One Group Culture

Promoting human rights sensibility, awareness and education across the Group is one of our 26 roadmap goals.

In fact, Cementir's Human Rights Policy aims to support and guide management and employees in achieving these objectives.
We recognize the international principles for the respect and support of fundamental human rights in every geographical area in which we operate, this approach is also a proactive commitment in the management of stakeholders. In fact, we promote respect for human rights within commercial relations and adherence to them by contractors, suppliers and all business partners.

Starting from 2020, the Internal Audit Department has verified the effective compliance of each company for the following area: Child Labor, Forced Labor, Non-Discrimination, Conditions of employment, Security, Supply chain management. The results of these assessments are included in the annual Group sustainability reporting process and serves as further evidence of our commitment to operating responsibly. Any alleged human rights violations can be reported through the whistleblowing system, in line with all other types of potential violations.

In 2021, the activity was carried out in the following companies, with a coverage of 95% of the Cementir workforce worldwide, involving the following countries: Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Türkiye, United States, China, Malaysia, Egypt, Italy, United Kingdom, Poland.

Human Rights Audit performed in 2021 

The analyses carried out highlighted that internal operations are considered to be in line with internationally recognized human rights and no risks were identified during the audit activities.

In 2021, the Human Rights assessment was conducted by the Group's main legal entities, covering 95% of Cementir's workforce worldwide.

In an international Group like Cementir the real added value is represented by the enhancement of diversity, inclusion and multicultural integration.

We are aware our sector is historically characterized by a prevalent male workforce. The analysis of data on personnel distribution shows that 12% of employees are female.

In recent years, we have adopted measures to promote equal gender treatment and opportunities within the entire company organization, starting with the definition of a Group value system and a model of Group skills and behaviors in which the concepts of inclusion and enhancement of diversity are strongly represented.

Understanding and respecting every cultural and religious identity of our employees are essential elements for us to guarantee a collaborative and harmonious working environment. In Malaysia, for example, we have set up special rooms for prayer inside the plant, which differ according to the religious beliefs of the employees in respect of cultural differences.

In 2021, the Group Internal Audit defined a work program for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) audit. Starting from 2022, it will be included as part of Internal Audit process. The audit will monitor the application of Cementir’s core equity and fairness principles to: hiring processes, compensation levels, annual salary reviews and promotions, work-life balance arrangements and events to foster interest in technical careers among women.

We have implemented an integrated management and development plan for our resources with the aim of spreading a culture of talent that attracts, develops, involves and retains people.

We have outlined a group policy for the hiring, evaluation and personal development of our people also through online evaluation tools. The collaboration and partnership between central and local Human Resources functions is a catalyst to achieve our corporate objectives in terms of quality of recruitment and employee engagement.

On a regular basis we undertake the programs for the identification, enhancement and development of our Group talents in order to support the potential managers who will provide our future leadership and growth.

Work on the Group Succession Planning process for critical positions was carried out to build a solid leadership bench. The list of critical positions has been updated and expanded in line with our Industrial Plan and the main strategic objectives.

In 2021, we launched the Group Performance Management process that involves all the executives and managers that were hired within the first half of the year. The employees hired in the second part of the year, will be involved in the process starting from 2022. This enables us to monitor and align employees’ objectives, skills, competencies and development plans with our Group strategic objectives. The Performance Management Process will support the development of a new way of looking at performance evaluation: not only as a tool for aligning people with business strategy but also as a process that can stimulate constant development of organisational and people skills as well as competencies.

In 2021, the performance feedback activity has resumed regularly, even if the Covid–19 situations still impacted our way of working.

The idea of the Academy was born with the aim of developing and updating competencies and skills, integrating different know-how and cultures, preserving and spreading knowledge within our Group and promoting innovation and creativity.

Cementir Academy has pursued its extended mission to support corporate strategy and results, develop the global leaders of today and tomorrow, accelerate the transformation of the Group and promote diversity and inclusion.

As the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the globe, the company implemented a contingency plan aimed at mitigating the implications, such as postponing or suspending relevant training programs and initiatives. Despite this, the Cementir Academy continued its extended mission to support Cementir strategy and business results, to develop current and future global leaders, to accelerate Group transformation and to foster diversity and inclusion across the Group.

We designed and delivered key training and development initiatives which include:

• the launch of some new online courses in our Academy catalogue (e.g. Performance Management);
• the translation and deployment of the existing online courses in the most relevant local languages (7);
• the design of the Graduate programme, a global initiative dedicated to new-graduates (Ce-Mentorship Program) with the aim of selecting, training and growing 8 young talents to build our future leaders. Four different countries are involved with this pilot edition, focused on the technical area;
• the reshaping of the Emerging Talent programme, a key programme to develop leadership and managerial skills of our internal talents. The programme stopped in 2020 due to the Covid–19 pandemic and has been re-designed with a blended formula so that it can be implemented despite any pandemic situation;
• the delivery of the Project Management course aimed at achieving the Prince 2 certification;
• in the plants, H&S days have also been organised in order to guarantee mandatory basic training;
• the deployment of functional and technical training to upskill Group professional families and sub-communities.

Employee development is also supported through internal and external local training courses, accompanied by a series of other initiatives such as participation in work projects involving multiple departments and, in some cases, work experience abroad.

In 2021, more than 37,000 hours of training were provided, almost 12.2 hours for each employee.

The measures put in place involved the entire Group workforce in a cross-functional and balanced way covering various roles, as can be seen from the summary table of training hours by professional category.