Nordgold is an international gold mining company with mines and projects in Russia, Kazakhstan, Guinea and Burkina-Faso, employing approximately 10,000 people worldwide. As a young, dynamic and fast-growing company, Nordgold is an attractive employer. We aim to develop our employees, to provide the skills we need for the future and allow our people to fulfill their potential.
Managing our people
Each of the countries we work in has its own laws, customs and lifestyles. This means that we take a flexible and pragmatic approach to managing our people. At the minimum, we always ensure that we fully understand and comply with our legal obligations to our employees.
We have good relationships with our employees. All of our business units provide accommodation on site and offer catering, healthcare and transportation for our workers. During 2011, we upgraded the facilities at a number of our sites.
Recruitment
Attracting and retaining the right people is vital to the success of our company. We typically find that we can obtain the people we need. We aim to pay salaries that are in line with or ahead of the market, and use bonuses and other retention payments to incentivise and retain key staff. Our policy is to be clear and transparent about remuneration.
We look to employ local people where possible. This is both good business practice, due to the cost of employing expatriates, and helps to develop the skills base and economies of the regions where we work. We do employ expatriates where they have the best skills and are able to train our people and pass on their knowledge.
In 2010, we established a regional recruitment centre in Siberia to provide a wide range of skilled specialists to our Russian mines. It organises job fairs and interacts with training schools and universities, to find people who have the capabilities we need.
Developing our people
Nordgold has a number of training and development programmes, for senior management, middle management and our workforce.
Our managers have personal development plans. We provide training using internal trainers and leading external consultants. We look to develop promising people by involving them in advanced projects, such as innovation or productivity programmes. We also have links with the Moscow and Irkutsk State Mining Universities.
We offer professional training for our workers. This involves identifying good performers and training them in preparation for moving up to the next grade. We also help underperformers to improve to an acceptable standard. Training programmes cover a wide range of subjects, including equipment use, health and safety, and languages.