The EFE Group, comprising Agencia EFE, S.A.U., S.M.E. (hereinafter, “EFE”) and its subsidiary EFE News Services U.S. Inc. (hereinafter, “EFE News”), is committed through its human resources policies to employment stability and to promoting a high-quality working environment, prioritising the personal and professional development of its employees and regarding them as the Group’s most important asset.
In 2025, 97% of EFE Group employees in Spain had permanent contracts, the same percentage as in 2024.
The EFE Group has a presence throughout Spain through a network comprising 16 bureaus, 5 sub-bureaus and 10 permanent offices. It also has an extensive international network of 49 bureaus/offices abroad, a large proportion of which are located in the Americas, with the remainder in Europe, Africa and Asia.
People are the Company’s most valuable asset. As the world’s leading Spanish-language news agency, EFE benefits from a highly diverse, multicultural and multigenerational workforce, comprising professionals of 60 different nationalities whose expertise and perspectives bring significant added value to our news service.
Employees based outside Spain accounted for one third of the Group’s total workforce.
Throughout 2025, the Spanish News Agency EFE continued to implement the Professional Profile Renewal Plan established under the agreement reached between the Company’s Management and the Inter-Centre Works Council, which was launched in July 2023.
The process was particularly significant in 2025, the final year of the Plan. Over the full implementation period, from July 2023 to December 2025, a total of 118 permanent employees left the Company, approximately 50% of whom did so under the Professional Profile Renewal Plan provided for in Article 73 of the collective bargaining agreement.
The Plan forms part of the strategic priorities defined by the Spanish News Agency EFE for the coming years. Its continuation and further development are therefore envisaged in order to achieve its main objectives:
In 2025, an agreement was reached with the Inter-Centre Works Council on a salary increase for the year, in accordance with the regulations and authorisation framework applicable to state-owned companies.
During 2025, the general guidelines for collective bargaining were drawn up. These guidelines are subject to approval in accordance with the regulations applicable to state-owned companies and form part of the measures required to begin negotiations with employee representatives aimed at modernising and adapting the Spanish News Agency EFE’s collective bargaining agreement to the operational needs of the sector and to legislative developments, with particular emphasis on continuing and further advancing the renewal of professional profiles.
Also in 2025, the new Equality Plan (2025–2029), agreed between Management and the employees’ legal representatives, was launched following its registration with the Directorate-General for Labour in February 2025.
The new Equality Plan is intended to serve as EFE’s principal tool for continuing to advance effective equality between women and men within the organisation. It also reflects the Agency’s commitment to upholding the principle of equality in its news activities and to ensuring the non-sexist use of language.
As part of the Equality Plan, the Spanish News Agency EFE has a Protocol for the Prevention of and Response to Sexual Harassment, Sex-Based Harassment, Bullying and/or Psychological Harassment, which forms an integral part of the Plan.
The Spanish News Agency EFE has an Ethics Channel through which breaches of the Code of Ethics or regulatory infringements within the organisation may be reported in complete confidentiality, in accordance with the requirements of Law 2/2023 of 20 February, governing the protection of persons who report regulatory infringements and the fight against corruption.
As a public-service media organisation, the Spanish News Agency EFE has a responsibility to promote the social values of equality and work-life balance. All its actions are structured around fulfilling and promoting this commitment, with the aim of contributing to a fairer society that respects the rights of all people.
Within the Spanish News Agency EFE’s overall workforce in Spain, women account for 46%, a figure close to gender parity in the news and communications media sector, where men continue to have a significantly higher representation.
With regard to positions of responsibility, the Spanish News Agency EFE continues to make progress towards gender parity. Women held 39% of EFE bureau chief positions abroad and accounted for 45% of bureau chief positions in Spain. Among senior management positions at the corporate headquarters, women represented 42%.
In the News Department, women accounted for 47% of the workforce compared with 53% for men, representing near parity. The difference was greater in the Management Department, where women accounted for 42% compared with 58% for men.
The gender pay gap in 2025 stood at -6.28% — calculated as the difference between the average salary received by men and that received by women, divided by the average salary of men and multiplied by 100 — with women receiving lower average remuneration. There was no significant change compared with the previous year’s gap of -5.33%, with the slight increase mainly attributable to the natural changes in workforce composition that occur each year, particularly departures from the Company.
Following the regulatory changes introduced by Law 4/2023 on the real and effective equality of trans people and the protection of the rights of LGBTI people, and its subsequent implementation through Royal Decree 1026/2024, establishing the planned set of measures for equality and non-discrimination of LGBTI people in companies, a number of obligations were introduced for companies to guarantee equality and non-discrimination for this group. These include the obligation to establish a planned set of measures and resources aimed at achieving the real and effective equality of LGBTI people, including a protocol for responding to harassment or violence against members of the LGBTI community.
As a result, in June 2025, the employees’ legal representatives, through the Inter-Centre Works Council, and representatives of the Management of the Spanish News Agency EFE reached an agreement establishing a planned set of measures aimed at achieving equality and non-discrimination for LGBTI people within the Agency, subject to the required authorisations.
The objectives of these measures are as follows:
In December, the Human Resources and Organisation Department completed the development of a Talent Management Plan (TMP), which was presented to the senior management team. It is the Company’s first structured talent management plan and forms part of the strategic priorities established for the coming years, marking a significant milestone in the governance and people management of the EFE Group.
The Plan represents a decisive step forward and reflects Management’s recognition of the workforce as the principal driver of change, helping to ensure the Company’s transformation at a critical time for the news and communications sector. The sector is being reshaped by the emergence of new forms of content production and distribution resulting from technological advances and changes in society’s media consumption habits.
