Social responsibility at FIOTEC is expressed through respect for the environment and human diversity, commitment to education and personal development, and the link to FIOCRUZ and the surrounding community. We contribute to sustainable development and the mitigation of social inequality through the projects we support, the partnerships we engage in, and the cultural and social/environmental activities we promote, and we do not allow any form of discrimination in our processes.
Imbued with this spirit, we are organizing to systematize our practices with the aim of integrating the Foundation’s various sectors into the strategic planning. We thus seek to further contribute to the health and well-being of workers and society.
Valuing talents
Our workforce is the prime factor for fulfilling our commitment to economic, social, and environmental sustainability. It is thus our duty and priority to value our workers. With this focus, we adopt the work market’s best practices in human resources management, guided by the ethics, transparency, and mutual respect that should characterize labor relations.
Our underlying principle is the educational development of our workers. We thus adopt a policy of educational benefits by subsidizing part of the investment in their training (undergraduate, graduate, and MBA) and participation in training courses and specialization courses.
Young Apprentices Program
FIOTEC’s Apprenticeship Program focuses on preparing young people from 16 to 22 years of age for job placement, in keeping with Law 10.097/2000 and in partnership with the Center for Company-School Integration (CIEE). The program currently has 20 steady apprentices. We are seen as a reference both in application and in the program’s results.
FIOTEC and Solidarity
Volunteer campaigns are held at the institution to foster the workers’ spirit of solidarity, benefiting various organizations that work with underserved groups and communities. We also donate unused items in perfect condition to institutions recommended by the FIOCRUZ Department of Social Cooperation.
Environment
Environmental preservation is a key issue in the daily work of many institutions, including FIOTEC, and we have already taken various environmentally sustainable measures. With the construction of our headquarters, inaugurated in November 2015, this concern was expressed in various ways. We planted 622 tree saplings at various sites in Rio de Janeiro as a compensatory measure for the 50 trees that had to be felled to make room for the building. The building’s modular construction also illustrates our concern for the environment, since this kind of building material produces much less waste when compared to conventional construction methods.
In the midst of such a wide diversity of environmental issues, water is critical and widely debated. The building was thus designed to collect and reuse rainwater and gray water (wastewater from sinks, showers, and lavatories). All the toilets are dual-flush or water-saving (regulating the release of water) and the sinks have water-saving faucets with motion sensors. The building is lit with LED light bulbs, which are more efficient than ordinary bulbs since they produce the same amount of light using less energy. Finally, the institution is taking major steps to contribute to environmental preservation through the Action Plan for Solid Waste Collection under the Campus Administration Office (DIRAC/FIOCRUZ) for reusing and recycling materials that would otherwise have gone to landfill.
Sponsorship of cultural projects
Preserving tradition, people’s art, and above all valuing beliefs, customs, and ideas should be a constant quest by all Brazilian institutions, including those working in health. After all, culture is an essential component of the development process and one of the paths to promote citizenship. We are accredited as a Corporate Citizen Taxpayer by the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Government and as such can sponsor projects through the Service Tax Law.