Social

Our social progress includes, but is not limited to, our commitment to safe operations, diversity and inclusion, community investment and Indigenous engagement.

Safe Operations

Our commitment to safe operations, both in the field and office, helps ensure the ongoing health and safety of all our stakeholders. We strongly believe that all tasks can and must be completed safely. Our staff have the right and responsibility to refuse unsafe working conditions to the extent they are ever encountered and we actively encourage all those involved in our operations to take ownership of their individual safety and that of their co-workers.

Our proactive approach to safe operations follows our risk management framework. We strive to identify potential hazards, develop avoidance strategies to lower the probability of safety incidents occurring and implement protocols to lessen the potential severity of safety incidents occurring and lessen the potential severity of any residual risks.

One of the ways we communicate safety throughout our operations is through our corporate safety programs. Both our “Line of Fire” and “Get a Grip on Safety” campaigns have significantly reduced the number of reportable incidents since they began.

Our Safety Programs

Safe operations and the well-being of our employees, contracts and community partners is our greatest responsibility. We have successfully improved on our safety record in part through the success of our safety programs

Refocus, Reconnect, Recharge

Encouraging workers to take proper rest and breaks when doing intensive activity

Get a Grip on Safety

Learning from slips, trips and fall incidents during winter months or tasks at height

Stop and Think

Take the necessary steps to assess risks and put controls in place

Hand on the Shoulder

Mentoring and coaching amongst workers through task observations

2023: Our Safest Year On Record

Diversity and Inclusion

Our diversity of viewpoints adds to the richness of our inclusive culture and better informs our corporate direction and strategy

Our Employee Diversity

To continue to increase diversity throughout the company, we’re focused on creating a pipeline of future talent in the energy sector by partnering with post-secondary institutions to support gender and ethnic diversity in technical disciplines.

Women in the Workplace Highlights

Over 50% of women in head office

Over 40% of women in corporate supervisory/team lead positions and over 30% in corporate management/executive positions

Approximately 30% women in corporate technical positions (engineering, geology and geosciences)

Over 30% of Board representation is female

Supporting Our Communities

Veren proudly dedicates human and financial resources to communities where we live and operate through volunteering, sponsorships and donations. Since inception, we’ve contributed over $33 million and thousands of volunteer hours to support education, health, safety and environment, and community infrastructure.

Here are our 2022 community investment highlights

Monetary Donations

$2.2 million donated towards supporting local communities

Volunteering

2,000 hours spent volunteering in our communities

Blood Donations

137 Units donated through Canadian Blood Services

Food Banks

$40,000 donated to supporting local food banks in our operating areas

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$7.3 Million Committed to STARS Air Ambulance

It has been over 10 years since STARS began operations in the province of Saskatchewan with Veren supporting their mission as a founding partner. As a company with a significant employee base working in remote locations, we saw a need to enhance access to critical care to ensure the health and safety of our workforce and the people living in the areas we operate.

Indigenous Engagement

As a company, we are driven to ensure our operations support and advance the positive development of our operating communities. We recognize that Indigenous Peoples often have profound connections to the land and that these form part of their physical, spiritual, cultural and economic well-being. We value the input and engagement of our Indigenous communities in sharing traditional knowledge relating to our operating areas, identifying cultural and environmentally sensitive areas, and working together to develop opportunities for economic and social progress.

Several of our operating areas are located in or near Indigenous lands, representing approximately 10 percent of our total proved plus probable reserves at December 31, 2020. As part of our commitment to ensuring our operations have a positive impact across our value chain, we have partnered with a number of Indigenous contractors to perform site remediation and reclamation. We are proud of the success we have had to date with our Indigenous partners, in particular through our joint efforts to retire inactive wells under the Accelerated Site Closure Program in Saskatchewan.

Indigenous Engagement

We have engaged local band-owned entities for project work and have engaged local Indigenous groups to complete traditional land use surveys prior to lease construction for new development activities. We look forward to expanding our Indigenous engagement in connection with our recent acquisition of Duvernay assets in Alberta and across all of our operating areas.