SUAL Group received the certificate of International Organization of Employers that proves the company’s impressive achievements in the field of corporate social responsibility and its investments in further promotion and understanding of it.

The Organization’s Secretary-General Antonio Penalosa gave the certificate to SUAL’s Director for Public Bodies and Local Government Cooperation Olga Fedoseeva in the course of the international workshop called Corporate Climate and Social Responsibility of Businesses in Russia. The workshop took place in Geneva within the framework of the 95th session of International Labour Conference.

The certificates were also given to some other participants (SUEK, Novo Nordisc, Norilsk Nickel, PricewaterhouseCoopers, All-Russian Power Industry Employers' Organization, Business Culture, the International planning and design office, and Corporate Development Institute).

The awarding ceremony was followed by a workshop organized by the Managers’ Associaiton, the International Labour Organization, the International Organization of Employers, and the Coordinating Board of Russian Employers’ Alliances. Brent Wilton, Deputy Secretary-General of International Organization of Employers, conducted the workshop and put special emphasis on the growing importance of corporate social responsibility in the increasingly globalizing world.

According to Olga Golodets, Head of Corporate Responsibility Committee of Managers’ Associaiton and Deputy GD for Personnel and Social Policies of Norilsk Nickel, the workshop was aimed at coming up with the statement the top-manager community could make about the issue of corporate social responsibility in Russia and stand up for their stance in both business and wider social communities.

The attendees shared the experience they have gained during the last ten or fifteen years of new economic conditions for doing business in Russia. Their objectives were put as follows: firstly, to show the positive trends in Russian personnel policies to the world’s community of employers; secondly, to assess their share in the global development of corporate social responsibility.

The report by Ms Fedoseeva devoted to interdependence of a company’s development strategy and territorial development strategy made it clear that the challenges faced by the community as well as business are closely connected. ‘Human efficiency is the cornerstone of production efficiency and defines the wellbeing of both individuals and the area they are living in; presence of this efficiency, in its turn, makes the area attractive for investors and increases its competitiveness, including the field of looking for efficient human resources,’ Ms Fedoseeva said.

SUAL Group considers this interdependence and plans its activity on the basis of three factors of sustainable development: the economic factor, the environmental factor, and the social factor. The mechanisms used to create sustainability are: equipment upgrading, environmental projects, corporate social policies, social partnership projects that involve cooperation with public bodies and local governments (this has already resulted in a corporate pension system and will soon lead to programs for the multi-faceted social and economic territorial development).