Learning and development

Since professional development is a priority for EVRAZ, we take the processes of employees’ learning and development very seriously. The Company has a multi-level system of human resources management aimed at enhancing the professional and personal skills of our people and fostering collaboration with universities and other educational institutions. In addition, we endeavour to provide our employees, especially newcomers and junior specialists, with quality education tools.

In 2021, we continued our TOP-300 and TOP-1000 corporate management programmes focused on developing managerial and leadership skills and competencies. In the reporting period, the TOP-1000 programme was spread to the entire Group as an extension of already existing programmes in the Siberia and Urals divisions. The TOP-3000 corporate management programme was launched in 2021 at the Siberia and Urals divisions as an extension of the existing programmes. It was adopted for employees at lower positions guided by coaches trained internally at TOP-300 and TOP-1000 programmes.

In the reporting period EVRAZ New leaders programme continued and was related to digital transformation and sustainable development. In October 2021, the Company launched a new stream of programmes dedicated to sustainable development, and ESG practices specifically. Working groups were looking for new solutions and practices that contribute to the sustainability strategy of EVRAZ.

Professional development is a priority for us. We endeavour to provide our employees, particularly new and junior specialists, with useful tools for education.

Interaction with employees

In EVRAZ we endeavour to provide competitive remuneration as well as comfortable working conditions and motivating career development opportunities. We invest in personal and professional development by continuously developing our motivation system and approaching each employee individually.

Work with trade unions

There is a three-tier system of our relations with trade unions: federal, regional, and enterprise-level. The head office is responsible for the federal and regional tiers and provides methodological support at the level of enterprises.

We do not prevent our employees from joining organisations, which support their interests and rights. EVRAZ makes collective bargaining agreements with trade unions with the ambition of maintaining these relations in the long term. In the reporting period, 87% of employees were covered by union agreements. All workers, being members of trade unions, received corresponding benefits.

Implementation of the Target Remuneration System which required significant changes was achieved through negotiations with trade unions. These changes to the collective bargaining agreements comply with the laws and principles of social partnership, hence we have no conflicts or collective labour disputes at the Group’s operating facilities in Russia in 2021.

Employee engagement

We believe that listening to our employees is essential for helping the Company grow and progress. That is why workers are always welcome to contribute their ideas and engage in the processes of development within the Group. For this purpose, EVRAZ initiated the Idea Factory 2.0 project, where employees can report any work issues and suggest their ideas online for improving production processes. Pilot tests of the site was conducted in 2020 and then the project was rolled out to all entities of the Group. In 2021, 100,027 ideas were submitted, 56,611 of which approved by experts and 40,252 implemented in the reporting period.

The Group conducts biennial employee engagement surveys to identify key employee engagement trends and measure the emotional well-being of workers. In 2021, we held an employee engagement survey called We Are Together. In total, 45,165 people took part in it. The level of employee engagement was slightly (2%) lower than in 2019 and equalled 57%. Focus groups based on the survey results were held afterwards in December 2021 to discuss the main problems identified and prepare a development plan for 2022–2023. Employees shared their opinion on strengths of the Company and made various suggestions for the Company’s further development.

The study revealed that employees are satisfied with improvement of the Company’s approach to communication and feedback processes, renovation of premises, and extra measures taken to ensure safe working conditions. Moreover, in 2021, employees noted improvements in communication with their managers, who began giving quality feedback more often and were always open to discuss important issues with subordinates. Workers also trust the professionalism of their colleagues and feel high team cohesion. Additionally, the research showed that measures should be taken to reduce employees’ anxiety at work and eliminate a feeling of being overwhelmed by the rapid development of the Company that they should adjust to. For these purposes, EVRAZ will implement a project for employees called Trust Without Fear, work on revealing the causes of fears and develop methods to cope with them. Besides, according to the results of the survey of the focus groups, employees do not fully understand how the Target Renumeration System works and would like it to be more transparent and comprehensive. EVRAZ will continue conducting a promotion campaign for workers to clarify the specificity of the new system.

Hotline

EVRAZ takes seriously all violations that take place within its entities; hence we have in place a completely anonymous hotline. Employees of the Group, former employees, customers, and others stakeholders may access the hotline and require the feedback to their questions, making suggestions, and reporting alleged violations regarding corruption, bribery, human rights, alcohol or drug intoxication, and so on.

All requests are processed with an IT system and sent to the responsible business units (HSE, HR, Security, etc.), where they are investigated. In complicated and sensitive cases, requests are additionally considered by the Internal Audit Department, Vice President for Corporate Communications, Internal Audit Director, and Internal and External Communications Director as members of the Hotline Committee.

In 2021, we received 1,196 requests via the hotline. Most were associated with labour relations, including their quality (879), and health and safety (165).