Citizens Energy Group
OUR PLEDGE TO THE COMMUNITY
Citizens Energy Group pledges to be a leader in the business community for the promotion of diversity and inclusion in our workforce, business partners and the communities we serve. Citizens supports the Indy Equity Pledge with the following commitments.
PLEDGE 1
Citizens will enhance workplace diversity.
Focus Areas: Workplace
Citizens will enhance diversity and racial equity in our workforce and culture. We will recruit and retain a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We will promote diversity and inclusion in our workforce through communications and training for employees.
2022 PROGRESS
In order to enhance diversity and racial equity in our workforce, Citizens has increased our ongoing recruiting strategy by targeting organizations who provide services that support people of color. Currently our workforce mirrors the community we serve. We also created entry level Utility Helper positions for non-degreed applicants in our Shared Field Services business unit. These entry level positions provide skill-based training to increase the potential to advance or promote into other roles. Of the total new hires and employees transferred to these positions, to date, 26 percent are minority and 1 percent female.
Citizens is committed to providing full-time employees both a wage of at least $18 per hour and access to health insurance benefits. To honor this commitment to the Indianapolis workforce, Citizens has become a certified Good Wages Partner with Employ Indy.
Additionally, we developed an apprenticeship program for positions that require a water treatment license and certification. This program is a succession planning initiative to backfill vacated positions from an internal pool of licensed operators. To date 23 apprentices have passed the exam and moved into Water Production Plant Operator or Maintenance Relief Operator positions and 35 percent are African American.
Citizens launched a Diversity Communications Campaign to ensure consistent messaging is shared across the workforce and in the community. This campaign included an infographic poster and animation videos that focuses on Citizens commitment in five key areas: Community involvement, internal communications, workforce diversity, customer service and supplier diversity. Additionally, videos were filmed of minority employee volunteers to highlight Citizens commitment to diversity from their perspectives. This campaign is shared in our employee newsletter, email blasts, social media posts and website.
Diversity is a key component of our ongoing training and development programs. All newly hired employees must complete “Promise of the Trust” training as part of their onboarding process. This course highlights our company core values and includes a specific diversity module that focuses on their role to advance the diversity mission, strategic plan goals and cultural competency.
Our online diversity training curriculum, “Open Minds Transform Organizations”, was designed for all employees, including leadership, to heighten the importance of our diversity value in our culture. This three-part online curriculum includes exercises to explore racial diversity, cultural competency and unconscious bias with an individual action plan to move diversity forward and measure improvements.
2021 PROGRESS
In order to enhance diversity and racial equity in our workforce, Citizens has increased our ongoing recruiting strategy by targeting organizations who provide services that support people of color. Currently our workforce mirrors the community we serve. We also created entry level Utility Helper positions for non-degreed applicants in our Shared Field Services business unit. These entry level positions provide skill-based training to increase the potential to advance or promote into other roles. Of the total new hires and employees transferred to these positions, to date, 32 percent are minority and 1 percent female.
Additionally, we developed an apprenticeship program for positions that require a water treatment license and certification. This program is a succession planning initiative to backfill vacated positions from an internal pool of licensed operators. To date four apprentices have passed the exam and moved into Water Production Plant Operator roles and 50 percent are African American. An additional 15 apprentices have passed the exam and moved into the Maintenance Relief Operator positions; 27% African American and 6% Hispanic.
Citizens launched a Diversity Communications Campaign to ensure consistent messaging is shared across the workforce and in the community. This campaign included an infographic poster and animation videos that focuses on Citizens commitment in five key areas: Community involvement, internal communications, workforce diversity, customer service and supplier diversity. Additionally, videos were filmed of minority employee volunteers to highlight Citizens commitment to diversity from their perspectives. This campaign is shared in our employee newsletter, email blasts, social media posts and website.
Diversity is a key component of our ongoing training and development programs. All newly hired employees must complete “Promise of the Trust” training as part of their onboarding process. This course highlights our company core values and includes a specific diversity module that focuses on their role to advance the diversity mission, strategic plan goals and cultural competency.
Our online diversity training curriculum, “Open Minds Transform Organizations”, was designed for all employees, including leadership, to heighten the importance of our diversity value in our culture. This three-part online curriculum includes exercises to explore racial diversity, cultural competency and unconscious bias with an individual action plan to move diversity forward and measure improvements.
PLEDGE 2
Citizens will be a leader for supplier diversity.
Focus Areas: Prosperity
Citizens will enhance our partnerships with minority, women and veteran owned businesses to drive economic development and improve our performance as the community’s largest, locally-owned utility provider.
2022 PROGRESS
Citizens spent over $93 million with diverse suppliers in 2022, representing more than 21 percent of addressable spending across the organization. Minority-owned suppliers represented 11.9 percent of addressable spending followed by women-owned suppliers at 8.0 percent and veteran-owned businesses at 1.8 percent. Citizens increased its direct business with diverse suppliers by 12% and saw an overall $2.6 million increase in diverse spend in fiscal year 2022 from fiscal year 2021. Citizens has officially launched the “Building the Future Together” (BTFT) program as a roadmap to assist in achieving a more diverse supply base and sustaining success for all parties for the long-term. A central goal of the BTFT program is not only to help to grow diverse businesses financially, but through award of additional business, causing them to employ more workers from within Citizens’ service territory.
The vision of the Building the Future Together program is to support Citizens Energy Group’s Vision “to fulfill the promise of the Trust with unparalleled excellence and integrity” by cultivating a broader, more diverse “first call” supply base to serve Citizens and its customers for the long term. Through longer term relationships, continued development and growth, suppliers will be positioned to expand employment opportunities in the community. The inaugural program participants include two minority-owned suppliers and one veteran-owned supplier. The program will onboard two additional diverse suppliers annually.
2021 PROGRESS
Citizens achieved nearly $102 million of spending with diverse suppliers in 2020, representing more than 26 percent of addressable spending across the organization. Minority-owned suppliers represented 14.4 percent of addressable spending followed by women-owned suppliers at 10.7 percent and veteran-owned businesses at 1.4 percent. Year to date in 2021, Citizens’ addressable spending is at 16 percent with minority-owned businesses, at 9 percent with women-owned businesses and at 3 percent with veteran-owned businesses.
Over the past year, Citizens has adopted the “Building the Future Together” (BTFT) program as a roadmap to assist in achieving a more diverse supply base and sustaining success for all parties for the long-term. A central goal of the BTFT program is not only to help to grow diverse businesses financially, but through award of additional business, causing them to employ more workers from within Citizens’ service territory. The vision of the Building the Future Together program is to support Citizens Energy Group’s Vision “to fulfill the promise of the Trust with unparalleled excellence and integrity” by cultivating a broader, more diverse “first call” supply base to serve Citizens and its customers for the long term. Through longer term relationships, continued development and growth, suppliers will be positioned to expand employment opportunities in the community.
PLEDGE 3
Citizens will promote diversity and improved quality of life through support of Indy Parks.
Focus Areas: Prosperity
Citizens will continue its commitment to improve Indy Parks facilities that serve diverse communities through its annual Sharing the Dream Event, which honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
2022 PROGRESS
As of 2021, Citizens has refurbished 15 Indy Parks in 13 years. We plan to continue our investments into Indy Parks. In addition, this year we announced that Citizens will be the presenting Sponsor of the Frederick Douglass Park Centennial Celebration July 6-10. Frederick Douglass Park, the first park in Indianapolis dedicated to serving African Americans, has been the site of two Sharing the Dream projects..
Citizens has invested over $3.5 Million in either monetary or in-kind materials and labor. More than 2,000 Citizens employees have volunteered over 11,000 hours during Sharing the Dream Projects. In addition to enhancing Indy Parks facilities, Sharing the Dream provides an opportunity to highlight the legacy of service provided by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. across our community while promoting diversity, inclusion and teamwork across our workforce.
2021 PROGRESS
As of 2021, Citizens has refurbished 15 Indy Parks in 13 years. We plan to continue our investments into Indy Parks. In addition, this year we announced that Citizens will be the presenting Sponsor of the Frederick Douglass Park Centennial Celebration July 6-10. Frederick Douglass Park, the first park in Indianapolis dedicated to serving African Americans, has been the site of two Sharing the Dream projects.
Citizens has invested over $3.5 Million in either monetary or in-kind materials and labor. More than 2,000 Citizens employees have volunteered over 11,000 hours during Sharing the Dream Projects. In addition to enhancing Indy Parks facilities, Sharing the Dream provides an opportunity to highlight the legacy of service provided by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. across our community while promoting diversity, inclusion and teamwork across our workforce.
Join us in the important work of creating racial equity in Central Indiana.
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