Developing & Retaining Talent
Once talented people have come through the door, we want them to stay, and to optimize their talents and abilities — for their own sake and for ours.
We’ve developed an extensive catalog of learning and development opportunities, along with avenues for employees to provide feedback so we know we’re on the right track.
We provide a broad array of resources to help our employees learn about different areas of the business and climb the career ladder — including the EMPOWER Career Center, which offers coaching, résumé writing support, interview preparation and group courses that support professional development for both leaders and employees.
Leadership Development
A multi-stage leadership program guides individuals with strong people-centered management potential. It includes an Emerging Leader Program for individual contributors; a New Leader Boot Camp; the Developing the Dominion Energy Leader program, which prepares high-potential managers for senior leadership roles and gives directors additional training to cultivate an inclusive culture; and the LEAD program, which helps individual contributors explore the skills and mindsets needed to lead others.
In addition to company sponsored leadership development programs, Dominion Energy encouraged early and mid-level Black, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino leaders to participate in McKinsey’s Connected Leaders Academy. This six-month program is designed to help organizations build their leadership pipelines equitably by giving participants the skills, capabilities, peer networks, and sponsorships to achieve their professional aspirations. Through the program, senior leaders at the company offered cohort members guidance on leadership fundamentals.
Employee Engagement
Every two years, Dominion Energy conducts an employee engagement survey. The feedback allows the company to be more nimble, innovative, and successful and support our employees and serve our customers better. The results also inform decisions by management. For example, in our 2020 survey, employees said they wanted more interaction with senior leadership. In response, the company began a series of executive town halls where employees could hear from leaders about company strategy, plans, and policies, and ask questions about those and any other issues.
In 2022, employees identified company strengths such as service to customers, clear core values, a safe physical environment, a family-like work culture, and our meaningful focus on DE&I. Like many other companies, we also saw a decrease in engagement from the record high we achieved in 2020. To address concerns, Dominion Energy launched a series of initiatives, from increasing recognition of employee accomplishments to expanding our EMPOWER Career Center to support professional growth.
To better understand the unique experiences of female employees, in 2022 the company conducted a series of focus groups with women to learn more about where these employees find reassurance, energy, and inspiration, as well as their challenges.
We continue to look for new ways to improve talent development. In 2022, we launched a month-long EMPOWER Wednesday series to provide employees with practical support as they pursue career development. Following a successful pilot effort in 2021, we also completed two more Coaching Circles. The Circles provide leaders the opportunity to learn and practice good coaching skills and to learn how to facilitate an environment where people feel heard and valued, where input from everyone matters, and where problems can be overcome by maximizing individual performance and development.
Around the Company
While our electric and natural gas systems power millions of homes and businesses, those systems don’t run themselves. They depend on thousands of Dominion Energy employees who are committed to carrying out our mission: keeping the lights on and the gas flowing. Here are just a few of our dedicated and energetic colleagues whose talent and dedication drive our company forward for the benefit of our customers. Because if we don’t carry out our mission, nobody else can carry out theirs.
Power Generation – Raheem Hodge, Electrician
Growing up, Raheem Hodge moved from New York to Tennessee to Florida and back to Tennessee. He hasn’t stopped moving since: A lover of travel, he’s been to Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore, Great Britain, Spain, Egypt, Germany, and more.
At work, he calls Dominion Energy Virginia’s Chesterfield Power Station home. There, his role as an electrician has him doing everything from putting up new lights to fixing 460-volt motors. When the workday is done, he likes to host game nights and cook ribeye steaks, garlic mashed potatoes, Southern-style cornbread, and his famous lemon-pepper hot wings.
“Working for [Dominion Energy] is great,” Raheem says. “I’m involved in everything I can be involved in: Station recreation, Christmas Mother, the environmental committee, DE&I, ERGs…. On my own time I’ve helped … the community outreach department with some events…. This past Christmas day I helped one of our contractors who is a local chef, R Kearse, feed the less fortunate over in the Northside of Richmond.” The bottom line? Working at the company is “truly challenging and fun at the same time.”
Power Delivery – Justin Del Gallo, Electric Meter Worker
When Justin joined Dominion Energy after college, he started high up: His work as an electric line worker often took him to the top of utility poles. Today, he wires complex metering systems for large commercial customers and manages power delivery to co-ops and other utilities. While working as a line worker, he earned a graduate degree in executive leadership. “Dominion Energy covered most of the cost for my graduate education,” Justin says. “I would not have been able to take on this challenge without Dominion Energy’s support.”
Justin appreciates the diversity he finds at the company. “It provides a refreshing work environment. Having grown up in a diverse community and school system outside Washington, D.C., I’m pleased to see our community at Dominion Energy change and grow for the better just in the short time that I have been here.” And you never know what makes up the person working next to you, he adds. “When you ask, you’re amazed. What you learn certainly makes for a more stimulating work environment.” Case in point? Justin himself. He’s been performing magic since age 9, and often uses his skills to entertain his coworkers — who call him “Magic Man.”
Gas Distribution – Mia Magby, Engineer
As a storage-operations engineer for Dominion Energy Ohio, Mia helps operate and maintain more than 800 natural gas storage wells and ensure that the systems continue to meet integrity standards. Since she was hired in 2021, she has faced “a steep learning curve,” yet she already has been a part of a team that won recognition for her innovative proposal to use zero-emission vacuum and control (ZEVAC) technology to reduce methane emissions from storage well projects— a process the company now employs.
“Sustainability has always been a passion of mine,” Mia says. “Seeing that Dominion Energy was trying to be the most sustainable energy company in the U.S. made me want to be a part of that effort and team.” She took part in the 2019 Careers in Energy Diversity Student Conference, then joined the company as an intern, which led to her full-time job. “I feel like I have acquired a new work family, and they are all very supportive.” And although she no longer practices the pole-vaulting that earned her a college scholarship, she loves to fish — and once caught a 72-pound yellowfin tuna.
While her mother is Korean, Mia doesn’t think of her diversity as her identity. “Being Asian is what a lot of people notice about me first and [they] ask where I am from. It’s always funny to tell them Kansas…. Appearances and titles may drive assumptions and questions, but you really don’t know the person until you can sit down and hear their story. I am just very happy that Dominion Energy took a chance on me as a candidate and saw what value I could bring to the company.”
Dominion Energy South Carolina – Emily Powell, Engineer
“I have witnessed Dominion Energy’s commitment to DE&I growing noticeably in recent years,” says Emily. As an engineer who works for Dominion Energy South Carolina in Blythewood, she spends her days designing routes for power lines that will feed new residential and commercial development. “I get to be out in the field almost every single day,” she says. “Not only do I enjoy the combination of design work in the office and being out in the field on job sites, but I love that I can be intimately involved in seeing my designs actually constructed by the line crews and come to fruition.”
Emily — who speaks Polish and has a pilot’s license — spent part of her childhood in her mother’s native Poland before returning to the United States. Her foray into business education left her unsatisfied, but she found her calling after switching to civil engineering. An internship with Dominion Energy led to a full-time job she “truly enjoys,” she says. It also comes in handy: More than once, the mother of a toddler has restored power to her own neighborhood after a storm.
“I believe Dominion Energy is making a genuine effort to be diverse and inclusive,” Emily says. “I am involved in several interview and hiring panels and there is a definite emphasis on diversity in hiring.”
Services – Nicole Biedenbach, Power Storekeeper
Over the course of more than 15 years — an “exciting and eventful journey,” as she puts it — Nicole has worked at numerous power stations and done just about everything, from electrical work to turbine maintenance to operating dual-fuel generating units. As a Storekeeper at Surry Power Station, she manages station materials and makes sure they pass quality-assurance and compliance muster. “I’ve been fortunate to work in environments [where] everyone is getting a fair chance, being heard, and encouraged to grow to their full potential,” Nicole says.
When she’s not busy at work, she’s busy at home juggling her children’s basketball, skating, and dance schedules. In her few spare moments, she enjoys baking while listening to a good audiobook. Nicole’s husband, Jason Biedenbach, works in the transmission and distribution side of the business, making them one of Dominion Energy’s “power couples.”
To Nicole, the company’s spirit of One Dominion Energy is unmistakable: “No matter who you are, where you’re from, or what you look like, we’re all connected,” she says. That sense of inclusion makes the workplace feel welcoming. “What I like most about Dominion Energy are the countless opportunities to grow [and] the amazing friendships I've built. I personally feel like Dominion Energy is one of the more progressive companies when it comes to DE&I and it’s a beautiful thing.”
Nuclear – Duron Jones, Security Instrumentation & Control Technician
Getting into a nuclear power station is no easy task — and Duron Jones keeps it that way. As an instrumentation and control technician at our Surry, Virginia, plant, he makes sure high-tech security measures such as cameras, X-rays, and even more specialized equipment are functioning optimally. “If you can’t get through the metal detector, it’s because of me,” the former Army reservist says.
When he isn’t upholding the company’s core value of safety, Duron enjoys smoking brisket, pork butts, and ribs, and working out with his 18-year-old and 10-year-old sons.
“I was always told Dominion Energy is a good place to work,” he says. But after an initial stint at the company, he decided to see what others had to offer. "After bouncing around, I quickly realized no other company is as well rounded as Dominion Energy in terms of compensation, benefits, work/life balance, and employee appreciation.” He also thinks the company’s DE&I efforts are "outstanding. They really put time, thought, and energy into this…. [Dominion Energy has] all different walks of life and personalities. Whether you have a degree or a trade, you can fit in at Dominion Energy. I plan on retiring from here.”