OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2013. Our Home/Your Home project has garnered high praise from the Manager Association People Investor 2013 panel, category People Investor Companies and is recognized as one of the best social practices by Russian and international companies under category HR-Management.

The project Our Home/Your Home was started in 2010 to solve one of the key human resource management challenges – hiring world-class professionals for long-term employment in the Russian arctic-based enterprises.

The idea behind the project is an innovative process of purchasing housing at the Company’s expense as well as a process of providing employees with key professional expertise under mutually agreed cofounding terms with up to half of an apartment purchase price being paid for by the Company and the remainder by the employee within 10 years. The sum paid for by Norilsk Nickel is transferred by maturity of that term concurrently with the employee being awarded the property title, even though he or she can use the apartment – live there while on vacation, lease it out, invite relatives to live there – at any point after receiving the keys.

The program coverage extends to the employees of the Polar Division and Kola MMC including a number of other affiliates based in the Taymyr municipal area of Krasnoyarsk Krai and in Murmansk region.

The long-term program is going to be continuously implemented with corporate obligations having being recorded in Norilsk Nickel’s 2012-2015 collective bargaining agreement. The Company shall purchase 500-550 apartments for employees on an annual basis. Up to this point 1590 apartments have been granted to employees. Over RUB 8 billion has been allocated for construction and purchase of residential housing.

The project’s initial performance can be expressed in staff turnover rates, which for the Polar Division participants are six times as low as the division staff average.

The Manager Association’s People Investor project was established in 2008 to expose the most innovative practice in sustainable development and corporate governance with awards given in categories such as HR-Management and Development of Local Communities.