10Our employees
With its 1,613 employees (1,612 in 2020), VKG is one of the biggest employers in Ida-Viru County. Through the family members of suppliers, cooperation partners and employees, the wellbeing of the Group indirectly influences the wellbeing of another several thousand people in the region.
VKG feels great responsibility in supporting the development of Ida-Viru County. Our aim is to offer our people stability and a sense of security for the future, but this goal may not always be achievable considering the volatility of the oil market.
Our employees are highly qualified and innovative specialists who are dedicated and loyal in their work duties.
The average job tenure in the company is 10 years, and the longest job tenure has so far been 55 years.
As at the end of December 2021, the Group employed 1,246 men and 367 women. The proportion of men is larger due to the hard physical nature of work.
Our employees’ national, gender, age and language diversity places higher demands on us with regard to equal treatment, engagement and notification. The uniform code of conduct described in the personnel policy ensure honest and fair conditions for everyone.
Efficient and motivated work is directly reflected in the economic results of the enterprise. When paying our employees for their work, we proceed from the situation on the labour market in our area, the terms and conditions that are valid on the salary market in different sectors, the level of responsibility of the employee, his or her skills, and other factors that can affect the basics of wages accounting. The Group has established a transparent performance pay system based on clearly defined principles. Balanced working conditions and a fair remuneration system ensure that our employees are motivated and loyal.
The average age of our employees is 45 years.
Nearly 900 employees are in the age group of 35–54 years.
In 2021, 186 new employees started work and 173 left.
The labour turnover rate was 10% of which voluntary turnover was 6%.
In 2021, 14 employees of the Group graduated from a higher education establishment, 11 of them from the TalTech Virumaa College.
Expectations to the conduct of the employees are presented as rules and principles of conduct in a single document titled „Code of Ethics and Operating Principles“.
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We recognise
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We value
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We nurture teamwork
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We foster and develop young future employees
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We create a safe working environment
The Group focuses on ensuring a constant flow of young new employees and increasing the qualification of existing employees.
In autumn 2021, we launched a project for new technological equipment operators for VKG Oil. In an extensive advertising campaign, we recruited a group of trainees who commenced studies under the workplace-based study programme of the Ida-Viru Vocational Education Centre and work as technological equipment operators at VKG Oil. Those who complete the workplace-based studies will in 2023 be an important addition to our qualified employees.
In 2021, we focused more than before on training the Group’s employees, establishing our development priorities, training plans and action plans for developing internal training instructors, in order to ensure a systemic internal conveyance of professional competences as well as a readiness to fulfil internal need-based training orders. The development of employees in order to achieve new work techniques, an efficient work organisation and a high management culture continues to be our priority also in 2022.
In 2022, the Group, in cooperation with the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Ida-Viru Vocational Education Centre, contributes to an advertising campaign for putting together a group of trainees for chemical process operators, in order to ensure the consistency of vocational studies in a profession that is important for VKG, but not very popular.
We continued paying scholarships last year via the TalTech Development Fund to students of applied higher education, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. Scholarships were awarded to seven students who are acquiring an education in the areas of electrical power engineering and mechatronics, Earth’s crust resources, environmental, energy or chemical technology or thermal energy at the TalTech School of Engineering.
Focal points of our personnel policy
We value
We recognise
We support the team spirit
We foster and develop young future employees
We create a safe working environment
Safe working environment
Occupational safety is one of the basic values of Viru Keemia Grupp. We believe that all serious work accidents can be prevented, and we apply the 0 accidents vision in our activities. In order to achieve that, we have formulated four development areas: visibility of safety, safe conduct, learning, and indicators.
We registered 28 incidents last year, of which 10 involved serious injuries, 12 light injuries and 4 required first aid. We shall present a more detailed overview in the Sustainable Development Report to be published in autumn.