SM Energy Co

Our Company culture recognizes our employees as our most valuable assets, encourages personal and professional development, promotes innovation and leadership among all employees and, in turn, supports our efforts to attract and retain talent. Through our culture, we promote:

•integrity and ethical behavior in the conduct of our business;

•environmental, health, and safety priorities;

•prioritizing the success of others and the team;

•collaboration and openness to new ideas and technologies that serve business improvement;

•support for team members’ professional and personal development; and

•support for the communities where we live and work.

The core values of integrity and ethical behavior are the pillars of our culture, and all employees are responsible for upholding Company-wide standards and values. We have policies designed to promote ethical conduct and integrity, which employees are required to read and acknowledge on an annual basis. The health and safety of our employees and contractors is our highest priority. We strive to achieve performance excellence in environmental, health, and safety management, and compensation of all employees is tied to annual environmental, health, and safety performance goals.

Personal and professional development is an important part of our culture and is employee driven, manager facilitated, and organizationally supported. Employees are routinely provided training opportunities to develop skills in leadership, safety, and technical acumen, which help strengthen our efforts to conduct business with high ethical standards. During 2024, many of our employees participated in four leadership and talent development programs that included more than 7,000 hours of aggregate training, exclusive of safety and other specialized technical training. In 2024, we were honored with two distinguished Leadership Development awards from the Brandon Hall Group. The Gold Award recognized our innovative approach to building competencies and skills, while the Bronze Award celebrated overall excellence in leadership development. These accolades underscore our commitment to cultivating a thriving corporate culture and strong leadership values.

We measure employee engagement and satisfaction through periodic surveys, administered by an independent third-party vendor.

We are proud of our many outstanding employees who invest their time, talents, and financial resources in their communities. Our annual charitable giving program includes a monetary match of our employees’ personal contributions to qualified organizations and up to 12 hours per employee of Company-granted time to volunteer in the communities where we live and work.

We strive to provide competitive, performance-based compensation and benefits to our employees, including market-competitive pay, short-term and long-term incentive compensation plans, an employee stock purchase program, and various healthcare, retirement, and other benefit packages such as a hybrid work environment that is guided by each employee’s job function and responsibilities. Compensation for our executives and employees under our short-term and long-term incentive plans is determined based on individual performance and Company performance with respect to qualitative and quantitative metrics that include environmental, health, and safety measures. The Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors oversees our compensation programs and regularly reviews program design to incentivize achievement of our corporate strategy and the matters of importance to our stakeholders. Significant planning for succession of key personnel is performed each year, or more frequently as deemed necessary by management.

As of January 31, 2025, we had 663 full-time employees, none of whom were subject to a collective bargaining agreement. We are committed to diversity at all levels of our organization, and we strive to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and job applicants. We regularly perform internal analyses of our workforce demographics, and, at times, we retain a third party to conduct discrimination and pay equity testing. No discriminatory practices have been identified and no evidence of discrimination or pay inequity has been found. Additionally, we have established procedures and controls designed to support our objective of remaining, at all times, in material compliance with applicable federal, state, tribal, and local laws and governmental regulations.