Petrobras invested around R$ 55 million in the Prominp National Vocational Training Scheme

Opportunities to refine skills

Petrobras considers its human capital an essential asset, and provides its employees with opportunities to develop and refine their skills. In 2008, for the third year running, the company was considered by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI ) criteria to be a benchmark for Human Capital Development.

In addition to training and development courses, presentations and workshops, the company promotes the exchanging of experience between its employees, as part of its knowledge management strategy. In 2008, Petrobras concluded its Corporate Knowledge Management Program, which was presented to all areas of the company in the workshop “The Company That Learns”, organized by the Knowledge Management Committee.

Developed with the participation of various working groups, the program covers the topics Knowledge Strategy, Networks and Communities, Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management in Projects, and also includes methodology for Knowledge Management Assessment and Planning. Applied successfully in International area pilot projects, the methodology will enable each of the company’s units to carry out a Maturity Analysis and plan their Knowledge Strategy.

Other successful initiatives were continued and even expanded, such as the Intercultural Education Program, to train and develop the International area’s workforce; the Petrobras Challenges Program, targeting the preservation and transmission of technical, cultural and business know-how; and the Communities in Practices Program, which promotes the exchanging of technical know-how and experience in the Exploration & Production segment and involves more than 6 thousand employees. Further highlights were the Downstream segment’s Knowledge Management program and the Engineering area’s How the Organization Learns program, which is based on lessons learned and project management best practices.

Moreover, Petrobras participated in four international study groups on benchmarking knowledge management practices, coordinated by the American Productivity & Quality Center and focused on the topics Identification of Internal Specialists, Development of Future Knowledge, New Innovation Paradigms and Web 2.0.

WORKFORCE QUALIFICATIONS

In 2008, Petrobras invested around R$ 55 million in the National Vocational Training Scheme, as part of the Program to Mobilize the Brazilian Oil & Gas Industry (Prominp).

Since it was inaugurated, more than 32 thousand students have benefitted from the scheme, which aims to provide vocational training, by 2010, to 112 thousand professionals in 175 lines of work, at levels ranging from basic to higher education. Courses are offered, free of charge, at more than 80 educational institutions in 17 states, and financial assistance may be obtained by students who lose their jobs during the course.