Petrobras - 2009 Sustainability Report

The Commission on Diversity, composed of representatives of different Petrobras System areas and subsidiaries and tied to the Social Responsibility Management Committee, discusses issues related to promoting diversity and combating discrimination and proposes actions to improve the management of these matters.

Since 2007, the promotion of equal opportunities between men and women throughout Petrobras - also regarding holding senior management positions - was reinforced when the company joined the Pro-Gender Equality Program, sponsored by the Special Secretariat for Women’s Policies and supported by United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Brazil. For fulfilling the Action Plan in 2007 and 2008, Petrobras was granted Pro-Gender Equity Seal program for the second time.

Giving continuity to actions aimed to promote human rights and women’s citizenship, Petrobras joined the Pro-Gender Equality Program for the third time in 2009. In general, the Program maintains the same goals as its previous editions: promoting equal opportunities for men and women in companies and institutions and developing new human resources management and organizational culture concepts. By joining the program, Petrobras commits, in the 2009-2010 period, to implement an Action Plan to pursue 12 goals. Proven positive among the Brazilian organizations, the 2009 edition of the Pro-Equality Program was joined by 72 organizations, including Petrobras Distribuidora and Transpetro.

As part of Petrobras’ Pro-Gender Equality Action, the 2009 Cycle of Regional Meetings for Strengthening Gender Equity was held throughout the year together with other companies. The goal was to disseminate content on gender relations and diversity in the society, particularly in the work place, and to divulge to both employees and to the stakeholders the actions the company has carried out to promote gender equality. Five regional meetings were held in different Brazilian capital cities during the year. The meetings were attended by about 1,200 employees of the organizer companies and a non-estimated audience sat-in on the events over the Internet.

In November, Petrobras launched its first Breastfeeding Support Room. The space was designed with the necessary infrastructure to collect and store breast milk during the workday. The room was a demand made by the company’s female workforce and assists mothers who are returning to work and wish to continue breastfeeding their children. This initiative also fulfills our commitment to help balance professional, personal, and family activities.

Regarding the disable people, a working group was created for developing policies, guidelines and action plan to meet the special needs of theses employees. The Multidisciplinary Health Care (AMS) has implemented a program designed to cover employees who are in stable relationships with same gender partners since 2007. A total of 100 employees have joined the program, of whom 61 men and 39 women.

This recognition and the granting of rights also extend to the Petros Plan. When the National Social Security Institute (INSS) grants a pension to a person on account of his or her partner’s death, the Foundation pays the corresponding supplementary benefit to the registered companion using the same criteria as those used for heterosexual couples.

SALARY-BASE* RATIO AMONG MEN AND WOMEN
	TYPE OF EMPLOYEE	HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES RATIO	COLLEGE GRADUATES RATIO
* Fixed and minimum amount paid to the employee for performing his or her tasks, not including any additional pay.
PETROBRAS SYSTEM IN BRAZIL	Employees with no bonus function	1.03	0.88
	Employees with bonus function	0.78	0.83
	TOTAL	0.88	0.85

The Brazilian legislation foresees a minimum reserve of 5% of the positions at the companies for disable people. Since, in Brazil, Petrobras has 19,524 positions for which opening reserves are foreseen - i.e., positions that do not require full capacity in order to be performed - , the 1,077 disable employees hold 5.5% of the foreseen openings.

Treatment of incidents regarding Discrimination

In 2009, the Ombudsman’s Office of Petrobras (Petróleo Brasileiro S.A.) received 18 complaints involving discrimination, nine of which made against the same employee by other members of the workforce. After ascertainment, the complaints were considered well-founded and the employee was submitted to disciplinary action compatible with the complaint. He later apologized to the denunciators. Four other complaints are still under analysis, and four were considered unfounded. These figures do not include the other Petrobras System companies.

When discrimination complaints are registered, the cases are analyzed and forwarded to the company’s competent areas for the due measures to be taken. In some cases, a warning is recommended while in others conciliation with the intermediation of the Ombudsman’s Office.

A few complaints are dealt with locally, i.e., at the business units themselves, and not registered by the General Ombudsman’s Office. In order to make it feasible to have a general consolidation of the discrimination complaints at the company, a flow model project is currently in progress to allow the Ombudsman’s Office to learn about and monitor all situations.

See the Diversity Census infographic