As of April 2022, Eurofarma directly employs 6,738 employees in Brazil, and 1,859 employees in other countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Central America, Mexico, Mozambique, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. In the financial year of 2021 the total number of employees in Brazil, the gender proportions in employees working in administrative functions was 1633 men and 1499 women. There is a greater gender imbalance, however, in the salesforce, where more than 80% of salespeople are men (out of a total of 2857 salespeople, only 533 are women).
Workers are also engaged through third parties in other activities, such as cleaning, security, and transport services.
Human Resources Policies and Procedures, Working Conditions and Terms of Employment
Eurofarma’ s policies and procedures relevant to human resources management are established in a range of policy documents which apply to direct employees and contractors. Eurofarma’ s ‘Code of Ethics and Conduct’, which applies to all employees, cover issues such as the company’s mission, values, rules on relationship with customers, professional attitude, anti-corruption and anti-bribery practices and ombudsman channel. The company also has a “Code of Ethics and Conduct for subcontractors and suppliers”, which covers not only topics related to business integrity, but also issues of Environmental responsibility. Eurofarma will modify the existing Code of Ethics to add a statement expressly recognizing that workers have the right to form and to join legally constituted worker organizations of their choosing without interference, and to bargain collectively. (ESAP No 3).
Company policies are regularly communicated to employees via “Conecta”, Eurofarma’ s intranet platform. The Code of Ethics must be signed by employees at the time they join the Company, and they receive training on the main issues regarding these policies during their integration process.
Vacancies are filled both internally and via external recruiting process. All employees of Eurofarma in Brazil are hired as full-time employees with a formal contract in accordance with the Brazilian Labor Law (CLT). Employment contracts also include provisions related to the implementation of Company policies and compliance with national labor standards. Regarding working hours, the employees’ contracts are aligned with the provisions of the Brazilian Labor Law which set out limits on working hours. The employees can also opt to participate in an hour bank system, or time in lieu, which means that they can work extra hours - 2 hours maximum per day - but receive increased hours of leave instead of an extra remuneration which is aligned with Brazilian labor law. This option is a matter of choice for each individual and only applies to some categories of workers (industrial and administrative, excepting senior managers). Sales teams do not have the option to work under the hours bank system.
Workers’ Organizations and collective bargaining
In 2022, it is reported that there are ten different unions who have members working in the Company in Brazil.
Two issues were subject to collective bargaining in 2021: (i) agreements for extending holidays and compensation of hours based to extend long weekends; and (ii) agreements on the regulation of the Employees' Profit-Sharing Program. The Agreements cover the abovementioned benefits for employees, apprentices and interns registered in the Company’s units regardless of being unionized or not.
Senior managers and employees interviewed reported that there is no record of any strikes having taken place in the Company’s history and that there is a constructive relationship with the trade unions.
Non-discrimination and Equal Opportunity
Eurofarma implemented a Diversity and Inclusion campaign in December 2020 named “+ Diverso”, aiming at promoting the participation of four groups in the Company, namely: (i) gender: women; (ii) race: people of color; (iii) sexual orientation: LGBTQIA+; and (iv) people with disabilities. The program aims - through the work of affinity groups composed by voluntary employees (irrespectively of their position) - to understand the difficulties of each vulnerable group for the implementation of measures that will support equality of opportunity in hiring and promotion in the Company. Eurofarma does not, as yet, have specific hiring nor promotion processes aimed at each group, although there is an increase on the number of women in leadership positions and in the Company as a whole.
The Company’s “Code of Ethics and Conduct” and “Code of Ethics and Conduct for subcontractors and suppliers” also prohibits discrimination and sexual harassment. Together these two documents explicitly prohibit non-discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, race, religion, social class, age, sexual orientation, physical disability or any other physical or ideological attribute and have provisions which address sexual harassment. Its implementation and application take place in parallel with the policies of the “+ Diverso” Program which, despite being recent, has shown positive results in the short-term regarding gender employment and promotion.
Labor Grievance Mechanism
Employees and third parties can raise grievances via the Company’s integrated grievance mechanism (ombudsman), which is composed of a secure channel for complaints. Complaints can be made anonymously and there are procedures in place to ensure that confidentiality is maintained. The grievance mechanism is of easy access for all employees, available 24 hours a day with service in Portuguese and Spanish. Complaints can also be made through the website or by telephone, using toll-free hotlines exclusive to each country.
All employees may report complaints to their managers and superiors - by e-mail or in person – irrespectively of their position in the Company.
All complaints received through the integrated grievance mechanism are investigated and considered by the Ethics Committee, formed by the Company’s Human Resources VP, Sustainability and New Business VP, Legal Director and its Shareholders.
Employee grievances are typically related to employee’s dissatisfaction with managers, unreasonable demands, and moral harassment. Complaints received through the ombudsman, and their subsequent resolution, are recorded by the Company in a grievance log. Eurofarma will design and implement a reporting system to collect and assess grievance related information and trends, including response and resolution times. These will then be reported to senior management and the Board’s proposed Audit and compliance committee. This will allow for a response to grievances that addresses the root causes, systemic issues to identify trends. (ESAP 4)
Workers Engaged by Third Parties
The third-party contractors engaged by the Company provide services such as cleaning, security, transport services and the supply of materials to Eurofarma.
The Company has processes and policies in place for pre-contractual tendering and due diligence in relation to third-part contractors. Each area responsible for a contract’s execution monitors its compliance.
The tender process considers the bidders’ human resources policy and track record on labor and working conditions via document requests. Contracts with third-party contractors establish an obligation to comply with national law and the Company’s “Code of Ethics and Conduct for subcontractors and suppliers”, which includes labor provisions relevant to subcontracted workers.
The Company’s “Code of Ethics and Conduct for subcontractors and suppliers”, including its grievance mechanism, is also applicable to the employees of all subcontracted companies.
As noted above, the Company audits construction activities at the Montes Claros facility, however there is not systematic approach to contractor E&S management. Therefore, Eurofarma will develop and implement a comprehensive E&S contractor management procedure to ensure compliance by contractors with the Company policies and that associated with the Performance Standards during new facility construction. More specifically, this will include detail on: (i) oversight by the Company of contractors; (ii) ensuring contractors apply the Company’s EHS policies and procedures or their own assuming the adequacy thereof; and iii) access to a grievance mechanism (ESAP No 5).
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)
Eurofarma’s EHS policy defines the Company’s approach and commitment to OHS which includes a commitment to continuous improvement in OHS performance, compliance with all legal obligations and application of the highest management standards. Additional commitments include that related to preventing occupational illness and accidents at workplace and undertaking hazard identification and risk analysis.
OHS risk assessments conducted by the Company have identified the most significant risks associated with manufacturing activities. Key risks relate to machine guarding, working at heights and in confined spaces, electrical shocks and chemicals handling. Eurofarma implements the LTCAT (Laudo Técnico das Condições Ambientais do Trabalho - Technical Report for Environmental Conditions at Workplace), which requires specific monitoring activities for workplace conditions such as noise levels, temperature, illumination, and indoor air quality. Monitoring data indicate compliance with Brazilian national laws and the World Bank Group EHS Guidelines.
The Company follows applicable Brazilian Regulatory Norms – (referred to as NRs), including those related to the identification and monitoring of environmental hazardous agents through a Workplace Environmental Risk Prevention Program or PPRA (Programa de Prevenção de Riscos Ambientais), use of Personal Protective Equipment - PPE, emergency preparedness and response, and medical surveillance (PCMSO or Programa de Controle Médico de Saúde Ocupacional). In compliance with regulatory requirements, each unit has personnel dedicated to safety issues.
The legally required safety committees (CIPA - Comissão Interna de Prevenção de Acidentes), which include representatives from workers, are responsible for conducting preventive OHS inspections, reporting on health and safety issues, investigating and analyzing occupational accidents, incidents, and health issues and helping ensure that the OHS training activities are completed. Occupational accident rates are monitored; although they can vary from one business activity to another, the corporate accident (frequency rate) average is 1.03 accidents per million worked hours for 2021, which is better than the internationally accepted benchmarks for the sector. No fatalities have been reported.
Workers assigned to work in the production areas have the required training to perform their duties in a safe manner, fully complying with Brazilian OHS Regulatory Standards. Each facility also has program which identifies the required personal protective equipment (PPE) for specific activities and includes training plans for workers to ensure the correct use of PPE.
Eurofarma has its own maintenance team that conduct regularly scheduled preventive maintenance work that include a focus on maintaining safe working conditions for the operational staff. The Company also has an inventory of pressure vessels, technical specifications and maintenance books for individual pressure vessels in accordance with the relevant Brazilian safety standard (NR13).
In 2021, the company was sanctioned by the Brazilian Superior Labor Court and required to pay collective damages based on a previous instance where the company was found to have required some of its salesforce to participate in drug testing prior to selling drugs. The company clarified to the media and to the unions that this was a once off incident.
