#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. As part of the Russia exhibition, the All-Russian Women’s Forum – Women: Preserving Traditions, Developing Russia – was held at VDNKh, and brought together women representatives of various professions from all regions of the country.
On March 6, the Youth House hosted a thematic session Equal Opportunities: Best Practices for Supporting and Developing Women in Industrial Companies, at which representatives of manufacturing, chemical and consulting companies discussed the problems of building a women’s career in typically male industries and shared their experiences.
The session was moderated by Daria Kryachkova, vice president for human resources policy at Nornickel.
“Stories about successful women’s careers and correcting stereotypes in this area are very important. Times have long changed, industries are becoming more technologically advanced, work is becoming less physically demanding, which means women can do this work too. I would like there to be enough opportunities and inspiration not only for the mining industry, but also for as many other companies as possible”, noted Daria Kryachkova.
30 percent of Nornickel employees are women. Now production is being modernized, digital technologies are developing.
“It is clear that management positions in human resources, legal services, and in the administrative and economic sector are closer in type to women. But in production, this is, of course, exotic. For example, the director of the production and technical department or the department of industrial safety and labor protection is rarely associated with women. But some of these positions at Nornickel are occupied by women. And the task of the Women in the Extractive Industry association, which was created with the company’s support, is to tell and show women the opportunities”, noted the Nornickel top manager in an interview with Vesti.rf.
Now digital technologies are coming to industry – for example, in companies underground, huge machines can be controlled from the surface using a joystick. Both men and women can do such new professions. Association experts began to actively talk about these opportunities, holding seminars, competitions and webinars. But it turned out that this topic is relevant not only for mining industries.
“Colleagues from other industries also take part in our competitions and our big awards, which honor the brightest and most talented representatives, with great pleasure. Therefore, this year we decided that the association should be called not Women of the Extractive Industry, but Women of Modern Industry”, noted Daria Kryachkova.
Rapid growth is also important for young people. In this sense, both Nornickel and other employers are creating rapid career growth programs for young people.
“Such programs are usually called leadership programs, when a person, joining a company, can receive his first leadership position within two years. We have such program, it’s called First Arctic. Every year we recruit 20–30 guys into it. In general, every year 200–300 people get into our internship programs so that they can see how production works, and after some time they come to work for our company”.
The company strives to appoint its own employees to leadership positions so that the ratio of “internal” to “external” is approximately 70 to 30. There are plenty of such examples – managers and even production directors who grew up in the company – at Nornickel. In particular, there is an opportunity to be involved and prove yourself in an environmental project unique in scale and complexity, such as the Sulfur Program, which Nornickel launched at the Nadezhda metallurgical plant in 2023.
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Text: Angelika Stepanova, Photo: Nornickel’s press service
