BEST WORKPLACE
Together we build the local community
Peab is located in large and small places throughout the Nordic region. At Peab our some 15,000 employees have the opportunity to make a difference by building the local community in the places where they live and work. Every employee has a big personal responsibility, and they should be met by both good work conditions and opportunities to develop as well as safe and inclusive workplaces.
Serious accidents
The target is measured as zero fatal accidents and contracting trend, rolling 12 months.
Target: <28
Outcome 2022: 49
eNPS
Stands for employee Net Promoter Score and measures employee engagement.
Target: >22
Outcome 2022: 29
Employees are our greatest resource
Our employees, with their know-how and engagement, build Peab. Our foundation is our core values – down-to-earth, developing, personal and reliable which help us to form our culture and what we call the Peab Spirit.
Our broad range of operations entails a broad range of professional roles in Peab. In recent review the number of professions summed up to 228, covering everything from geotechnicians and asphalt pavement layers to construction engineers, skilled workers in civil engineering and drivers. Our local focus and strategy for locally produced community building means that Peab has a large share of our own employees, especially compared to other companies in the construction and civil engineering industry. At the end of 2022 the proportion of skilled workers was 54 (54) percent, while the proportion of white-collar workers was 46 (46) percent. The proportion between women and men in the Peab Group is a challenge in our industry and something we work with actively. Read more about equal opportunity recruitment on page 33.
In a down-to-earth spirit and with personal responsibility
Peab has a flat organization. Team spirit is strong and at the same time every employee is important and can have an effect on both their workday and how Peab functions as a company. Our size and extensive operations in the Nordic region means we can offer a lot of opportunities regardless of whether someone wants to grow in their existing role, try on new roles and tasks or develop their leadership skills or specialist expertise. Someone might even want to develop their career in some other place. In other words, development can take many different forms, depending on individual needs. To display all these opportunities we have produced a career map that employees have access to, for example in annual developmental discussions.
By providing good work conditions and benefits we want all our employees to be healthy and happy. Peab offers market-level salaries and terms that promote a sustainable balance between work and leisure time. At Peab the nature, performance and skills level of an employee’s job decide their pay level. In accordance with Swedish law a salary survey is conducted every year in Swedish operations to ensure that all salaries are factually based. Salary processing in Norway, Denmark and Finland is performed according to national laws and collective bargaining agreements. Peab’s analysis of salaries paid in 2022 detected 18 (19) cases of subjectively set salaries between women and men for comparable professions, skills and positions. These salary differences were rectified.
Team spirit is strong and at the same time every employee is important and can have an effect on both their workday and how Peab functions as a company.
Inclusion is a cornerstone
It is fundamental for Peab that our employees are not only treated with respect for their differences, as employers we have to take advantage of each employee’s unique skills and perspective. Everyone has the right to a safe, secure and inclusive work environment hence our efforts in this field includes everyone at our workplaces. We can never accept any form of social exclusion at our workplaces. Inclusion is also high on Peab’s agenda and we have begun to measure these issues to a greater extent in our personnel survey. We are now exploring the level of experienced inclusion, how inclusive our language is, psychological security and how strong our civil courage is. The results are encouraging, although there is still room for improvement.
Peab works actively with education and support for managers and co-workers to ensure no one is discriminated or victimized at our workplaces. In recent years more than 12,000 employees have been educated in diversity and equal opportunity, now once again in a classroom. During the past year more than 200 employees signed up for the course. All new employees have to take part in a mandatory course which is updated regularly. We have an Ethical Council which ensures that reports of victimization and discrimination are investigated by impartial expertise. We have also decided all employees will annually confirm that they follow our Code of Conduct. In order to strengthen awareness we hold tailor-made courses on competition laws and anti-corruption for particularly exposed groups.
Number of employees – business area
Per December 31, 2022
| Business area | 2022 | 2021 |
| Construction | 5,671 | 5,696 |
| Civil Engineering | 3,405 | 3,426 |
| Industry | 4,931 | 4,841 |
| Project Development | 264 | 242 |
| Group functions | 769 | 690 |
| Total | 15,040 | 14,895 |
Number of employees – per gender
Per December 31, 2022
Number of employees – per country
Per December 31, 2022
Leadership is the foundation of our success
Secure and appreciated leaders are vital for our ability to achieve the targets we set and for our employees to flourish in their professions. Continually developing our management is therefore a prioritized area.
Developing and educating our leaders continued in 2022. We held regional leader conferences at six different places in the Nordic region to follow-up Peab’s business plan 2021-2023 and discuss matters like values, collaboration and the future.
We held regional leader conferences at six different places in the Nordic region to follow-up Peab’s business plan 2021-2023 and discuss matters like values, collaboration and the future.
In addition to the ordinary leadership development program, which is offered to managers on four different levels, during the year we arranged leadership seminars on leading after the pandemic. We also had a special program for supervisors to facilitate success in their roles. In total we trained 650 supervisors, from Tromsø in the north to Trelleborg in the south, and all in all we carried out developmental measures for some 1,200 managers in 2022. Additional we offered a wide range of seminars as well as coaching and mentorship. Very often our supervisors take a leadership role after finalising their degree. Ghis grooup is therefore an important group for us to suppor them in their transition.
We have further developed our digital methodology for competence development in recent years and digital learning at work for competence development is our main channel for training. We currently have a range of about 890 (650) courses available for our employees to access on their cell phones, then apply to and, to a large extent, participate in online. In connection with annual goal and development discussions, employees and supervisors can plan for digital courses and add them to the employee’s individual development plan. Within our support functions, and based on research insights in behavioral science, we have produced a new tool goal and development discussions that reduces the risk of subjectivity in our supervisors and promotes merit-based evaluations.
Our construction business in Norway has worked with a new competence register. It provides an overview of competencies and certificates that professionals in the industry possess, which is sorely needed.
What our employees think
Within the strategic target Best workplace one of our goals is to be able to offer our employees the best workplace in the industry. We measure this through the eNPS (recommend Peab) value which should be above the benchmark for the industry and manufacturing industry. The eNPS value for the Group continued to be high in the autumn survey and rose by one point to 29 (28) compared to the spring evaluation where the increase was all of five points. This is clearly above the Nordic benchmark which is 22 (20). In the spring evaluation the increase was primarily in Swedish operations while in the autumn evaluation the values for operations in Norway and Denmark rose. The eNPS value rose particularly for female employees but was also slightly higher for skilled workers.
Participation in the autumn survey was 86 percent in the Group, accompanied by around 8,000 suggestions for improvement. This shows the great interest our employees have in contributing to developing their teams and our business. We have sorted all the suggestions and compiled them into a complete picture which shows a representative result and gives each supervisor a clear idea of which areas need improvement based on the comments from their unit. We noted that overall, despite a difficult market situation with price hikes and material shortages, employees seem to feel better. Clarity and being able to meet their colleagues again were two of the reasons given.
In our annual work environment evaluation employees are given the opportunity to evaluate their work environment in the categories working hours, workload and equal opportunity. The result for 2022 continues to be stable and well in line with the benchmark. The area of workload has improved even if difficulties to relax after work are still reflected in the numbers. Equal opportunity has also improved but the outcome is lower among skilled workers than white-collar workers. In August we once again held Peab’s Nordic annual health and work environment week with optional activities based on the needs of the specific operations to inspire, engage and increase the awareness of employees regarding health and safety at our workplaces. This year’s theme focused on organizational and social factors like attitudes, behaviors and stress.
Focus on tomorrow’s talent
Our target of being an attractive employer is also vital for our ability to continually ensure future talent recruitment and keep the employees we already have. Because of the significant underlying demand for our services in different sections of society we must continually recruit new employees with different talents that help us prepare our organization for the future.
As part of this work we prioritize collaboration with many different parts of the educational systems in the countries we operate in. This collaboration ranges from internships and research projects to lectures, mentorship and tutorial help with master theses. Since 2006 we also run independent upper-secondary schools through the Peab School. Read more about the Peab School in the section “Leading in social responsibility”.
Some examples:
- In Norway we work with developing how to school interns as a way to ensure our own access to engaged, proficient skilled workers.
- For several years now our Finnish business has participated in Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Helsinki by contributing to the composition of education there and by leaders from Peab lecturing on leadership in the construction industry.
- Through our own concept for the education and development of young people, Peab Life, we get in dialogue with a great number of primary and secondary students every year.
- Since 2020 we have our own construction teacher who assists in the national education of young skilled workers in schools all over Finland. Last year Peab launched a supervisor course led by our construction teacher in eight different places. These courses increase our ability to take on more interns at our workplaces.
- We work together with, and our management is involved in, various university applied sciences courses related to the construction and civil engineering industry.
“The eNPS value for the Group continued to be high in the autumn survey and rose by one point to 29 (28) compared to the spring evaluation. This is clearly above the Nordic benchmark which is 22 (20). In the spring evaluation the increase was primarily in Swedish operations while in the autumn evaluation the values for operations in Norway and Denmark rose. The eNPS value rose particularly for female employees but was also slightly higher for skilled workers.
It’s good to see that overall, despite a difficult market situation with price hikes and material shortages, employees feel a little better now. Clarity and being able to meet their colleagues again were two of the reasons given.”
Camila Buzaglo, CCO
eNPS
Target: > over benchmark (reported semiannually)
eNPS
eNPS stands for employee Net Promoter Score and measures employee engagement. The score can vary between -100 and 100. The eNPS score should be above the benchmark in the industry (industry and manufacturing).
Safe work environment is fundamental
The construction and civil engineering industry has some of the highest numbers of injuries of any industry. Therefore a safe work environment is crucial to our business. Everyone at our workplaces should be able to workunder safe and secure conditions, despite the fact there are risks involved in the work we do.
We can never accept people are injured or get sick because of their job. All our employees, hired staff and anyone at our workplaces have the explicit right to refuse to do a job if it cannot be done safely.
Preventative measures
Accident prevention measures are the core of our work on the work environment because every remedied risk is considered one less potential accident. To prevent accidents and incidents at our workplaces Peab develops quality-ensured and systematic work methods along with continually educating employees and partners. We hold regular safety inspections at construction sites and remedy identified shortcomings afterwards. We also put great emphasis on learning work environment reports which should facilitate for workplaces to do right.
We plan and make risk assessment in projects. Employees and partners report risk observations which we remedy as far as possible and we learn from these, as we do from actual incidents and accidents. Interest in reporting risk observations during the year continued to be high with around 60,000 (62,000) reported observations.
In business area Industry’s Nordic operations management groups have held workshops during the year to increase understanding of how to build a safety culture. A study of its safety culture was conducted to find strengths and areas that need improving and the subsidiary Byggelement has reviewed its manufacturing plants from a safety perspective.
We can never accept people are injured or get sick because of their job.
Road safety
Peab has a large number of construction sites affected by passing traffic which entails a risk that requires special safety arrangements. On the other hand, the way we arrange roadway workplaces also affects passing traffic. Our team of traffic engineers promotes safe roadway workplaces with various measures. We have supported projects, inspected around 70 Peab workplaces and analyzed the some 150 inspections made by the Swedish Transport Administration. As the first construction contract company in Sweden we installed radar reflectors on all of the collision protection we use in roadwork. The system alerts other vehicles’ radar systems to protection devices mounted on vehicles in time, which means a safer environment for everyone on our roads – our own employees and everyone else.
We are involved in the Swedish Construction Federation’s member association Maintain Zero and are part of a newly formed team that works with traffic safety. Through Maintain Zero we have collaborated with the Swedish Transport Administration in Action plan for roadway safety 2022-2025. We are also represented in Sweden’s Trade Association for Safer Roadwork Sites. Through these forums we have provided the Swedish Transport Administration with ideas and information to aid them in producing an action plan for improved safety in roadway workplaces that the government has tasked the agency with. We have also responded to the referral on restructuring the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s work environment provisions where the responsibility of general contractors is clarified along with employers’ responsibility for safety in roadwork.
When a crisis is at hand
Peab has had a crisis organization for many years that consists of around 100 employees in Sweden and Norway. Its purpose is, in the case of an accident or crisis, to step in and provide professional management to minimize unnecessary suffering and injury of the victims, both employees and third parties. Every local crisis coordinator is trained in crisis management in cooperation with the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and participates in regularly scheduled exercises within the crisis organization’s operations. Every year the crisis organization receives around fifty crisis calls.
Target – a contracting trend
Since 2021 zero vision for fatal accidents and our target of a contracting trend in serious accidents is one of our nine external goals. The target comprises all our own employees and everyone else at our workplaces.
After contracting in 2021 the trend turned in March 2022 and the number of serious accidents rose. In 2022 there were 49 (28) serious accidents. Of these, 30 referred to our own employees and 19 referred to subcontractors. The accidents occurred primarily in construction contract operations in Sweden and were mostly accidents from falling or connected to handling machines. Sadly a colleague borrowed from another construction company died from a fall at one of our projects in Sweden.
It is regrettable that the trend in accidents is developing in the wrong direction, and that one accident was even fatal. This proves how important it is to continuously work on our safety culture. In order to turn the tide we have intensified our preventive work concerning the work environment and we work with in-depth investigations and take measures to prevent similar accidents from happening again. We also continue to provide our information series to all our employees where we share good examples, advice concerning the work environment and safety as well as information on the latest in the industry. The quarterly Nordic exchange of experiences contributes to strengthening competence among the countries.
We also monitor the number of workplace accidents with more than four days absence, excluding the day of injury (LTI4), and workplace accidents according to the same definition per one million hours worked (LTIF4) for our own employees. In the fourth quarter this year there were 40 (28 third quarter 2022) and the LTIF4 frequency rate for a rolling twelve month period was 5.8 (6.2 after the third quarter 2022), which is a positive trend.
Progress and collaboration in 2022:
- Peab has implemented a new system for reporting and managing risk observations, incidents and accidents in Swedish operations. The system has a number of advantages such as an even greater focus on seeing that planned measures are carried out. Operations in our other countries will implement the system during 2023.
- Peab’s Nordic annual work environment week was focused on organizational and social factors like attitudes, behaviors and stress.
Maintain Zero
As the Nordic Community Builder it is self-evident to contribute to the industry’s development, not only in collaboration with our customers but also with our other stakeholders. During 2022 we continued to be involved in the work being done by our industry under Maintain Zero and The Swedish Construction Federation’s work environment committee.
Work environment award in Denmark
Last year Peab Asfalt in Denmark was named Danish Master in the work environment for the second year in a row by the trade union 3F and Asfaltindustrien. The company received the award for having the least number of accidents in the industry.
“The number of serious accidents at our workplaces rose to 49 serious accidents. Of these, 30 referred to our own employees and 19 referred to subcontractors. It is regrettable that the trend in accidents is developing in the wrong direction and proves how important it is to continuously work on our safety culture so as not to lose focus on the risks in our work. In order to turn the tide we therefore intensified our preventive work concerning the work environment last year. Our highest priority is to once again have a contracting trend.”
Roger Linnér, COO
Serious accidents
Target: Zero fatal accidents and contracting trend, rolling 12 months, serious accidents classification 4 (reported quarterly)
No
Our target of a contracting trend in serious accidents comprises all our own employees and everyone else at our workplaces.
Refers to the period January 2020 – December 2022.