Hera: Top Employer for 16 years without interruption
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Hera: Top Employer for 16 years without interruption
The Group has been confirmed as one of the best companies in Italy and worldwide in human resource management, thanks to its commitment to combining corporate growth, collective wellbeing and sustainable development
For the sixteenth consecutive year, the Hera Group has been certified as a Top Employer for its labour policies.
This is a remarkable achievement, since this certification is among the most significant recognitions internationally given to companies that meet high standards in human resource management by the Top Employers Institute, a global certifier of corporate excellence in HR (Human Resource), based in the Netherlands.
Top Employers Certification is awarded to companies that meet the high standards required by the HR Best Practices Survey. The analysis, which is highly attentive and increasingly selective from year to year, covers 6 macro-areas related to human resource management and examines in depth 20 different topics and the respective best practices, including: recognition of people and their professionalism, work environment, career opportunities, training and development, valuing diversity, fairness and inclusion, and well-being.
This year the Top Employers programme recognised and certified 2,429 Top Employers in 125 countries worldwide, including the Hera Group.
The main strengths that enabled the Hera Group to achieve this important result are: safety, procurement, sustainability, inclusion, wellbeing and people development. In these areas, investments coming to 60 million euro have been planned for the 2024-2027 four-year period in staff training, a third of which will be dedicated to safety. 2,600 new hires are also foreseen along with many initiatives for the development of new skills, to support parents, frail people, caregivers and to valorise different abilities. The Group’s investment in and commitment to the growth and wellbeing of its people includes combating gender-based violence and promoting inclusion.
The new elements of 2024 included the Good Work Deal, signed in July with the trade unions, a forward-looking and virtuous document that provides a new reference point nationwide, capable of combining corporate growth, sustainable development and collective wellbeing, and that encompasses the good practices of valuing people accumulated over the years, making them a resource that is shared with the trade unions. This document was drafted using an inclusive language, ensuring it could be accessed in digital format as well to make it usable for blind or visually impaired persons using screen readers. The foremost novelty in the Good Work Deal lies in the calculation of the performance bonus, which is partially based on the Hera Group’s ability to increase shared value (in addition to the progressive annual increase in the same bonus, amounting to 225 euro per year over the 2025-2027 three-year period). This is accompanied by a series of people development actions in terms of evolving working methods, accelerating process digitalisation and increasing the value of sustainability and circularity.
The good quality of life of the Group’s over 10,000 employees is also supported by its extensive welfare plan, offering them a wide range of services, in which the company invests 18 million euro every year.
The most significant initiatives include free psychological support sessions, personalised diet plans and sessions with physiotherapists and posturologists, health promotion and prevention programmes with free check-ups and screenings, initiatives to support parenting and childhood education, and sustainable mobility.
David Plink, CEO of the Top Employers Institute
“Through advances in technology, economic change and the evolving social landscape, it is inspiring to see people and organisations challenge themselves. This year, the Top Employers Certification Programme highlights the dedication of our Top Employers, who continue to set high standards through world-class HR strategies and practices, promoting growth and well-being while improving the working world. It is with great pride that we celebrate these leaders and teams, capable of putting people at the centre: the Top Employers 2025!”
Cristian Fabbri, Hera Group Executive Chairman
“This recognition confirms our constant commitment to enhancing our main resource: people, with their skills, professionalism and uniqueness. Our way of being a company is based on respect for their needs and satisfaction, projected towards a path of constant improvement in offering every day services that are indispensable to the lives of citizens and companies.”
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Issued on 26 May, orders were received for 7 times the amount offered. With a 6-year maturity, it will finance strategic projects aligned with the European Taxonomy.
Hera Group today celebrated on Borsa Italiana - Euronext Group, in the prestigious setting of Palazzo Mezzanotte in Milan, the listing of its first European Green Bond (EuGB), with the traditional “ring the bell” ceremony that marks occasions such as this.
The bond issue, completed on 26 May, amounted to 500 million euro, repayable over 6 years with a 3.50% coupon and a yield of 3.574%. It attracted significant interest from international investors, receiving orders for approximately 3.6 billion euro, almost 7 times the amount offered.
The transaction saw significant participation from international investors, particularly from the United Kingdom, France and Germany, with a strong share of green and sustainable investors, confirming the interest in the Group also beyond Italy.
Through this transaction, Hera Group has once again offered the market the opportunity to finance strategic projects aimed at the green transition and aligned with the European Taxonomy. In particular, the proceeds will be allocated to three main areas: sustainable water and wastewater management; circular economy, pollution prevention and control; energy efficiency and energy infrastructure.
Maurizio Pastore, Head of Debt Listing at Euronext Group, stated: “The success of Hera’s issue, with its first European Green Bond attracting considerable demand from institutional investors, confirms the bond market’s ability to channel capital and support virtuous companies in pursuing ESG objectives. As Euronext Group, we actively promote the adoption of sustainable finance within business strategies, supporting this activity with an increasingly integrated and efficient infrastructure for issuers and market operators.”
“This transaction reflects our strong focus on sustainable finance instruments, in line with our strategy and our purpose: we were the first Italian company to issue a green bond in 2014, and this is our fifth green issue in 12 years, in addition to two SLBs, Sustainable Bonds,” said Massimo Vai, Chief Financial Officer of Hera Group. “This further confirms our position as a benchmark company in sustainable finance, including at international level. This synergy between our Group, Borsa Italiana, banks and investors will enable the financing of significant projects for the benefit of citizens and served areas, further improving the resilience of services and generating the shared value that allows us to continue along a growth path in which economic development and environmental and social sustainability are not separate dimensions, but part of a single strategic vision.”
The issue of Hera Group’s European Green Bond (EuGB) was coordinated by BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, Mediobanca, UniCredit, BBVA, Intesa Sanpaolo – IMI CIB Division, Banco Santander, Banca Akros, Deutsche Bank, BPER Banca, Montepaschi di Siena, Barclays, CaixaBank and Goldman Sachs as Joint Bookrunners. Legance acted as legal advisor to Hera, while Linklaters advised the Joint Bookrunners.