Employees constitute the most important group of stakeholders. The Employer takes particular care of those who build the Company’s goodwill and often spend long years with the Company. The process covers a broad spectrum of issues related to employee functioning within the Company. The most important of them, such as the recruitment process, development possibilities and contacts with the Company after retirement, are presented in greater detail. It should be emphasised that all policies and procedures in PKN ORLEN are compliant with a Code of Ethics and therefore with various aspects of human rights. Superiors are responsible for acquainting employees with those policies and procedures. Nothing was reported in the Company that entails a significant risk of forced or compulsory work. No juvenile persons are employed in the Company.
In 2008, PKN ORLEN was awarded the title of Best Employer 2007/2008 in the Polish “Career with Employer” ranking. Besides, PKN ORLEN received two more distinctions as employer: the title of “Attractive Employer” in the Polish Employer Ranking KOMPAS and a distinction in the Universum Graduate Survey 2007, which authorises us to use the “Ideal Employer” logo.
Our recruitment requirements, including the desired candidate competence models, are adjusted to the dynamically changing market environment. Due to the huge diversity and specific character of respective business segments, there is no single ideal candidate profile. Apart from professional skills, we strongly emphasise those skills which create a corporate culture based on PKN ORLEN’s core values. We take on people who are good at working as part of a team, determined, development-oriented, innovative and who aim for high quality in their work. PKN ORLEN’s recruitment policy is based on employee selection procedures with clear and open criteria, free of any traits of discrimination. We address our recruitment offer, among others, to the surrounding population, through advertisements published, for example, in the local media, and we are intensifying our efforts with respect to graduate training in cooperation with local employment offices. We also cooperate with high schools and universities in the local market in organising student training. One tool which efficiently supports the recruitment process is the Talent Link application, which enables business areas to notify people of their recruitment requirements, and supports the Recruitment and Development Department staff at all stages of their work. Thanks to Talent Link, employers and candidates may search job ads, file applications (online) and modify and supplement their profiles. It is worth mentioning that 74% of senior managerial staff were recruited from the local market at the Company’s main locations.
The Company cooperates with universities from across the country and accepts students from various courses to student, graduate and group apprenticeship programmes. In 2008, apprenticeship programmes were participated in by 315 students who acquired knowledge and experience under the supervision of skilled specialists. A Company employee who is appointed as the supervisor of a trainee gives the trainee tasks to do, evaluates their performance and supports and advises the trainee. One of the methods of accurately assessing the skills and professional potential of a young person with the relevant qualifications is to enable them to undergo on-the-job training. In 2008, 36 people were accepted to serve apprenticeships at PKN ORLEN, of which 4 people were offered work under order contracts and 2 – under employment contracts. The other people are continuing their apprenticeships. Apprenticeship programmes are organised in collaboration with labour offices across the country and focus on high school and university graduates.
One programme to which we pay considerable attention in PKN ORLEN, and which we regularly adjust to participant requirements and business tasks, is the Adaptation Programme. Its main purpose is to provide support to new employees who are changing their field of operation, to help them adapt to their new obligations quickly and painlessly. The programme enables employees to familiarise themselves with the organisation, its structure, goals, corporate culture, operating principles, and the rules of HR and other systems. Moreover, an employee has a chance to get to know our working methods and find out what is expected of them. The programme enables us to create a friendly working environment for our new employees in which they feel safe and comfortable.
The total number of people employed in PKN ORLEN in 2008 under employment contracts was 5,045 employees. The total number of employment terminations in the Company in 2008 was 391. The tables below present certain aspects of employee fluctuation and other trends.
| Location | No. of persons |
|---|---|
| Płock | 3 922 |
| Warsaw | 281 |
| Other | 842 |
| Total | 5 045 |
| Employees | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <31 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | >60 | Total |
| 729 | 1500 | 1281 | 1432 | 103 | 5045 |
| Terminations | |||||
| <31 |
31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | >60 | Total |
| 56 | 96 | 104 | 116 | 19 | 391 |
| <31 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | >60 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0,011 | 0,019 | 0,021 | 0,023 | 0,004 | 0,078 |
| Employees | |||||
| Female | Male | ||||
| 1160 | 3885 | ||||
| Terminations | |||||
| Female | Male | ||||
| 173 | 218 | ||||
| Female | Male | |
|---|---|---|
| 0,034 | 0,043 | |
| Employees | ||
| Płock | Warsaw | Regions |
| 3922 | 281 | 842 |
| Terminations | ||
| Płock | Warsaw | Regions |
| 188 | 53 | 150 |
| Płock | Warsaw | Regions |
|---|---|---|
| 0,037 | 0,011 | 0,030 |
| Gender | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | Male | ||||
| 1160 | 3885 | ||||
| Age | |||||
| <31 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | >60 | Total |
| 729 | 1500 | 1281 | 1432 | 103 | 5045 |
PKN ORLEN employees participate in a number of training programmes which are aimed at increasing their skills and supporting continuity of employment. The goal of the Company’s training policy last year was to support business areas in implementing strategic tasks and goals through the provision of required knowledge and practical skills. Our offer includes personal skills, managerial skills and specialist training. Employees may apply for grants to pay for postgraduate, PhD or foreign language courses. Production staff participate in all compulsory certified courses and training sessions which are required for their respective jobs.
Open and closed training sessions as well as participation in local and international conferences offer a chance to broaden knowledge and acquire new skills. They are also an opportunity to learn about good practice applied in other companies and about the most recent world trends in various areas. Moreover, our employees may participate in Company-level training and development projects. In 2008, we organised training sessions under the Skills Development Programme, whose main purpose was to diagnose professional potential and develop the participants’ skills. A total of 123 people were trained. We also launched the 2nd edition of the Project Management Academy applying the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) methodology, participated in by 26 people.
At PKN ORLEN we also strive to ensure a secure future for those who end their work with the Company through participation in three types of protective programmes:
From 2005 to date, we have trained 1,221 people under a special Training Package dedicated to people who decided to join the Voluntary Leave Programme. The most popular were the optional training sessions selected by employees themselves. There were 349 participants in such training sessions in 2008.
All PKN ORLEN employees are included in an internal compulsory training system, which means they are obliged to participate in training, e.g. in the field of occupational health and safety, confidential information protection or information and communication safety. For example, in 2008 we trained a total of 1,187 people in OHS, which corresponds to 14,448 training hours. Given the significance of their subject matter, training sessions are regularly repeated. Their topics also include human rights issues, such as personal safety or adequate working conditions.
In 2008 closed and open training sessions were participated in by 6,760 employees.
PKN ORLEN does not collect training data broken down into the number of training hours per employee according to the employment structure.
PKN ORLEN offers its employees various social benefits, such as holiday grants and co-financing of leisure activities (sports activities, prevention and rehabilitation therapies, integration events, trips, mass sports events, celebrations), non-repayable aid in cash and in kind, repayable housing loans and holiday gifts for children. Last year, the Company granted appr. 38,000 of various social benefits.
Among those measures, employee health care is of particular importance. The Company provides complex health services to its employees, including participation in specialist programmes and support in difficult conditions.
| Our activities | No. of persons participating in programmes |
|---|---|
| Health prevention programmes implemented by the Military Medical Institute in Warsaw | 1918 |
| Influenza vaccination programme | 710 |
| Financial aid from the Company’s Social Benefits Funds | 29 |
| Assistance in moving a sick person/casualty to a specialist hospital | 189 |
The lowest salary ratio (calculated against average salary growth rate) to the statutory minimum salary in 2008 was 345%.
Retirement does not mean an end to contacts with the Company. The Company organises farewell parties for its retiring employees. People with particularly long service are invited to meetings participated in by the Company’s top officials.
We also celebrate 70th, 75th, 80th, 85th ... birthday anniversaries. Those celebrating their birthday receive greetings, flowers, cash equivalents and company gifts. We organise meetings, trips, dances for our pensioners. The Company cooperates with the Senior Club Councils in Płock, Warsaw, Białystok, Gdańsk, Słupsk, Szczecin, Poznań, Rzeszów, Kraków, Katowice and Łódź, and pensioner and former employee social organisations, and supports their activities.
Our former employees benefit from health prevention programmes organised by the Military Medical Institute.
PKN ORLEN offers a number of activities to its employees whose purpose is employee integration and strengthening links with the Company through involving employees in common activities. The objective is to build non-professional societies and develop interests.
For several years, the Company has enabled its employees to participate in attractive sports events. In 2008, they could present their abilities in the following five disciplines: football, jogging, table tennis, cycling and swimming. Winners of the respective competitions represented the Company at the European Corporate Games in Athens, where they won 8 medals: 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. We also held the 4th amateur car rally “Drive with Verva”, which above all promotes traffic safety and fair play. The 2008 rally was participated in by almost 500 employees.
In 2008, we continued the ORLEN PASJA (passion) project, whose main goal is to support and develop the interests and passions of employees, but also to integrate them. The programme enables employees to apply for financial support, for example for the purposes of participating in prestigious sports competitions, cultural and scientific events such as quizzes, festivals, photo exhibitions and so on. Grants are given to joint employee initiatives and attractive events organised by employees for employees. Funds are allocated by a special committee. Last year, PKN ORLEN supported 104 people participating in 18 various projects. They included sports competitions, photo exhibitions and integrational events.
One permanent item in the Company’s event agenda is the Chemistry Days, a celebration which highlights the Company’s belonging to the oil industry. Early in June, we hold numerous cultural and sports events. Many of them are aimed at children. The celebrations are open to PKN ORLEN employees and the citizens of Płock. Fifteen outstanding employees received the title of “Distinguished PKN ORLEN employee”. The event was named “The Best of the Best”, because this highly-esteemed title is awarded to just such people.
The Chemistry Days are also an opportunity to realise joint projects for the benefit of the citizens of Płock in cooperation with Płock Town Hall. We organised a family picnic with various attractions for our employees and for the inhabitants of Płock. The topics of those attractions included chemistry – of course, and other fields of science. There was ecology, sport, art events, attractions for children. A permanent item in the agenda is integration picnics for PKN ORLEN employees. We held 12 meetings across Poland in 2008. Their agendas were prepared taking into account the round-the-clock work system, so that everybody could participate in them. Picnics included artistic performances, games, competitions and many other things.
Last year we had 8 special celebrations at the Production Plant in Płock – on the occasion of the opening of a new unit, but also Jubilee celebrations. Employees of the units which celebrated their anniversaries were honoured and the most deserving ones – rewarded.
In order to support good relations and say thank you for employee involvement and work, each year, the PKN ORLEN Management Board have a Christmas party with the employees. Those employees who cannot participate in the party are sent Christmas greetings and gifts of sweets from the Management Board.
The “Catch the Hare” photo competition for employees of companies implementing the Responsible Care programme enjoys unabated popularity. Below are the winning photos taken by PKN ORLEN employees from the 2008 edition of the competition.
An important duty of an employer is to notify their employees of planned and pending changes, in particular with respect to restructuring and reorganisation processes. The rule at PKN ORLEN is that any planned changes are communicated to the Trade Unions much earlier than is required by law. Where an establishment or its part is to be overtaken by a new owner under Article 231 of the Polish Labour Code, the additional notice period is 15 days. The case is similar with collective redundancies.
In the case of a lesser-scale restructuring process (laying off employees for reasons referred to in the Act on special terms of terminating employment relationships with employees for reasons not relating to employees, involving not fewer than 15 and not more than 29 employees in a 30 day period), the notice period is 12 days prior to the commencement of negotiations with the Trade Unions. Negotiations take 7 or more days.
A reorganisation process means that employees are laid off for reasons specified in the Act on special terms of terminating employment relationships with employees for reasons not relating to employees. This applies to not more than 14 employees laid off within 30 days. Trade Unions must be notified 7 days prior to the commencement of such a process.
Employees are notified upon completion of negotiations with the Trade Unions. These rules are set out in an agreement between PKN ORLEN and the Trade Unions. They are also provided for in the Collective Labour Agreement (CLA) signed on 24 November 2008 (effective since 1 January 2009). This document, extremely important for PKN ORLEN and negotiated over a number of years, is a crucial element of HR management strategies. Its main purpose is to implement a lawful concept of employment relationship management. The CLA regulates a number of areas of particular importance for employees. These include: rules of employing and promoting employees, and terminating employment contracts, salaries and other employee benefits, employee evaluation, professional development and training, obligations of the parties to an employment relationship, holiday entitlement, working hours, work conditions, social benefits. The agreement also regulates issues relating to the functioning of trade unions and social dialogue in PKN ORLEN. It also provides other HR management tools which support the Company’s business strategy, mutual obligations of the parties in the execution of the Agreement and issues relating to trade unions and social dialogue in PKN ORLEN. The purpose of CLA adoption was to introduce a lawful concept of employment relationship management.
It is extremely important that both the negotiations and implementation of the CLA is supported by a comprehensive communication process involving, among other things, all the internal media.
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