Social programs
Guided by social responsibility principles, OJSC MMC Norilsk and its subsidiaries make systematic efforts to address socially significant issues by implementing a number of targeted social programs aimed to improve effectiveness of the Company’s business and create conditions for its steady development. At present, the Company has an established system of corporate social programs1, focused on attraction, retention, and facilitating timely retirement of employees by providing social benefits and targeted payments. In order to improve effectiveness of the Company’s social policy, implementation mechanisms of some programs were reviewed and modified; a number of new projects were initiated. Corporate social programs
Pension programs The Company uses a broad range of its pension programs as a flexible tool for managing HR processes and achieving its business goals. As having corporate pension currently becomes a basic need for employees aged over 40‑45, over the last few years the Company has been developing its corporate pension schemes. In the recent years the Company has built a funded corporate pension system, based on the principle of co-funding of employees’ personal pension plans by the Company and employees themselves. Employees’ participation in the corporate pension schemes allows them to receive, in addition to state pension, post-retirement benefits funded by their own and the Company’s contributions, and by investment income earned by Norilsk Nickel Corporate Pension Fund. The Company’s priority pension scheme, Corporate Co-funded Pension, provides incentives for effective work and creates a foundation for post-retirement benefits to be received by the participants in the future in addition to their state pensions. The program’s popularity is demonstrated by the fact that as of 2009 more than 27 thousand of the Group’s employees have decided to opt into it. This includes more than 24 thousand of those working in the Norilsk Industrial District and more than 2.9 thousand of employees of Kola MMC and its subsidiaries. The Company maintains a number of programs to optimize the structure of human resources at the key production entities in accordance with their short-term and long-term development plans. Such programs as “Supplementary Corporate Pension”, “Supplementary Pension Payment” and “One-time Retirement Payment” are intended to support social adaptation of employees leaving the Company, mainly at the pension age. These programs were used as a tool for maintaining social stability in labor collectives during the restructuring conducted in the Company earlier. In 2009, Kola MMC and is subsidiaries were implementing planned activities on technical upgrade and reconstruction of their facilities, as well as some restructuring of the operations. This was accompanied by additional social measures, which included transferring affected employees to other jobs, re-training them, or providing one-time financial assistance with the size dependent on the length of employee’s service with the Company, or the size of his or her remuneration at the moment of restructuring. Overall, about 1,800 employees of the Group’s Russian entities, including some 1300 employees of the Polar Division2 and 520 employees of Kola MMC and its subsidiaries3 received payments within the framework of social adaptation programs in 2009. Measures to facilitate employee involvement in the state pension co-funding program were taken (Federal Law dated April 30, 2008, # 56-FZ), a procedure for joining the program and making payments was defined. In 2009, about 1200 employees of the Group’s entities located in the Norilsk Industrial District joined the program. Motivational social programs Norilsk Nickel continues to develop its corporate pension system, based on joint contributions of the Company and its employees to funded pension plans, and uses additional contributions to the plans financed by the Company as an incentive for rewarding high performance and labor achievements of its staff. In addition to regular social benefits provided to all staff, the Company offers its best performing employees extra benefits in the form of additional contributions to corporate pension plans, subsidized loans, additional vacation travel allowances, etc. The Solidarity Corporate Pension program was launched in December 2002 in order to establish a managed staff rotation mechanism, while contributing to such long-term objectives of the corporate social policy as development of corporate funded pension mechanisms and facilitating employees’ savings. According to the program terms, participants take an obligation of good performance of their labor duties, as defined by their contracts, while the Company makes an initial contribution to the employee’s pension plan (the exact sum is linked to the length of one’s service with the Company prior to joining the program), as well as regular payments, thus guaranteeing a decent corporate pension to the participants. The program participants include representatives of core professions of mining, concentration, and metallurgical operations of the Polar Division, as well as the best performing employees of OJSC NTEC and a number of other operations located in the Norilsk Industrial Districts (the Polar Construction Company, Norilsknickelremont, Norilsk Support Complex, Nortrans‑Norilsk, and Norilsk Industrial Transport). In 2009, the program was amended and modified, providing more convenient conditions to those participating in it. The new terms provide employees more opportunities to plan their future service with the Company, at the same time making the movement of staff at the key jobs predictable to the respective business units. In the reporting year, 58 new participants joined the program. As of the end of 2009, the total number of participants of the Solidarity Corporate Pension reached more than 2.2 thousand; 663 persons got a corporate pensioner status over the program period. In 2009, the Company continued the implementation of its Additional Corporate Vocational Travel Allowance program, which involved coverage of additional vacation travel expenses in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement on the basis of employees’ labor performance. The updated terms of the program provide employees with an option to receive monetary payments instead of their travel expenses to be covered by the Company. More than 1.9 thousand best employees of the core Group’s operations in the Norilsk Industrial District, whose achievements were distinguished by state, sectoral, and corporate awards, received a partial refund of their travel expenses amounting to RUB 20‑25 thousand. In the reporting year, the Company continued the program of providing subsidized loans to its employees implemented jointly with Rosbank. The loans are available to the staff members who were pre-selected on the basis of certain criteria and signed a labor contract containing special conditions. The program is aimed at motivation and retention of the best Company’s employees showing high labor performance and possessing valuable professional skills. In 2009, in the circumstances of the financial crisis, the funds repaid by those who received loans earlier were used to provide loans to new program participants. During the period of the program, between December 2004 to December 2009, loans were granted to 347 employees, with 108 loans being repaid completely. Twenty-one new loans were granted in 2009. Yenisei River Shipping Company implements a program to subsidize the improvement of housing conditions of young promising employees having remarkable professional achievements. Health improvement programs For many years most entities of the Group have been running health improvement and recreation programs for the employees and their family members. Budgets of the corporate social programs include funds for subsidizing a considerable part of employees’ recreation costs. In 2009, the Company maintained the basic principles of providing health resort and recreation services to employees and their family members, including children, while developing and introducing new mechanisms and forms of recreation and health improvement. In the reporting year, a system of measures to improve the quality of services at the corporate “Zapolyarie” Health Resort was implemented. A number of facilities were constructed and commissioned, including three open-air swimming pools, a multi-purpose children’s entertainment park, modern cinema and concert halls, a restaurant, bars, and a modern Spa center4. In 2009, some 17 thousand Company’s employees and their family members received health resort and recreation services partially subsidized by the Company. About 800 persons spent their vacations and improved their health at such health resorts not affiliated with the Company as Belokurikha Resort and Russia (Altai Region) and Rodnik (the Caucasian Mineral Waters resort region). In 2009, a pilot project on corporate vacations abroad was successfully conducted; about 1.5 thousand persons received recreation services within the project. For children of the Company’s employees, summer recreation at the “Premiera” and “Vita” children’s health improvement resorts located in Anapa was organized in 2009. Jointly with the Norilsk City Administration, a summer sports and health camp for children – young athletes residing in the Norilsk Industrial District – was organized in the Tula Region (Aleksin Town). A total of 1,200 employees’ children received recreation services at children’s health improvement facilities in the reporting year. Corporate sports Being interested in maintaining and improving the health of its employees, the Company supports their involvement in sports and fitness activities, conducting annual Spartakiads (Olympic-style games involving multiple sports), tournaments and mass events across various sports. In the reporting year, annual Spartakiads, sports celebrations associated with holidays and memorable dates, and tournaments in various sports were held in the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets District, Kola Peninsula, and Krasnoyarsk Region. The number of employees involved in sports activities on a regular basis exceeded 19 thousand. Mass sports celebrations are an important instrument of promoting the Company’s corporate culture, and an aspect of its positive social impact in the areas of operations. In 2009, more than 25,500 employees took part in various mass sports events organized by the Company. The spectacularity of the corporate mass sports events and their openness for external teams willing to participate made them really popular. In 2009, the Sixth “Norilsk Nickel Ski Track” Health Marathon and traditional Dudinka-Alykel-Talknakh-Norilsk runners’ race were conducted. For the first time the latter was accompanied by a bicycle race. More than 15,500 Company’s employees, their family members, and local community residents took part in the related sports celebrations. Over the year, corporate five-a-side, volleyball, and basketball tournaments were also conducted. Fifteen family teams representing nine entities of the Company came to Sochi to take part in the “Daddy, Mommy, Me – a Sports Family!” contest held at the “Zapolyarie” Health Resort. Programs engaging employees in social activities In addition to programs intended to improve social security of the Company’s staff, Norilsk Nickel implements a number of programs and projects where the employees themselves engage in social activities aimed at various Company’s stakeholders. The target groups of such activities include employees’ children, the youth, and the communities of the areas of operations as a whole. The Company’s benefits from such projects include improved cohesion of labor collectives as a result of joint participation in addressing social issues, and increased social activity of employees who contribute to the creation of a favorable social environment in the area. In addition, such programs help increase the confidence in the Company among the local communities, and improve attractiveness of the Group as a place to work for the local youth. Corporate volunteering initiatives For several years, the Company has been promoting corporate volunteering initiatives at its entities, engaging the employees and their family members. During the reporting year, the employees of the Company's Head Office took part in a voluntary blood donating initiative organized by the Donors to Children group and Give Life charity foundation; 53 employees donated their blood to children ‑ patients of Russian Children Clinical Hospital with cancer and hematological conditions, as well as other serious diseases. The Group’s entities located in the Norilsk Industrial District provide annual sponsorship assistance to general and pre-school educational institutions of the area. Forty-seven entities of the Polar Division and its subsidiaries have particular educational institutions designated to them. The common area of sponsors’ assistance is improvement of training facilities, while employees of the sponsor companies participate in joint cultural events. In the spring and summer, the Company's employees participate in outdoor cleaning initiatives to enhance the urban environment, including industrial and recreational areas designated to the respective entities. For over 10 years, the Company has been providing charity assistance to the Norilsk orphanage, with individual employees also contributing to the efforts.5 Vocational guidance and programs for children Vocational guidance activities in Norilsk Nickel’s regions of operations is an important component of the Company’s social policy, since the local youth that grew up in the northern environment and got adapted to it is a significant prospective source of high-quality human resources for the Company. In 2009, the Company strengthened this area of activities by launching a new vocational guidance program ‑ the Profnavigator Club. The Club’s goal is to improve the attractiveness of worker professions and special professional education among senior grade school students, and to increase the motivation of young people for choosing worker and engineering professions demanded by the Company. In 2009, the Profnavigator Club implemented an innovative educational and awareness project titled Vocational Guidance Marathon. An electronic learning game From Ore to Metal was developed specially for the Marathon and made available at the corporate website. About 3.5 thousand children and adolescents, mainly from Norilsk, Monchegorsk, Zapolyarny, and Nickel settlement, registered to participate in the first stage of the Marathon. A traditional form of summertime employment for senior grade school students is school students’ labor brigades. In 2009, some 600 jobs were provided to the members of such brigades by the Group’s entities. The Formula of Success media center publishes a monthly youth newspaper. In 2009, 12 issues (a total of about 12 thousand copies) of the newspaper were distributed in the school. Traditionally, the Polar Division has been the most advanced division of the Company in terms of its vocational guidance activities. In 2010, it is planned to replicate the most effective approaches practiced by the Division at Kola MMC. The Company’s web portal for children and youth, www.nickelca.ru, serves as an information platform for the whole range of Company’s vocational guidance activities. The portal attracts more than 20,000 visitors per month. Social programs of Norilsk Nickel International Norilsk Nickel Harjavalta adheres to the high social responsibility and human rights standards. Since European Union Member States typically have well-developed state social security systems, the need for occupational programs of such kind is less than in Russia. Nevertheless, in addition to its mandatory social programs based in the legal requirements, NNH offers, among others, medical and social insurance programs, accident insurance programs, social programs promoting health improvement and healthy lifestyle etc. In particular, each employee has medical insurance and participates in a pension insurance plan. There are also additional benefits in the field of health and occupational disease prevention; opportunities to use cottages rented by the company for vacations; subsidized meals at the company’s cafeteria. The company also provides financial support for additional non-specialized education and expanding professional qualifications. At Nkomati, providing a social package, which includes medical and pension insurance, as well as reimbursement of travel costs, is a part of the personnel retention policy. Since the company does not have living premises for the families of its staff, it provides incentives for the employees to acquire their own housing. In addition to monetary benefits, the employees have access to social counseling on the issues of physical and mental health (including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis), psychological aid, counseling in such situations as an injury, retirement due to lost ability to work etc. ______________________ |
