Respect for human rights and equal opportunities

Management approach

GRI 2-23, 3-3, 406-1

Kazakhtelecom JSC ensures observance of human rights and equal opportunities for all employees and eliminates conditions for gender inequality and any types of discrimination.

The Company informs employees, contractors and other stakeholders about the Company’s policies and principles of fair business processes.

Respect for human rights and equal opportunities are the fundamental principles of Kazakhtelecom JSC’s activity.

The Policies can be found on the Company’s website telecom.kz in the section Sustainable Development, subsection Respect for Human Rights and Equal Opportunities.

In 2023, the Company adopted several key documents on human rights and equal opportunities:

Human Rights Policy.
Equal Opportunities, Inclusion and Diversity Policy.

Protecting and respecting human rights

Kazakhtelecom JSC’s Human Rights Policy

The Policy sets out the principles that guide the Company to respect human rights at all stages of its operations.

Basic Principles of the Human Rights Policy:

The Company complies with the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as international human rights norms and regulations, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN General Assembly, the UN Global Compact and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
The Company adheres to the belief that everyone is free and equal in dignity and rights, regardless of sex, race, colour, nationality, language, origin, age, place of residence, attitude to religion, beliefs, membership or nonmembership in public associations or any social groups; property, family, social and official status; other circumstances not related to the employee’s business qualities.
The Company does not tolerate any form of discrimination and infringement of human dignity, physical and psychological violence in the workplace.
The Company opposes forced labour, child labour, and human trafficking.
The Company guarantees the protection of human dignity and privacy.
The Company has a zerotolerance approach to corruption.
The Company endeavours to develop a human rights risk management procedure in accordance with the best international practices.
The Company is committed to identifying and preventing any adverse human rights impacts in the course of its operations.

The Company’s Human Rights Policy is distributed among Kazakhtelecom JSC’s employees, shareholders, customers and other stakeholders.

Equal opportunities

Kazakhtelecom JSC’s Policy on Equal Opportunities, Inclusion and Diversity

In 2023, the Company adopted the Policy on Equal Opportunities, Inclusion and Diversity (the Policy) to promote equal opportunities, inclusion and diversity practices, to take into account unique personal characteristics and to prevent discrimination against employees at all levels. The Policy complies with the best international norms and standards and also takes into account the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Policy is distributed among Kazakhtelecom JSC’s employees, shareholders, customers and other stakeholders.

Key Principles of the Policy:

Complying with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as taking into account the principles set out in the Convention concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value (Convention 100) and the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (Convention 111).
Ensuring equal opportunities, inclusion and diversity for employees.
Providing of social guarantees to employees in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Forming the corporate culture based on mutual respect of employees, absence of social prejudices and cultural barriers.
Providing a dignified, safe and comfortable work environment in which each employee feels respected, accepted and heard, and has the necessary authority and rights to perform job duties.
Encouraging transparency in labour relations, helps all employees to develop and build their careers by providing support and creating conditions for professional growth.
Seeking to build diverse teams and promoting diversity initiatives, including prioritising recruitment from the local community as well as targeted recruitment.

The Company ensures equal opportunity for its employees in the selection, recruitment, hiring, evaluation, promotion, development, training, and compensation processes.

The Company has a collective bargaining agreement, which is based on the principles of social partnership and promotes interaction between employees and the Company. It aims at improving the efficiency of work and protecting the social and labour interests of employees. The collective agreement defines the common positions of the parties on the regulation of social and labour relations, terms of remuneration, employment, as well as social guarantees and benefits. The Company participates in negotiations with employees to conclude, amend and supplement the collective agreement, observes the terms of the negotiations and ensures the work of the relevant joint commissions, provides information necessary for the negotiations. The Company strictly fulfils the terms of the collective agreement. According to labour legislation, any employee has the right to participate, through their representatives, in collective bargaining and drafting of the collective agreement, as well as familiarisation with the signed collective agreement.

Promoting gender equality and equal opportunities

In 2023, the implementation of the Gender Equality programme aimed at increasing the share of women in the Company’s management. It should be reminded that in 2022, the controlling shareholder of Kazakhtelecom JSC - Samruk-Kazyna Fund - set a task to increase the average share of women in the Management Boards, Boards of Directors and Supervisory Boards of the entire Group of companies to 20% by December 2023 and 30% by 2030. The programme is being implemented in cooperation with the Alliance of Women’s Forces of Kazakhstan.

33%

share of women in the Management Board by the end of 2023

In September-October 2023, the Company implemented the Women’s Forum project to promote gender equality and equal opportunities. More than a thousand female employees of the Company took part in the project. The project consisted of several blocks:

As part of the online educational block, the Forum participants were addressed by speakers (from the Company’s management and invited coaches) on the following topics:
- women’s personal boundaries in working relationships;
- mindfulness practices of the leader;
- gender specificity in working relationships;
- balance of personal and business in time management.
Successful women of the Company made TED talks, where their success stories were shared by: Lyudmila Atamuratova (Member of the Management Board of Kazakhtelecom JSC, Chief Financial Director of the Company), Nurgul Buleshova (Chief Treasurer), Orazmukhamedkyzy Marzhan (Director of the Quality Directorate of the UDF), Akmaral Kadyrbaeva (Director General of the Corporate University), Yulia Mikhailova (HR Director), Inkar Khusainova (Director of the Department on Project Office of Transformation).
An online survey was conducted to identify the following issues most relevant to female employees of the Company:
- material well-being;
- safety;
- qualification;
- welfare package;
- balance;
- mentoring;
- hobbies and interests.

Kazakhtelecom JSC provides equal opportunities in the level of wages irrespective of position and gender. The level of the Company’s average monthly salary does not depend on the employee’s position and is determined in accordance with the organisation’s remuneration rules. For more details on the Company’s approach to employee remuneration and key results of 2023, please see the section Employee Engagement.

The Company ensures nondiscrimination on any grounds and a fair and equitable approach to remuneration. Kazakhtelecom JSC recorded no facts of discrimination in the reporting period.