Voda.
