NRG Energy 2021 Sustainability Report: Investing in Our People

Investing in our people

We recognize that we must live our values to serve our customers and communities — and one of NRG’s Power Values is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. NRG’s safe and supportive environment elevates every employee’s unique background and voice. Here, we engage different perspectives to solve complex challenges — together.

Acquiring and retaining top talent is a priority for us. Not only do we continuously evaluate our job opportunities to ensure they’re competitive, we also:

• Mitigate unconscious biases in the hiring process by removing resume details that may convey a candidate’s gender identity, race, religion, or socioeconomic background.
   
• Implement more inclusive corporate hiring practices such as eliminating degree requirements where appropriate.
   
• Seek to provide competitive levels of compensation and benefits, as benchmarked against peers, to ensure incentives are properly aligned with business needs and to enable us to attract and retain qualified employees.

The next generation of energy engineers and sustainability practitioners

In collaboration with Prairie View A&M, a historically black college and university in Texas, NRG
launched an initiative to support the university's engineering program and provide students hands-on learning opportunities with NRG executives and industry subject matter experts. This climate-focused course opportunity has recently expanded from mechanical, computer, and electrical engineering to include the agriculture, chemical, and civil engineering disciplines.

A key outcome of the course is the empowerment of underrepresented engineering students with the commercial dexterity necessary to apply artificial intelligence and data analytics education to real world decarbonization challenges, engineering problems, and business issues. Through weekly engagement with industry stakeholders and NRG subject-matter experts, these students also become candidates for NRG’s summer internship program where they can use what they’ve learned first-hand within our business. This collaborative program challenges students to translate and leverage their knowledge and skills to unearth data- driven solutions in conventional power generation operations, renewable energy technology, Nature Based Solution (NBS), and financial decision making.

Opportunities for veterans

Our commitment to service members is deeply rooted in our military hiring initiatives. We seek
to attract, hire, and help develop veterans to continue bringing the power of energy to people
and organizations. We recently partnered with the Department of Defense (DOD) to create the Patrol to Power program. Part of the DOD SkillBridge initiative, Patrol to Power helps transitioning military personnel enter the civilian workforce while providing valuable experience and skills in the energy industry.

The Patrol to Power program is an opportunity for service members to participate in a 12-week internship to gain civilian work experience they can parlay into a full-time role. Our goal is to help transitioning service members convert their military skills and experience into a meaningful career at NRG. Service members' military talents and characteristics add value to our workforce and organization.

The transition from service member to civilian could occur after one tour of duty or a decades- long military career. No matter when the change, we have found considerable alignment between the technical skills of Armed Forces personnel and energy operations. Veterans’ individual accountability and past teamwork are also invaluable assets for business leaders.

Cultivating talent

We are committed to developing leaders who can refine and execute our strategy, driving value for our stakeholders. Management regularly updates its leadership and succession plans, including engaging with the Board to identify candidates for key senior leadership positions.

When employees are valued, feel heard, and are empowered daily, we foster a successful, collaborative environment. We are dedicated to improving our companywide employee experience and cultivating internal talent for career progression and development. Our goals are to empower each employee to be their authentic self and provide a space of belonging in the workplace. But, with DE&I a core value of NRG, we believe we hold a collective responsibility to educate ourselves and to act so that we can hold ourselves accountable.

The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) is just one example of how NRG is developing our valued, high-potential employees into the leaders of the future. The current ELP cohort is comprised of some of NRG’s future leaders, representing every part of our business. The group reflects various dimensions of diversity including gender, race and ethnicity, educational background, and professional experience. For one year, the cohort is working on active, NRG business- critical projects where their impact will be felt for years to come. In their second and final year, the cohort will mentor the next group, furthering the leadership development pipeline at NRG.

Community and Philanthropy

We strengthen our connection to the communities we serve through our volunteerism and philanthropic outreach. All of our social responsibility efforts reflect a leadership-by-example approach.

positiveNRG

positiveNRG is how we put our values into action to benefit our employees, our customers, and our communities. Together we empower healthy choices, promote community resilience, and support sustainable practices through philanthropy and volunteering.

To learn more about NRG Energy's commitments to employee well-being and diversity, download the 2021 Sustainability report here