Metinvest Group has received the highest award at the HR Pro Awards 2025 – one of the key events in the field of human resource management in Ukraine.

The HR Pro Awards is the leading award for HR professionals in Ukraine. Each year, the award honours teams and specialists who are transforming approaches to working with people across large, medium and small businesses. The aim of the award is not only to name the winners, but also to showcase their projects, spreading best practices and raising the standard of HR in Ukraine.

Among several hundred applications, the jury selected the best cases.

At the HR Pro Awards 2025, Metinvest Group showcased two successfully implemented cases: creating the Integrated Iron Ore based on three enterprises in Kryvyi Rih and introducing a programme for developing cross-cultural interaction within the company. Both projects made it to the final, and “Iron Ore Synergy” won in its category!

Category “HR in Business Transformation” – winning project "Iron Ore Synergy”

In 2024, Metinvest introduced a new operating model for Kryvyi Rih’s mining enterprises: management of Central, Northern and Ingulets Iron Ores was centralised, and the enterprises began operating as a single production complex with shared capacities and processes.

The full-scale war, the loss of domestic consumers (MMKI and Azovstal), limited logistics and a sharp drop in production became the precondition for such consolidation.

To pull the enterprises out of crisis, their processes were merged into a single technological chain. This made it possible, under residual capacity conditions, to objectively assess the efficiency of all open pit mines, beneficiation and other complexes at the enterprises and to develop the most advantageous operating scenarios. In other words, to mine ore at one enterprise and produce the final product at another, where it is more economically viable. To redistribute residual capacities and material resources across all Metinvest sites in Kryvyi Rih. To seek synergy in cooperation – share expertise, standardise technological approaches, tackle production challenges together and overcome the hardships of wartime. With a single administrative and management structure, such issues began to be resolved far more easily, quickly and, most importantly, effectively.

Thanks to this restructuring, Metinvest’s Integrated Iron Ore today, even amid the full-scale war, is showing positive results. Northern and Central Iron Ore are operating at a high level of capacity utilization – over 80%, operational efficiency has increased, and production indicators have improved.

“Thanks to effective rotations between the plants and the reengineering of key processes, we have not only significantly reduced the shortage of personnel at Iron Ores but also introduced unified standards for recruitment, adaptation and motivation. We have also created a shared platform for employee training and development, which has united the team and improved the quality of human capital management,” noted Andriy SHCHERBAK, HR and Social Issues Director of the Mining Department at Metinvest’s Operations Directorate, during the project presentation.

"Diversity and Inclusion" nomination – "Metinvest United: Cross-Cultural Interaction Programme"

Metinvest has a wide geographical presence. Production enterprises operate in Ukraine, Italy, Bulgaria, Great Britain and the USA. There is an extensive sales network in the main regions of the world. In such a global business, the ability to effectively work with people of different cultures is a strategic necessity. That is why, in April 2024, Metinvest launched a cross-cultural skills development program for employees who interact with colleagues, partners and customers from different countries.

Based on the results of a survey carried out at the beginning of the "Metinvest United" programme, 81% of employees acknowledged that developing cross-cultural skills is important for their work. This program helps employees develop such skills. It includes a multi-module online course with theoretical materials, practical cases and tests, as well as webinars and discussions with international experts.

The "Metinvest United" cross-cultural interaction development program gave employees an understanding of the nuances of cross-cultural interaction and practical tools for adapting their communication style to colleagues with different cultural backgrounds. It has even become part of the onboarding of new employees working in an international environment, and the online courseis open to everyone who wants to acquire cross-cultural skills.