WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
DIVERSITY IN MINING GAINS MOMENTUM AS THE MINING INDUSTRY EVOLVES, ISSUES OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION ARE CONSTANTS ON THE AGENDAS OF EXECUTIVES, GOVERNMENTS AND THE WIDER WORKFORCE. HENRY BALLARD SPEAKS WITH THOSE HOLDING THE TORCH FOR WOMEN AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN MINING.
A
cross the sectors of mining, manufacturing, construction, supply chain and similar male-dominated industries, women represent around a quarter of the workforce. And while the pace of change in female representation has been slow to date, there is an urgent movement to push that figure closer towards equal territory. The need for gender diversity in the workforce comes not only from pillars of social and moral justice, but from a desire for improved business metrics and enhanced operations, according to Louise Weine, the chief executive officer of NAWO (the National Association for Women in Operations). NAWO is a 10-year-old not-forprofit organisation which works to see gender diversity valued and balanced at every level of operations. Weine explains her personal experiences in realising the need for organisations like NAWO. “I came to NAWO through my background working in maledominated environments for my entire career,” Weine says.
“For quite some time I didn’t feel as though there was any issue with that. As I was managing quite well, but then suddenly things changed and I realised that the playing field was not equal. “When I found out about NAWO, I was thinking, ‘I wish I’d known about them when I was in operations.’ I know exactly what it’s like to be there, on reflection I now understand what’s going wrong, and I want to do something to change it.” NAWO today includes around 60 large corporate companies across multiple industries. The organisation has three focus areas, Weine says, the first being women who are in careers. “We know that some systems are broken. Some things that were designed a long time ago for the workplace don’t work very well for women,” she says. “To keep women in careers, we need to support them while they try to navigate that.” The second area focuses on the leaders of NAWO’s members and how they can work to include people by building a culture which welcomes every individual. NAWO’s third focus area reflects why the organisation came to be – unity.
A NAWO EVENT WITH BLUESCOPE.
“We have a great opportunity to leverage the energy of all of these companies who are committed to doing things differently and move further, faster,” Weine says. “Rather than trying to solve all of these issues in our individual company ‘silos’ – which will take us decades alone – if we can band together and have a united front to solve these issues by sharing what
NAWO HOLDS SEMINARS AND WEBINARS TO EDUCATE INDUSTRIES ON BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE CULTURE.
AUSTRALIANMINING
18
SEPTEMBER 2021
works, we can reach our goals more quickly.” In June, NAWO welcomed one of Australia’s fastest growing mining companies, Mineral Resources, as a Gold Corporate Member. This level of membership gives every Mineral Resources employee access to any of NAWO’s in-person events, as well as all of its webinars – an important consideration at a time when COVID-19 has restricted the moment of remote and fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers. Mineral Resources general manager for human resources and industrial relations, Layla Mehravari, says the benefits of diversity and inclusion stretch far beyond moral obligation. “For us, it’s about improving our access to talent, particularly in a labour market like this,” Mehravari says. “It improves financial performance and innovation, and there’s a lot of information and anecdotal evidence that it improves our risk strategies and safety stats. “We have seen – particularly in our work actively recruiting operators – less equipment damage when we have women driving our gear.” Mineral Resources recruits plenty of entry-level workers. In June, the company welcomed its second
