Learning and Development
Talent is a key differentiator and competitive advantage at NextEra Energy. That's why we actively encourage continuous learning, development and improvement.
Enhancing Learning and Development Opportunities
We're passionate about sharing leading-edge knowledge to drive value for our customers and other stakeholders. At NextEra Energy, there's no shortage of learning opportunities. Whether it's taking classes through NextEra University, attending seminars, receiving informal mentoring, participating in Six Sigma training, hackathons, idea generation and innovation competitions and workshops, the quest for knowledge is evident across our company, and there's something for everyone.
NextEra University
NextEra University (NEU) plays a key role in the support of employee development and is essential to the improvement of employee and business performance. Offering a robust curriculum – more than 1,500 classroom and online offerings – with an array of commercial, leadership, professional development and technical courses, NEU supports the needs of every individual and business unit.
Engaged employees are essential to developing high-performing teams and employees are more engaged when they feel they have relevant growth and career opportunities. In 2019, employees completed more than 800,000 hours of classroom, field and online courses focused on technical and commercial skills, leadership and career development, personal and professional effectiveness, and process and project management. These courses provide employees the knowledge and skills necessary to think innovatively, deliver outstanding value to our customers and thrive at their jobs.
As NextEra Energy continues to strengthen its use of data for better insights, our business will require new and advanced data analytics tools and techniques combined with strong project leadership skills, business unit-specific knowledge and information technology technical expertise. To stay ahead of the curve and continue building employee skills and knowledge for the future, NEU has added continuous improvement, artificial intelligence, analytics and big-data courses. Using artificial intelligence, machine learning and adaptive learning platforms, NEU is able to offer a personalized approach for each employee to build skills at their own pace through customized learning paths.
Education Assistance Program
For more than 30 years, NextEra Energy's Education Assistance program has helped employees pursue formal education in areas that align with the needs of our business by covering a portion of their tuition expenses and enrollment fees. Employees are eligible for assistance benefits immediately after they're hired, and may pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees, or individual college courses.
Ongoing Performance and Development
At NextEra Energy, we encourage and reward continuous improvement and high-performance. Our performance development program helps employees formally define goals, assess progress and collect constructive feedback to propel success. Employees at NextEra Energy are required to determine goals to be achieved and assessed at formal and informal points throughout the year.
A Leader in Knowledge Sharing
At NextEra Energy, we know that sharing knowledge across our company can be a significant competitive advantage. To this end, we've committed to building and sustaining a world-class knowledge-sharing culture that fosters collaboration, accelerates problem solving, retains critical knowledge and drives business value.
Sharing knowledge on Employee ShareNet (ESN), a collaboration program within and across all company job functions and business units, helps increase productivity and cut costs, among other benefits. What makes ESN unique is it systematically connects people through business-focused networks. We've developed networks in critical knowledge areas such as safety, chemistry, nuclear technical experience, power distribution design and engineering, and leadership.
A key example of our networks in action is our Wind Technology Network, which connects more than 120 wind facilities across North America. Technicians and leaders actively engage on the network to solve engineering and logistical challenges, maximizing our available power capacity quickly and efficiently.
We award quarterly the ESN Diamond Award to employees nominated by peers for outstanding contributions.