Apr 6, 2022
In line with the ISO 26000 Standard, stakeholder management establishes the guidelines to promote Ecopetrol's responsible business management with each of its seven stakeholders.
Ecopetrol's seven stakeholder groups, updated to 2020, are:
Subgroups
Ecopetrol's relationship with its stakeholders seeks to build trust and mutual benefit that leverage the achievement of business objectives, contribute to the sustainable development of Stakeholders, and enable the sustainability of the business. Derived from this relationship and within the framework of the different participation scenarios, it is usual that commitments are established between Ecopetrol and its Stakeholders, whose compliance strengthens the construction of long-term relationships.
This process consists of ensuring compliance with the commitments derived from Ecopetrol's interaction with its Stakeholders. This involves the registration, control, and closure of the commitments established in the management of PQRS as well as those agreed in relationship scenarios. This commitment management is regulated in the Procedure for the commitment management with Stakeholders and the Instructions for the Commitment Management with Society, Community, and State.
It is measured with the Engagement Management indicator, whose cumulative result for 2021 is 99.95% and whose evolution over the last 5 years is as follows:
Performance of the commitment management system - 2017 to 2021
Source: Ecopetrol, Citizen Participation Office
A monthly monitoring report is issued at a national level and bimonthly 6 monitoring reports are generated in the Bogotá, Caribbean Pacific, Central, East, Andean, Orinoquía, and Piedemonte regions, which are shared electronically with senior management, management professionals from all areas of the company and other leaders and professionals related to the Stakeholder Strategic Relations Management, which currently has a population of over 200 employees.
These reports allow Ecopetrol to identify social alerts, deviations in processes, expectations, and non-conformities of Stakeholders and, in general, situations that may affect the relationship with the society. They are published in the OPC's Sharepoint site on the corporate intranet, for a free consultation by company employees. Throughout 2021, 12 national reports and 36 regional reports were published.
All data is taken from the PQRS management tool (Salesforce) and its processed and analyzed through Excel and PowerBI. Visualization of the information is done in PowerPoint presentations, ArcGIS, and PowerBI dashboards in real-time.
National PQRS monitoring dashboard
Source: Ecopetrol, Citizen Participation Office
This analysis tool shows stakeholder’s perceptions regarding the relationship with the company; information that can be viewed from different variables such as the stakeholder, the regional, the type of request, the areas they manage, and the relevant topics. We currently have a little more than 115 groups of topics and a total of 1,333 individual topics, which help to identify with greater clarity and precision the processes, products, or services that are perceived negatively by stakeholders.
The analysis of the complaints and dissatisfactions presented in the last five years, reflected in the monitoring reports, shows that the stakeholders that accumulate more dissatisfactions are Community and Society, Employees, Retirees, and their beneficiaries and Suppliers; while the region that concentrates the highest number of PQRS is the Central region. The following graphs illustrate this behavior:
PQRS behavior by stakeholders - 2016 to 2021
Source: Ecopetrol, Citizen Participation Office
PQRS behavior by region - 2016 to 2021
Source: Ecopetrol, Citizen Participation Office
In addition to the reports, a monthly Stakeholder Dissatisfaction Alert Report is made to alert the organization about the behavior of those issues that represent risks, seeking that such dissatisfactions tend to zero, by identifying its root cause and establishing improvement or mitigation plans. It is reported using the following traffic light:
By grouping the 22 topics that are currently being monitored, it is possible to analyze the behavior of approximately 80% of all complaints. This allows to identify whether dissatisfaction
with a group of topics is increasing or decreasing, as a starting point for analyzing the causes of deviations, allowing the company to structure and deploy plans that solve the root cause of the problem.
This monitoring exercise has helped to detect opportunities for improvement in the organization's processes, products, and services, which are reflected in action plans defined and executed by the responsible areas, searching for a solution to the causes that lead to the problems detected. Since 2016, improvement plans have been created for different topics, among which the following stand out: Dissatisfaction with health services, alleged non-compliance with civil and labor obligations of contractors and damages to third parties generated by Ecopetrol or contractors.
Besides the traditional accountability mechanisms established by law, Ecopetrol has additional channels, specialized events and written reports that reaffirm their commitment with the transparency of the information. These actions make Ecopetrol one of the leading companies in Colombia regarding accountability to its Stakeholders.
Any citizen who seeks to communicate with Ecopetrol from anywhere in the world or request information about its management, can do so in a fluid and permanent manner through the established mechanisms that guarantee transparency and access to information. Some of them are:
Throughout 2021, the company dealt with 435 claims. These were about alleged environmental impacts generated by Ecopetrol or its contractors in the development of its industrial and commercial activities, the details of these claims can be consulted through the Citizen Participation Office OPC.
Related Topic |
Number of claims |
Affectations to bodies of water |
124 |
Crops and vegetation |
104 |
Property damage |
113 |
Atmospheric emissions |
3 |
Management of chemical substances and chemical waste |
33 |
Smells |
13 |
Noise |
44 |
Total |
435 |
Source: Ecopetrol, Citizen Participation Office
Regarding the validity of these claims, 58% are reported valid, which corresponded to acts for which Ecopetrol had to generate remedies:
Claim validity |
Number of claims |
Valid claim |
252 |
Not valid claim |
148 |
Transferred claim |
24 |
Total |
435 |
Source: Ecopetrol, Citizen Participation Office
During 2021 Ecopetrol did not receive claims about Labor practices or Discrimination from their direct employees. 15 claims were received from contractor employees, for which Ecopetrol notified each of the corresponding companies as employers and therefore responsible for guaranteeing adequate working conditions for their workers.
From the 15 claims of contractor companies, 14 were related with Labor practices (Feeding, transport, and accommodation) and one was related with Discrimination (Female recruitment).