Index

10Our employees

With its 1,560 employees, 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.

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Our aim is to offer our people stability and a sense of security for the future, but given the volatility of the oil market and fickle government policies, this is a major challenge.

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

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, we have 144 employees with more than 25 years of service, 26 of whom have been with the company for more than 40 years. At the end of 2022, the Group employed 1,193 men and 367 women. The proportion of male employees is significantly higher due to the physical nature of the work. The average age of the workforce is 45, with nearly 900 employees in the 35 to 54 age group. In 2022, 206 new employees joined and 227 employees left the company. The labour turnover rate was 12%, of which voluntary turnover was 9%. The turbulent energy market significantly changed the labour market situation in Ida-Viru County and increased the Group’s labour turnover, especially in VKG Kaevandused. Due to demographic changes, emigration from Ida-Viru County and other external factors, the shortage of suitable employees in the region has increased, which has prolonged the recruitment period and put significant pressure on labour costs.

The number and distribution of the Group’s employees between companies as at 31 December 2022:

87

Viru Keemia Grupp

512

VKG Kaevandused

641

VKG Oil

96

VKG Energia

107

Viru RMT

117

VKG Logistika

36

VKG Elektrivõrgud

1596

Total

An effective and motivated workforce is directly reflected in a company’s financial results. We base our pay on the labour market conditions in the region, the salary market conditions in different sectors, the level of responsibility of the employee, skills and other factors that can influence the basis on which pay is determined. We participated in the Estonian Salary Survey conducted by Fontes, the results of which confirmed that the salaries paid in the Group are higher than the average salary in Ida-Viru County and that we compete successfully in the labour market. VKG has a transparent and well-established system of performance-based pay. Balanced working conditions and a fair remuneration system ensure motivated and loyal employees and a strong work culture. Employee satisfaction and commitment were also boosted by the exceptional Christmas bonus paid to all employees at the end of the year to cope with high energy prices.

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“. 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.

Several projects are underway to develop the work environment and employees as well as to ensure the next generation:

  • The Group focuses on ensuring a continuous inflow of new employees and improving the qualification of employees. In the autumn of 2022, we resumed the project for the next generation of technological equipment operators for VKG Oil, which was launched in 2021. In an extensive advertising campaign, we recruited 21 employees 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 study programme will be an important addition to our skilled employees in 2023 and 2024.
  • We continued the development of 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, efficient work organisation and a high management culture continued to be our priority also in 2022. The largest employee training and development project was the Group-wide project ‘I Choose’ aimed at increasing work safety and awareness, which 1,461 employees completed in 40 training days.
  • A training management system was procured for conducting training and development activities, as well as for the management of training materials and data, which was launched at the end of 2022 and continues in 2023.
  • In 2022, 42 students were granted internships, with the largest number of interns coming from the Ida-Viru Vocational Education Centre.
  • 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. The motivation of scholarship holders through the Development Fund continues also in 2023.

In the autumn of 2022, collective agreement negotiations were held with the Chemical Workers’ Union and a new two-year collective agreement was signed, the terms and conditions fof which are extended to all the Group’s employees.

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 21 incidents last year, of which 15 were work accidents resulting in incapacity for work and 6 without loss of work capacity. We shall present a more detailed overview in the Sustainable Development Report to be published in autumn.