Human capital is a central component in Ultra’s long trajectory of growth. The people management model adopted by the company favors the development of leaders, motivated by challenging goals, and encourages professional job rotation within different areas, promoting the exchange of best practices and professional experiences. This model is supported by two main elements: meritocracy and the alignment of interests between leaders and their teams.
Aligning backgrounds and training to the multi-business culture is one of the focuses of people management and the potential for talent rotation is one of its characteristics. It is essential to the success of the business to promote the development of new skills for employees while reinforcing Ultra’s culture and identity, which should be present in all of the company’s business segments.
Management compensation
The compensation policies and practices at Ultra, described in Item 6 of the Form 20-F, available here, has ramifications according to the governance body. Board of Directors and the Fiscal Council members receive fixed compensation corresponding to the responsibility and complexity of the position and follow to market practices.
In the case of the Executive Officers, Ultra offers fixed compensation, short and long-term variable compensation and stock compensation plan. The short and long-term compensations are tied to economic value growth targets (mainly EVA®), providing alignment of interests between managers and shareholders and ensuring the retention of executives. The stock compensation plans aim to strengthen an owner’s mindset and retain talents, in addition to aligning interests among all stakeholders.
Internal opportunities
At Ultra, employees are encouraged to develop their careers internally, strengthening their relationships with the organization and preserving talents.
The company encourages movements among different areas and businesses and has built-in tools to find professionals to fill open positions in the Corporate Center and other business units, as it believes that internal movements provide new challenges and a broader view to the employee.
The strategy has been effective: in 2015, about one thousand employees moved between areas within a business unit or to other business units.
Ultra Office - Building Monte Branco
Ultra’s employees by region
NORTHEAST
NORTH
SOUTH
MIDWEST
SOUTHEAST
INTERNATIONAL
TOTAL
Climate survey
86%
of employees participated in the climate survey in 2015
Climate management is a topic that has been discussed for a long time at Ultra. As part of the development of the people management process, since 2012, climate survey is no longer conducted by each business unit independently, but is carried out on a consolidated basis. Throughout August and September, Ultra held its 2015 Climate Survey. This was the second survey applied to all businesses together to assess the evolution and recognize development opportunities, from the perception of employees on the working environment and best management practices. The process was coordinated in partnership with Hay Group, an international consulting firm specialized in climate studies and engagement. Participation totaled 86% and the favorability index increased by 8%, reaching 71%. The challenge at Ultra is to continually evolve positively, striving to be ranked among the best companies in the market in terms of climate management, aligned with its purpose of being a global reference as a multi-business company.
Leadership development
Ultra Essence (“Essência Ultra”)
In June 2015, Ultra launched a leadership-training program called Ultra Essence (“Essência Ultra”). It is expected that approximately 650 leaders, including directors, managers and coordinators, will be trained by the end of 2017.
Based on a specific methodology for the development of leaders, the program has fully customized content based on the Ultra business model and combines skills related to strategic thinking, business management and high performance team management.
The program consists of six modules and serves as an important diagnostic and influence tool in the organizational culture.
ULTRA LEADERS | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Chief Executive Officer - Ultrapar | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Chief Executive Officer - Business | 5 | 6 | 6 |
Directors | 23 | 27 | 28 |
Managers | 766 | 1,237 | 1,342 |
Coordinators and Consultants | 40 | 66 | 80 |
TOTAL | 835 | 1,337 | 1,457 |
New talents
In addition to developing employees’ knowledge and various skills, the multi-business culture also requires a continuous capture of new talents and competences. Along these lines, approximately 300 young people enter Ultra annually through internship, trainee and young professional programs, fulfilling an intense development agenda, which includes technical and behavioral training, job rotation and project development. Through this, they are exposed to the breadth and diversity of opportunities at Ultra.
With the objective of exposing its brand to young professionals and recent graduates who wish to enter the labor market, the company makes use of all possible means, including participation in job fairs, held annually by major Brazilian universities, as well as the intensive use of referrals and social media.
NEW TALENTS | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
Interns / Trainees | 252 | 263 | 284 |
Ipiranga University
Launched in 2014, it seeks to promote the development of Ipiranga’s employees and customers to strengthen business skills and encourage continuous learning. For this purpose, it offers an infrastructure with in-person and online contents, on a long-distance learnings platform, which encourages knowledge sharing. Ipiranga University consists of two fronts: the Training School, dedicated to updating the staff, and the Retail School, focused on training resellers, franchisees, authorized distributors and teams, in partnership with institutions such as Fundação Dom Cabral, Instituto Brasileiro de Mercado de Capitais and Fundação Getúlio Vargas in creating customized courses. In 2015, approximately 115,000 hours were invested in employee training.
Online Academy
In 2015, Ultragaz launched the Online Academy, a new distance, dynamic and interactive education platform, offering training focused on self-development. The Online Academy replicates, in an interactive environment, specific technical and behavioral trainings, focusing on the qualification of sales force of Ultragaz Academia. In addition, it brings together e-learning content with tutorials on key processes, systems and tools used by the company.
Ultracargo Knowledge Portal
This distance-learning tool includes different channels (podcasts, online videos, seminars and texts) to expand sources of interaction among employees of different hierarchical levels, prioritizing to the development and exchange of technical information among operational areas. The content is developed by Harvard and Chicago universities, in the United States, and is also produced by the company.
Retail Training Program
Extrafarma forms partnerships with municipal education departments to promote the Retail Training Program, aimed at young people aged between 19 and 24 years who have completed high school. The training provides young professional with qualification in retail and, at the end, Extrafarma selects top students in the class to support its expansion of drugstores, generating jobs and skilled labor in the communities.
Head offices