Social policy

Nornickel’s contribution to Russian national projects

Demography national project

Related federal projects

• Financial support for families upon the birth of children
• Older generation
• Promotion of public health
• Sports as a way of life

Key initiatives and focus areas

• Co-Funded Pension Plan, a corporate private pension programme
• Nornickel’s Veterans programme, which focuses on supporting unemployed pensioners
• Sporting and mass public events programme
• Creation of jobs across our footprint

Healthcare national project

Related federal projects

• Development of the primary health care system
• Creation of a network of national medical research centres and introduction of innovative medical technologies

Key initiatives and focus areas

• Compensating employees and their families for health resort and vacation expenses
• Providing employees and their families with voluntary health insurance
• Conducting occupational health and safety training sessions (for more details, please see the Occupational Health and Safety section)
• Providing employees with personal protective equipment
• Corporate Healthcare project

To attract and retain skilled employees and improve their loyalty and engagement, Nornickel regularly offers its employees across all of its locations a wide range of benefits and social care support.

The social package includes the following benefits and compensations:

• health resort treatment and vacation to employees and their families at subsidised prices;
• annual payment of return travel to and from a place of vacation for employees in the Far North and equivalent areas, and their families, including associated baggage fees;
• relocation allowances (lump sum payment for resettlement, reimbursement of travel expenses and baggage fees, monthly rental (sub-rental) payment / compensation for dormitory fees);
• VHI for employees and their families;
• one-off financial aid to employees experiencing certain major life events or hardships;
• additional employee pensions and other types of social benefits under the existing collective bargaining agreements and internal regulations;
• redundancy payments.

Programme to improve social and working conditions at production sites

Given the industry specifics and the geography of the Company’s operations, it is of vital importance to ensure comfortable and safe working conditions contributing to the health of employees, reduction of occupational diseases and injury rate, higher employee productivity and engagement.

The Group companies operate more than 3,300 sanitary, amenity, sports and fitness, catering, healthcare, and recreational facilities with a total area of over 360,000 m².

In 2022, a programme to improve social and working conditions at production sites launched back in 2003 to ensure a decent working environment, was reorganised into the Made with Care employee comfort programme. The programme focuses on improving working conditions and creating a comfortable environment for each employee through a consistent dialogue and care.

The programme saw repairs of social facilities using modern materials and technologies in line with a group-wide standards handbook. In addition to the facilities themselves, repairs included entrances, corridors and staircases.

Health improvement programmes

Given the harsh climate of the Far North and the nature of operations at the Group’s facilities, Nornickel pays close attention to improving the health of its employees. In line with its obligations under the collective bargaining agreement, the Company implements rehabilitation and health resort treatment programmes for employees and their family members.

In 2022, 25,600 people took part in health improvement programmes, up 4% y-o-y. The most popular destination was the Zapolyarye Health Resort (Sochi). Children of the Company’s employees spent their summer holidays in a health resort and recreation camp on the Black Sea.

In addition to health resort treatment, the Company promotes a healthy lifestyle by facilitating regular fitness sessions of its employees and holding annual corporate sports festivals and competitions.

Voluntary health insurance

ВVHI is an essential part of social support; all of the Company’s employees are covered by insurance policies. In addition, Nornickel provides employees with an opportunity to insure a close relative at corporate rates.

Under VHI policies, the Company’s employees have a wide range of medical services available to them. Employees living in the Far North can use VHI policies to access healthcare services not only where they live but in all the areas that the policy covers. All insurance programmes offer the same set of services for various personnel categories; the only difference is the level of healthcare centres and the region of coverage.

In addition, the Company’s employees have an opportunity to have specialised genome sequencing tests (which help identify and assess potential risks of developing a serious health condition) and get a geneticist consultation.

Co-Funded Pension Plan Programme

To support employees after they retire, Nornickel has in place the Co-Funded Pension Plan, a corporate private pension programme. As at the end of 2022, it covered 10,400 employees across 23 Group companies, with almost 4,500 retirees already receiving pensions.

The programme provides for two pension plans: Parity and Corporate. Under the Parity Plan, pension savings are co-funded by the employee and the Company on a parity (equal) basis. The Corporate Plan is designed for highly skilled employees and/or employees with highly sought-after occupations; within this plan, Nornickel finances private pension plans for such employees.

Programmes supporting former employees and their families

In addition to the non-governmental pension plan, the Company implements the following continuous support measures for former employees:

• the Company’s Veterans programme supporting unemployed pensioners who permanently reside in Norilsk. The main eligibility criterion is the employee’s length of service at the Company;
• the Pensioner Financial Aid Fund grants financial aid to former employees who retired prior to 10 July 2001 provided they had been employed by the Company’s units for more than 25 years and permanently reside outside of the Norilsk Industrial District. The Fund relies on voluntary monthly contributions from employee salaries and charitable contributions from the Company’s budget;
• targeted financial assistance for former employees and their family members (paying for medical treatment, medications, funeral services, helping those in financial distress).

Housing programmes

To ensure comfortable living conditions for employees and foster long-term engagement, the Company has been implementing housing programmes (Our Home / My Home and Your Home) for over 10 years now. Under these programmes, participants get the opportunity to acquire ready-for-living apartments located in close proximity to each other on special terms in Moscow and Tver regions, Krasnodar Territory and Yaroslavl.

The programmes’ participants are qualified proactive employees of 24 business units and branches of Nornickel Group located in Norilsk, the Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky Municipal District, Krasnoyarsk, and Murmansk Region.

The housing programmes use a co-financing mechanism: the Company pays up to a half of the apartment cost (but in any case no more than RUB 3 mln), with the rest paid by the employee within a certain period of employment with Nornickel Group (from five to ten years). The main benefit for employees is that the cost of housing remains unchanged for as long as they participate in the programme.

The only difference between the housing programmes is the way ownership is transferred:

• Our Home / My Home – property titles are registered at the end of the employee’s participation in the programme, but the employee may move in immediately after receiving the apartment’
• Your Home – property titles are registered from the start of the employee’s participation in the programme, but is burdened with a lien to be held until the employee fully pays up the entire cost of the apartment to the seller.

In addition to Our Home / My Home and Your Home housing programmes, there is a Corporate Social Subsidised Loan Programme aimed at providing interest-free loans to the Company’s employees to make a down payment and reimbursing a certain share of interest on their mortgage loan. Employees of 25 entities and branches of Nornickel Group take part in the programme.

Support to new employees

The Company supports new employees, including young specialists, workers, engineering staff, and managers relocating to Norilsk and the Taimyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky Municipal District from other regions by reimbursing their relocation expenses, baggage fees, and living costs for the first three years. On top of that, the Company also pays a one-time relocation allowance to support employees at the new place of work.

To ensure faster onboarding and support for new employees, special onboarding events are carried out; in 2022, an automated system for employee onboarding was rolled out across 26 Group companies. The system helps everyone involved go through the onboarding process comfortably and efficiently.

To help people immerse themselves in the new working, social and cultural environment, the First Arctic leadership programme offers onboarding and teambuilding events enabling them to get to know each other, the Company, and the city.

Relocation programme

In early 2022, the Company launched the Employee Relocation programme to support an employee when moving to another region due to a change in job duties, either with their current employer or a different employer within the Group. In addition to reimbursing travel expenses, baggage fees, living costs, and providing a one-time relocation allowance and additional leave for an employee to settle in, the programme provides for a relocation benefit (up to 40% of salary). The maximum amount of the relocation benefit depends on the target location (settlement).

Relocation is an opportunity for an employee to grow and develop both personally and professionally. For Nornickel, the programme addresses the problem of filling vacancies in a certain region in the absence of duly qualified candidates in the local labour market and within the company.

Social support to employees facing redundancies due to closure of production facilities

The social support programme for employees facing redundancies was developed following the decision to shut down the smelting facility in Nickel in November 2019. The programme includes comfortable relocation to other sites, retraining, and pension plans. Later, it was also extended to employees of the metallurgical shop in Monchegorsk.

In 2019–2022, a total of 995 people at Kola MMC were enrolled in the programme (63% signed employment contracts with the Company and had the same level of pay during the first year, while 37% decided to leave the Company and were dismissed with additional payments); 353 people attended training, retraining and upskilling programmes. In 2020–2022, the Company spent more than RUB 1.6 bn on social programmes for smelting shop employees.

Development of corporate communities

Corporate communities of active experts from the Group companies contribute to greater involvement of employees in the Company’s strategic agenda, encourage employees to participate in corporate and social activities in the Group companies and regions of operation and facilitate partnerships with local community representatives aimed at boosting social development of local communities and improving the well-being of local residents.

Those Who Care corporate programme

The Those Who Care change management programme implemented in the Kola and Norilsk divisions targets proactive and engaged employees who aspire to develop and implement projects on boosting the Company’s efficiency, even beyond their functional duties.

The project seeks to create a professional and diverse community of like-minded people capable of jointly addressing a wide range of tasks through their skills and knowledge. The website created as part of the project, komunevseravno.ru, serves as a universal platform allowing any manager to indicate an issue to be tackled. After examining it, community members can build a team of specialists and undertake a project.

For the project to be successfully implemented, teams can ask the business customer to provide them with managerial, administrative and financial resources. The implementation of the corporate programme is of great importance for absolutely all stakeholders.

LamaLocation project

In 2021, representatives of the Storm regional sports organisation, who have been participants of the Plant of Goodness project for more than three years, were invited to an eco-summit as volunteers. At the Krasnoyarsk Pillars National Park, they drew everyone’s attention to the use of solar panels. Having consulted technical specialists, Storm representatives concluded that volunteering activities (clearing litter from Taimyr’s water bodies) increase the carbon footprint due to the use of gasoline and diesel electric generators during trips to remote areas, maintenance, repairs and systematic supply of fuel for continuous operation. Together with partners, volunteers decided to set up the LamaLocation project to investigate the possibilities of using alternative energy sources in the Taimyr during the summer season. The project was supported by the Company in 2021 as part of the World of New Opportunities’ Socially Responsible Initiatives Competition; the active phase of the project took place in 2022.

Students of the Polar State University were involved in the project. With support from the partners, they obtained diver certificates and successfully completed PADI training, which enabled them to assist the volunteer group in installing solar power stations at Lama Lake. The partners donated a wind turbine generator and several solar panels to add to the project’s efficiency.

The project proves that using the location’s green resources helps minimise the carbon footprint. The environmental impact can be mitigated through a sustainable and wise outdoor recreation and use of the project’s facilities.

In 2022, the project became a destination for locals, tourists, athletes, scientists, and visitors from other Russian cities:

• more than 600 employees of Norilsknickelremont were guests and participants of the project, where they learned about green energy in the Arctic;
• a clean-up day on Lake Dolgoye with over 200 participants yielded three trucks of various rubbish removed;
• Master of Sports and Russian champion in various extreme water sports, Alexey Vasiliev held a five-day master class in standup paddleboarding with regular and big boards for guests, partners, students, and others;
• Plant of Goodness’ participants and volunteer divers had the opportunity to use the project’s infrastructure for their volunteering functions.

The project aims to save not only nature but also people’s lives. In 2022, a small vessel sank near the LamaLocation base during a violent storm. Thanks to the infrastructure created by the project, victims received all the necessary help and support.

The project’s infrastructure, combined with the knowledge and experience gained, laid the ground for a new initiative. LamaLocation 01 will be the first volunteer fire-fighting outpost in the Arctic. A fire-fighting boat will operate on Lama Lake, and certified fire-fighters will volunteer round the clock during the fire season in summer. The project is supported by the Company and is planned for implementation in 2023.

In Good Company, a corporate youth programme

The programme seeks to bring together young Nornickel employees under 35 years old to promote their professional and creative growth and unlock their potential. An additional objective of the programme is to identify gifted students and young professionals outside the Company and involve them in Nornickel’s operations, ensuring their quick and efficient adaptation in the Company.

The In Good Company programme was established with the needs of young employees in mind. These needs were identified through an analysis of employees’ expectations, which included recognition, self-fulfilment, and experience. Additionally, the programme takes into consideration the needs of the Company, such as increased involvement, the development of talent and skills, and other individual development.

The programme offers versatility by allowing each participant to choose projects from four different tracks.

In addition to tracks, the programme includes open communication workshops where participants will learn how to create and promote their expert brand from scratch, become a confident public speaker, expand one’s professional and social contacts and (if need be) represent the company at conferences, meetings and online public events.

The programme is expected to be implemented in cycles as part of official corporate events and beyond. Participants will also be able to kick start and deliver their own projects and earn points that can be later exchanged for merchandise or one-on-one advice from Nornickel’s top managers.

As part of the programme, the Company developed a proprietary secure online app – a social network in which users are free to choose any number of tracks and activities and can find new friends and interests, as well as interact with each other regardless of position, profession or location. All young employees received an invitation and instructions on how to sign up. During the first few months of the pilot, the mobile platform attracted over 4,495 new users.

The programme was launched in late 2022 in a hybrid format – an online talk show and two face-to-face meetings in Norilsk and Monchegorsk.

It is expected to encourage young employees to take greater interest in the Company’s practical agenda, develop new communication channels and horizontal connections, lay the foundation for self-fulfilment and expand the range of opportunities for them.

Plant of Goodness

The Plant of Goodness corporate volunteering programme is available in all regions where Nornickel operates. The programme covers a wide range of volunteer and charitable projects, which help build a corporate culture, bring together employees around shared values, and strengthen teamwork and communication between business units.

Sporting and mass public events programme

Promoting corporate sports and healthy lifestyle among the Company’s employees contributes to an improved quality of life, higher motivation and involvement, faster adaptation to new working conditions, effective team- and community building.

Nornickel has a separate corporate sports mechanism in place. There are officers responsible for sports development appointed at each of its Group companies in every region where it operates. The Company has an annual activities plan, including a schedule of training sessions, competitions, round tables and press conferences featuring distinguished athletes. There is also a Sports Promotion Council comprised of representatives of Nornickel’s branches and entities, which approves the plan and addresses relevant issues. Information on the Company’s mass sports events is published on the corporate portal and social networks.

Corporate sporting events run on a permanent basis and cover such regions as the Trans-Baikal Territory (Chita), Krasnoyarsk Territory (Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk), Murmansk Region (Murmansk, Monchegorsk, Zapolyarny, Nickel), the cities of Saratov, Moscow, and Sochi. The Company cooperates with many sports federations (including the International University Sports Federation, Russian Futsal Association, Russian Ice Hockey Federation, etc.) to support sports in the regions where it operates by organising workshops, coach training sessions, procurement of equipment and implementing other initiatives.

The most prominent events of the sporting and public events calendar are corporate contests geared towards employees and local residents. In 2022, the following events were held:

• the 61st Nornickel Spartakiad comprising 14 sports in the Spartakiad proper and six sports in the Spartakiad for retired athletes. A total of 4,024 people took part in the 2022 Spartakiad;
• corporate competitions in alpine skiing and snowboarding, ice hockey, futsal, basketball, volleyball, etc., as well as “Dad, Mum and I – a Sporty Family” family competition;
• Zabeg.Nornickel in the Norilsk and Kola divisions (jointly with the Hero Race autonomous non-profit organisation), which gave a fresh impetus to the event and attracted more participants;
• various tournaments in the following leagues: Champions League of Business, Labour Reserves, Night Hockey League, Homo Ambulans, Zabeg.RF, etc.;
• training sessions in various sports.