TORONTO, ON– (Globe 24-7 – March 14 2017) – Attendance at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) 2017 Convention totalled over 24,000 optimistic participants. This year marked the return of confidence to the mining industry, including the excitement for exploration that has faced harsh economic challenges in the recent years. With commodities on the rise, companies are gearing up for a comeback in the industry – Experts say that “we are still in the early stages, but the next few years look very promising for the industry.”
Although it was evident during the event that optimism and confidence were common sentiments, it was also noticeable that the majority of companies are invested in creating strategies to allow for a more gender balanced workforce. According to a study done by WGEA in 2016, only 2.6% of Chief Executive Officers and 12.3% of key management personnel in the mining industry are women. The mining industry is certainly making steps toward gender equality and a few companies are already ahead of the curve in planning for a balanced and diverse workforce. In the same study by WGEA, results also show an increase in the proportion of organizations with an overall gender equality policy and/or strategy from 66% in 2013 to 70% in 2016.
An important company to highlight with an aggressive target is BHP Billiton, who has set a new goal for women to make up half of its workforce by 2025; This is one of the most ambitious gender targets in the industry.
To accomplish significant results and make the workplace more favorable and attractive to women, companies are developing programs and policies to target pay equality, flexibility in the workplace, parental leave and support for employees with caring responsibilities. HR leaders in the mining industry will be faced with the great challenge of creating and executing plans to support diversity and inclusion in their operations and certainly adapt their processes of recruitment, training and development.
We, at Globe 24-7, are strong believers that gender balance of employees will improve performance in the workplace.
In continuing to offer a platform for sharing best practices in Human Resources within mining, we will host a roundtable event dedicated to Diversity and Inclusion. This event welcomes HR leaders working in the mining industry to participate in April 2017. For more information regarding the next HR Roundtable, please contact Luis Valente, Manager, Global Business Development by email [email protected].