Stakeholders
Employees
Employees
Training: encouraging talent to flourish
Against the backdrop of the Group’s extensive transformation, Vallourec has a growing need for trained and motivated employees capable of adapting to changing businesses and markets. The Group strives to reconcile its need for change with the individual aspirations of its employees, allowing them to grow in their careers, while developing their skills.
Vallourec University is the corporate training entity of Vallourec. Its remit is to create a common culture of learning, develop the leadership and business skills of all employees and support the ambitious New Vallourec plan. Vallourec University looks to develop the skills of our employees worldwide. Training programs may be given locally through Vallourec University in the main countries, centrally as part of international programs, or via e-learning through a dedicated training platform, the Learning Management System (LMS). Vallourec University’s teaching is based on three key pillars:
- Fundamentals and Culture, which includes the Group’s induction program along with training on change cultures, languages and intercultural understanding, as well as all mandatory training, for example on ethics, compliance and cybersecurity.
- Leadership and Soft Skills, which prepares for handling the specific challenges encountered in management and leadership roles. The implementation of Leadership Skills, defined in 2022 along with the Leadership Model, focuses on the deployment of the five core components defined: accountability, performance management, collaboration, employee development and challenging the status quo.
- Business Expertise and Skills, which provide expertise in processes and technologies and business lines (sales, purchasing, project management, etc.). These skills are particularly important in view of the challenges of the energy transition. This last pillar also includes Health and safety training, which continues to be a priority for the Group, accounting for 39% of training given, compared with 23% in 2023. The “Safety Visit” training course, which was rolled out across the Group this year, is the most striking example of health and safety training initiatives.
Remuneration: ensuring motivation and loyalty
Vallourec has a motivating, equitable approach to remuneration that includes incentive and profit-sharing schemes, which link employees to overall company performance. In 2024, these schemes totaled 13 million euros.
Respecting parity with the gender equality index for professionals
This index is based on 5 indicators:
- the gender pay gap
- the distribution gap of individual increases
- the promotion distribution gap
- the number of employees increased upon their return from maternity leave
- the number of people of the under-represented sex in the top 10 highest earnings
Our scores
Pay gap indicator: 39/40
Increase rate gap indicator: 20/20
Promotion rate gap indicator: 15/15
Return from maternity leave indicator: 15/15
High pay indicator: 5/10
Pay gap indicator: 39/40
Individual increase rate gap indicator: 35/35
Return from maternity leave indicator: not calculable
High pay indicator: 5/10
Pay gap indicator: 39/40
Increase rate gap indicator: 5/20
Promotion rate gap indicator: 15/15
Return from maternity leave indicator: 15/15
High salary indicator: 5/10
Diversity: developing opportunities
The Group considers diversity an important factor in innovation and performance, and thus an opportunity for further development. The Group’s actions aimed at promoting diversity and combating discrimination are described below. In 2023, the Group broadened the notion of diversity, which had previously focused mainly on gender diversity, to include multigenerational, multicultural and disability diversity. This new impetus is part of the “We are Vallourec” program, which has led to the creation of steering committees and action plans for each region. The broad outlines of the program are defined at monthly steering committee meetings, where KPIs and actions in each country are monitored. Each pillar of the “We are Vallourec” program is the subject of a specific event organized at Group and regional level during the year. Further information is available in Vallourec’s Universal Registration Document and on the Group’s Linkedin page.
Our Customers
As a trusted partner to our customers, we provide them with high value-added solutions wherever and whenever they need them, across their entire value chain, with the aim of lowering their operating costs. We know our markets and customers inside out. We welcome our customers’ feedback, since it helps us better understand their needs and anticipate their expectations.
This strength, amplified by our culture of constant innovation and technological leadership, has enabled us to design a new set of services. This bundle of integrated services, which takes our competitiveness to another level, aims to improve the performance of our existing physical services, enrich our deep knowledge of the field, and offer new services that take full advantage of the digital world. We co-develop these high-value-added solutions with our customers to ensure that they fit their needs perfectly. Our approach is innovative, proactive, comprehensive, and agile—all for an unprecedented experience.
Our shareholders
We cultivate a trusting relationship and an ongoing dialogue with our shareholders. Regular informational meetings are held as part of this relationship. The annual general meeting is an unmissable event that Vallourec executives consider to be a special moment for dialogue, listening, and coming together around a shared ambition: value creation.
As required by current regulations, we are committed to providing candid, transparent information to all of our shareholders through our various channels for financial communication (activity report, letter to shareholders, website, news feed).
Our investors and financial analysts
On a regular basis and in accordance with best business practices, the Investor Relations Department organizes, along with various members of the Group’s executive management, meetings with institutional investors and financial analysts, including SRI (socially responsible investment) specialists, in France and abroad:
- Each quarter, a conference call is organized when the financial results are released. Members of the Management Board present the results and answer questions from analysts. The conference call is broadcast live and rebroadcast on the Group’s website;
- Vallourec regularly participates in events on socially responsible investment (SRI). These meetings with investment funds and SRI analysts contribute to the Group’s progress in the field of sustainable development;
- Periodically, an Investor Day is organized, where a presentation is made to the financial community on the Group’s strategy, products and operations. Accessible to everyone in the form of a video broadcast that is available on the Group’s website, the Investor Day allows investors and analysts to have detailed discussions with the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, the Management Board and the operational supervisors on a wide range of topics, outside of the periods for reporting results.
- Whenever the opportunity arises, Vallourec organizes site visits to present the Group’s facilities to analysts and investors, highlighting the added value of its Research and Development or the success of its Delphy solution for vertical hydrogen storage.
Our suppliers
Suppliers
As a “partner for every possibility” for our customers, we seek to build the same kind of contractual, long-term relationship with our suppliers. Our desire to strive for excellence and innovation goes hand-in-hand with a responsible purchasing policy. Our Sourcing department follows consistent policies and balances centralized management with local guidance, using tools and processes shared by all group entities. The goal: optimize management of our suppliers, monitor their performance, and facilitate synergies.
We choose suppliers based on corporate social responsibility criteria. We have very high standards with regard to sustainable development, ethics, and safety, since the stakes for the group are equally high. We regularly perform inspections to identify supplier risks in France and elsewhere in the world, and we implement corrective actions to minimize them.
Our 9 key selection criteria
- Quality, costs and deadlines
- Compliance with environmental, social and safety regulations
- Compliance with the Group’s general purchasing conditions
- Support the Group’s competitiveness
- Supporting innovative initiatives
- Reliability and flexibility
- Global and regional players
- Willingness to build strong partnerships
- Ability to communicate at all levels
Supporting local communities
Local Communities
Vallourec has initiated numerous relationships with local stakeholders in its activities, such as professional organizations and local authorities, residents’ associations and groups with a social or environmental objective related to its sites’ operations. Actions for the benefit of local stakeholders mainly concern donations and voluntary initiatives carried out in countries where the needs and expectations of the local residents are highest, such as Brazil and Indonesia. Initiatives must be in line with the Group’s policy and three key priorities: education, environmental protection and encouragement of voluntary employee involvement. In 2024, resources devoted to financing various partnerships amounted to around €1.5 million. For example, training programs were set up in all regions where the Group operates. Actions to support people in need, people suffering from illness or victims of violence have been funded by Vallourec or carried out by employee volunteers. Vallourec has also given time and money to environmental projects.
