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NEWS
October/November 2013 www.esb.ie/em
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The new strategy has been developed in conjunction with staff throughout the company, through workshops with champions, staff and management, and builds on the work since 2008 to ensure that all areas where sustainability adds value to the business have been identified and incorporated.
The new strategy very much supports the five priorities of the corporate strategy and is relevant to every part of the business as we seek to work in a more resource efficient and responsible way.
The launch, held in Head Office, was attended by a businesswide cross section of Sustainability Champions and Managers, as well as staff from throughout the organisation. Business in the Community Ireland's Bernadette Phelan also attended the event and spoke about the leadership ESB has shown in the area and the importance of sustainable working for every Irish business.
CHANGES TO PARENTAL LEAVE REGULATIONS
» ESA new statutory instrument was signed into Law on March 8th 2013. S.I.81 of 2013 European Union (Parental Leave) Regulations 2013, which gives effect to the EU Directive on Parental Leave, was to be implemented into Irish law by that date.
THE INTRODUCTION OF the Parental Leave Directive will make a huge difference to our existing law on Parental Leave and the principle changes are as follows:
• Currently in Ireland maternity leave is paid for 26 weeks with an additional 16 weeks unpaid also being available. In addition to this, 14 weeks’ unpaid parental leave is available for both mothers and fathers up until the child is aged eight years. With the introduction of the Directive into Irish law, unpaid parental leave will be extended from 14 weeks (70 days) to 18 weeks (90 days) for each parent.
• Parents can avail of the leave for each child under eight, but are limited to 18 weeks per year if they have more than one child under the age of eight - except in the case of twins or triplets.
• It should be noted that while both parents have equal rights to the leave, the option to transfer parental leave between parents is only available where both work for the same employer with a maximum of 70 days being transferable.
• Furthermore, the new Regulations provide that an employee returning to work from parental leave ‘may request changes to their work hours and/or patterns for a set period of time'. When requesting a change in work hours and/or patterns, employees must give a minimum of six weeks’ notice of this request and the request must be in writing. Employers are not required to grant these changes under the new regulations, however, requests will be considered, having regard to the business needs and also to the employee's need. The employer, not later than four weeks after receipt, will inform the employee in writing if:
• The request has been refused, or
• The request has been accepted and an agreement has been prepared and signed, setting out the changes to the work hours/work patterns, date of commencement, duration and review date of the agreement.
Application forms for Parental leave are available on http://esbnet/sharedservices/careers_benefits/leave/ParentalLeave.shtm Application forms to request a change in work schedules is available on: http://esbnet/sharedservices/forms/default.shtm
New Policy and Economics on Smart Grids
ESB'S LEADING ROLE in the area of smart networks and Fibre to the Home (FTTH) was presented by Stephen O'Connor, Manager Public Policy, ESB at an event at the Irish Embassy in Washington DC ‘Policy & Economics of SmartGrids and FTTH’ on Wednesday, September 18th.
Others on the panel included Joe Reardon, Mayor of Kansas City (who has recently negotiated a joint venture with Google to bring FTTH to the city, using Kansas City Board of Public Utility's poles), Michael Brayen from Alcatel-Lucent who completed the FTTH rollout in Chattanooga Tennessee on behalf of the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga (EPB) and Nicholas Sherman, European Affairs Officer, US Dept. of Energy.
Stephen was in Washington on a U.S. Department of State-sponsored study visit with a number of other Civil Servants and elected representatives from ROI and Northern Ireland.
For more details about Fibre to the Home, see page 12.
IRISH DOCUMENTARY TAKES HOME TOP AWARD AT THE ‘OSCARS’ OF WILDLIFE FILMMAKING
ESB IS DELIGHTED to congratulate Crossing the Line, a Co. Wicklow television production company, who have recently won awards for Best Editing, Best Wildlife Habitat Programme and the overall Grand Teton Best of Festival Award for the film On a River in Ireland - a film version of their highly acclaimed nature documentary series The Secret Life of the Shannon at the world's leading Wildlife Film Festival; Jackson Hole in Wyoming USA. The two-part series The Secret Life of the Shannon ran on RTÉ this May as part of the RTÉ Goes Wild Season and was sponsored by ESB.
This is a great achievement for an Irish TV production company as they faced stiff competition from the likes of the BBC and Disney. The Secret Life of the Shannon gave us two hours of breathtaking footage revealing the natural world of Ireland as never before. It saw presenter Colin Stafford-Johnson travel the 340km-long river in his canoe, revealing the beauty of its varied habitats, flora and fauna. ESB is pleased to have played its part in helping an Irish company achieve international success.
