SCA is committed to fostering a workplace that is safe and that is founded on fair employment practices and mutual respect.
SCA in Russia has developed a special training programme for new employees, including both legal issues and SCA's internal rules for fair competition and ethical business principles.
To help ensure the company attracts and retains the most qualified people, SCA embraces the principles of equal employment opportunity and strives for a working environment free from all forms of illegal discrimination. SCA will as a minimum follow all applicable labour and employment laws wherever it operates.
Dialogue with employees
SCA places value in having well-informed employees and creates opportunities for them to freely express their views. The importance to SCA of effectively engaging with employees makes employee surveys an important tool for evaluation of operations and providing a basis for improvement.
In many markets SCA has formal employee consultation processes. One of the largest representative groups is the SCA European Works Council which represents about 30,000 SCA employees. Through regular meetings at different levels, SCA maintains an ongoing dialogue with employee representatives.
SCA recognizes the right of employees to freely associate and all SCA employees are free to join trades unions. In 2007, more than 70% of SCA’s employees were covered by collective agreements.
Global Framework Agreement
In April 2004, SCA signed a Global Framework Agreement with ICEM (the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions), the Swedish Paper Workers’ Union (representing all Swedish trade unions) and SCA’s European Works Council. The agreement is based on the Code of Conduct and is an expression of SCA’s willingness to promote cooperation and social responsibility within its worldwide operations and to act as a responsible employer. The areas covered by the agreement are reviewed bi-annually in a joint meeting between the signatories. The last review in January 2007 concluded that no violations of the agreement had occurred.
Compensation
SCA offers employees a market-tested total remuneration package that fairly rewards their efforts and skills. Levels vary in each local market in which the company operates.
Restructuring and reorganisation
SCA strives to ensure that any restructuring is handled in a responsible and transparent manner and that the interests of all parties involved are considered. Employees are informed early in the process about the reasons for the changes, expected consequences, and how the changes will be implemented.
Employees are assisted in finding alternative permanent employment on acceptable conditions, with due regard for the professional and personal circumstances of each individual.
SCA’s policy is to provide employees with timely information with respect to organizational changes. In cases not involving employee redundancies, approximately 3-4 weeks of notice is provided.
Employee development
SCA invests significant amounts in various forms of employee development every year. Each business group has training and development
programmes designed to meet their specific needs. In 2007, the cost of the training and development programmes totalled SEK 178m (165), which corresponds to approximately SEK 3,500 per employee. This amount only relates to external costs.
Recruitment
SCA has taken a number of measures to strengthen its position as an attractive employer. In 2007 a global recruitment policy was adopted and implemented to ensure that all business groups work according to the same principles and with a high degree of transparency. The policy also
means that there are better prerequisites for increased internal mobility.
Furthermore, a new global SCA Job Portal was launched. It is being rolled out country by country and will be implemented globally in the beginning of 2009. The portal includes information on all available jobs within SCA that are open to both internal and external candidates.
Leadership development
All business groups within SCA have processes for conducting regular/annual goal discussions with employees. More than 50% of the employees participate in regular performance and career development reviews. Each business group also has a succession plan that is revised annually. At the Group level, a corresponding process encompasses SCA’s top 300 managers and is led by the CEO.
SCA has also developed a Leadership Pipeline, which is a tool for systematically conducting leadership development training at various levels.