60 years of excellent work: Nizhnekamskneftekhim's HR department celebrates its anniversary

The HR department of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC is the showpiece of the enterprise. This is where the employee's acquaintance with the company, his work and career path begin. From the moment of its creation, recruitment specialists successfully perform the main function — they select qualified personnel, help young professionals to realise themselves. This year, the HR department of the company celebrates its 60th anniversary. What has changed in the work over the years, how they attract young people to the enterprise and popularise working professions — read in the material of Realnoe Vremya.

The six-decade history

The HR department of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC celebrates a significant date — 60 years since its formation. The history of this department began when the first head of the staff office, Fatikh Sharafutdinov, was hired at the Nizhnekamsk Chemical Plant.

This event took place on January 26, 1961. In the following years, the department was headed by Garaf Shamsutdinov, Zaki Gilmutdinov, Roza Ayukina, Alevtina Murashova, Madina Polyanskaya — experienced managers who knew well and professionally solved personnel issues at the enterprise. Currently, the staff office has been transformed into the HR department, which is headed by Lilia Yarema.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim has always been famous for deputy directors of human resources. From September 1966 to October 1968, Pyotr Achaev worked for them, and from 1968 to 1969 — Ivan Maltsev. In 1977, Masgut Sibgatov became the deputy director general of household services. With experience behind him, he skillfully directed the work of the housing and communal services department in the right direction.

From November 1969 to August 1978, Rashid Khannanov worked as the deputy director general for human resources. Under his leadership, the plant developed and established a certain system for working with personnel, for their placement, promotion and education, and developed and operated the “Regulations on the reserve for promotion and work with persons enrolled in the personnel reserve”.

From September 1978, Fidail Mangushev worked as the deputy director general for human resources. He paid great attention to the issues of on-the-job training of young specialists, training and advanced training of workers, managers and engineers.

From March 1997 to March 2002, the head of the human resources department was Irik Kadyrov, from 2000 to 2008 — Nurislam Fatykhov. He was the author of many social programmes: for medical care of the association's employees, for the implementation of housing programme, for improving the system of recruitment, selection and training of personnel, for the development of public catering, and others.

From September 2008, energetic and competent manager Vasily Shuysky was appointed deputy director general for personnel and social affairs, under whom the personnel management policy was implemented.

Strategic resource of the company

Creating new things, preserving traditions — this principle is followed by the department of the deputy director general for personnel and social affairs of Nizhnekamskneftekhim. Since recently, it has been headed by young creative top manager Rodion Bulashov. Building on what was created by his predecessors, he successfully continues to implement the policy in the field of personnel management.

Under the leadership of Rodion Bulashov, the organisation of social, cultural, medical, sports and recreation services for employees of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC and their family members is carried out. The control over the improvement and sanitary cleaning of the territories of the industrial zones of the joint-stock company, the city of Nizhnekamsk and forest areas in the suburban zone assigned to the structural divisions of the enterprise is carried out. The patronage over 18 educational institutions of the city of Nizhnekamsk is also organised and assistance is provided annually in preparing for the school season. The events of the city and regional scale are held with the participation of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC.

“Personnel for Nizhnekamskneftekhim has always been the main strategic resource for achieving ambitious goals. Currently, the company employs more than 15,000 employees, of which almost 41% are under the age of 35. Competently selecting and placing personnel, preparing and training them, focusing on development, creating a basic and ambitious motivation, performing the correct setting of goals and objectives, feedback realisation — these are the stages of the personnel policy of Nizhnakemskneftekhim that give the opportunity to solve business problems," says Rodion Bulashov.

In the company, the selection of personnel is carried out in accordance with the education, qualifications, experience of the candidate and with the requirements set out in the qualification guides or professional standards.

Besides, the compliance of the objective characteristics of the candidates with the needs of production is determined, including by psychodiagnostic testing of employed and new workers in the workshops whose activities are related to the operation of hazardous production facilities.

The uniqueness of Nizhnekamskneftekhim's personnel development system lies in the vast experience, as well as in the search for new directions for retaining and development of employees in the company.

Keeping up with the times

To achieve these goals, the HR department has developed measures designed until 2025. For example, the modernisation of selection process, personnel adaptation and training process, personnel certification, satisfaction surveys, involvement, and loyalty of the staff.

The automation of the selection and recruitment process gives the opportunity to implement a quick, prompt search for candidates according to the required criteria based on data obtained from external and internal resources, as well as tracking the stages of employment.

Certification for compliance with the position is the most important component of the personnel policy of the enterprise. The personnel assessment process is currently automated. This project is implemented in the SAP Fiori system. The certification materials are used to form the reservist's personal account. These measures are particularly important during the period of the spread of the new coronavirus.

The system of interaction with educational institutions is currently under review. The main areas of interaction of the Company with specialised educational institutions are following: on-the-job internship, career guidance work, targeted training, dual training system, internship, independent assessment of graduates. In order to ensure the influx of highly educated, well-trained young people into the Company, it became necessary to create the “Petrochemical class” in school, “Petrochemical group” in college, and in the future — a group in higher education with an in-depth study of exact sciences. Thus, purposeful work is carried out to support talented young people, support their studies in educational institutions, attract them to practice, and train them.

Multi-stage professional skills competitions

The most popular profession in Nizhnekamskneftekhim is the apparatchik of processing units. It is followed by the machinist of compressor and pumping units, locksmith for instrumentation, electrician, laboratory assistant, locksmith-repairman of technological equipment.

The company annually holds competitions of professional skills in main professions. They have a multi-stage system — from qualifying stages in the divisions to final corporate stages. The winners go to the city, republican and all-Russian levels, where they regularly achieve success.

Almost everyone competes: turners, millers, laboratory technicians, electricians, software engineers, young innovators, shift managers and others.

As part of the implementation of the personnel policy in terms of career and professional growth of employees at Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, the company's standard “Procedure for determining and preparing the personnel reserve for appointments of managers and specialists of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC” was developed and approved.

The main purpose of forming the personnel reserve is to provide qualified employees who are able to maintain the continuity of management in all areas and in all structural divisions of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC.

For 2021-2025, it is planned to improve the mechanisms for forming the personnel reserve: the development and publication of cases on the corporate portal, the creation of a personal account of a reservist in the SAP programme to consolidate objective data, assess and train reservists.

From offline to online

The coronavirus pandemic has made its own adjustments to the work of petrochemists. The corporate culture has partially changed with the transition to a remote form of work. Special importance was given to the questions of feedback. Daily monitoring of employees' mood was introduced, and the company's presence in social networks was strengthened.

When switching to the remote format, all business processes and communications between employees have been saved, the transition from offline to online format was supervised, and the online platforms through which all corporate communication will take place have been designated.

The company's social responsibility issues have become dominant. A variety of activities was carried out to support the company's prime-age employees, employees with large families (tablets were allocated to provide their children with the process of distance learning at school) and socially vulnerable groups (food packages for former employees with disabilities). Corporate volunteerism has received additional development.

“Tailor-made” personnel

The training centre plays an important role in the company where more than 10,000 employees of Nizhnekamskneftekhim annually pass through the system of retraining and advanced training. Moreover, up to 90 per cent of the total training needs of the company's employees are realised through corporate training, which is a priority.

The company has developed a system of recruitment of employees, which includes career guidance work in educational institutions of the city, training in basic educational institutions, reception by the direction from the city employment centre, reception of CVs through the corporate website.

The main areas of interaction of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC with specialised educational institutions are following: on-the-job internship, career guidance work, targeted training, dual training system, internship, independent assessment of graduates.

In 2019, the HR department held meetings with parents and students of the final year of the N.V. Lemaev College of Petrochemistry and Oil Refining. . A completely new experience has been introduced in the framework of dual training. From 2019, students of the final year of this college are given the opportunity to get job training with following employment.

In December 2019, eight students were employed in the occupations of a turner, and in 2020, 112 college students were employed in the specialised professions of an apparatchik and a machinist.

For Nizhnekamskneftekhim, dual education is an opportunity to prepare personnel exactly “to order”, ensuring their maximum compliance with all their requirements, while saving on costs in the search and selection of employees, their retraining and adaptation. Corporate scholarships are awarded to the best university students to improve the company's image and attract the best graduates to work.

Another unique project of the company is the Federal Experimental Site of the Nizhnekamsk Chemical and Technological Institute, which was created on the basis of the enterprise. The final year students who showed the best results at the end of their studies are employed at the enterprise and switch to the evening form of training.

In close connection, Nizhnekamskneftekhim works with the Nizhnekamsk Chemical and Technological Institute (a branch of Kazan National Research Technological University, KNRTU) and the Lemaev College of Petrochemistry and Oil Refining . Starting from the first year, the students of the college undertake an internship at the enterprise and collect materials for their thesis.

Nizhnekamskneftekhim raises future personnel from the school bench. Potential petrochemists are invited to take tours of the company, where they are introduced to the city-forming enterprise and are told about the industry's professions. This opportunity appears in the framework of the programmes World of Professions and Turnstile Without Borders. Many students, having visited the production facility, make the decision on employment here.

Mentors come to the aid of young petrochemists. The mentoring system at Nizhnekamskneftekhim has a multi-level structure. For this purpose, a base of highly qualified employees has been created, who, using their knowledge and experience, act in different categories of staff and students.

As a result, one person combines the functions of an instructor of industrial training, when improving the skills and training of employees in professions, a mentor, when providing professional assistance to new coming production workers, and an instructor-mentor — after applied practical work at the enterprise by students.

Business games, discussions, and brainstorming sessions are held for young employees.

First in production, in sports and creativity

From the first years of its existence, the company paid special attention to social and youth policy. Every petrochemist can reveal their athletic and creative abilities.

For this purpose, the company annually hosts up to 150 cultural and sports events. The competitions for innovators and international scientific and practical conferences allow attracting workers and engineers to search for highly effective technical solutions.

The employees participate in city and regional events, including the annual open republican television festival of creativity of working youth “Our Time — Beznen Zaman”. This year, due to the high level of preparation of creative performances, the new prize was established in the competition — the Heroes of Our Time Cup. It was won by the team of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC.

Another pride of the company is the team of KVN — Prospekt Khimikov. It successfully participates in the festivals of the KVN games of the Respublika league.

The volunteer movement is active. Young workers take part in various campaigns: The Garden of Memory, St. George's Ribbon in the military-patriotic sports game The Patriots of Neftekhim.

The Museum of Military Glory was opened in the year of the 75th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Most of the exhibits presented in the museum are genuine unique finds that were discovered by the soldiers of the Petrochemist detachment during search expeditions at the sites of fierce battles. The search activity of the detachment has been conducted for 15 years, during which the remains of more than 800 fighters have been raised.

The team of Nizhnekamskneftekhim can be called one of the most professional, creative, athletic and united in Tatarstan. And this is a direct merit of personnel management. In solving the most important production tasks, Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC relies on the knowledge, experience and hard work of its entire team. In return, they increase the block of social, youth programmes and investment projects.

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By Lilia Yegorova. Photo courtesy of Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC
Tatarstan