Our overall strategic objective in 2008 has been to build a company culture that is based on our values and driven by performance. In our day-to-day work, this means that we create a positive working environment that people find attractive and inspirational and that makes them committed to the company.
What are the challenges?
The impact of the financial and economic turmoil presents challenges in relation to our workforce. We are planning for growth and need to further develop and maintain our core expertise. The economic turmoil provides opportunities in the talent market, but also encourages focus on efficiency improvements and right-sizing to maintain our room to manoeuvre.
The main focus areas in people and organisation are to consolidate the organisation by completing the integration process, targeting recruitment and right-sizing, and pursuing our strategic objective of being a values-based and performance driven organisation. When growing globally we need to ensure that we have a highly competent workforce.
Our first year as a newly-merged company created many challenges as well as opportunities. One of the biggest challenges was to make sure that we apply working methods and procedures based on best practice from both former companies. In many areas, particularly in the operating organisation (which is being integrated in the last quarter of 2008 and in the beginning of 2009), the implementation of new work processes requires particular management attention in order to ensure efficiency and a focus on health, safety and the environment.
Clear ambitions, goals, and shared values are fundamental to any company - and even more critical when implementing an extensive merger. Commitment to our values and the StatoilHydro Book is a prerequisite if we are to succeed in building a company culture in which people share a strong sense of identity. In 2009, we will implement a new vision and company name that reflects our business strategy and values.
What are we doing?
Our values, corporate people policies, and codes of ethical conduct serve as the most important guidelines when addressing the challenges mentioned above. Our goal is to attract and select the right people by focusing on efficient, high-quality recruitment processes. We work systematically to create a caring and inspiring working environment which promotes diversity, as well as committed and motivated people. By monitoring important aspects of our working environment through corporate surveys and by applying relevant key performance indicators, we incorporate these issues into our strategic work. Cooperation with the unions is based on confidence and trust between the parties involved, and agreements between them are improved. We provide opportunities for growth and encourage our people to take responsibility for their own professional development, by giving them an opportunity to link their deliveries and behaviour to our corporate business strategies through our People@StatoilHydro process. In StatoilHydro, we work systematically to incorporate our values into everything we do, and communicate the importance of using our values as yardsticks in our day-to-day work. We reward delivery and behaviour equally and provide both tangible and intangible rewards. Finally, we work hard to ensure that our people experience that they are being well taken care of in the integration process.
What have we achieved?
We sustained our position as the employer of choice for technical and commercial talent in Norway in 2008 despite having had a low profile in the external recruitment market. About 44,800 CVs have been uploaded to our talent database. Aligned with our ambition to grow internationally and our commitment to promote diversity, we have managed to grow significantly in strategically important countries such as Canada and the USA. The percentage of non-Norwegians working at our different locations in Norway has increased. Our cooperation with the unions has been improved through redefinition of the agreement between the parties in ICEM. Our process for people performance, development and deployment has been simplified and improved. This work will continue to be of importance in 2009.
We have improved our total rewards package by expanding our share saving programme to cover 14 of the countries where we are operating. We have engaged a team of external researchers to deliver an independent evaluation of the entire integration process. The research programme is expected to run for three years. Our own internal Integration Monitoring Survey shows that employees are generally satisfied with how they experience the integration process. In October 2008, 80% report that they have been well taken care of during the process.
