Our People

Performance

Number of own employees

Number of contractors

Number of own employees per gender (2019)

Number of People with Disability (2019)

Total number of own employees

Number of contractors

Diversity and Equality

Valuing diversity and promoting inclusion are ethical imperatives, which are indispensable for a sustainable company. One of our values “act correctly” expresses clearly what we mean: we must respect and include everyone without distinction. We believe that because we are different, we have different perspectives on the same challenges, and we can bring simpler and more innovative solutions to our business. We are committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of their singularities, can grow and thrive in the company, in an even more diverse and inclusive work environment, where everyone is valued, respected and has equal opportunities.

Human Rights Policy and Guide

Our guide advocates for decent work conditions and educational actions that enable professional and personal growth, always striving to maintain a healthy work environment. "We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, including moral or sexual. We respect freedom of association and collective bargaining and diversity".

Code of Conduct

Our code values diversity and includes all people without distinction, giving opportunities on a meritocratic basis. We make sure that each person develops his/her potential, regardless of cultural or ideological differences, opinions, disabilities, gender, color, ethnicity, origin, political beliefs, religious beliefs, generation, marital status, union status, social class, sexual orientation, or degree of education.

It is the responsibility of each employee to comply with the Code of Conduct and report to the Ombudsman’s Office any inappropriate behavior, whether from a co-worker, manager or contractor.

Initiatives

The topic of diversity and inclusion is closely monitored by the Human Resources Department to ensure it traverses all our processes, and to promote an inclusive workforce with equal growth opportunities within the Company.

Eradicating gender inequalities is a huge challenge, but we believe that an approach of inclusion is key to eliminate the barriers that hinder the hiring and retention of women, and resulting performance improvement due to gender diversity. In 2019, we set out a bold goal: to double female workforce in Vale by 2030, from 13% to 26%. The strategy of diversity and inclusion is one of our top priorities within the pillar ‘People’.

Differences between generations occur not only due to the age of individuals, but also their values and expectations regarding career and personal life.

At Vale we currently have several generations coexisting in the daily routine. The relations between generations allow the transmission of knowledge, as different generations have wisdom and knowledge that make it possible to experience different ways of thinking, acting and feeling, thus renewing opinions and visions about the world and people.

Workforce composition per age group (2019):

Number of employees per gender and seniority level (%)

Median Salary per gender and seniority level (corporate and operational) 

Corresponds to the value (%) above or below the median salary of our professionals, per gender, seniority level, and per area (Corporate or operational)

Corporate

Operational

*And equivalent positions in the technica carrer.

Maternity and paternity leave per region

In line with the best practices in the market, our company has adhered to the Brazilian Government program ‘Empresa Cidadã’, wich extends the maternity leave by 60 days (from 120 to 180 days), and the paternity leave by 15 days (from 5 to 20 days).

Cultural Transformation

Cultural transformation involves recognizing the best we have and our vulnerabilities. This transformation also happens through the learning of our experiences, behaviors and values.

To transform Vale into one of the safest and most reliable companies in the mining sector in the world and to promote the integral reparation in Brumadinho, we understand the necessity of aligning these commitments with our organizational culture.

We dedicated 2019 to map the opportunities for improvement and define which cultural attributes will drive our company's cultural transformation.

This exercise was only possible through questioning our aspirations, key behaviors and strategic drivers, as well as through the alignment of the Executive Board and the sponsorship of the Board of Directors in relation to the relevance of the topic.

Vale's global cultural transformation involves safety, people and reparation and aims to align the perception of the current situation of our company and identify priority actions that will lead us to be better.

Therefore, we started by defining the key behaviors that must be present and developed across the entire organizational. We added new behaviors and, we understand that through adherence to them we can build a more solid and singular cultural narrative. They are:

Business Case

Therefore, we started to invest intensively in the development of our leadership and the result of this action was reflected in the organization of the Leaders' Forum, which despite occurring every year, in 2019 sought greater mobilization for the necessary changes and brought an external perception about our performance so that a self-analysis could be done.

“Behavior is what matters. To lead is to set an example. We all want a different Vale, but we cannot expect that to happen if we continue to do the same thing. There are great challenges ahead, but we have the strength of 70 thousand people. I'm sure that we will become a much better Vale. "

Eduardo Bartolomeo, CEO

The Forum ended with a commitment to spread the practice of the key behaviors and engage everyone who is part of their teams on the journey towards cultural evolution.

More actions in 2019 were carried out to raise awareness and empower those involved:

Our Management

In 2020, a new stage begins. In addition to continuing the work already started, we plan to measure the impact of the levers of change defined on strategic imperatives and systematize the measurement of defined key behaviors.

We intend to measure culture from a broad system that includes:

The creation of LGBTQ +, Women, PCD affinity networks and the inauguration of a new space that integrates the top leadership at our headquarters in Rio de Janeiro are already results of this new journey towards building stronger, plural, collaborative and genuine connections with all stakeholders.

“Having senior leadership in an open and collaborative space will help to break the silos, increase the circulation of information and the exchange of ideas. With genuine collaboration, we will be an even more agile, less bureaucratic company - of high performance. Collective decisions will certainly be more correct because together we multiply our potential”

Eduardo Bartolomeo, CEO

Long Term Goals

To achieve our goals, we have defined targets that involve our entire production chain and all departments. Our cultural transformation and goals are:

The cultural transformation of an organization is everyone's job and it is a continuous and daily construction and we understand that these changes are necessary and are happening in several companies from different sectors.

Only through this evolution will Vale be able to reach a new level of performance and carry out its mission of transforming natural resources into prosperity and sustainable development.

Development and Qualification

Vale’s educational strategy is based on the development and qualification of its professionals. This is achieved through a portfolio of training and qualification activities, in which the employees reinforce the skills necessary for their performance in the company, whether of a technical, managerial, leadership, or transversal nature (related to health, safety, environment, respect for diversity, among others).

Attraction and Retention

As a global company, Vale knows that attracting the best professionals, retaining talents, encouraging and engaging professionals in strategic positions, especially Executive Officers, is a critical challenge for the Company's success at all times.

Turnover rate is calculated based on data from Vale SA and its subsidiaries in the following countries: Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Australia, United States of America, China, Mozambique, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Austria, Dubai, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Paraguay, Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Uruguay.

Turnover of professionals 

Turnover of professionals (per gender) 

Turnover of professionals (per seniority level)

Relationship with unions

Vale maintains a harmonious relationship with unions worldwide, and aims at settling any conflicts directly with the unions, through permanent meetings and gatherings. Until May 2019 there were approximately 34 unions in Brazil and 12 unions in the rest of the world.

In the last three fiscal years (2016, 2017 e 2018), there were no strikes or stoppages in the activities of the Company or its subsidiaries, pursuant to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which establishes as strikes or stoppages any interruptions longer than 7 days.

Since 2005, employees have been electing, through a direct voting process, an effective member of the Board of Directors and his/her respective alternate. Elections are conducted jointly by the company and the unions.

Labor Relations representatives, including Labor Relations managers, meet with union representatives on a weekly basis on most locations, to discuss routine issues and reinforce social dialogue. Senior management meetings with unions vary from site to site, taking place at least on a quarterly basis.

97% of the workforce of direct operations are covered by collective bargaining agreements

Workforce of direct operations covered by collective bargaining agreements (per location)

Legal working time in the countries where Vale operates

¹ Up to 48 per week under compensation regime.

² It may exceed this number if the average over a period of three weeks does not exceed 48 hours.

Policies and Standards

Know all policies and standards that make up Vale's governance model.