14 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2025 Our people strategy Our people strategy Our Company is changing and this year we have invested in our leadership population to own and implement our strategy. We have strengthened our skills development, simplified our ways of working, and embedded a performance culture. People Engagement
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
These are complemented by group-wide updates on Microsoft Viva Engage on topics such as financial results, business strategy, portfolio progress, and company achievements. Read more about the Board’s engagement with the employee voice on pages 73 to 76 and 81 Workers’ councils and union engagement We respect freedom of association and recognise the rights of employees to join trade unions and engage in collective bargaining in accordance with local law. We continue to maintain strong relationships with workers’ councils and unions through their representatives, and we have 13,039 people covered by collective bargaining agreements across our global footprint. Vodafone Germany employees, all covered by collective agreements signed with Works Council organisations and/or unions, can register and participate in trade union and/or Works Council activities which are funded by the Company and colleagues can elect or be elected into various Works Council and/or union roles at a local or national level. Across FY25, Vodafone Germany completed more than 123 agreements across all levels, with a focus on reorganisation, employee working conditions, and various technology tools. The ‘Spirit of Vodafone’ Our culture – the ‘Spirit of Vodafone’ – outlines the beliefs we stand for and the behaviours that enable our strategy and purpose. We foster our culture by developing behaviours that reinforce our Spirit, investing in leadership development to role-model our beliefs, and ensuring systems, processes and milestone activities are aligned with the ‘Spirit of Vodafone’. We measure our progress and identify where to take action via a bi-annual employee survey called ‘Spirit Beat’. In our latest Spirit Beat survey in October 2024, we had an 89% response rate (April 2024: 88%) and strong scores in engagement, connection to purpose, and Spirit.
Spirit Beat surveys Measurement 1 Engagement Purpose Team Spirit Index 2 Response rates
2. This includes countries where we have commercial operations, excluding Vodafone Italy and Vodafone Spain 3. Other Europe reflects employees based in Albania, Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Romania. Africa reflects employees based in Vodacom Group, including Egypt. 4. Corporate Services reflects corporate support activities across Finance, HR, Legal & Business Integrity, External Affairs, in addition to Brand & Technology Strategy. 5. Shared Operations constitute a significant number of employees. The figures presented above include Shared Operations headcount across our footprint (Albania, Egypt, Hungary, India, Portugal, Romania, Türkiye and Spain) and reflects other shared operational capabilities across revenue generation, product development, technology and network operations, and back-office operations. 6. Further detail on this score is found under the ‘Spirit Beat surveys’ sub-heading of this page. The employee engagement index is based on an average index of responses to three questions: satisfaction working at Vodafone; experiencing positive emotions at work; and recommending us as an employer. Alignment to purpose is based on one question that asks whether employees feel their daily work contributes significantly to Vodafone’s purpose. Employee engagement index and purpose alignment scores reflect October 2024 and April 2024 data, excluding Vodafone Italy and Vodafone Spain. 7. Voluntary turnover rate includes retirements and death in service. Further information on how voluntary and involuntary turnover has been calculated is in the ESG Addendum Methodology document: investors.vodafone.com/esgmethodology. Employee engagement We have a number of employee forums where elected employee delegates represent the views of their colleagues. During the year, the Board’s Workforce Engagement Leads, Delphine Ernotte Cunci and Christine Ramon, attended the European Employee Consultative Committee and the Vodacom Employee Engagement Forum to gather employee views. Key topics included our commercial portfolio, Gen AI strategy, hybrid working policy, and employee engagement plans. The Group Chief Executive updates employees regularly on how we are progressing our strategy through a wide variety of digital and face-to-face channels, including market townhalls, employee conferences, and monthly leadership meetings.
October 2024
April 2024 75 88 85 88
75 89 85 89
Notes: 1. A verage percentage of favourable scores
2. The Team Spirit Index represents an overall view of how people are doing on the ‘Spirit of Vodafone’ and takes into account each of our Spirit Behaviours. It allows us to understand how successful we have been in embedding these behaviours when working with each other, our customers, and the communities in which we operate. The ‘Spirit Beat’ survey measures our progress on culture change with a focus on supporting employees to deliver our priorities of Customers, Simplicity and Growth through Spirit. The ‘Spirit Beat’ results show that engagement is 75 and teams are connected to our strategy and have clarity on their goals. We support our managers to lead with Spirit and continue to take action on survey results through development programmes, coaching, training and resources. To develop the leadership behaviours required to deliver our strategy, 10,000 people leaders have attended training, known as the ‘Vodafone Leader Labs’, to support them with the tools and standards to lead our culture change and transformation. Managers who demonstrate Spirit Behaviours continue to outperform those who do not by 20 points on Team Spirit Index and 25 points on Engagement. We continue to evolve our employee listening strategy to inform work that enhances the employee experience. Candidates have rated the candidate experience as 79, new joiners are positive about their onboarding experience, and when employees leave Vodafone, 68% would recommend Vodafone as a great place to work.
We are developing a diverse and inclusive global workforce that reflects the customers and societies we serve. Key information Measurement 2025
2024
Average number of employees 1 Average number of contractors 1 Number of markets where we operate 2 Employee nationalities Footprint: Operating segments Germany
87,205 85,887 5,196 6,848 15 15 141 146 16% 17% 11% 11% 13% 13% 4% 4% 16% 16% 1% 1% 40% 39% 75 75 89% 88% 8% 9% 4% 3%
UK
Other Europe 3
Türkiye Africa 3
Corporate Services 4 Shared Operations 5
Employee experience Employee engagement index 6 Alignment to purpose 6 Voluntary turnover rate 7 Involuntary turnover rate 7
Notes: 1. All headcount figures exclude non-controlled operations such as those in the Netherlands, Kenya, Australia and India. Further information on how headcount is defined and calculated can be found in the ESG Addendum Methodology document: investors.vodafone.com/esgmethodology . Calculation considers prorated headcount.
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