Empowering People continued Our People Strategy 38 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2026
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
Organisational Culture Strategy Our culture – the ‘Spirit of Vodafone’ – outlines the beliefs and behaviours that enable our strategy to deliver sustainable growth, simplify our organisation and create long-term value. It supports our mission to connect everyone for a better future and is grounded in our Code of Conduct. R ead more about our Code of Conduct on page 44 By embedding the Spirit of Vodafone into how we lead, collaborate and make decisions, we enable growth and ensure we are future ready, driving innovation, agility and customer delivery across our markets. This culture is strengthened through ‘Spirit of Vodafone Days’ which are global and local events focused on customer connection, learning, team cohesion and wellbeing. We use insight from our employee listening programme to strengthen engagement, capability and the execution of our strategy, including our annual Spirit Beat survey, and regular pulse surveys. We also listen at key moments across the employee lifecycle, using insights to inform decisions from candidate experience through onboarding to exit. This year We evolved our approach, informed by internal feedback, industry best practice and new technology to deliver more actionable insights at pace, and enhance the employee experience with a focus on Customers, Simplicity and Growth. As part of this transition, we adopted a new Employee Engagement Index. We used a baseline pulse survey in November 2025 to establish the starting point ahead of the February 2026 Spirit Beat survey, which is now our single annual survey, complemented by more frequent pulse check ins.
Headcount metrics Measurement 1 Number of employees 2 Employee nationalities 3 Number of markets where we operate Voluntary turnover rate 4 (%) Involuntary turnover rate (%) Footprint: Operating segments Germany (%)
We also introduced a Manager Effectiveness Index to strengthen our focus on developing others, supporting the leadership culture that we need for our next phase of growth. In the 2026 February Spirit Beat survey, we achieved an 87% response rate (May 2025: 86%). Overall engagement has remained stable year on year and continues to exceed external benchmarks for high performing organisations. In addition, 79% of candidates rated the hiring experience positively. 88% of new joiners report a positive onboarding experience, and 66% of leavers would recommend us as a great place to work. We advanced the transformation of our customer experience and embedding a customer-first culture across the organisation, while prioritising actions that strengthen the experience of our frontline teams. Our February Spirit Beat survey results reflected a frontline engagement score of 81%, with 58% of outsourced contractors who serve our customers also participating. These insights continued to inform our customer action plan, driving improvements to operational efficiency, systems, and processes. Recognising the rights of our employees, we upheld freedom of association across all markets and maintained strong relationships with, workers’ councils and trade unions, in total these arrangements and collective bargaining agreements covered 17,933 people globally. Of this number, in Vodafone Germany 13,117 employees were covered by collective agreements with Workers’ Councils and/or unions, enabling participation in representative activities and elected roles. This year, Vodafone Germany completed more than 155 agreements, focused on compensation, working time and attendance, and IT tools.
2026
2025
91,128 87,007
Employee voice is central to how we operate, supported by strong relationships with workers’ councils and trade unions and insights from our annual Spirit Beat and lifecycle surveys. These insights help embed our strategic priorities, strengthen engagement and ensure our workforce feel aligned, empowered and supported. We are committed to strengthening our culture by developing expected behaviours that reinforce it, investing in leadership development and aligning our systems, processes and moments that matter with
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15
139 141
7 4
8 4
15 13 13 16 39 3 1
16 10 13 16 41 4 1
UK (%)
Other Europe 5 (%) Türkiye (%) Africa 6 (%) Corporate Services 7 (%) Shared Operations 8 (%)
Notes: 1. Further information on measurement definitions and calculations can be found at: vodafone.com/esg-methodology. 2. Proration not considered, as at the reporting date (31 March). 3. Following the merger of Vodafone UK with Three UK during the year, information is not yet available for Three UK employees. 4. Includes retirement and death in service. 5. Reflects employees based in Albania, Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Romania. 6. Reflects employees based in Vodacom Group, including Egypt. 7. Reflects corporate support activities across Finance, HR, Legal & Business Integrity, External Affairs, Brand & Technology Strategy. 8. Reflects Shared Operations headcount across out footprint. Further definitions can be found at: vodafone.com/esg-methodology. As part of our transformation, we have continued to insource a significant number of roles within our Shared Operations to improve efficiency. Looking forward We have reset our engagement targets for the next financial year and will continue to strengthen our listening programme and equip our workforce with the tools and training needed to drive focused action plans. Manager action boots engagement, a pattern consistently reflected in Spirit Beat insights, and so we will continue to respond to insights with speed to help us sustain momentum and accelerate meaningful progress.
the ‘Spirit of Vodafone’. 81% Employee Engagement Index 1,3 87% alignment to Mission 2,3
Notes: 1. The Employee Engagement Index is based on average response to two questions: employee satisfaction and recommending us as an employer. 2. Alignment to Mission is based on average response to whether employees feel their daily work contributes to Vodafone’s Mission. 3. Employee Engagement index and Mission alignment scores are based on February 2026 five point scale responses, converted to a 0–100 scale and averaged.
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