MERLIN Properties Annual Report 2020 / English

76 | Annual Report | 2020 Generally speaking and as in previous years, activities continued to focus on three main action areas: language, in-house and personalised learn. • Language training: MERLIN extended its language learning offering to all employees and also included the option of doing courses in Portuguese, given its growing relevance to the Group’s workforce. In 2020, 99 employees received training in this area. • In-house training: MERLIN continued to offer this type of courses in 2020, which are taught by MERLIN’s own employees, supported by external experts where necessary. As an example, noteworthy is the training received by employees in SAP, Business Inteligence tools (PowerBi) and user experience for LOOM spaces. • Personalised learning: During 2020 MERLIN also offered employees the opportunity to receive external training and personalised learning courses based on their professional needs in a given area. Additionally, in light of the circumstances, in 2020 the training programme included a 3 hour on-line course on COVID-19, which has been completed by 172 employees. Similarly, as in previous years, all new joiners received training in Occupational Risk Prevention. 3. A direct relationship with the employees Thanks to the Company’s horizontal organisational structure, there is a direct relationship between employees and specifically, between those having different levels of responsibility. Nonetheless, the Company’s growth in the past few years has also made it necessary to initiate certain activities and communication processes such as the following: 4,288 h of training in 2020 • In 2020 the fifth Asset Management meeting took place in Madrid, attended by 85 employees, including members of the management team and Asset Managers with different portfolios and from corporate departments. These meetings aim to build a common culture among the different teams and gain first- hand knowledge of the assets and the activities performed at those assets and analyse possible portfolio synergies. The health situation in 2020 meant that the annual meeting, which is attended by all employees, could not be held although MERLIN expects to go back to holding it in 2021, if circumstances allow. • In 2020 the Employee Portal was launched and currently contains information on each employee (personal data, training, knowledge and skillsets, photographs, etc), which is particularly important in the case of employees working at locations other than corporate headquarters. The portal also enables different formalities such as payroll management or holiday requests to be unified in one system. MERLIN expects to continue working on it in the next few years, developing a powerful and efficient employee management tool. • Similarly, in 2020 MERLIN continued to strengthen its usual communication channels with its staff. The employees receive communications by email on a regular basis, including daily press summaries, and are subscribed to an online newspaper. These initiatives allow its professionals to regularly keep up to date with the most relevant news stories affecting the Company and the industry. Additionally, as a new initiative this year, a talk was given by the insurance company, explaining the advantages of the health insurance available to employees. As part of this initiative, employees also receive an email on healthy living at least once a month.