2005 Annual Report
Executive Summary | Learning and Development
Management of people
At the end of 2005, Aracruz was responsible for the maintenance of 10,237 direct jobs, of which 2,249 constituted its own labor force and 7,988 represented professionals linked to permanent service supply companies.
We conducted the 4th Organizational Climate Survey with the assistance of Hay do Brasil. The results indicated a favorability index of 65% among employees regarding the questions evaluated. Participation was voluntary and this year involved 1,871 participants, or 93% of our own employees, which reflects their interest in contributing to an improvement in the workplace climate.
All employees can follow the results and the progress of action plans via the Company’s intranet, ensuring transparency to the process.
We invested $1.7 million in professional development activities, offering an average of 45 hours of training per employee.
At the Guaíba Unit, the Improvement Suggestions Program encourages the participation of employees in solving problems and improving routine procedures. In 2005, 77 ideas were registered, of which 19 were implemented. The Company awarded prizes to the participants and estimates that savings obtained through the suggestions was about $5 million.
Also in Guaíba, a Professional Qualification Program was run. The project seeks to train local manpower in order to assure the availability of workers for both Aracruz and the general job market. Some $325,000 was invested in the program, which qualified 602 workers.
Our Volunteer Program, initiated in 2003, had 526 participants from the Barra do Riacho and Guaíba Units, whose actions benefited more than 19,000 persons, in the States of Espírito Santo, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia and São Paulo.
The Management Development Program (PDGA) was extended to the Guaíba Unit, and attained 63 students during 2005. The PDGA is an executivelevel program and its goal is to align managers with the Company’s strategies. The program was responsible for the preparation of 10 projects involving improvements in a number of the Company’s areas. Conducted in partnership with the Dom Cabral Foundation of Belo Horizonte (MG), the PDGA was also run in the Barra do Riacho Unit, with the participation of 196 managers.
Our Volunteer Program ran 100 actions throughout the year and benefited more than 19,000 persons in the regions where we operate.
Aracruz also runs the Arcel Educar project in partnership with the Brazilian Education Foundation (FUBRAE) of Rio de Janeiro, whose objective is to raise the level of schooling of its employees. In 2005, 203 students participated, of whom 49 received grade school or high school equivalency diplomas, 10 more than in 2004.
A program to train forestry equipment operators continued during the year in partnership with SENAI/ES. The Forestry Equipment Maintenance Operator course had 108 participants, of which the Company hired 94. During both stages of the course (training and internship), the participants received scholarships. The annual investment in the program on the part of the Company is $410,000.
For the second year in a row, Aracruz was included on the list of the Best Companies to Work for, based on a survey of employees prepared and published by Editora Abril's Guia Exame Você S/A magazine. The inclusion reflects the result of the Organizational Climate Management Program that produces action plans based on opportunities for improvement identified by in-house satisfaction surveys.
The Internal Environmental Education Program, whose objective is to raise the awareness of Aracruz’s employees of the rational use of natural resources and the minimizing of environmental impacts in their social activities as well as on the job, was continued during the year.
In the middle of the year, the Company moved its Rio de Janeiro offices to São Paulo in order, among other reasons, to facilitate travel of its executives to the various operating units, now located in three Brazilian states.