OUR DEI ASPIRATIONS

FirstEnergy is committed to valuing our employees, and that's reflected in our core value of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). A work environment and culture built on the foundation of DEI delivers better service to customers, innovation, strong operational performance and a safe and rewarding work experience for employees.

DEI is a critical building block of our culture and company strategy and a catalyst to innovation and exploring new ideas. Embracing DEI means challenging assumptions, seeing discomfort as an opportunity to grow, constantly evaluating progress and holding ourselves accountable to our goals. 

OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

High-level oversight of diversity, equity and inclusion for our employees belongs to the Compensation Committee of the board. To align with our companywide focus, our board is also committed to a policy of inclusiveness and actively seeks a diverse slate of candidates for director positions. These efforts support the board's goal to maintain a composition of at least 30% diverse members (by gender, race and ethnicity) for the foreseeable future.

Our DEI Council is focused on enhancing workforce diversity, creating an inclusive work environment and providing oversight and guidance for FirstEnergy’s integrated DEI strategy. The DEI Council is comprised of various levels of leaders in the organization. We also recently developed FirstEnergy Utilities Operations DEI Council focused on DEI related strategy and initiatives specific to operations employees including a large represented physical work group.

To read more about our board's focus on diversity, please see the Proxy Statement.

---

WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

When our team reflects the diversity of the communities we serve, we can better understand and meet our customers’ needs. We have an aspirational goal to achieve a 30% increase, from our 2020 baseline, in the number of racially- and ethnically- diverse employees by 2025 – both companywide and at the supervisor-and-above leadership level.

We monitor our year-over-year progress to help us understand where we are progressing toward our goals and where we may need to make changes.

EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE CULTURE

We’re focused on promoting workplace equity, creating an open and inclusive culture and providing opportunities for employees and leaders to speak up about important DEI topics. The culture we’re building extends beyond compliance, empowering employees to be candid, explore creative solutions, question freely and transform mistakes into opportunities for both individual and company growth.

Key equity and inclusion efforts include:

• Workplace Flexibility: In 2022, FirstEnergy formally adopted guidelines to facilitate flexible work arrangements for eligible full-time and parttime non-bargaining employees. Our office employees can remain highly productive, meeting customer and business needs while promoting enhanced convenience and balance between work and personal commitments.
  
  
• Fair and Equitable Compensation: We’re committed to ensuring that our internal policies and processes support pay equity, which was confirmed in a third-party review of our practices in 2019 and continues to be part of our normal ongoing process. Our internal processes ensure pay equity considerations are part of our normal ongoing process.
  
  
• Employee Feedback: Throughout the year, employees are given the opportunity to provide feedback about the company’s efforts to advance DEI ideals and culture initiatives within the organization. With employees’ voices to guide us, we’re continuing our transformation to a value and people centered company. 
  
  
• Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs): Our employee-driven EBRGs build inclusivity and connect employees by providing education, professional development, volunteering and networking opportunities to their members and allies. With 21 different chapters of our eight EBRGs, so far, 2,900 employees, or approximately a quarter of our workforce, have taken advantage of this opportunity to connect and grow.