In 2015, EDP created a Diversity and Inclusion strategy to ensure these values integrate the Group culture and are a reference in the management of its people and in the company’s internal and external activities. Under this action plan, in 2016, a training course on Unconscious Bias was born.

This course is also a measure under SDG 5 - Sustainable development goals.

About the training course

This course has the goal to create awareness, among the Group’s employees, over the unconscious and automatic way we often condition our decision-taking due to prejudices or stereotypes. It is believed that if we can show to our employees that this bias exists and influences decision-taking, we can counter that process and make it fairer, and thus improve the organization.

During the training sessions, employees are supported to identify potential situations of unconscious bias and to recognize how they affect their daily life and their decisions. The employees themselves are then the ones to define awareness strategies to overcome situations where bias poses additional risks to the business.
 

Training course implementation

The training sessions first targeted the HR team in Portugal, mainly those who deal directly with the recruitment and selection of candidates. 

After that first phase of the training course implementation, managers were trained, once they have the main accountability on people management decisions. Currently, all the remaining employees are being trained, mainly in Portugal.

By the end of 2019, more than 1,880 employees have been trained, representing more than 7,600 training hours. 
 

Recognition

More than 90% of the employees covered by the training course classified it positively. In 2017, EDP’s Unconscious Bias Training was awarded with the Seal of Diversity, included in the category "Professional Development and Career Progression", from the Portuguese Charter for Diversity.