MET Group is the only energy company in Switzerland to be recognised as a ‘Top Employer’. HR Director Tünde Tóth explains how innovative HR strategies, digital tools and a clear vision create the basis for success – and the challenges posed by the energy transition.
Original article in German: HR Today
Ms. Tóth, what does the "Top Employer" award mean for the MET Group and specifically for your HR team?
Getting the Top Employer certification means arriving to the Champions League for employers. We are very glad to belong to this prestigious club. Long years of work by many colleagues have made this recognition possible. MET Group’s excellent business results in recent years enabled us to invest more in our HR activities, but we also had an outstanding HR team who worked well together.
The Top Employer certification is an acknowledgment that our people practices reach top international standards. We gain access to an important network of other companies who have also obtained this recognition where we can swap best practices and get feedback on our own performance. We can see in which areas we are in a leading position, and where there is room for improvement. This motivates us to become even better.
MET Group is the only energy company in Switzerland to have received this award. What are the HR-specific challenges in the energy industry, and how do you deal with them?
The energy transition has become a focus topic globally. We need more talented individuals in booming areas like renewables. In recruitment it forces us to find the best people externally, and inside MET to provide internal opportunities for our top talent as well as top level training for young colleagues so that they can become experts themselves. Our experience shows that the energy sector remains attractive, since shaping the energy transition and making an impact is something that especially young candidates are interested in.
The Top Employers Institute particularly highlights your approaches in the areas of digitalization, ethics and integrity. Can you tell us more about these initiatives?
We have always sought to digitalize as many things as possible in HR and we have implemented various applications, such as our Smartrecruiters recruitment system, our digital share system and alumni platform. We are now introducing a new HR system with a cutting-edge, AI based SaaS (software as service) solution. The use of AI was also praised by the Top Employers Institute. On the one hand, we have organised trainings to explain to colleagues how AI tools can help their everyday work and gave access to Microsoft Copilot to everyone. Our Talent Development Programme participants worked out an inhouse AI solution called SkyMET which filters out market making news and shares them real time with the traders.
On the other hand, MET Group’s divisions use AI in their business activities. The Green Assets Division, for example, developed predictive algorithms which help to forecast possible outages or technical problems in wind farms. The trading floor in our Swiss headquarters uses algorithmic trading.
Regarding ethics and integrity, we have a Code of Conduct in place which describes our ethical principles and is deeply embedded into our way or working and onboarding. We implemented several employee listening channels to foster a culture of open communication and through which employees can reach out to us at any time. Such platforms are for example, the feedback tool in our HR system, a speak-up channel including an external hotline or most importantly, submitting a question to our Group CEO at our annual Group Teambuilding event by any employee without anyone pre-filtering.
The press release mentions the MET Alumni Club as a leading initiative. Can you tell us more about the goals and success of this club?
We often describe MET Group as an HR success story. MET was established by a handful of talented people in 2007, and although it has grown into a Pan-European company with an annual revenue of 24.5bn EUR, the number of employees is still not very high – we recently welcomed our 1000th colleague. Therefore, we would like to thank all our colleagues, current and former ones, for their contribution to MET’s growth story. This is why we launched the MET Alumni club. We aim to maintain an active relationship with former employees who participated in building the company through their efforts. The objectives include networking and reconnecting, creating new business ideas, but also rehiring. Since the Alumni Club started a year ago, 2 percent of our colleagues are “boomerangs”, who have rejoined the MET Family, and we are very proud of them.
What is your talent acquisition strategy, especially in a market as highly competitive as the energy sector?
MET Group has a truly international workforce by having 1,000+ employees from around 60 nationalities. We consciously build a diverse team of top talents and for every role, we try to hire the best one. We have built up inhouse-recruitment capabilities and we have a focused recruitment strategy. As for junior positions, our cooperation with top European universities (ETH Zürich and St Gallen University in Switzerland, or Bocconi University in Italy) helps us to find the best talents. We aim to bring in smart young people, either through internships, or fresh graduate positions. Once they are in the company, they have the chance to become part of our internal Talent Development Programme and fast track their career.
Regarding senior positions, employee referrals are very useful, we fulfil 25% of our vacancies via that. We have a modern recruitment system, candidates often give us positive feedback about it. To give you an example, candidates can schedule an interview with me as they can view my availability in my online calendar, and the system is even harmonized with Google Maps, so it guides them to our Swiss headquarters for their interview.
Another attractive and rather unique feature of MET is giving a high degree of autonomy and freedom in making decisions to its employees, even from the start. This is one of the messages we stress in our new employer branding strategy called “Bring Your Energy”.
The energy transition is in full swing. How does this change affect your HR strategies, especially in terms of attracting and developing talent?
The energy transition has a significant impact on our headcount and hiring plan. Due to MET Group’s renewables expansion strategy, we need to focus on new key markets like Italy, where we are currently boosting our new hub in Milan. As we need more talents, we are strengthening our cooperation with local universities.
All these changes will affect our training portfolio as well. We have a Group Training and Coaching Portfolio in place which we continuously update based on new demands. As of this year, our Swiss-based colleagues have 24/7 access to a. digital learning platform offering 3,000 state-of-the art online trainings. Going forward, our focus in the learning area will be to deepen a portfolio on up-to-date energy-industry specific trainings, addressing the learning needs in the dynamically changing industry.
MET Group is active in 15 countries. How do you manage to create a uniform corporate culture while taking local differences into account?
We very much believe in in-person events. Our annual Group Teambuilding is an important element where all our 1000+ employees meet, listen to the Group CEO’s presentation about the company’s strategy, and have fun together. This is where we recognize our best performing colleagues of the previous year with the MET Excellence Awards.
MET Group brand values also play a crucial role in creating a corporate culture. Regular and transparent communications are essential too, via our Group CEO talking regularly to our employees during Teams Live Events or continuously publishing corporate news on our intranet site MyMET.
Our Employee Share Program strengthens unity and creates a uniform culture. The best performing employees can become shareholders, and a unique characteristic of the programme is that participation is not decided based on someone`s seniority but on real long-term performance. Hence, in our shareholder meetings, many of our young talents have a seat.
In which areas have you identified potential for improvement through the Top Employers Institute's assessment, and what plans do you have to implement them?
One of the missing points mentioned by the Top Employers Institute is the sustainability report. We are working on it, and we will have it published by early next year on a voluntary disclosure basis. Senior female leadership development is another area for improvement. On a Group level, 38% of our employees are women, which is a good ratio in the energy sector – however, when it comes to top management, we need more female leaders.
What do you think are the biggest HR challenges in the coming years, especially in the energy sector, and how are you preparing for them?
Energy transition is one of the key topics we need to take into consideration. After a few extreme years, including the Covid pandemic and the energy crisis, we will see how the energy industry will normalize. Another question is how quickly growth areas like renewables will actually grow, how the LNG market will evolve on a global scale and how we can adapt our organisation to these developments. In other words, the HR strategy must very rapidly reflect changes in the business areas.
Tünde Tóth
Tünde Tóth has been the Group HR Director since 2007 at MET Group, a fast-growing and prominent player in the energy arena. She is based in the company`s HQ in Baar, Switzerland and responsible for the entire spectrum of HR activities for the whole Group and contributing to the growth of MET by participating in M&A activities and supporting new market entries. Prior to joining MET, she spent over 10 years with British American Tobacco in various HR management roles in Switzerland, UK, Serbia and Hungary, following her first HR job at Henkel in Germany. She graduated from Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary) from the Department of Management and Organisation and holds a second degree, the CEMS master’s in international management.
MET Group
MET Group is an integrated European energy company, headquartered in Switzerland, with activities and assets in natural gas and power markets. MET is present in 15 countries through subsidiaries, 30 national gas markets, and 39 international trading hubs. The company's 1000+ employees represent close to 60 nationalities, with 170 employees working in Switzerland. MET has extensive experience in operating green (renewable) and flexible (conventional) energy assets, thus providing the widest possible support to energy transition. In 2023, MET Group’s consolidated sales revenue amounted to EUR 24.5 billion.