creating a better place to work for our people and embedding Vodafone Spirit into our everyday ways of working
Social
Our commitment to people and society is based on action that goes in two directions. At the core of our purpose is building a company that enables an inclusive digital society, creating a better place to work for our people and embedding Vodafone Spirit into our everyday ways of working. At the same time, to do that, we need a corporate culture that reflects our purpose, values and ambition. This is why building a dynamic and visionary workforce and supporting inclusive digitalization are two tightly interlinked areas, one impossible without the other.
Deep Inclusion and Diversity
At Vodafone Egypt, we believe that deep inclusion and diversity are ones that enable a fair and equal environment where everyone has a chance to do their best. They are about proactively understanding present gaps, removing barriers to participation and empowering those often excluded, such as youth, people living in isolated villages and people with disabilities. Through an engaged and forward-looking approach, we aim to lead on gender equality and build on the competitive advantage of strong and diverse teams.
Fekretek Ideathon
Vodafone Egypt launched Ideathon “Fekretek” for women entrepreneurs in March 2021 (the Woman Month). Fekretek offers Egyptian women the chance to win mentorship programs and cash prizes with a total of EGP 450,000 for the top 3 innovative ideas. The purpose of Fekretek is to:
- Allow Egyptian female entrepreneurs to propose their business ideas.
- Implement female-led sustainable and scalable initiatives.
- Support Egypt's 2030 Agenda.
- Boost digital transformative ideas.
1000+ women registered to participate
650 attendees of the Ideathon
170+ women applied with their ideas
EGP 450,000 Total prize budget
Awards: 1st place - 250k EGP, 2nd place - 150k EGP, 3rd place - 50k EGP
Number of ideas tackling specific SDGs
Partners
Engaging 44 million Customers for Good
Leveraging its technologies to contribute to the betterment of Egypt, Vodafone Egypt launched a donations SMS campaign encouraging our 44 million customers to support the efforts of the country and the Ministry of Health in preventing the spread of COVID-19. The awareness campaign resulted in the donation of EGP 10 mln to the Ministry of Health.
International Women’s Day
1,791 PARTICIPANTS
We delivered remote work food, yoga at your desk and women of Vodafone sessions for the women’s day. We conducted the Defining Your Worth campaign, rewarded and congratulated women for their effort throughout the years, as well as launched the Return-ship Program.
Disability Day
110 PARTICIPANTS
Vodafone Egypt Foundation worked on availing connectivity at many orphanages including including Banati Foundation through the provision of educational content & digital literacy as well as providing zero rated platforms in collaboration with the Ta3limy Initiative. Vodafone Egypt provided electronic devices such as desktops and laptops to allow for a better digital inclusion
Yalla Sharek
The program encourages volunteers to give back to their communities by donating time, skills, talent, effort, ideas and money to the causes that they choose. The initiative targets employees, business partners, students and customers. Learn more.
25 Missions Accomplished
2700 Volunteering hours
700+ Volunteers
Connectivity to Orphanages
Vodafone Egypt Foundation worked on availing connectivity at many orphanages including including Banati Foundation through the provision of educational content & digital literacy as well as providing zero rated platforms in collaboration with the Ta3limy Initiative.
Vodafone Egypt provided electronic devices such as desktops and laptops to allow for a better digital inclusion.
Catholic Relief
3700 STUDENTS
The program focuses on providing tablets and SIM cards to refugee students, so they are able to access online classes. Tablets come pre-loaded with educational solutions and tailored environments, granting students access to different content and functionality depending on the profile assigned to them. Also, the solution enables the administrator(s) to control what content is available through the tablets and check the status of each device.
Promoting a Diverse and Inclusive Workforce
We pursue equality of opportunity and inclusion for all employees through our employment policies and practices. We recognize and celebrate the importance of diversity in our workspaces so that we are as diverse as the customers we serve. We will not tolerate any form of discrimination especially related to but not limited to age, gender, race, disability, gender identity, cultural background or belief. Vodafone Egypt practices fair hiring and advancement and equal treatment of employees with regard to their background while having zero tolerance for any kind of discrimination. We are a diverse company at every level and keep working on improving on gender empowerment, youth inclusion and other initiatives that help us build a strong workforce where everyone has a voice. Beyond employment practices, we implement a wide range of initiatives aimed at leveraging our impact at a greater scale targeting diverse social groups.
Based on the most recent data percentage of female employees decreased by 3% compared to the baseline, and particularly there has been a 10% decline in women under 30 years, despite efforts at supporting and proactively encouraging women, which suggests that we should further explore ways to attract, promote and retain women. However, the participation of female employees between 30 and 50 years increased by 10%, which represents both general demographic patterns and may also mean that women with more years of experience are more likely to be employed or retain their position at Vodafone Egypt. Overall, we have had a 1% increase in women hires since 2018. The total number of employees who took parental leave has been steadily increasing, except for the drop in 2020. There has, however, been a rapid drop in participation in the workforce by people with disabilities between 2017 and 2018, and we have been steadily increasing their share since then.
Fair Pay Principles
At Vodafone, our Fair Pay Principles govern our approach to reward across our business. We apply these six principles to every employee regardless of level, location, or role.
Market competitive
The pay of our people is reflective of their skills, role and function, and the external market. We annually review the pay of each employee and actively manage any who fall below the market competitive range.
Free from discrimination
Our pay should not be affected by gender, age, disability, gender identity and expression, race, ethnicity, cultural heritage or belief.
Provide a good standard of living
We work with independent organisations, the Fair Wage Network, to assess how our pay compares to the “living wage” in each of our markets because we are committed to providing a good standard of living for our people and their family.
Share in our successes
All our people should have the opportunity to share in our success by being eligible to receive some form of performance-related pay, e. g. a bonus, shares or sales incentive.
Provide benefits for all
Our global standard is to offer all our people life insurance, parental leave and access to either company or state-provided healthcare and pension provision.
Open and transparent
We ensure that our people understand their pay. We do this through user-friendly guides, webpages and an annual reward statements to explain our peoples’ pay and outline the value of their core reward package.
Human Potential
Vodafone Egypt combines dedicated internal training and education activities with external outreach to grow professionals in their fields from people across generations and backgrounds.
We have particularly focused on ensuring ongoing learning, expanding access to core digital technologies, helping students make the most out of the virtual experiences and supporting teachers in being effective leaders for their students today and tomorrow.
Ta3limy
Ta3limy Online Education Platform by Vodafone Foundation
Digital learning platform “Ta3limy” which advocates for the usage of online learning for Egyptian students, parents and teachers reimagining the way they consume education through technology. It aims to digitize the learning experience while building skills.
1 800 000 USERS
Vodafone Egypt Foundation launched the digital learning platform, Ta3limy. Providing free educational and digital literacy learnings to build the skills relevant for the 21st century global citizens, empowering students to shape an inclusive and digital Egypt.
Through Ta3limy we aspire to provide students with cutting-edge cost effective and flexible educational resources to broaden their skills and enable them to actively shape the digital world around them in a fast-paced world.
Ta3limy Offering
Students
Students on Ta3limy are provided the opportunity to develop their digital literacy skills to consume education through technology while staying safe online. Through partnerships with the top content providers.
Providing the National Curricular and Digital Literacy skills courses
Teachers
Teachers play and integral role in the education journey of students, Vodafone Egypt Foundation has partnered with Balanced Education company to support the digitization of the teacher certification program providing teachers in national schools with the technical, soft skills & professional development certifications from global & local academic institutions. Through the partnership, Vodafone Egypt Foundation digitized seven teacher training programs, including the following topics.
ACTIVE LEARNING
CLASSROOM MANAGMENT
VIRTUL ONLINE TEACHING
EDUTECH
ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE EDUCATORS
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Teachers who apply to these certifications on Ta3limy and finish all the modules and examinations are awarded a certificate from Florida Atlantic University, Franklin Covey & Balanced Education Services & Training.
Parents
Ta3limy addresses the needs of parents offering them content about positive parenting and dealing with learning difficulties and cyber security awareness to keep them safe while being online to make sure they accompany their children in the digital learning journey.
Positive Parenting, Cyber Security and learning difficulties content
Connected learning Ta3limy at Orphanages
Vodafone Egypt Foundation ensures that everyone in the community has access to quality learning opportunities. In partnership with Ministry of social solidarity the foundation is providing many orphanages across Egypt with the needed resources. Vodafone Egypt Foundation equipped the orphanages with the full eco-system of hardware, connectivity, and educational & digital literacy trainings on Ta3limy.
Ta3limy at Hayah Karima Schools
Vodafone Egypt Foundation believes that technology has the power to standardize learning opportunities, unlocking quality learning for those in the most remote or underprivileged communities. Vodafone Egypt Foundation has partnered with Hayah Karima foundation and granted access to 103 schools including 3 at Tahya Misr Al Alamein Schools, and 100 schools at Hayah Karima villages, underprivileged communities, to provide the schools with the Ta3limy full ecosystem, hardware, connectivity, and digital content along with raising awareness on digital learning.
Vodafone Foundation - Instant Network Schools
As part of Vodafone’s inclusion for all strategies, Vodafone Egypt Foundation extended its support to refugees in Egypt in partnership with the UNHCR and the Ministry of Education through the Instant Network Schools program with renowned football player Mohamed Salah as the Global Ambassador. Instant Network Schools is a global program that leverages mobile technology to improve the quality of education provided to refugees and the communities that host them by providing students and teachers with the necessary equipment, digital educational content, training, and access to the Internet. Vodafone Egypt Foundation has equipped 18 classrooms with tablets, projectors, laptops, and speakers to support students & teachers in their digital educational journey.
The tablets contain educational material like Ta3limy, Wikipedia, Egyptian Knowledge Bank, Scratch and many more. Read more on the VF Group website.
54 000 beneficiaries
Watch the Video to see the students’ reactions after Mohamed Salah surprises them in class as the global ambassador of Instant Network Schools.
Vodafone Egypt will be expanding this programme to reach 40 schools nationwide, this will make us the biggest INS hub globally.
Discover program
Graduate program where we deliver a learning journey to the graduates for a year and a half.
9 ACTIVE DISCOVER PROGRAMME ASSOCIATES
69% females
Education Sims Initiative
Educational Sims for high school students for free were used on the educational tablets offering internet at a discounted price.
Developing our Workforce
To help our people grow and succeed in their careers, we launched a number of new initiatives such as new hires induction, monthly skills transformation training delivered across all functions and other learning events. During the Learning Week campaign, we conducted sessions that can be beneficial for all the organisation, including awareness and knowledge on new technologies and some interpersonal skills, with a total of 12 sessions, 11 topics and an average of 12 learning hours.
663
ATTENDEES
of the learning week campaign
4%
OF THE F BANDS
identified as new top talents and attended accelerate F (9 out of 215)
4%
OF THE G BANDS
identified as new top talents and attended accelerate G (78 out of 2031)
140+
SENIOR STUDENTS
Participating in hybrid summer internships
Over 40 top talents, G&F Bands graduated from our local top talent program (Accelerate) in association with Silicon Valley. This included the Top Talent Program from F Band, which had sessions facilitated by Silicon Valley and global business leaders and Top Talent Program G Band supported by an AI expert to direct the participants to implement this concept to solve business gaps within Vodafone. We also hosted a successful hybrid Summer Internship program hosted and future-ready sessions within the Spirit days.
The New Normal
Around the world, people can't wait to resume their 'normal' lives and do what they used to do in the past. However, at Vodafone, we are going back to a new 'normal' based on what we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. And this new Normal is about individual and collective capacity to make a difference and to thrive despite anything ( Photos ).
Leadership Academy & Online Platform
1,286 PARTICIPANTS
We introduced a new diversified learning solution to develop the employee’s leadership skills across different levels. We also launched an elevated leadership platform to reach different learning tastes through injecting online content in different forms.
360 Wellbeing
Vodafone Egypt puts the health, safety and wellbeing of all its stakeholders at the centre stage. We believe that real wellbeing is achieved when everyone across our value chain is taken into consideration, and therefore our employees, contractors, suppliers and customers benefit from measures made to safeguard their health on every interaction and in every case. We also provide comprehensive benefits packages and workplace wellbeing initiatives for our employees and ensure our customers can take care of their health when using Vodafone Egypt services to be an Admired and Safe Workplace.
Remote Working Policy
At Vodafone, we work hard to maintain a workplace that enables employees to be healthy and well in every way. Our wellbeing framework is the departure point for all other actions.
DIGITAL
We promote healthy and sustainable use of technology
FINANCIAL
Our Fair Pay principles ensure all employees can afford a decent living standard
CONNECTIONS & COMMUNITY
Our culture cherishes connections with family, friends, colleagues and the wider community
PURPOSE & GROWTH
We support employees in seeking joy in what they do and finding goals that inspire them
EMOTIONAL & MENTAL
We support employees developing emotional resilience and mindfulness
PHYSICAL
Good physical health is essential for feeling well, having proper energy level and being productive
Health, Safety and Wellbeing System
At Vodafone Egypt, people’s occupational health and wellbeing is our main priority. We avail all the necessary support they might need to ensure they are working safe either in offices or in their homes. We do have a clear and solid program where we avail several services for the employees:
- 24/7 hotline support for any emergencies.
- Virtual gym classes five times per week with our partner Gold’s Gym.
- COVID-19 action: support for the employees and their families, agile guidelines, awareness sessions and vaccination support.
- On ground medical screening to cover all the employees’ needs such as lipid profile, optical analysis, dental, dermatology, oncology, obesity, blood glucose, orthopaedic and cardiology.
- We offer competitions, on-ground activation, conduct committee (HSE) Meetings and endorse H&S Champions.
ISO 45001:2018
ISO 45001 enables organizations to establish and sustain an occupational health and safety (OH&S) management system that allows them to mitigate OH&S risks and improve their OH&S performance. The standard emphasizes effective, efficient, and continual improvement to the system. A surveillance audit is performed by an external auditor to ensure that Vodafone meets the standard. Vodafone has successfully completed our first three years cycle of certification.
Pulse Survey - Checking on Our People
We make sure that we listen to our people, especially during challenging times, and so we launched the bi-monthly ‘Pulse Survey’ to check on our people’s wellbeing and get to know how to support them best.
7 rounds of Pulse surveys
Emergency Preparedness
We developed a consolidated solution to be used in case of an emergency that included installing automated external defibrillators (AED devices), evacuation chairs, establishing and communicating trained, certified champions contact lists, as well as dedicated screens to display evacuation tips and important information
11 employees instructed
Ergonomic Awareness Sessions
Vodafone launched virtual awareness infographic videos covering the ergonomics in several locations such as offices, homes and cars. The sessions were shared as best practices across other markets.
Mental Health Awareness
HSE Department conducted burnout awareness sessions and 1 to 1 sessions with psychologists for people managers, as well as stress awareness for interns. In addition, we conducted different mental health sessions for employees to encourage their mental health such as Parenting awareness with Amina Diab and How to find happiness with Ismail Fouad.
Beyond Vodafone Egypt's own premises and employees, we have conducted activities on supporting the healthcare sector and promoting road safety.
ASSP Meeting
Vodafone hosted the ASSP (American Society of Safety Professionals) meeting in October. More than 50 safety professionals met to have best practice sharing and learn from each other regarding wellbeing and safety initiatives.
Nada Foundation Road Safety Collaboration
Nada Foundation & HSW team met with a focus on road safety, sharing experiences related to the discipline and putting incentives for other private sector entities to upgrade their standards on road safety.
11 EMPLOYEES
433 TIER 1 DRIVERS
Awards
Vibrant Culture
Since the very start, Vodafone Egypt has cherished culture of belonging, connection and dynamism. Our employee engagement activities during the past year focused.
Wellbeing framework
At Vodafone, we work hard to maintain a workplace that enables employees to be healthy and well in every way. Our wellbeing framework is the departure point for all other actions.
| APPLIES TO | It DOESN’T APPLY TO |
|---|---|
| Full and part-time employees | Employees with jobs requiring them to be at a Vodafone office /site every day, such as frontline retail |
| All Vodafone entities | Employees with jobs that could be carried out at home |
| Contractors working on-site | Vodafone joint ventures and partners |
The policy sets out straightforward guidelines on when the employees are required and not required to be in office, how much of their working time may be spent remotely, their obligations when they work remotely and how to ensure that their work arrangements are in compliance with attendance requirements and facilitate operational efficiency. It highlights the primary purpose of Vodafone office spaces: to enable collaboration, co-creation and innovation, along with being a place for a range of specific events. The policy also highlights necessary security and privacy measures, connectivity arrangements, conditions for 100% remote working. IT equipment and digital tools provided to employees working remotely. Our digital employee handbook is also ready to launch.
Purpose & Spirit
Our engagement with company spirit has yielded significant results and insights, enabling our culture across the organisation. Our aim is to understand what people feel and care about and help them meaningfully engage in company activities, such as Ramadan, Vaccination, Appreciation Day and the New Normal. For this, we conducted 16 sessions over three days on topics such as fintech, digital wisdom & AI, growing your network, soft skills, yoga sessions and more.
88% completion rate for the Spirit team conversations
16+ sessions over three days
800 employees Participating in the sessions
Doing What's Right
Doing What's Right is crucial to Vodafone identity, and now it is also considered in performance dialogue and newcomers' induction, integrated using e-learning and gamification tools.
Vodafone’s Appreciation Week
We started our digital engagement plan by thanking all our people for their hard work and giving them the opportunity to recognise each other during Vodafone’s appreciation week.
Ramadan Digital Experience
We transformed all our Ramadan activities into a virtual experience, giving our people the spirit of Ramadan at home.
Connecting our Leaders
For the 1st time, we held our connect meetings virtually. With the collaboration of our IT team, we successfully managed to bring all our line managers together on one platform to keep them informed with all the updates and never miss out.
23rd Anniversary Celebration
This year we celebrated 23 years of success, hard work and dedication with our employees.
Bring your Kids to Work virtually
We hosted the first virtual Bring your Kids to Work event for employees.
