Encouragement to meet challenges and recognition of each employee's contribution •  The Gerdau Group believes in personal fulfillment as the basis for the development of its strategies and the attainment of better results. Encouraging employees to meet challenges and recognizing the contribution of each employee form part of this policy. • Gerdau's organizational structure allows maximum integration of teams with their leaders, generating open communication of ideas and the active participation of employees in work processes. It promotes the development of leaders who are focused on the continual transformation of the company, and not merely on the role of guiding a team. • Gerdau's 16,000 employees work as strategic business partners within the context of each market, transforming cultural diversity into competitive advantage. • The achievement of new standards of performance is shared with the teams by means of results-based compensation and profit sharing programs, which totaled R$ 57 million in 2001. • Employee training has grown each year and is one of the factors that enables Gerdau to reach new levels of competitiveness. Investments in 2001 alone totaled R$ 10 million. • Gerdau believes that no production situation, no emergency, and no result can justify any risk to people. All Gerdau units follow the Total Safety policy, and invest in safety activities to raise employees' awareness and to maintain the most modern methods of accident prevention. • In 2001, payment of wages and salaries totaled R$ 644.8 million - 22.3% higher than in 2000 - and benefit payments increased 21.1% to R$ 120 million.