Organizational Consolidation

Human Talent

In 2009, the company moved forward in its strategy to have the world class talent to support its growth plans laid out up to the year 2015 and make it a great place to work in Colombia.  

Human talent management was based on generating and maintaining labor relations of confidence, guaranteeing wage competitiveness, improving the competencies of company leaders, strengthening values and culture with a reliable, accessible and timely system of communications.

To this effect, different measurements and programs were carried out throughout the year to improve the work environment, strengthen the organizational culture, and attract and retain the personnel required to fulfill these goals.

To start out, the company participated in the study conducted by the Saratoga Institute of Pricewaterhouse Coopers for South America (87 companies with revenues of over US $2.1 trillion and 3100 employees) and obtained a performance result that was favorable or near requirement on 82% of the items evaluated.

This is an important point of reference for the selection, development, performance, succession and leadership processes carried out by the company and allows it to measure its levels of performance in this area.

Similarly, selection and recruitment processes were consolidated based on the organizational, leadership and technical qualifications required to face the corporate challenges, which resulted in the admission of 560 new workers, including 29 Colombians who were living abroad and seven foreigners. 

Similarly, 434 students were employed with apprenticeship contracts, and 2139 workers were promoted to jobs of a higher level, which indicates that the job value proposal is competitive and the company is one of the top sources of employment in the country.

Advances in human development were focused on qualifications, individual performance management and succession. Qualifications are assessed based on a model internationally recognized by the National Job Training System and endorsed by the International Labor Organization. The process starts out by creating functional maps and qualification standards; then it identifies those that are crucial for each job, assesses them and, last but not least, makes development plans to close any gaps. 

In 2009, 2983 workers were evaluated as regards technical qualifications and 822 leaders were assessed in organizational and leadership qualifications.  Development plans were created for 96% of the population, including tutoring, presentations, training and classroom instruction. The process required an investment of $19.139 billion and, according to Price WaterHousecoopers – Saratoga, it takes the company beyond the reference indicator of the companies studied in Latin America.    

The Organization identified 132 positions (113 management and 19 technical) in need of a succession plan and carried out a knowledge transfer process with 268 potential successors.

The company continued to strengthen its leadership program. Throughout the year, it assessed the microclimate generated by 663 leaders of its team and carried out development actions with 801 participants, setting the foundations to start out with the Leadership School as of 2010.

The work climate improved, not only because of the 6.8 increase in the work environment index (WEI), but because of the achievements obtained by signing a trust agreement with the Workers’ Trade Union (USO in Spanish), the Collective Bargaining Agreement made with union organizations for five years, and the Agreement to improve productivity.  

As part of its commitment to improve work conditions and the quality of living of its collaborators, the company awarded standard contracts of employment for 472 temporary workers, home loans for 1093 people and loans for computers for 547.

88% of the company’s population participated in the wellbeing programs, which rated an average of 4.6 on a scale of 1 to 5.  Workshops were carried out to disseminate and internalize behaviors and values for 3731 participants, and the communication model was strengthened through three processes: direct, mediated and participative communication.

All these advances in human talent management lead to Ecopetrol’s progress on the road to becoming one of the top ten companies to work for in Colombia (reference Great Place to Work Institute), having 80% of the workers with 100% of the qualifications required, and having 80% of the right leaders according to the standards it has defined.