Global companies face the day-to-day challenge of developing their human capital in a faster, consistent, and better way. One size does not fit all anymore! One global organization, headquartered in Brazil with more than 119,000 people, including employees and contractors, working on 38 countries in five continents is not different. In this case study, you will learn all the steps that made this organization’s global onboarding program a successful case.

1. TU 116
A Case Study: Building Vale’s
Global Onboarding Program
Desie Ribeiro Marta Enes
General Manager of Education Director of
and People Development Educational Technology
desie.ribeiro@vale.com marta.enes@affero.com.br

2. You will learn
• All the steps that made this organization’s global
onboarding program a successful case.
• How to engage stakeholders worldwide and to
build an effective and motivated network of local
HR professionals.
• How to design a global onboarding program for all
levels of the organization taking into consideration
cultural and profile differences.

3. Introduction
The onboarding process affects all Vale employees, located in over 30 countries
around the world.
Despite the cultural differences inherent in global work operations,
Vale employees perform a wide range of activities, supervised by global and
regional HR managers.
Presented with these characteristics, how can we create a global
onboarding program?

4. Affero Partnership
affero.com.br
Affero is a leading Corporate Education company in
Brazil. It aims to be the key partner of top
organizations in the country, supporting the
implementation of organizational strategies through
a complete understanding of business needs and
the effective combination of products, services and
people.
It has been Vale’s strategic partner for 8 years,
developing and implementing several projects
involving the training and development of its
employees worldwide, Knowledge Management and
other initiatives.

5. Introduction
To create the new onboarding program, a diagnostic study was performed.
The necessary data was collected and analyzed in order to answer to three main
questions.

6. Who are we and
how do we act?

7. Who are we and how do we act?
To determine who are the people that make Vale the second largest mining
company in the world and how these people act, we considered the following
aspects:
Employee
profiles
Current
Cultural
onboarding
aspects
scenario

8. Who are we and how do we act?
Vale
Market capitalization2
1 # 1 global Iron ore producer
US$ bn
2 # 2 world nickel producer
BHPB 186
3 # 2 metals and mining company in the world VALE 131
4 # 21 company in the world1 RIO TINTO 107
5 Market cap of US$ 131 bn, on Mar 05, 2012 ANGLO AMERICAN 54
XSTRATA 54
20 hours/day of trading: BM&F Bovespa, NYSE,
6 Euronext and HKEx
FREEPORT 39
3rd most traded ADRs in the NYSE in 2011,
7 GOLDCORP 38
ranked by trading volume
8 NORILSK NICKEL 38
Revenues (2011): US$ 60.3 Bn
9 NEWCREST 26
EBITDA (2011): US$ 33.8 Bn
10 Net Earnings (2011): US$ 22.9 Bn
2As of March 05th, 2012
8 ¹ Ranking of the 500 largest companies in the world by market cap – Financial Times

9. Who are we and how do we act?
Vale
An illustration: Vale in 1997 was a Brazilian exporter company with 10,865
employees¹
Belgium
USA
Japan
China
Brazil
Legend
Operations
Offices
Exploration offices
Headquarters
9 ¹ Vale’s employees including third parties

10. Who are we and how do we act?
Vale
Vale in 2012 is a global company with more than 140 thousand employees¹ around
the world…
10 ¹ Vale’s employees including third parties

11. Who are we and how do we act?
Vale
…with a diversified business portfolio
Iron Ore Logistics Nickel Fertilizers
Operation of ports and ~ 7.4 million tons of phosphate
323 million tons 242 thousand tons
10 thousand Km of railroads rock
Coal Copper Steel minority Energy
investments
2 operations (joint-ventures) Hydro Plants in Brazil, Canada
4.51 / 2.82 million tons 302 thousand tons
and 3 projects and Indonesia
11

12. Who are we and how do we act?
Vale
To transform natural resources into prosperity and sustainable
Mission development
Vision To be the No 1 global natural resources company in creating long-term
value, through excellence and passion for people and the planet
Passion for people Excellence
 Life matters most  Do what is Right
Values
 Value our People  Improve Together
 Prize our Planet  Make it happen
12

13. Our challenge:
To be the No 1 global natural resources
company in creating long term value,
through excellence, with passion for
people and the planet.
13

14. Who are we and how do we act?
Vale Employees Profile
Research to gather social, cultural and work characteristics of the
employees, regions and countries that may affect the onboarding design
and delivery.
14

15. Who are we and how do we act?
Cultural aspects
In order to construct a global process, the cultural aspects of the initially mapped
countries were analyzed. To organize the actions, it was defined that the countries
should be divided into four large groups in accordance with their interests.
Besides religion and communication the criteria used were those established by
Geert Hofstede:
Uncertainty
avoidance Individualism
index
Power
distance Long term
index orientation Masculinity
15

16. Who are we and how do we act?
Cultural aspects
• Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
High-context communication, strong Uncertainty Avoidance Index, large
Power Distance Index, Catholic and Collectivity(Except New Caledonia
that is individualist).
16

17. Who are we and how do we act?
Cultural aspects
Group 1
• Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
High-context communication, weak Uncertainty Avoidance Index,
Feminine large Power Distance Index, Collectivitiy and Catholic (except
Guinea that is Muslim).
17

18. Who are we and how do we act?
Cultural aspects
Group 1
Group 2
• Group 3
Group 4
High-context communication, large Power Distance Index, Collectivity,
weak Uncertainty Avoidance Index (Oman has a strong UAI) and
Muslim (exceptions, Singapore is mainly Budhist; China is politically
defined as Atheist).
18

19. Who are we and how do we act?
Cultural aspects
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
• Group 4
Low-context communication, weak Uncertainty Avoidance Index,
Masculine, small Power Distance Index, Individualistic and Catholic.
19

20. Who are we and how do we act?
Current onboarding scenario
The current scenario of Vale’s HR managers from the locations were
onboarding process was studied in interviewed to determine not only what
several countries. the process is like, but also the gaps.
Deve entender a importância de gerenciar
a In Brazil, in addition toVale na sua
implementação do GO the interviews, a New hire and the regional HR were also
regional. Employee” was sent to
“Mystery interviewed in a focal group conducted
participate in the current onboarding in Carajás.
Devemos in Rio de Janeiro.
process comunicar a sensação de
dono no process relativa à organização
e disparo do GO localmente.
20

21. What do we
want to be?
21

22. What do we want to be?
Interviews with key-stakeholders
Vale’s executives involved in the onboarding program were asked to provide
information on strategic guidelines and business goal alignment for the project.
Key stakeholder requirements were used as input to the onboarding
process design, measurement and materials.
22

23. What do we want to be?
Benchmark
23

24. What do we want to be?
Benchmarking
In addition to the survey with other companies, we consulted the best-in-class
program survey (source: Aberdeen Group). These are some of the results:
increase of 31% iof new hire retention rate;
reduction of 24% in the time for productivity;
reduction of 12% in the cost per new employee.
The study of the Aberdeen Group indicated that the performance of the best-in-
class presented :
a success rate of 84% in relation to fitting the culture;
a success rate of 68% in socialization.
24

25. How do we
get there?

26. How do we get there?
To depict the manner in which we will achieve the objectives we propose it is
necessary to determine:

27. How do we get there?
Who are we going to focus on?

28. How do we get there?
What should we resolve?
Comunication
Informartion/ Process
training
Management Infrastructure

29. How do we get there?
What should we resolve?
Incomplete, outdated, non-motivational, unbalanced and
unorganized contents
and materials.
Lack of guidance from Vale’s
Deficient communication process between
head offices regarding the
the company and employees and
onboarding process and
between employees.
contents.
Lack of qualified and The onboarding Leadership New hire work
motivated local HR program is short, New hire tools, including
personnel to develop motivation rates uninvolved with the
materials and lacks efficiency onboarding process; IT, are not
drop very Lack of engagement
conduct the and promptly
onboarding process. optimization. quickly. from managers.
provided.

30. Rethinking
the process

31. Rethinking the process?
Phase II
As we have seen in the previously presented gaps, three categories stand out:
information/training; communication and infrastructure.
This indicated a need to redesign the onboarding process by re-modelling the
areas that do not either satisfy the needs of the stakeholders or maintain good
practices.

32. Rethinking the Process?
Phase II
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
Step 3 Step 4
Sep 3
Review list of Re-design the Design
Outline Gaps and workflow to instrucional
the eliminate gaps strategies and
requirements
and meet materials to
existing related to
support the
each part of requirements.
workflow workflow.
the workflow.
1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4.

33. Rethinking the Process
Program Deployment

34. Rethinking the Process
Current Scenario
• Company and employees profile.
• Key-stakeholders interviews.
• Benchmarking.
• Gap Analysis.

35. Rethinking the Process
Change Management
An easier way sell the new process:
• Risks and Opportunities (impact x probability).
• Checkpoint with stakeholders to validate strategies.
• Workshop with pilot countries:
a- planning best training session methodology for
implementation;
b- training sessions and tools validation with local onboarding
facilitators.

36. Rethinking the Process
Change Management
Implementation Game

37. Rethinking the Process
Communication Plan
We want to comunicate:
Care for
Processes Ownership
Employees
The expected benefits are:
Trust Belonging Integration

38. Rethinking the Process
Management Model
The Management Model integrates People, Resources and Technology
Administrative Portal
Regional HR and
SSO User Portal
Hiring Managers HR Systems and Softwares
Trainers
People Technology
Corporate Structures
(HR Processes,
Health and Safety,
Environment,
Communication, IT,
Resources
etc) Process
Tools (checklists, guides and
references, templates and
communication pieces)

39. Rethinking the Process
Management Model
Workflow
1 2
Strategies and Models and
Guidance Guidelines
Cultural Groups
Onboarding
Sponsors
Center of Expertise Local Onboarding
(HR + SSO +
(Corporate) Focal Points
Communication
Directors) (Regional HR)
Results of the Applicability
Program Feedback
4 3

40. Rethinking the Process
Performance Support, Education, Communication
The global onborading program is composed by 5 macrosteps
Educating on Vale My Role
Before Day 1 Day 1 Monitoring
and Our Business and My Business Area

41. Rethinking the Process
Performance Support, Education, Communication
Divided in 8 shelfs, each one with an objective:
1 – Select new hire
2 – Onboarding setup
3 – Infrastructure and working tools
4 – Hiring procedures
5 – Current employees awareness
and orientation
6 – New hire first welcome
7 – Area and functional onboarding
8 – Follow up and evaluation
41

42. Rethinking the Process
Performance Support, Education, Communication
Toolboxes, designed to different target audiences are displayed on each shelf.
HR regional Hiring Current New Hire
Manager Employees
42

43. Rethinking the Process
Performance Support, Education, Communication
Tools are grouped in boxes aligned with each activity’s objectives.
The categories are:
Communication Education Performance Support

44. Rethinking the Process
Communication
We have created tools to support a change management plan in order to
engage managers and current employees.
Several tools help our employees to properly inform new hires.
44

45. Rethinking the Process
Education
At Day 1, besides training the new hire, we should engage
them by presenting our Mission, Vision and Values and
teaching them how to find more information about their areas
of interest.
If the new hire does not achieve a satisfactory
result in the learning evaluations, there are tools
that will support Learning & Development teams in
planning reinforcement activities.
45

46. Rethinking the Process
Performance Support
GO Vale Portal
46

47. Conclusion

48. Conclusion
This study was broad and complex and it involved
several areas of the company worldwide.
It provided inputs to create GO Vale (Vale’s Global
Onboarding Process), with structured processes,
well defined roles and responsibilities and support
tools for all the activities.
Now the HR professionals in the filed and
corporate areas should work together to create
a welcoming culture for the new hire,
guaranteeing a productive, integrated and high
performance work environment.

49. Thank you!
Desie Ribeiro Marta Enes
General Manager of Education Director of Educational Technology
and People Development
marta.enes@affero.com.br
desie.ribeiro@vale.com
affero.com.br