CSR Report 2020

Corporate Social Responsibility Report
for the year 2020

At EDC we believe in the power of technology and that it can change the world for the better. Our engineers work on the world’s toughest challenges for the modern industry. We hire top engineering talents and grow them to create the future of technology.

We leverage our unique cooperation between General Electric Company Polska and Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation, taking the best of both business world and academia, creating a synergetic organization. Our intention is to encourage talented and promising young people in Poland to stay and work in engineering positions in the country. By giving them a chance to gain experience in one of the best engineering design centers in Europe, working with the latest technologies and engineering products, we co-create the future of the young generation of engineers. We want to inspire the youth to continuously broaden their horizons and fulfill their potential, by providing them with the necessary skills.

At EDC, we design and support manufacturing of aircraft engines and structures as well as gas turbines and offshore wind turbines. We also create and test on-board systems and security-critical software to the aircrafts, developing applications for fleet management and security monitoring aircraft. EDC enables the use of the intellectual potential of the best graduates from Polish universities of technology, allowing Poland to keep the best engineering talents in the country.

The year 2020 was full of organizational changes for EDC community, due to pandemic of COVID-19 which made us stay at home and work remotely. Though the coronavirus outbreak has canceled some of our plans, we still managed to quickly adapt to new reality and accomplished our objectives. EDC implemented safety procedures on the campus, making sure all employees have proper working conditions in face of the pandemic.

When introducing large organizational changes, dialogue is extremely important. That is why we have been dependent on honest communication with our employees. We provided communication channels which let us stay in touch and support each other during this tough time. Regular meetings, online trainings, webinars and chats with employees were organized, which helped us maintain a sense of connection in a time of social distancing.

In 2020 we celebrated successes and important anniversaries. In January General Electric Company Polska was honored with a prestigious Corporate Catalyst Award presented by Józef Piłsudski Institute of America. The Institute distinguished our success in an industrial sector and its positive impact on Poland’s society and economic growth as well as high social responsibility standards demonstrated through GE’s Scholarship Program, organized under the patronage of the President of Poland Andrzej Duda. This was a great success not only for our business but also for our excellent engineers, who worked hard last year.

2020 brought also EDC’s 20th Anniversary. Thanks to our brilliant engineers operating in the world’s most advanced technologies, we’ve had an honor to create and deliver unique solutions for the global market during the last 20 years. During these two decades our engineers proved themselves to be great innovators. What’s more, EDC’s Aviation Systems Mechanical section also marked its jubilee in 2020, celebrating 15th anniversary.

With our experienced and competent engineering staff our center takes pride in ambitious projects, such as the design and testing of the Offshore Wind Turbine Haliade-X, design of the Catalyst engine, H-class gas turbine technology development, web applications and aviation systems for major airframers like Boeing or Airbus. Our teams are committed to continuous improvement in search of a better way to cooperate with each other and to provide their services for business.

In 2020 we continued our collaboration with the academic environment. EDC have been cooperating with Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering at Warsaw University of Technology since our first weeks of existence. Thanks to that we can hire best qualified new engineers and can constantly look for new ideas to adapt to modern business environment demands. We continued development programs for students including Edison Engineering Development Program and Justyna Moniuszko Scholarship.

Every year we also extend the range of organizations with which we cooperate. General Electric Company Polska became a member of the European Technology Development Community (ETDC), that works for the future of the aviation industry. The collaboration merges the best practices from both academia and industry, continuing to invest in innovation and preparing to play a key role in the ambitious challenges that face aviation.

Our goal in the field of corporate social responsibility is invariably: developing a passion for science, expanding engineering knowledge in practice using our laboratory facilities and through workshops, training and events for young engineers. We always act transparently and honestly, seeking the best solutions for both our clients and employees, in the challenging time. We look for new business partners and external organizations, with whom we will work together for our society. We believe that our approach to innovative solutions and our culture or respect will help us achieve our goals and create technological advancements that will shape better future for all.

Our Culture

For Employees

At the Engineering Design Center, we do our best to ensure that all the individuals employed are aware of their full development potential. Training is an inseparable part of our corporate reality. We emphasize the importance of continuous improvement. Our ambition is to build a strong organization with the participation of fully-fledged managers and thoroughly committed employees. We provide them with a set of tools that support their development and help them expand their horizons according to their individual needs.

In 2020 we held:

  • 185 preliminary training sessions for new employees
  • 5 language courses
  • 118 technical training sessions
  • 48 training courses developing soft skills and Project Management Skills
  • 123 training sessions on labor standards, entitlements and provisions in force
  • 14 training sessions developing leadership skills

In total, there was 493 training sessions in 2020, that attracted 1387 participants.

 “Soft skills” trainings

Our training courses on soft competences are designed to help our employees acquire and improve their interpersonal, communication and presentation skills. The meetings take the form of workshops – carried out in medium-sized groups (around a dozen of people) by a trainer who is simultaneously an expert in each field. During the training sessions, our employees learn new behaviors, have an opportunity to practice and discuss them with the group, as well as plan the way they want to utilize this knowledge in the future. Soft training courses are selected by our employees themselves, depending on their needs. Alternatively, they can be referred to such trainings courses by their superiors. Participation in our workshops generates a series of practical benefits that can be used in everyday life and constitutes an excellent source of inspiration for managing one’s work, projects and team.

Technical trainings

To enhance their professional qualifications and gain more opportunities for development, employees, with the consent of their manager, enroll in training sessions dedicated to technical issues. Each employee’s development path includes both mandatory trainings and courses which can be attended in one’s free time.

Technical trainings are divided into:

  • stationary – conducted on site, on EDC premises, by our qualified and experienced specialists;
  • global – conducted in English via an Internet messenger or by telepresence.

Leadership trainings

People who lead teams at EDC, can also participate in trainings dedicated to them. There are obligatory trainings that are assigned to each person, who is promoted to People Leader role e.g., Leadership training for new manager. Also, organization provide external/internal trainings ‘on demand’ where Manager decide which competences, he/she wants to develop.

CoSE (Centre of Skills Excellence) Trainings

As part of the improvement process, we provide our employees with training courses that develop their non-technical skills as well. Thanks to the workshops conducted by internal trainers, the participants expand their knowledge and improve the skills that help them achieve greater efficiency at work and in private life. These training sessions are available to all employees and are held outside of their working hours.

Industry-based training

The priority for each employee is to gain the status of a professional in his/her field. As an employee friendly organization supporting the professional goals of our employees, we make it possible for our specialists to take advantage of various development programs.

Such programs differ across our organization. We mostly offer goal-oriented programs, so that our employees can concentrate on the objectives they have set at a specific time. These programs are diversified and dependent on numerous variables, including experience. The employees use a tool based on functional models, allowing them to assess their level of knowledge and plan their own technical development. A useful tool for planning their professional career is offered by matrices with templates of technical and soft competences, specified at the levels of the employment structure. Using such matrices, our employees analyze their specific skills and predispositions, and then, based on the observations, receive a dedicated development path directed towards the selected area. The matrices stimulate employees to learn, as well as allow them, despite the rush of daily activities, to still focus on the future and their own development. They are also useful to the management of our organization in their daily managerial activities, in assigning tasks or planning the workload. Thanks to competence matrices, we can discern and monitor the path leading to an ideal state in which we have a fully flexible, cross-trained team.

Furthermore, our organization has implemented the process of “exchange”, which makes it possible for employees to acquire knowledge about projects executed in each of the departments. The benefit of this solution is the possibility of exchanging views and experiences between employees of the same business area, openness to new solutions and attempts to diversify the work. The criteria for the exchange are manifold – the employees migrate between departments within specific program or as a result of available resources in the particular teams. This process is intensified by the employees’ participation in technical discussion groups, where engineers at all levels can, on a broader forum, exchange information about state-of-the-art methods, technologies and processes, as well as share their ideas and newly developed solutions, thereby stimulating innovation

Mentoring at the EDC was developed to address the specific needs of our staff, as a form of support for employees in their quest to achieve their individual goals. This cooperation is based on knowledge sharing. The receptiveness to dialogue and employees’ opinions are the foundation of our organizational culture. The mentoring process involves all the employees at our center. Activities involve mutual inspiration, stimulation and counselling by specialized experts in specific fields, as well as assistance in achieving success by our talented staff. We place great emphasis on the partner-based nature of the mentor- employee relationship. It offers much freedom – each employee can choose his/her own mentor or ask his/her superior for assistance. The role of a mentor is entrusted to experienced employees of the company, who have extensive experience and knowledge in each area, as well as highly developed personal and social competences. As a supervisor of an employee’s professional development, a mentor supports his mentee in solving any emerging problems and provides her/him with specialist knowledge about the work performed. Furthermore, mentors help their mentees follow their individual career paths tailored to their needs and expectations. An unquestionable advantage of mentoring in our organization is the growing commitment of employees to their work, the strengthening of internal communication and good atmosphere both within a team and across the entire EDC. Mentoring at the EDC has so far been mainly informal in nature. A more formalized form of mentoring is offered by the One GE Mentoring Program, which pairs up mentoring individuals from various GE sites in Poland, as well as fosters the exchange of knowledge and creation of relationships between various businesses.

Development programs

Edison Engineering Development Program (EEDP) is an international program designed for fresh graduates (up to 2 years after graduation), who would like to embark on a professional career in engineering. The program is primarily focused on increasing technical skills, learning problem solving methods in engineering projects, as well as enhancing effective teamwork skills. Daily work is combined with learning and dedicated training sessions. Throughout the program, the engineers circulate amongst 3 or 4 different teams. It enables them to better familiarize themselves with the organization and the various areas of engineering work. At the same time, the programs’ participants receive a large dose of knowledge. Practice shows that they take active part in all the classes and do their best to take full advantage of them. In 2020, we invited a total of 13 individuals to participate in the Edison Engineering Development Program. Those people are gaining experience in GE Aviation and GE Gas Power businesses.

In 2020, we launched next edition of the Talent Development Program (TDP) in the Aviation business, giving engineers a chance to develop in the area of systemic thinking. Eleven participants are given an opportunity to strengthen their skills in examining systems in terms of their complexity, sensitivity to a change of a single variable, or tendency to deepen or attenuate a given system parameter in time. The outline of the program was developed on the basis of the developmental needs of the participants, concerning three main areas: product development and certification, product integration with the system and technical program management. One of the key elements of the program is technical mentoring. Participants can discuss issues related to their daily work and professional development in terms of systemic thinking and specific products on which they are currently working, taking advantage of the knowledge and experience of selected experts. This way, the organization will facilitate simultaneous achievement of professional goals and development of future technical leaders within the organization.

In 2020, in order to address the developmental needs of managers, we continued the Engineering Development Leadership Program. Within the framework of the program, there are developmental sessions which include motivational speeches by inspiring speakers, exercises, discussion panels, articles and films on issues related to leadership skills necessary in the current business conditions and the changing reality. In 2020 the management staff from the Aviation department took part in 4 sessions of this program.

GE’s Women’s Network is all about growth. It unites nearly 70,000 women working at GE to cultivate their leadership skills, business practices, personal contacts, and career opportunities. By engaging and developing our members in areas such as technology, operations, and commercial roles, we are promoting growth among leaders, who will ensure both their career success and GE’s growth as a company.

In 2020, GE Women’s Network at EDC organized various miscellaneous events including: webinar “Labor law in the parental aspect”, agile training, Flower for Flower action and a series of meetings with Izabela Krawczyk – the main theme was psychological wellbeing. Last year’s initiative – Coffee Chats – was continued in 2020 and main subjects were work-life balance, home office, books, sports and AOS/Lean. Other initiatives included “Don’t Skip This” Breast Cancer Awareness Panel – event about breast cancer prevention, Women Power in Business and Women in Tech Summit. All events gathered about 340 participants. GE Women’s Network Newsletter and Yammer remained main communication channels.

In 2021 GE Women’s Network plans to continue to broaden networking via coffee chats, Yammer communication and Newsletter. The initiative plans a series of events including Technical Quarter and Leader’s Quarter, which will be a great opportunity to learn more about FAA Certification, NPI, Product definition, Salesforce, Fleet management, Additive, FA, NDT, Repair as well as a chance to meet successful women in business and learn who inspired them and how their way to the top looked like.

A healthy lifestyle is something obvious for most of EDC employees. They do not have to be encouraged to play sports, strive for work – life balance or to eat healthy. As HealthAhead we are actively trying to expand our horizons. We encourage creation of new sports groups or initiatives positively affecting our mental or physical well-being. In leading those activities, HealthAhead (HA) organization has supported us for the last 11 years.

The HA’s mission is to inspire employees and their family members to obtain optimum health and well-being. This program revolves around leading a healthy lifestyle: healthy eating, coping with stress, physical activity, promotion of regular medical check-ups and fighting the tobacco addiction. HealthAhead helps achieve a work-life balance, for instance by organizing stress-coping campaigns, meditation classes and support groups for home-related problems. This year we didn’t let lockdown stop us from encouraging our employees to take care of their physical and mental health.

We organized Online Take Balance Workshops consisting of 20 classes which were aimed to help EDC employees take care of their body and mental health. There was opportunity to take part in regular yoga classes, weekly Mindfulness practice, positive psychology lecture and workshops about the good sleep, work-life balance, stress management and parenting.

HealthAhead put a lot of commitment to support EDC employees during difficult time of pandemic. Any information about vaccinations, seeking medical health, preventing diseases and responsible behavior during summertime was provided. There was HA Nurture Yourself Campaign, which was organized to remind our employees to take care of themselves in the areas of emotional, physical, financial and social health. During October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, along with GE Women’s Network we supported and encouraged all women to pay special attention on their own health. We invited everyone to join webinar led by Daily Fruits dietician. During our session we have learned a lot about boosting our immunity and natural remedies and got a lot of tips on how to boost your immune system with healthy eating habits.

In 2020, our employees were welcome to join any of the 15 HealthAhead Get Active sports groups: EDC Basketball, Bikers, Calisthenics, Climbers, Hockey, Divers, Healthy Spine, Kayakers, Runners, Soccer, Swimmers, Table Tennis, Triathlon, Volleyball and EDC Yachting Team.

Last year we had a great opportunity to attend several events organized by HA members.

Between 11th and 15th of May we celebrated a unique, online HealthAhead Week. Each year, we book a special time in EDC calendars to focus on our health and wellbeing. This year, unlike previous ones, we prolonged the HA Day into HA Week and, due to the pandemic, all our activities we carried out remotely. Our HA Week lasted 5 days during which we managed to conduct multiple attractions:

  • Get Active Challenge
  • Plank Challenge
  • Zumba Trainings
  • Dietitian Lecture „Healthy, quickly, cheaply – how to improve your eating habits?”
  • Individual Dietitian Consultation
  • Q&A Session with Dietitian
  • Live Cooking
  • Healthy Food competition
  • Stress Less Competition
  • Stay Healthy materials online
  • Mindfulness materials online
  • Intense Breathing workshops
  • Yoga workshops
  • Stress and worries management lecture
  • Mindfulness workshops cycle
  • Healthy Spine workshop
  • Good Sleep workshop
  • “Home office without losing mind” Lecture

We all shared our ideas on how to manage stress during national quarantine and what to cook to stay in good shape. Two biggest attractions were dieticians’ consultations with Q&A session and a lecture – „Healthy, quickly, cheaply – how to improve your eating habits”.

HealthAhead Team invited everyone to take part in Stay at home wellness challenge. Participants shared photos and videos on how they manage their health during national quarantine – it was both physical and mindfulness workouts, eat well tips and stay healthy activities.

Due to the epidemiological situation we had to cancel our weekly Yoga classes in IKAR hall to comply with the social distancing regulations. But remote work did not mean we should stop our regular activities. Especially in this day and age. That is why HealthAhead in EDC invited employees to new online Yoga classes led by trainer Kamila Karpińska. It was a great opportunity to relax both body and mind. HealthAhead also organized online Healthy Spine classes where participants could learn the basic strengthening and relaxing exercises as well as stretching tips and tricks for everyday use.

Just like last year we had a chance to undertake HA30-day challenge. Rules were simple – each day participants got one healthy challenge. Then, everybody shared their accomplishments on our Facebook group. Winners got wonderful prizes, but – more importantly – our challenge led to positive lifestyle changes and maintaining good habits.

For 2021 HealthAhead Team plans to keep up a good work and organize events, meetings, new competitions and challenges for EDC employees.

Continuous cooperation and dialog between employer and employees are the foundation of the Engineering Design Center’s culture. The Engagement Team is responsible for facilitating that communication channel. Throughout several years there have been a dozen of sessions where an input collected from employees was presented to EDC leaders on various organizational levels. The goal of these discussions was to assure that people’s voice is heard, and appropriate actions are put in place.

This approach has been successfully used to track down all the expectations related to a surrounding environment as well as to cultivate the passion for work at EDC. The Engagement Team has recorded plenty of ideas and brought a lot of them into projects and, subsequently, into life: modern canteen, food trucks on site, improvements in parking space management and regulations, introduction of a new dress code and many others.

In 2020 Engagement Team held multiple sessions, which were focused on development of recommendations related to hybrid work model implementation and effectiveness of COVID-19 restrictions on campus. The most recent task that the team has been working on was a list of most expected benefits for employees. The list will be evaluated by EDC leadership and incorporated into future growth plan.

Happy employees and their effective cooperation result in a success for any organization. That’s why both General Electric Company Polska and Łukasiewicz -Institute of Aviation management are doing their best to meet the expectations and preferences of their employees. EDC staff can count on various benefits, both financial and non-financial.

Flexible working place and hours

For many years now, the employees at EDC have been able to benefit from flexible working hours. This solution helps them adjust the time they begin and finish their work according to their individual needs. As a result, they are able to better combine various lifestyles or family situations with their professional responsibilities.

From 2017, employees who have received the manager’s approval can also work remotely on selected days. In addition, employees can work from home on an occasional basis, in exceptional situations.

In 2019 we have created two rooms that allow employees to work with the kids from the office. We have the baby room (specially adapted to care for an infant) and the room to work with a child (equipped with toys).

Since March 2020 our employees could decide whether they want to work from home or at the office due to COVID pandemic. We used our best efforts to create safe work environment and regularly reminded our employees about safety measures. We made sure that everyone who decided to work at the office could feel safe.

Medical care

Each employee on an employment contract may benefit from private healthcare, encompassing health programs, disease prevention, as well as daily support in case of any health problems. Each subscription guarantees unlimited access to specialist consultations during illnesses, upon exacerbation of chronic disease, as well as help in emergency cases. The services available to our employees and their families include: comprehensive specialist consultations, consultations with a psychologist (including a sexologist/andrologist) and psychiatrist, consultations with professors with referral, comprehensive diagnostic tests (laboratory and imaging diagnostics), out-patient consultation procedures, skin allergy tests, pregnancy management,  vaccinations against flu/antitetanus anatoxin, dental consultations, preventive “Healthy Woman” and “Healthy Man” Medical Check-Up, rehabilitation, etc.

Life insurance

All our employees, irrespective of their working time, are offered basic group health and life insurance coverage on preferential terms. If an employee wishes to participate in the insurance coverage, she/he needs to complete a relevant declaration. The insurance coverage encompasses the life and health of each subscribed employee and, to the extent specified, his/her closest family members. Insured employees are entitled to payments, for example, in the event of illness or accident leading to their hospitalization or incapacity to work.

Multisport card

With our employees in mind, we have negotiated attractive conditions for joining the Multisport Program, which allows the participants to use the numerous options available for actively spending their free time. Employees who declare their willingness to participate in the Multisport Program receive a special Sports Card that provides them with an unlimited access to over 4000 sports facilities across Poland and to miscellaneous recreational and sporting activities. Moreover, it is possible to purchase additional, personal Multisport cards for family members. Each of our employees can enroll one person over 15 years of age, as well as three children up to the age of 15.

Subsidies

In both General Electric Company Polska and Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation we have Social Benefits Fund,  which provides a series of additional benefits for our employees and their families. Before Easter and Christmas employees can apply for an occasional subsidy. On top of that they can get additional funding for summer holidays, housing loans and special assistance grants. Moreover, employees who find it necessary to wear eyeglasses while working with computer screens may apply for additional funding to purchase them. We also offer subsidies to the 3rd pension pillar (IKE).

We also finance or co-finance employees’ training courses, workshops, seminars, post-graduate studies and language courses. All this to develop and build the competences of our employees.

For the Community

For Students

Engineering Design Center
Aleja Krakowska 110/114
02-256 Warsaw

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