Giving family members an opportunity to see where they work is a cause of pride among Avibras employees. Avibras opened its gates to some 3,400 people on Family Day, an integration event held on December 1. The visitors embarked on a journey of technology and innovation with an excursion around the vehicle factory and the surrounding areas. The initiative also comprised several exhibitions, including vehicles, models of products and environmental exhibits. Worthy of note was the exhibition Our History, consisting of panels portraying the successes achieved by the company and its founder, the engineer João Verdi Carvalho Leite. There were games and toys to entertain the children, as well as circus artists, who interacted with the crowds throughout the event.
Created by Verdi, Avibras’ founder, and reactivated by the current CEO, João Brasil, in 2018 the Tribute for Length of Service recognized the dedication and contributions made by employees over the years. The initiative paid tribute to employees who had completed ten, twenty, thirty or forty years of service to the company up to December 31, 2017.
The company reviewed its recruitment and selection process, adopting structured processes to attract the best talents in the market.
One of the key measures is the organisation of the positions available in the company in accordance with market rules. The initiative is intended to standardise employee development throughout their career in the company, adding value for management policies and driving the retention of talent.
Between 2019 and 2020, the objective is to provide a map of all the positions in the company, together with the information that will enable employees to visualise their possibilities and plan their career. This structure is aligned with personnel management policy.
At the centre of the process is the Career in Y, enabling employees to choose between following a career in management or becoming a specialist in a determined area. Within this model, employees will have at their disposal a mentoring process enabling more experienced specialists to progress in their career in parallel with their management counterparts, and benefit from the same prerogatives. As a result, specialists will no longer need to leave technical areas and move into management or administration in order to advance in their career.
The logic behind this mentoring is to permit technical specialists to remain in the technical area while retaining the prospect of professional growth, the purpose being to boost the retention of highly qualified technical personnel and allow them to maintain equivalence with management and administrative personnel.
Another important Avibras initiative is the attention paid to employees who are about to transition to retirement.
Entitled Life Plan, Avibras developed a model aimed at providing support for employees in planning for this new stage in their life. The programme addresses preparations for this transition, such as helping future retirees to formulate plans for the future, preparing leaders to provide orientation and support for them, as well as ensuring that the knowledge they have accumulated during their career remains in the company. The programme will be implemented during the course of 2019.
Our work force is highly trained and prepared for new challenges
Perpetuating knowledge, making records of lessons learned and ensuring this legacy is reused. It was based on these premises that the Avibras engineering team initiated a pilot project – to be extended to the entire organisation – that brings employees together periodically to exchange knowledge with a view to resolving problems. The target is to guarantee knowledge management at Avibras, ensuring accrued knowledge may be reused and that people who are going to develop a new product do not make the same mistakes as others have made in the past. The experience launched in 2018 has already permitted the emergence of new ideas and new solutions. It is based on two fronts: lessons learned and communities of practice.
One result of the initiative has been the assembly and dissemination of documents and videos produced by more experienced employees in specific areas and disciplines. These will help young talents to solve problems, while consolidating knowledge in the company and strengthening the Avibras Culture.
Dedicated HR works in conjunction with each company business’ strategic planning and action plans and is aimed at providing support for managers by fulfilling their strategic people-related demands.
Employing transparent communication with all employees, the programme promotes challenges with a view to boosting engagement in the company’s current and future plans. On an annual basis, the Human Resources area elaborates its action plan in line with company strategy.
In 2018, Dedicated HR contributed to the implementation of new processes that will be disseminated in the Human Resources area in 2019. During the year, the area will face the challenge of strengthening its role, assuming an active and strategic posture to ensure understanding and drive business development on the personnel management front.
In pursuit of best market practices, Avibras enhanced its Induction Programme with a view to reducing the time it takes for new employees to adapt, establishing a relationship based on trust with the company and driving connection with its culture. The programme offers new team members a complete engagement experience.
The programme, which is called Avibras Journey: The Path to Your Success Starts Here is aligned with the People dimension of the Avibras por Excelência Programme (AVPEX), which is focused on elevating Avibras to a level of world class excellence.
With a focus on learning, motivation and commitment, the new induction programme also underscores the company’s four priorities: safety and security, quality, on-time delivery and costs.
On the day of the induction, new employees receive a fully personalised welcome kit, with the programme’s visual identity.The kit comprises an intelligent notebook with sheets for taking notes, a welcome message from the CEO João Brasil, the history of the company complete with timeline, as well as other useful information on the benefits offered by the company.
The programming consists of a series of talks, the contents of which were reviewed to make the presentations more dynamic. A number of new subjects were also included: a welcome video from the CEO João Brasil, and content on AVPEX and Information Security.
At the end of the day, the participants are taken on a tour of the vehicle factory and are addressed by the vice president Almir Borges, who welcomes them and outlines the main aspects of the Avibras Culture, stressing the objective of driving positive results both for the individual and for the company.
To provide support for managers receiving new employees, there is a guide to ensure the continuity of the induction process over the first 30 days.
The Avibras team comprises 1,880 direct employees, of whom 85% are men and 15%, women. This labour force is complemented by 759 third-parties (84% men). There were 320 new hires and 291 terminations during the year.
Employee turnover remained stable and has been very low in the Technology area, due to the fact that the company has been successful in recruiting outstanding professionals from other companies in the aerospace sector.
With the exception of interns, 100% of the employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Third-parties are covered by the collective agreements of their respective unions. All employees are represented by the Metalworkers’ Union, and agreements cover the entire work force. 102-41
Talent retention has been a key focus for Avibras, which in 2018 boosted the generation of direct and indirect jobs in the regions in which it operates, driving economic and social benefits for the Vale do Paraíba region, as shown in the table below: 102-7
Description | Numbers | |
Number of employees on 01/01/18 | 1,851 | |
(-) Reduction in work force in 2018 | (291) | |
+ Increase in work force in 2018 | 320 | |
= Number of employees on 31/12/18 | 1,880 |
To engage qualified professionals in the company’s needs, Avibras seeks the best talent on the market, combining technical competencies with adherence to its values.
The company provides incentives for the development of all its employees by means of policies and strategies aligned with its business objectives. At Avibras, employees on master’s or doctoral programmes at recognised institutions are permitted to attend courses during working hours.
The company also supports the continuity of employees’ formal academic education by means of a postgraduate studies programme aimed at developing employees with a focus on their function in the company and/or future projects aligned with company needs.
In 2018, 115 leaders received a total of 2,032 hours of training. They also participated in the Leader Laboratory in which they had the opportunity to put the concepts and techniques studied in the programme into practice.
In continuity of the leadership development programme, Avibras formed a partnership with the Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC), to implant a new programme. This consists of the five following modules: culture, people, processes, projects and finance. The programme is open to all company managers and supervisors.
The expected result is that leaders will be able to discuss their roles and responsibilities and build a vision based on people management as a means of driving the transition in behaviour necessary to promote employee engagement and leveraging overall business performance.
In 2018, the organisation had 66,108.70 hours of training, with 5,947 employee participations throughout the company. A total of 479 groups took programmes covering functional requirements and mandatory courses during the year. In the second half of the year, the Training Needs Diagnostic programme was implanted with the objective of mapping the competency gaps in the organisation for 2019. Each management area identified priority measures to be developed in 2019. The Leadership Development Programme, conducted in partnership with the Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC) was maintained, with the objective of fostering key competencies for the business.
Avibras invests in the Industry Learning Programme for Apprentices organised by the Serviço Nacional da Indústria (Senai), offering young people aged from 14 to 24 the opportunity to develop a career. The company provides programme participants with the same benefits granted to employees, in addition to social support. There were 54 young people on the programme in 2018. The company promotes social inclusion for the disabled and is compliant with the legal requirements and the development programmes mandated for these individuals.
To complement their education and foster relationship skills, the company invests in the development and integration of its interns into the corporate environment. The goal of the programme is to shape professionals who will be fully attuned with the company’s values and objectives.
The new jobs and salaries policy offer differentiated benefits designed to attract and retain talent. These include life insurance, health plan, insurance coverage for incapacity/invalidity, extended maternity leave, dental plan, special medical treatment for employees’ children and a nursery allowance for the children of employees aged up to six years (covering women, men who have custody of their children and widowers). 401-2
Avibras also provides employees with a supplementary pension plan in partnership with Brasilprev. The company makes a contribution equivalent to 100% of the participant’s contribution, limited to 5% of the basic salary. Employees may contribute up to 12% of their salary.
In 2018, the cooperative provided services for 1,607 members, corresponding to 86% of the Avibras work force. A total of 5,067 loans were made during the year. The cooperative also distributed 1,400 school material kits, benefiting members and dependents aged from 4 to 21 years. This benefit is extensive to members engaged in secondary and higher education, including postgraduate studies. To foster the concepts of financial literacy, the cooperative distributed piggy banks to members’ children, with the objective of encouraging them and their parents to save. The initiative also encompasses the distribution of material providing tips on financial education.
The Occupational Safety area undertook measures aligned with the strategies and priorities of the Avibras Culture Programme, which in 2018 was focused on safety.
One of the initiatives was the launch of the Work Safety in Focus campaign, which engaged company leaders, including the CEO and key managers. They gave talks exalting safety as the primary company value, underscoring its importance in all the routine actions executed by both employees and leaders.
The safety area, comprising Occupational Safety Engineers, Occupational Safety Technicians and members of the Fire Brigade, supported the development of studies and improvement measures for the different work posts in the company. New rules and processes were introduced and were also extended to suppliers. Moreover, the area was actively engaged in all the planning, construction work and licensing requirements for the new factory in Lorena (SP). In Avibras’ strategic planning, the area was responsible for all matters related to occupational health and safety and workers’ quality of life. This includes the modernisation of all the company’s facilities and the organisation of the collection and correct disposal of waste.
The Avibras Culture establishes safety as the primary priority, adopting as a model the precautionary principle in initiatives associated with occupational health and safety and the environment. The Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) team is always involved in decisions concerning company installations (construction, demolition), processes, equipment, raw materials and waste, either through meetings with multidisciplinary teams, audits and inspections, or requests for technical support from the most diverse company areas. In these situations, considerations include not only compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, but also the identification of opportunities to make the company safer and more sustainable.
The most critical areas from an occupational health and safety standpoint are the active areas, where raw materials and classified products, such as explosives, are handled and stored. These areas are insulated against risks and incorporate passive protection into the construction of the buildings, which are located strategically and comprise non-inflammable components and materials. 403-3
All operations involving the handling and movement of explosive raw materials or products are subject to specific safety procedures. Employees receive training on safe work procedures in active areas every two years. All these employees are subject to examinations on a six-monthly basis. Additionally employees aged over 35 years are tested for liver function, as well as glucose and blood pressure levels. In the event that any alterations are detected, they are placed in specific healthcare programmes in which they receive guidance and accompaniment.
The company conducts risk analyses for new projects. It adopts collective and personal protection, as well as administrative measures to promote safety in all the activities developed. Avibras organises courses and examinations for activities requiring respiratory protection, work at height and work in confined spaces.
The Occupational Health area organises healthcare programmes for employees engaged in specific activities and for those aged over 40 years who require monitoring of excess weight, altered blood pressure or who present alterations detected in specific physical and complementary examinations (laboratory tests, X-rays, electroencephalograms, pulmonary function tests, prostate). These employees receive orientation, examinations and other healthcare measures when necessary.
Among the targets established for the continuous improvement process in Occupational Safety at Avibras are:
The launch of the You in Action! programme. The individual’s mindset is the key to excellence, which will underscore the importance of preventive behaviour in healthcare, safety and the environment, at both individual and group level, and the individual’s contribution to the well-being of the people in the company and to the sustainability of its business.
Restructuring of the third-party management process.
The organisation of talks and training for leaders and employees.
Development of a comparative reference for the formulation of targets and actions for 2020.