In order to be competitive and find the road to excellence, Abengoa is committed to training the people who make up the organization.

Abengoa believes that the knowledge and skills of its employees embodies one of the company’s greatest assets, and therefore rolls out individual training plans each year, providing employees with innovative and up-to-date study programs in line with market demands through alliances with world-class schools and universities. These programs are refreshed periodically to offer new content and adapt to the needs of the people who work at Abengoa.

The primary objective, therefore, is to ensure employee satisfaction and enhance employee performance through mutually beneficial exchange.

Training plans

Abengoa’s training plan encompasses all contents required for maintaining a team of highly qualified professionals that are committed to corporate culture. Noteworthy, among others, are the following programs:

• Corporate training: transmits company culture.
• General training: aimed at employees’ professional enhancement in any discipline related to their position.
• Training in occupational risk prevention: reinforces on a variety of levels the importance of promoting and upholding safety standards in the workplace and the use of protective elements.
• Languages: considered a key component in a global context of continuous international growth.
• Professional practices: convey the company’s commitment to occupational business training.
• Training in managing environmental affairs: facilitates assimilation and understanding of the company’s commitment to sustainability. In 2012, 29,601 hours of training were given in sustainability development and the fight against climate change.
• Training in environmental performance: updating the company’s systems for managing performance: the Integrated Sustainability Management System (ISMS) and ISO 14064.
• Training in human rights and anti-corruption: places special emphasis on Abengoa policies on human rights and the company’s code of conduct, with 100 % of the company’s employees receiving instruction in this area.
• Online GHG Inventory training: instruction on the updated Integrated Sustainability Management System (ISMS).

The average number of training hours received per person from Abengoa totaled 67.8 in 2012.

Abengoa University

In 2011, a new concept in training was unveiled: Abengoa University, operating training programs for company employees in collaboration with world-class universities and business schools.

Over the course of 2012, thirty classes of students completed their studies for a total of 855 graduates (with respect to the previous year’s total of 540) in nine different countries. The following training programs were conducted:

• Project Management Program (PMP): Program content is based on Abengoa’s internal procedures and has enabled the company to train a large number of professionals in Europe, the U.S., Latin America and China.
• Site Management Program (SMP): Providing a comprehensive view of site management and enhancing site managers’ skills. To date, 355 employees in Spain, the U.S. and Latin America have benefited from this program.
• Management Skills Program (MSP): Developing and reinforcing the leadership of Abengoa managers as the company’s standard bearers. In 2012, more than 400 professionals took part in the programs held in Spain, the United States, Mexico and Abu Dhabi.
• Management Development Program (MDP): Providing managers with an overview of the company, its strategy and processes for the purpose of bolstering Abengoa executives’ development and leadership. The second edition of the program, involving 41 students, began in 2012 and will be completed in June 2013. The first implementation of the program took place in the U.S. with support from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
• Industrial Management Program (IMP): This program sets forth universal concepts in industrial management in line with best international practices. The first edition of the program was completed in October.
• Technology Management Program (TMP): Reinforcing the skills required of Abengoa’s technology managers. Implemented in 2012, the first edition of the program enjoyed collaboration from Deusto Business School.

To roll out this initiative, Abengoa has formed partnerships with widely acclaimed schools and universities that include the following: Loyola University Andalusia and the Loyola Leadership School (Spain); Esade (Spain); the Instituto Químico de Sarriá –IQS- (Spain); the University of Deusto and the Deusto Business School (Spain); Georgetown University and the McDonough Business School (U.S.); Santa Clara University (U.S.); Thunderbird Global Business School (U.S.); Ibero-American University (Mexico); St. Xavier’s College (India); Zayed University (Arab Emirates); the University of the Pacific (Peru); the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PCU) and the Instituto de Administração e Gerência (IAG) (Brazil): the Catholic University (Uruguay), and the Alberto Hurtado University (Chile).

Abengoa University also features its own virtual platform designed to facilitate communication between faculty and students.