ContourGlobal, 6 month bonus to workers on exit from Kkr

The company grows, has interesting prospects, an American private equity fund enters and multiplies its value. And the workers? When the fund leaves, they will get their share, which could be half of an entire year's salary. Or at least that is the goal of ContourGlobal, the independent power producer (IPP) that is in KKR's portfolio and has just launched a new incentive plan for all its more than 1,200 employees, making them in some way co-owners of the company's future.

As CEO Antonio Cammisecra, who has led the company since February 2024, says, "at ContourGlobal we believe that every person makes a difference. The daily commitment of our employees is the beating heart of our growth, and the Employee Ownership Programme is the most concrete way to recognise and value this contribution. Together with our shareholder KKR, we want to create a company in which everyone feels not only a part, but also a protagonist. With this programme, we are not simply rewarding performance: we are building a shared culture of responsibility, entrepreneurship and belonging. It is a change of perspective, because from today, each of our colleagues becomes, symbolically and concretely, a co-owner of the company's future".

Antonio Cammisecra (CEO ContourGlobal)

The industrial plan to 2030 is very ambitious, explains Chief HR Officer Paola Mazzoleni: 'It envisages on the one hand doubling installed capacity from 5 to about 10 Gigawatts, and on the other hand completing the turnaround on renewables, reaching by 2030 a mix of energy production with a percentage from renewable sources of around 70 per cent'. To facilitate the success of this plan, the company has launched its Employee Ownership Program (EOP) at global level, strongly supported by CEO Cammisecra and designed to recognise the contribution of all of its more than 1,200 employees to the company's growth and transformation path, and to share with them in a concrete and tangible way part of the value generated in the long term.

The programme is based on a very simple principle: those who contribute to the company's value on a daily basis must also be able to share in the benefit derived from it. A concept that fully reflects the company's sustainable commitment to the creation of shared value for all stakeholders, as well as 'the central role of its people, also summarised in one of ContourGlobal's founding principles: 'WE is our greatest asset',' Mazzoleni recalls. The Employee Ownership Programme is simple, inclusive and accessible: every current or future employee will automatically participate, without the need for any personal financial contribution.

The plan marks a new phase in ContourGlobal's transformation and growth path and, as Mazzoleni says, 'has a strong innovation aspect. Right from the title it conveys the desire to make all workers, from the new entrant to the manager of reference, feel the importance of their contribution to the growth of the company, defining them all as owners, and foreseeing a final return for the growth generated. The bonus will be paid depending on what the final accounts will be, at the time of the exit of the KKR Fund, over a period of between 4 and 7 years'. While we cannot be sure of the quantum, ContourGlobal's goal is to aim for a value that "corresponds to about 50 per cent of the annual base salary. This is a very important material incentive in addition to the many other human resources management tools we use, with the aim of supporting our cultural transformation,' Mazzoleni continues. Indeed, on the one hand there is the transformation of the energy source mix, but on the other hand there is also the cultural transformation of ContourGlobal with which 'we are trying to listen to the voice of our people, placing them at the centre of our strategy. With our plan we are achieving two goals at once,' adds the manager. 'One is at the basis of all businesses and that is growth and development, and the second is to achieve it with a group of people who are willing to contribute and participate, because they are comfortable with us and fully identify with our purpose The right power forward'.