S1 Own workforce 

Arcadis - Powered by our People

At Arcadis, our commitment to putting People First is exemplified by the fact that we made "Powered by our People" a core theme of our new strategic direction. Our People First philosophy plays a pivotal role in cultivating a motivated workforce that executes our corporate strategies while fulfilling our external responsibilities.

We implement our strategic vision through a variety of initiatives that enrich the well-being of our workforce and empower our teams to deliver for our clients. This fundamental principle guides our dedication to nurturing a supportive and empowering work environment, investing in the growth of our employees, and fostering a culture of collaboration.

Our DMA showed under the sub-topic ‘working conditions’, three material sub-sub-topics pertaining to our global workforce:

• Training and skills development;

• Health and safety; and

• Work-life balance.

Workforce composition

The characteristics of our workforce which includes both employees and non-employees can be found in the following tables. The workforce population consists of 91% permanent employees, followed by 4% temporary employees, 4% self-employed workers, and 1% third party agency workers. Our approach to engaging our people include policies, consultation and actions that apply to our global workforce.

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General policies related to our workforce

Our general policies are designed to enable our workforce to feel valued, respected, and equipped to succeed, and to help us manage our potential positive and negative impacts, risks and opportunities. Our policies are available on our intranet and apply to our own workforce.

Our key policies include the following:

Arcadis General Business Principles (AGBP): The AGBP reflect our commitment to comply with the laws, regulations and culture of the countries in which we operate. The AGBP apply to business activities and form our code of conduct, guiding the behavior we expect of our own workforce when conducting business. We believe that our shared core values ensure our mission is fulfilled: People First, Client Success, Integrity, Sustainability and Collaboration. These values are the foundation of our AGBP. Our behavior creates the integrity and compliance culture of our organization and a sustainable future. 

The application of the AGBP is strengthened by a compliance management system, which is designed to ensure that our people understand the principles and act in accordance with them. Ultimate responsibility for the implementation and application of the AGBP lies with the Arcadis Executive Board and the primary responsibility with our people and management in the operating entities (first line of defense). The Compliance team is the second line of defense that assists and supports the first line of defense with identification and analysis of key regulatory & policy compliance risks, trend analysis, mitigation of compliance risks through policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines, providing training and awareness and with periodic assessment of the effectiveness of the risk mitigating controls. For information on the monitoring of AGBP, please refer to the Monitoring and Accountability section in the Business Ethics chapter.

Arcadis Seek Advice and Speak up Policy: This policy outlines the various ways to speak up that are available for our employees and our external partners. We are committed to creating and upholding a culture where our own workforce and our external partners feel comfortable, supported, and safe to raise their concerns, to seek advice and speak up. The ultimate responsibility for the implementation and application of this Policy Statement lies with the Arcadis Executive Board. For information on the the monitoring process of the Arcadis Seek Advice and Speak up Policy, please refer to Integrity Line and Seek Advice and Speak Up sections in the Business Ethics chapter.

Respect at Work Policy: This policy aims to create an environment where our own workforce feel they belong and can succeed with differences recognized and valued. The policy states that we do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind. The Chief People Officer plays the lead role in the implementation of the policy.

As the Respect at Work policy was released and adopted in 2024, the initial work in implementing the policy has begun with raising the awareness with the respective country People teams. To monitor its implementation, we plan to leverage feedback from our established local compliance committees and review our Your Voice engagement survey feedback. The plan will be to weave the policy awareness in our future mandatory training to ensure employees understand the policy and know how to act regarding inappropriate behavior.

Human Rights Policy: This policy guides our efforts to safeguard human rights with key stakeholders, including employees, customers and suppliers. The policy is designed to respect human rights of stakeholders throughout our full value chain. Consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), our policy commits Arcadis to respecting internationally recognized human rights. Specifically, it mentions respect for: the International Bill of Human Rights; the International Labor Organizations’ (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its core Conventions; and those international laws that protect groups of people who are potentially at heightened risk for vulnerability or marginalization e.g., the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention C169, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

The policy meets the five requirements specified by the UNGPs:

1. It has been approved at the most senior level of the business;

2. It was informed by relevant human rights expertise when it was developed, in this case with the support of an external consultant. Further improvements will be informed by Arcadis’ human rights subject-matter experts;

3. It stipulates Arcadis’ human rights expectations of our workforce, business partners and other parties directly linked to our company;

4. It is publicly available (an update will follow in Q1 2025);

5. It has been embedded into internal Arcadis policies. We are further operationalizing the policy through our business procedures. The Global Human Rights Director has overall responsibility for the implementation of this policy.

Our human rights policy also informs an internal roadmap, through which we will implement the policy and continue taking concrete steps to further embed respect and the promotion of human rights in our activities. We implement our Human Rights Policy by proactively identifying and assessing actual and potential human rights risks. We are integrating human rights into our management systems and taking action to address identified risks through specific programs. This includes enhancing the selection and management of our suppliers and services. Additionally, we address and remediate potential human rights infringements via our grievance mechanisms, collaborating with others when necessary to ensure these risks are managed effectively. Given we are in the early stages of implementation, we have not set any time bound outcome oriented KPIs to monitor the implementation or effectiveness.

Arcadis Health and Safety Vision and Policy: This sets out the approach whereby the physical and psychological health and safety of the workforce and stakeholders is protected, by mitigating risks and preventing harm that could be caused by a variety of work-related activities. This policy is part of Arcadis' broader commitment to a culture of 'zero harm' and emphasizes the importance of individual behavior in achieving these goals. The policy sets minimum requirements for conducting business at Arcadis, and it is designed to be flexible to meet local regulations, culture, and customs. The eight Health, Safety and Wellbeing principles mentioned in the H&S section, along side the H&S and Wellbeing management system, are the key enablers for implementing this policy. The Global Director of Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) has the overall responsibility for the implementation of the policy and monitors the implementation through our Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reporting.

Workstyle Promise: In response to the evolving nature of work, we launched the Global Workstyle Promise in 2021, acknowledging the need for flexibility in how people work to manage and balance their work life. As part of our commitment to prioritize our employees' choices, the Workstyle Promise has been integrated throughout Arcadis by offering flexible working arrangements in line with local labor legislation and providing necessary tools and resources to support managers and employees. It aims to allow employees to have the freedom to tailor their workstyles according to their unique needs and responsibilities as well as client requests in alignment with their line manager. The Global Workplace Director has responsibility for the policy and Arcadis uses our global surveys (Your Voice and Workplace and Workstyle survey) to help monitor its implementation.

General processes for enabling dialogue with own workforce

Arcadis encourages two-way dialogue between employees and line management. In some countries we are required to implement a specific, formalized process to facilitate dialogue between management and employee representatives, such as via work councils and collective labor agreements . The following table outlines the key channels we use to engage with our employees to assist in managing any potential or actual impacts, risks and opportunities on our workforce.

Arcadis' approach to Human Rights

Respecting human rights

Arcadis recognizes the role corporations play in society, and we understand our responsibility to respect human rights in our operations and through our business relationships. Treating people with dignity and respect is aligned with our company’s core values: People First, Client Success, Integrity, Collaboration and Sustainability. In the context of our projects and partnerships, this means we aim to make conscious decisions about where we work, and with whom we work. It also means that our goal is to act in ways that will contribute to a more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable world.

Due diligence

To operationalize our Human Rights Policy, Arcadis has started to conduct Human Rights due diligence. We recognize that this is an ongoing effort and commit to regularly assessing our practices and approaches in light of our changing world. To understand potential and actual impacts of policies and practices on our employees, Arcadis conducts proactive and reactive due diligence.

In 2022, Arcadis conducted its first human rights impact assessment in one of our operating countries—the Philippines. The assessment consisted of interviews with employees as well as a survey that went to all employees in the country. It included a focus on access to remedy, freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced labor, health and safety, living wage, non-discrimination and harassment, privacy social security, women’s rights, and working hours. Follow-up recommendations were provided, and Arcadis continues to work on closing identified gaps, some of which are global in nature, others of which only relate to the Philippines. In addition, in the countries where Arcadis has Work Councils, Arcadis also learns about working conditions and how improvements can be made by engaging with those councils.

General processes to remediate negative impacts and channels for own workforce to raise concerns

Our human rights policy commits to remedy where Arcadis causes or contributes to adverse human rights impacts. Arcadis reacts to potential or actual impacts when they are reported through our Seek Advice and Speak Up Policy.

Fostering a respectful workplace

Creating a safe and respectful workplace is foundational to fostering inclusion and countering removing discrimination. We understand that a culture free from fear and hostility is critical to unlocking the full potential of our people, allowing them to contribute meaningfully and collaborate effectively.

In 2024 we launched mandatory bystander training, which plays a key role in building a culture of respect and support. This training empowers employees to recognize, respond to, and prevent inappropriate behavior in the workplace. By equipping team members with the knowledge and ability to intervene safely, we foster a culture of collective accountability. This training is not merely about policy enforcement; it represents a proactive approach to building a workplace where everyone is responsible for upholding respect and inclusion.

Respect at work and facilitating our workforce to speak up

Our General Business Principles outline that we treat people with dignity and respect, and our Respect at Work Policy further outlines our commitment to creating an environment where our own workforce can feel they belong and thrive, and where differences are recognized and valued.

We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination, whether due to culture, nationality, race, religion, gender, disability, association, sexual orientation, age or any other characteristic protected by local law or international standards. Arcadis encourages our own workforce, clients and third parties, who feel that they have been subject to or witnessed any violation of this policy to take action via our Arcadis Seek Advice and Speak up Policy.

If employees or external stakeholders wish to remain anonymous, they can use our Integrity Line which is, accessible 24/7 in their own language by web or phone. These Integrity Lines are hosted by an independent third party, which ensures protection against retaliation, and reports are received by Arcadis’ Global Compliance Office for initial assessment and redirected for confidential handling as outlined in the Compliance Charter.

Management of material topics

The policies form the boundaries of the objectives for Arcadis to have its employees operate in a healthy and safe environment, for setting the context to progress in development and to keep work and private life well balanced, amongst others. The Your Voice engagement survey, measured by the Net Promoter Score (eNPS), covers all these areas in a structured way with our employees, leading to the establishment of a global engagement target. We have thus selected employee engagement as our central target to help manage the material impacts, risks and opportunities related to our material topics in 'Own workforce’. Employee Engagement is measured through a quarterly employee survey and is administered by a third party, using a platform that allows us to benchmark against our professional services peers on engagement topics. The platform services thousands of customers across nineteen different industries, one of them is the Professional and Businesses Services sector. In this sector 146 companies use the services of the platform, amongst them are peer group members.

The engagement questions cover a range of areas and there are specific questions that cover our material impacts, risk and opportunities topics. The survey reports allow leaders and managers to facilitate a dialogue with employees and set team and global actions to enhance employee engagement, and ultimately improve productivity and retention.

The company has set a target to remain in the top 25% of the professional services sector (as measured by the third-party platform) by 2026 for employee engagement, as measured by eNPS. Arcadis believes that being in the top quartile of the professional services sector supports its ability to attract and retain the talent needed to deliver its broader strategic objectives. To set this target Arcadis reviewed yearly trends and compared the baseline through insights and benchmarks derived from the platform. Proposed target levels were then discussed with wider senior leadership to align and gather feedback. In each quarter, engagement levels are reported to leadership teams and shared with the workforce, with key insights being provided to global subject matter experts to help with program calibration or ideas for new actions.

Metrics and performance

In 2024, our eNPS was measured at +46, with 85% of employees having responded to the survey. Our engagement has remained at a consistent level during 2024 and within the top 25% of the professional services sector, as measured by the platform. The eNPS target was set with reference to other professional services companies using the same platform , focusing on realistic ambition rather than scenario analysis. While the platform confirmed our position within the top 25%, no more granular ranking was provided. No interim targets were defined, as the goal is to maintain a position within the top 25% across years.

Material topics – key actions and metrics

On the following pages, we disclose the material IROs, actions, and metrics related to the respective three material sub-sub-topics.

Training and skill Development

Impacts, risks and opportunities

At Arcadis, nurturing the capabilities and skills of our employees is a core part of the “Powered by our People” strategic focus area within our business strategy. With our focus on skill enhancement, we aim to equip our employees to meet client needs and aids in attracting talent. The following actions are ongoing, will continue into the future, and apply primarily to Arcadis employees as the main affected stakeholder group, while their training contributes to a more equipped Arcadis workforce, including managers who also oversee non-employees.

Actions related to training and skill development

Progressing to become a Skills Powered Organization

Keeping up with technology and adapting to change, while meeting the needs of our people, requires us to think differently. To do this, we have embarked on a journey to become a Skills Powered Organization (SPO), which means we are building a workforce that is prepared for the future in an ever-changing world of work. An SPO prioritizes skills in every aspect of the employee lifecycle. It focuses on identifying, developing, and aligning people's skills to effectively meet both current and future client and business needs.

We started designing our journey to becoming an SPO in 2023. After two test and learn phases, in May 2024 we began the first phase of our SPO rollout, providing an initial 24,000 employees with access to our new AI-powered SPO platform. Through this platform, we offer personalized recommendations for development, role opportunities and career pathways aligned to individuals’ skills and career aspirations.

As part of the next phase in our SPO journey we have launched a ‘Gigs’ pilot. Gigs will connect employees with short-term, specific opportunities that align with their skills and career aspirations. The introduction of Gigs through the SPO platform provides a flexible way to source skills for both billable and non-billable work across Arcadis globally. This approach enables employees to contribute productively while gaining on-the-job learning experiences beyond their core roles. Gigs will empower employees who have available time, skills, and interests to proactively pursue new projects that align with their career goals and availability. Our aim is to fully deploy the Gigs program in 2025.

Developing capability

To expand our learning offering, we have continued implementing our advanced Learning Experience Platform (LXP). This platform provides access to over 11,000 digital learning resources promoting equitable learning opportunities for our employees globally. Our LXP facilitates access to content covering a wide range of areas, including a focus on equity, inclusion, and belonging; and sustainability; and mandatory and legislative requirements. It also facilitates our performance conversations around career and skill development.

The LXP empowers our employees to embark on personalised learning journeys, tailoring their skill development to foster ongoing growth and progression. Additionally, with integration into our SPO platform, the LXP enables access to development by suggesting learning resources based on skills gaps, career progression, and individual interests.

Developing critical areas

In 2024, we continued our commitment to building our energy transition capabilities, a key skill area for service delivery. By the end of 2024, we had successfully conducted five specialized programs focusing on hydrogen, urban energy solutions, offshore wind, industrial decarbonization and nuclear power. Following the completion of these schools, our next objective is to develop practitioner training that will equip our team with the technical skills necessary to meet our clients' needs. As we look ahead to 2025, we are committed to further expanding this curriculum.

Our Growth Accelerator journey continued in 2024. Growth accelerator is a program aimed to enable our client development leaders to be more entrepreneurial, leverage the wider Arcadis business and adopt great digital solutions for clients at speed. We conducted two key programs in 2024: one tailored specifically for our Places Global Business Area (GBA), and another where we invited delegates from across the GBAs to collaborate on sector-specific solutions .

In 2024 we launched the final Sustain Abilities modules , completing a suite of 13 modules. These cover a wide array of topics– from understanding what sustainability means to Arcadis, to specific strategies for supporting our clients on their sustainability journeys. Notably, two of these modules are dedicated to energy transition.

Upskilling our line Managers

In 2024, there was a continued investment in building managerial and leadership capability globally. Our Management Essentials and Advanced Management programs are part of our Line Management Experience (LMEx) initiative designed to specifically empower managers globally to lead with impact – an initiative that continues to be critical given the pivotal role of managers in transforming our business and driving performance, engagement, and retention of their teams.

Metrics and performance

The formal target that we have set for this topic is employee engagement, as measured through our eNPS score. In addition, while we do not have any other formal targets for this topic, we measure and monitor metrics regarding participation in regular performance and career development reviews and in training and skills development.

At Arcadis, employees are expected to have a regular performance and career development review with their manager once a year. The table below presents the number of employees who participated in at least one such review during the 2024 reporting year.

Training and skill development

Health and safety

Our vision for Health, Safety and Wellbeing (HSW) is to empower our own workforce to create a proactive health, safety and wellbeing culture. We do this through our HSW mission, “Protecting our People”. We prioritize our people's physical and psychological health with a proactive, culture-driven approach, incorporating wellbeing into our 2024 health and safety (H&S) efforts to reinforce our People First value.

Impacts, risks and opportunities

Actions to manage the impact

Our Global Health, Safety & Wellbeing Management System Standard (GHSMSS) is built alongside the guidelines of the ISO45001 and ISO45003. Every country in which we operate uses the GHSMSS as a minimum standard and has built in local legislative requirements. Our workforce is bound to follow the requirements of the GHSMSS.

As part of our Health, Safety and Wellbeing Vision and Policy, Arcadis has defined eight fundamental H&S principles which are ongoing actions and will continue on into the future. These activities apply to our own workforce to create a safe and healthy work environment:

1. Health & Safety Planning: Prepare and maintain a and Safety Plan for work activities performed outside of an office environment.

2. Proactive Reporting: Report incidents, significant near misses, and unsafe acts or conditions immediately so that they can be investigated, corrected, and prevented. Lessons learned are then shared within the workforce. In order to monitor awareness and develop our H&S culture we not only focus on reactive actions (reporting of near misses and incidents), but we also aim to foster a culture of proactive actions and reporting.

3. Stop Work Authority: If the workforce observe something is unsafe, they have the responsibility to stop their own work or the work of other teams, or work that is under Arcadis’ control.

4. If Not Me, Then Who: Encourages the workforce to keep themselves and others safe by acting immediately to prevent harm. If the workforce see something is unsafe (or not right) they can speak up within the situation or raise through more formal channels.

5. TRACK: Our own workforce is encouraged to apply TRACK (a risk analysis and assessment approach) when planning tasks, before starting tasks and again when conditions change.

6. Stewardship: Our own workforce should be able to go home safely every day. To further enable this we have a program in place whereby our leaders are required to undertake and report their stewardship activities once per quarter. Monitoring of stewardship activities helps inform where to focus training and support.

7. Holistic Wellbeing: Arcadis proactively protects our people from wellbeing risks within our work processes and the working environment. This commitment involves cultivating psychological safety, fostering a culture of care, and encouraging everyone to self-manage their health and wellbeing within the organization. Support systems are in place for those encountering challenges or illnesses (shown in work/life section below).

8. H&S Knowledge: Employees need to engage in training or workshops to enhance H&S knowledge and practices among employees. Learning programs are in place to raise awareness among employees, including within our senior leadership group. In 2024 we rolled out formal HSW stewardship training to our senior leaders. The training was specifically crafted to challenge behaviors and approaches related to leadership and stewardship activities within Arcadis. It emphasized the crucial role of leadership in promoting quality of life and upholding of care, respect, and safety to drive performance excellence. Mandatory refresher training on HSW was also rolled out in June for employees.  

Metrics and performance

Aside from employee engagement, no other formal target has been set for this topic. To measure our effectiveness in managing our positive impact on H&S, the following metrics in the table are regular reported and discussed by senior leadership.

The H&S metrics table includes both employees and non-employees, as Arcadis' H&S policies, systems, and processes are applied consistently across the entire workforce. As a result, no distinction was made during data collection for 2024 or in the disclosure. Given that local privacy regulations restricted access to case identities, we did not differentiate between employees and non-employees. To meet ESRS requirements, we retrospectively identified relevant cases where necessary. All recorded incidents have been confirmed to involve only our own employees.

In 2024, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reporting remained a critical component of our H&S performance monitoring alongside ESRS requirements. This was necessitated by the significant portion of our business operations located in the United States and Canada, where OSHA regulations are the principal framework for workplace safety reporting. Adhering to OSHA requirements ensures compliance with both region-specific legal obligations as well as client requirements. Furthermore, integrating OSHA and reporting aligned with ESRS requirements supports the management of H&S across our global operations.

H&S metrics 

Work-life balance

Impacts, risks and opportunities

Actions to manage the impact

Achieving work-life balance for employees involves prioritizing the wellbeing of our own workforce and stakeholders through our ‘Protecting Our People' mission and HSW vision and policy. Our shared belief fosters a culture of fairness and understanding, promoting physical and psychological health and safety.

As of 2024, our employees now have access to flexible working arrangements. We recognize that each employee has different circumstances and preferences, and we value their ability to choose work arrangements that best suit their needs whilst balancing business responsibilities. By providing this flexibility in line with local labor legislation, we empower our employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance and optimize their productivity.

Arcadis provides several family-related leave options within respective country legal frameworks to help support employees during significant life events. Examples of options across our diverse country portfolio include parental leave for either parent for the birth of a child, flexible work schedules that allow employees to accommodate work-life balance, dependent care leave and adoption assistance.

Recognizing the diverse needs of our people and the risks they face in the dynamic environments where projects are delivered is crucial for human sustainability.

Arcadis offers several ongoing wellbeing programs. The following actions are ongoing, will continue into the future, and apply primarily to Arcadis employees as the main affected stakeholder group for work-life balance, while these programs also assist line managers manage work life issues with the total workforce including non-employees:

Metrics and performance

As stated above, the formal target that we have set for this topic is employee engagement, measured through our eNPS score. In addition to this, continuous listening in global surveys (Your Voice Engagement Survey, Workstyle and Workplace Survey) enable us to understand concerns raised, so that we can strive to create environments that support employees in managing their work –life balance. By monitoring the attrition levels and reasons for leaving we are able to analyse whether work-life balance issues could be factors causing employees to leave.

Leavers and employee turnover rate

Family-related leave 

Resourcing and reporting  

Arcadis demonstrates its commitment to addressing material negative and positive impacts, managing risks, and pursuing opportunities related to its workforce through a core set of activities:

• Regular reporting: We publish detailed internal sustainability and workforce-related reports outlining the company's strategies, targets and performance in workforce-related areas. In recent years we have regularly reported workforce data which has included information on employee well-being programs, and workforce development initiatives. A regular H&S report is also provided to management.

• Stakeholder engagement: To gather feedback on workforce-related practices and show a commitment to continuous improvement, we engage with key stakeholders including clients and employees. This includes engagement with internal communities at Arcadis, such as affinity groups and representative bodies for employees.

• Certifications and ratings: We have obtained ratings from external agencies that look to benchmark us against standards in relation to sustainable workforce practices (i.e., EcoVadis).

• Communication of performance: We provide transparent communication about company policies, practices, and performance related to the workforce through various channels, such as company website or internal communications (i.e., Intranet, webinars).

By actively implementing and transparently communicating these strategies, we can show our dedication to addressing material impacts on our workforce and how we are striving for continuous improvement in managing risks and realizing opportunities. Where targets are not set, regular reporting helps track our progress. To effectively address the identified material topics, Arcadis has the following key teams in place:

• Enabling functions such as the People (HR) team, Global Sustainability team, Health, Safety and Wellbeing team allocate capacity to manage material impacts within our own workforce.

• People expertise: The People (HR) team at Arcadis comprises professionals with expertise in areas such as employee and labor relations, talent management, diversity and inclusion, compensation and benefits, and learning and development. Their role is to assist in managing material impacts on the workforce and developing strategies to address them effectively.

• Industry experts and consultants: From time to time we engage with subject matter experts or consultants who can provide guidance on best practices, help in setting targets, and offer insights on emerging trends in workforce risks and opportunities.

• Global affinity groups: These are employee-led communities that bring together individuals with shared identities, backgrounds, interests, or experiences to promote diversity, inclusion, and a sense of belonging within the organization. We have invested financially in global affinity groups by covering the billable hours of the employee representatives who lead these groups, in cases where those hours would normally be billable to clients.

• Human rights experts: Arcadis has a group of human rights specialists focused on ensuring that the organization upholds and promotes human rights principles within its operations and supply chain.

By leveraging the expertise of various people across the organization, Arcadis aims to appropriately allocate team members to manage material topics within its own workforce.