Training and skills development

Training

We believe that investing in the lifelong learning and personal and professional development of our employees is one of the most important investments we can make as an employer, which also contributes to the sustainability of the path we have built. We seek to train our employees to excel in the performance of their duties and to provide them with the necessary tools to thrive in an increasingly demanding environment in the myriad contexts of their lives.

In 2024, investment in training exceeded 17 million euros, resulting in over 8.9 million hours of training, equivalent to an average of 64 training hours per employee. With over 515,000 training courses, we reached 94.4% of our employees, 0.6 p.p. more than in 2023.

Key training indicators

The EducAction digital platform is the result of our commitment to democratising access to educational materials. Through this platform, all our employees can access, at any time and from any place, training content in different formats such as e-learning, video and documents supporting face-to-face training. In 2024, a total of 7,017 mandatory and optional training materials were made available, and the platform was used by more than 145,000¹ Group employees (9.6% more than in 2023), with an average of 58,453 active users per month.

Alongside this, we provide access to the Knowledge Share platform, a digital library that centralises more than 3,500 content materials (437 of which were added in 2024), such as news articles, papers, podcasts and webinars, which inspire and promote the self-development of our managers.

With a view to greater efficiency and innovation in the training of our employees, we have been testing the adoption of virtual reality in programmes mainly related to their onboarding in store operations and to health and safety at work. In 2024, we provided training using virtual reality to 5,910 employees in Portugal and Poland.

In addition to investing in training tools and content, we believe that we must leverage employee training to transfer and retain knowledge that exists within the Group. In 2024, Pingo Doce launched a Trainers Academy aimed at preparing employees for future supervisory and training roles, in which 34 internal trainers have participated.

At a global level, there is the Exponential Leadership programme, which prepares internal trainers in leadership areas. By the end of 2024, 851 employees had already been trained by internal trainers who were prepared under this programme.

Business training

Specialising in the area of perishables is one of our major business focuses. The specific nature and demands of our perishable product offer require ongoing investment in training the operational teams that perform critical functions to ensure the best experience for our customers.

In Portugal, the Perishables School (focused on training in the butchery, bakery and pastry, fresh food and fish categories) has new training modules and now covers deputy store managers. In the meantime, the fruit and vegetable training programme has evolved into a training school for store managers and district managers. Recheio launched a Butchery School to, besides ensuring training in this area of specialisation, provide structure for the recruitment and preparation for the succession of employees in the meat section. In 2024, 23,492 people participated in the various perishables training programmes at Pingo Doce and Recheio.

In Poland, the basic and advanced modules of Biedronka’s “Zostań Świeżoznawcą” (Become a Perishables Expert) programme trained 16,868 employees. In Colombia, 23,181 Ara employees were trained in perishables. In the Group as a whole, 25.4% more employees were trained in this critical area in 2024 than in 2023, which translates the Group’s reinforced investment.

The Logistics School is a programme designed for employees at our distribution centres in Portugal and Poland focused on promoting a culture of continuous improvement in logistics processes. In the case of Poland, Biedronka already had a Logistics School and, in 2024, Hebe opened a School for the same purpose. In total, and throughout the year, 432 employees participated in courses of this operational area.

Customer service is an essential skill in our Companies. Over the course of the year, more than 45,000 employees received training in this competence. Of particular note is Pingo Doce, which extended the SVAL – “Sorrir, Vender, Agradecer, Limpar” (Smile, Sell, Thank, Clean) model to more stores, having trained 26,260 employees in the year. Recheio launched pilot project Number 1, a sales service model focused on supporting customers throughout their journey in the store, encouraging a proactive approach to advice and product presentation, aimed at delivering the best customer service on the market.

As concerns commercial skills, 134 employees received a total of 3,424 training hours throughout 2024. The following contributed to this training volume:

• the “Biedronkowa Akademia Kupca” (Biedronka Shopping Academy) programme, specialised in the development of category management skills and aimed at employees in the commercial, marketing and logistics areas;
• the Commercial School, a transversal programme across several Companies focused on developing advanced category management skills;
• Ara’s Commercial School, launched in 2024, aimed at developing sales, customer service and new product launch skills for store employees.

The 100% online degree course in Commercial and Retail Management, the result of a partnership between Jerónimo Martins and Universidade Católica Portuguesa, impacted 58 employees in 2023 and 2024. The initiative is co-financed by the Group, for the benefit of employees, and seeks to respond to the need to prepare future professionals for the distribution sector, with a special focus on food distribution.

Management and leadership training

The growth of our people within the Group is the result of our commitment to self-development, but also of the tools made available to employees, including leadership training.

Of particular note is the Be a Leader programme, created in 2018 in partnership with the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL), which stands out for being fully customised to the needs of our businesses and for having a value proposition leveraged in training stages adapted to each phase of the leadership journey (Leading Self, Leading Others and Leading Teams). These paths include classroom training, individual coaching and participation in collaborative learning groups focused on sharing experiences and interpersonal development. Since the launch of Be a Leader, and by the end of 2024, a total of 1,437 employees in the Strategic and Managerial levels had been trained. In 2024, the year in which we reviewed the training content to ensure full alignment with our Values, we trained 265 people under this programme, having invested over 1.2 million euros.

Created in 2023, the mentoring programme had a third pilot project in 2024, focused on accelerating the development of trainees in Portugal and promoting leadership by example. In total, the three pilot projects impacted 81 mentor-mentee pairs from the trainee programme and the IT Department. As part of a partnership with LEAD Network, employees from the HR teams participated, as mentors and mentees, in a knowledge transfer programme between people from different companies in the retail and consumer goods sector worldwide.

In 2024 we continued to train executives through the Strategic Management Programme, a partnership with Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics and the Kellogg School of Management. This programme, tailored to the Jerónimo Martins reality, consists of a learning experience with access to management materials and excellent teachers and in 2024 meant an investment of 542,000 euros in the development of high-potential leaders from our Companies in Portugal, Poland, Slovakia and Colombia.

Recheio enhanced its “Programa de Especialização de Gestão de Loja” (Store Management Specialisation Programme), allowing Heads of Perishable to not only participate in the training programme, but also refresh the knowledge acquired throughout the year. Pingo Doce continued to invest in the “Programa Geral de Gestão de Loja” (General Store Management Programme), aimed at developing management and business skills. Together, and since they were created, the two programmes have trained 1,377 operations leaders.

Pingo Doce has the Michelin Star Chef programme, dedicated to developing chefs and sous chefs in Meal Solutions’ central kitchens in communication, emotional management and control, conflict management and team motivation. In 2024, this programme impacted 51 employees.

At Biedronka, the “Akademia Zarządzania Biuro” (Leadership Academy) and the General Management Programme, which also covers Hebe employees, enabled 35 employees to develop skills in these areas. In operations, in addition to the “Akademia Zarządzania dla SOM” (Management Academy for Senior Operations Managers) and “Biedronkowa Akademia Zarządzania 2.0” (Biedronka 2.0 Management Academy) programmes, which had a total of 869 participants in 2024, the “Biedronkowa Akademia Zarządzania – Zaawansowana” (Advanced Store Management Academy) was created, to update the knowledge of experienced store managers.

Ara launched a new Leadership Academy with 5,253 participants in 2024.

Leadership development

The development of our current and future leaders depends both on their self-awareness and commitment to development, and on the tools and opportunities we provide to help them achieve their full potential. We have processes such as self-assessment, performance appraisal, ongoing feedback, identification of potential, and personalised development plans, in addition to opportunities for internal mobility and career progression.

Performance appraisal

The annual performance management cycle is based on the principles of meritocracy, equal opportunities and non-discrimination. The global process includes the definition, monitoring and evaluation of objectives and behaviours. Managers share feedback at key moments throughout the year, contributing to the individual development of employees, and discuss with those being evaluated their career opportunities and personal development plans.

Assessment of potential and development

Potential assessment is a strategic tool for monitoring talent in the organisation, contributing to the development of employees and their careers, while providing the Companies with information to support decision-making on human resources and the succession pipeline. In 2024, this assessment covered 8,278 employees in the Strategic and Managerial levels and those in critical functions in the Operational level. In the case of Meal Solutions at Pingo Doce, talent mapping was implemented for the first time, which collected 360-degree feedback from the majority of the business unit’s employees (including 396 people from the Operational level).

In 2024, a total of 4,403 personal development plans were monitored for employees in the strategic and managerial functional levels, and for employees in the operational level identified as having potential for progression or urgent development needs. These personal development plans identify concrete actions to mitigate development needs identified in the performance appraisal and to develop new skills.

Biedronka’s Sukces(i)ja (You are success) talent programme, focusing on the development of the “learning agility” skill, saw the voluntary participation of 115 employees, who were identified with potential for progression. In 2024, the Company also tested a model that uses generative artificial intelligence to create personalised development plans for 1,238 employees. This platform aggregates information from performance appraisal systems, potential assessments and other questionnaires, and feeds the identification of training needs.

The HebePro programme, designed to develop store managers with progression potential, has been extended to area managers. HebePro for area managers is a six-month programme with online training sessions, practical sessions led by experienced employees in that role, and a mentoring module. In 2024, 82 employees from both target groups participated in this programme.

We believe that self-awareness plays a key role in the development of our leaders and how they contribute to the development of their teams. In 2024, we launched a development programme that included a 360-degree assessment, using CCL recognised methodologies, an individual assessment supported by the Hogan methodology (which uses personality and cognitive tests to develop leaders), and an executive coaching journey. In its first year, this programme was aimed at the Group’s Managing Committee, the Management Committees of Portugal Companies, and a pilot group of managers identified as having high potential. A total of 79 employees were involved, in an investment of 354,000 euros. The goal of this programme is to reinforce current leadership, and to bolster the identified areas for improvement in future leaders, particularly in terms of the Group’s behaviours and Values.

Internal mobility

We believe that internal mobility – due to the challenge inherent in performing new functions in other areas, Companies or countries and the acquisition of transversal knowledge across different businesses – is a critical part of the professional and personal growth of our employees, while also playing an important role in the internal response to the Companies’ needs.

Through the Hello JM channel, an internal human resources management platform, our employees have access to vacancies to which they can apply at any time. We thus offer each person the possibility of shaping their path within the organisation.

At the same time, the performance appraisal process includes specific moments for employees to express their preferences, ambitions and identify the new challenges they would like to take on. In Portugal, Pingo Doce employees can submit transfer requests between stores via the Sou Pingo Doce (I am Pingo Doce) app. In 2024, a total of 195 transfers were made using this app.

As a reflection of the Group’s vision of the potential for development in internal mobility, Recheio launched the PUSH programme, focused on designing a mobility plan for employees under 35 years of age who are identified as having high potential. The goal is for these people to perform roles in other Companies for certain periods, to develop leadership skills. Also in 2024, Recheio and Pingo Doce launched projects to identify employees in operations with key skills or academic qualifications for future internal mobility and/or progression.

We are currently testing a workforce planning tool in order to identify recruitment needs and anticipate future employee movements (such as mobility, retirement, expatriation). With a primary focus on headquarters teams, the aim is to annually map the needs for the subsequent three years, as well as the skills required for roles to be recruited internally or externally. In 2024, the tool was tested in the three most relevant countries, with the assessment having covered 4,552 employees.

Young talent

To nurture our leadership pipeline, we have several talent development programmes in place, which are regularly enhanced to keep them attractive and aligned with participant expectations and business needs. All these programmes are remunerated in accordance with our compensation policies.

One of the programmes with the most significant investment in this area is the Trainee Programme, revised in 2024 to ensure alignment at a Group-wide level. This two-year programme challenges participants to strengthen their skills in order to become future leaders of the Jerónimo Martins Group. During the first year, designed to promote participants’ self-awareness and assess the cultural fit between them and the Group, trainees develop two projects with the support of tutors in different functional areas, according to their individual preferences and the Companies’ needs. The second year gives participants an immersive experience in the retail business and access to a mentor. The programme provides all participants with several opportunities to meet with the Group’s senior management, allowing them to share their career expectations and immediately influence their path within the organization. In 2024 the Trainee Programme had 85 participants, 37 of whom started the programme during the year.

The Summer Internship Programme is a two-month programme, held during summer holidays, in which university students spend time at one of our Companies. The young people are accompanied by a tutor and during the programme they are challenged to develop projects in the functional areas they are part of. In 2024, we had 73 higher education students in Portugal and Poland. In Colombia, we had 31 interns in the year.

The professional internship programme is aimed at university students or recent graduates who wish to embark on an intensive professional experience in Portugal, and lasts from six months to one year. During the internship, the participants are given the opportunity to enhance their academic knowledge, by joining one of the business teams. Each intern develops a specific project and receives guidance from a tutor, which ensures a learning environment and support for their professional development. We had 20 interns under this programme in 2024.

The Ambassador Programme enabled 19 participants to represent the Jerónimo Martins Group at their universities in Portugal, also giving them the opportunity to learn more about our businesses and introducing them to the retail sector.

Each Company also has young talent programmes adapted to their business context. This is the case of Recheio, which saw 24 participants in Campus Recheio 2024, an initiative aimed at strengthening the employer brand, which includes curricular, professional and seasonal internships, ambassador programmes, academic work and business visits. The programme Futuro JMA (JMA Future), in the agrifood business, includes curricular, professional and summer operational internships that are customised to the specificities of this business, in which 19 people participated.

Personal empowerment

We believe that the path of each employee is strengthened by the opportunity to participate in initiatives with significant impact for the Group and for communities.

Active participation

We encourage employees to actively engage in moments of sharing, ensuring that everyone feels safe to express themselves within the organisation. Throughout the year, with the aim of regularly and quickly measuring employee satisfaction with key aspects that impact them or could impact them in a regular and agile way, several surveys were conducted on topics such as health and safety at work, employee support services, and a satisfaction survey was also made available on the features available in Hello JM (Our global technological tool for human resource management). In addition, the Group’s engagement policy provides for a Group-wide employee satisfaction survey to be carried out every two years to gather employees’ views on critical dimensions of human resources management and subsequently design action plans at team, Company and Group level to address the concerns identified. Since listening to employees is a strategic priority for the Group, the global Chief People Officer role has ultimate responsibility for this process in all countries, ensuring that obtained results lead to implemented action plans.

Regular meetings are held in live broadcast format, with a view of bringing employees and executive management closer together and improving communication flows within the Companies. At Biedronka, three editions took place with simultaneous interpretation into several languages, and at Ara the “Juntos para Vencer en Vivo” (United to Win – Live) format, launched in 2024, featured three sessions focused on sharing the Company’s strategic objectives and results. In total, more than 15,000 views of these sessions were registered.

Biedronka and Hebe launched new editions of their internal idea generation competitions, in which each employee has the opportunity to contribute to the future of the organisation by submitting ideas and suggestions for the continuous improvement of processes and the work environment. In the case of Hebe, the 2024 competition focused essentially on generating wellbeing ideas. Between the two Companies, 1,637 employees participated in this initiative in 2024, with over 2,850 ideas shared.

Biedronka and Hebe employees can also refer candidates to join recruitment processes. A Group-wide pilot referral programme for IT professionals was completed. In 2024, within the scope of these programmes, 1,058 people were hired as a result of internal recommendations.

In addition, to listen to employees and their representatives about the real and potential impacts on the workforce, we have several social dialogue mechanisms in place, which can be consulted in “Freedom of association and collective bargaining” in this chapter.

Working with purpose and meaning

We promote a sense of individual responsibility and create conditions for volunteer initiatives and active participation in society, so that employees reinforce the sense of purpose in their work, while generating a positive impact on the communities of which we are part of.

Hebe offers one day of work per year for each employee to dedicate to volunteering at an institution of their choice. In 2024, a total of 17 employees benefited from this measure. The Company’s employees also contributed by collecting clothes to give to underprivileged young people and by responding to Christmas requests made by children with cancer.

Biedronka gave its employees the opportunity to dedicate two hours of work to preparing Christmas hampers for families in need, with 867 employees having participated. The Company also held another blood drive at its offices.

¹ Includes all employees who used the platform throughout the year, even those who were no longer with the Group as of 31 December 2024.