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People

Development and well-being

Our vision

At MC, we believe that more value is created when everybody contributes. For this reason, we place our People at the centre of our activity, ambition and journey.

Promoting personal and professional development and focusing on employee well-being is an integral part of our culture and our value proposition as an employer. Every person is different, and this uniqueness gives us an enormous wealth of talent, creativity and energy. When this goes towards the common good, the results always exceed expectations.

We believe that the skill set every one of our People possesses represents a valuable asset to continue leading into the future. For this reason, we encourage continuous learning, sharing experiences and know-how acquired through participation and teamwork.

We promote a working environment prioritising health and safety, providing conditions that proactively contribute towards zero accidents, which simultaneously favours motivation and productivity.

We are greater than the sum of our parts. We advocate a culture of respect, integration and heterogeneity. We are bold, committed, supportive and focused. People are what makes us, and we work for people.

Our performance

In 2022, we invested in our People's personal and professional growth, boosting training initiatives totalling 639,151 hours. At the same time, we continued to promote in-house mobility, valuing the acquisition of different experiences within the organisation. This resulted in a 50% increase in applications from employees already part of MC.

We significantly improved working conditions through our Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) programme. In 2022, the frequency index rate decreased by 17% and the severity index by 19%.

This year, we invested €25 million in strengthening the benefits package for our People in recognition of their dedication and hard work in a particularly challenging economic climate. We also implemented top-notch initiatives with significant cross-sectional impact, fostering the sharing of experiences and the creation of bonds between teams, promoting and strengthening our culture and a sense of belonging within the organisation.

Our initiatives

Investing in skills, opportunities and working conditions Learn more
Workplace MC Learn more
"Esta é a minha marca"Learn more
Enhancing our benefits packageLearn more

Investing in skills, opportunities and working conditions

In 2022, we maintained a very clear focus on our People qualification strategy. We are proud to share achievements such as more than 600 training certificates awarded through MC's Centro Qualifica (Professional Training Qualification Centre). We also launched a course in Sales Management at the Point of Sale and hosted the 2nd edition of the Retail Management course.

At the same time, we remained on course with our commitment to in-house mobility. Through various awareness and information initiatives, employees sought out new challenges within MC to continue to enrich their professional path. These initiatives meant that in 2022 there was a 50% increase in in-house applications, representing 31% of completed recruitment processes.

In terms of improving working conditions, in 2022, we implemented the Y Model, a programme based on 3 complementary axes: safety, ergonomics and operational efficiency. We carried out a detailed assessment of each axis and the risk forecast of the micro-tasks performed by our People, thus giving us a 360º vision of daily store operations.

Workplace MC

We believe that fostering healthy relationships between our People improves their work experience, increases motivation levels, encourages collaboration and sharing within their job roles, and fosters growth for all involved. In 2022, we launched an in-house social media service called Workplace, a communication platform that aims to bring employees throughout the organisation closer together in a democratic and transversal manner.

This platform offers our People a channel for autonomous sharing of their achievements, experiences and accomplishments, creating a sense of community that matches our vision for employee relations.

"Esta é a minha marca"

The "Esta é a minha marca" (This is my brand) initiative was born in 2022 to give employees a voice and platform to promote their visibility and make them true ambassadors of the MC brand. The initiative had 2 main action pillars:


  • Our Specialists, employees from Continente stores were given the opportunity to share know-how and offer advice in their areas of expertise, namely regarding themed promotional trade fairs;
  • Recruitment, we relied on employees across various banners within MC Operations to provide a first-hand account of their roles to leverage the hiring and vacancy advertising processes, alongside our internal and external communication channels.

The actions boosted individual awareness and interaction between teams from different areas, fostering sharing and networking that brought together the corporate structures and field teams.

Enhancing our benefits package

In a year of increased challenges due to the macroeconomic backdrop, we sought to stand by our People and adopt measures to help mitigate the impact of the sharp increase in the cost of living. In 2022, we boosted the employee benefits package with measures such as increasing food allowance and enhancing the food offering in social areas, among others. During Christmas, the Company also provided its employees with a one-off payment of €500. These initiatives represented an annual investment of more than €25 million.