Human capital development

With a headcount of 129 thousand employees, Rostelecom Group ranks among Russia’s largest employers. Rostelecom views human capital development as a top strategic priority. Achieving the Group’s long-term goals requires a high level of engagement and satisfaction as well as opportunities for professional and personal growth of each employee.

We are committed to building a working environment that encourages talent development. Customising all processes and services around the employee and his or her interests is a key focus area for us. Considering Rostelecom’s strategic goals and trends in the labour market, the Group has been focusing on strengthening its HR brand, integrating Generation Z into business processes, and enhancing labour productivity.

Focus on workforce productivity
Fig. 36. Focus on workforce productivity

Incentives

We focus on engaging employees on the Company’s success by creating a positive environment that encourages enhanced performance. Rostelecom has in place several incentive programmes covering a wide range of employees or targeting specific employee groups.

In 2018, we approved Rostelecom’s Long-Term Incentive Programme for 2020–2022, a logical extension of our Long-Term Incentive Programme for 2017–2019.

For more details on our employee incentive and remuneration programmes see the Corporate Governance section.

Education and development

Rostelecom places a particular emphasis on training its employees. Our training programmes involve over 50 thousand employees. In 2018, we continued to develop our corporate training platform by expanding its functionality and adding The Basics of the Digital Economy and IMBA courses.

We aim to build a positive working environment for our employees from their very first day at work. All our new employees are provided with a ready-to-use workplace and access to a corporate mobile application on their first day of employment.

We offer our employees a mentoring programme to expand their career opportunities. Rostelecom also builds a talent pool, counting 415 employees in 2018.

Positive corporate environment

Engaging the youth

We believe that by 2022 20% to 25% of our employees will belong to Generation ZGenerations of people born approximately after 1995 according to the generational theory by William Strauss and Neil Howe who are known for their high mobility and agile decision making. To ensure a solid talent pipeline for the future, Rostelecom has already started promoting its HR brand among young people.

In 2018, Rostelecom launched a leadership programme for students, Internship 365°, covering 25 major Moscow universities. Following the programme, 15 students started an internship with the Company.

We also continued offering externships for students as part of our relations with universities. In 2018, about 4,000 students underwent externships at Rostelecom, with 17 offered an employment at the Company as a result, while another 27 continued working with us on a project basis.

For school students, Rostelecom launched a range of Information Security programmes. The programmes covered a 3 million audience, with 1,500 most active participants included in our talent pool.

Focus on productivity

As part of its digital transformation, Rostelecom has been automating its operations to right size the headcount. We plan to increase the share of digital experts on our staff to 25% by 2022 while downsizing the total headcount to 115–120 thousand. The headcount restructuring will improve our performance. For example, in 2018 our revenue per employee grew by 10% to RUB 2.49 million.

Recognising its social responsibility, Rostelecom aims to minimise the negative impact of rightsizing by offering upskilling courses to its employees as well as an outplacement programme to help the exiting employees find a new job.

Internal communications

Rostelecom is committed to building a bilateral dialogue between employees and managers across the corporate hierarchy. To this end, we launched the Online Reception service in 2018, enabling employees to ask questions of top managers. We also launched a mobile application for employees, which features contact details of their colleagues and other useful information.

Apart from integrating our proprietary solutions into internal communications, we also have corporate channels in messengers and representation in social media.

Focus on corporate culture

The core values of Rostelecom’s corporate culture detailed in its Code of Corporate Conduct are: openness, responsibility, expertise, innovation, and continuity.

In building our corporate culture, we rely on our employees. Every year, Rostelecom runs engagement surveys, using the feedback to improve corporate projects. In 2018, our employee engagement score was 69%, up 14 pp from 2016.

In 2018, employee engagement score was 69%, up 14 pp from 2016.

The Group implemented a number of initiatives to promote its refreshed brand among its employees. The rebranding led to changes in visual elements of all communication tools.

Support for employees

Rostelecom has in place a collective bargaining agreement outlining the benefits and social guarantees offered to employees. In 2018, we approved a new collective bargaining agreement for 2019–2021.

The list of benefits is divided into two groups: basic benefits and the Cafeteria Plan. Basic benefits comprise voluntary health insurance, a housing programme, a corporate pension plan, and other benefits. The Cafeteria Plan was launched in 2018. The new service enables employees to manage their portfolio of benefits by selecting what they need the most and leaving out what they need less.

For more details on the Company’s HR management see Rostelecom’s Sustainability Report 2018.