REMSMART and the Australian Resources & Energy Employer Association (AREEA) proudly present this fifth edition of the Resources and Energy Industry Remuneration and Workforce Insights survey report.
Amid ongoing workplace change, this series keeps pace with critical intelligence across key indicators such as remuneration, flexibility and inclusion, training opportunities, compensation and bonuses.
It’s the product of a partnership between REMSMART – the leading provider of remuneration survey services in Australia – and AREEA, the largest and most diversified employer association for the resources, energy and all service and supply sectors nationally.
Covering key points and takeouts over the preceding six and 12 months, the fifth edition breaks down workforce management trends and data in the resources and energy sector, including:
• Pay
• Incentives
• Rosters
• Leave Entitlements
• Training and Development
• Workplace Flexibility
• Turnover
• Workplace Behaviours
• Industrial Relations
Please note that while the report delivers a high-level summary of labour market trends, participating companies receive the full data set. To access this depth of detail, your organisation is encouraged to take part in future surveys.
The Federal Government used last year to bolt down its raft of contentious industrial relations changes ahead of the 2025 Federal Election.
While historically, the resources and energy industry – with its high-paying, direct engagement approach – largely stood outside the IR system, this is less so today.
New union workplace rights, the “right to disconnect”, multi-employer bargaining, regulated labour hire arrangement orders and revised conditions around casual employment are already penetrating.
Meanwhile, the long-running skills shortage shows no signs of abating.
In these times of challenge and risk, on-point workplace data helps to maintain a winning edge – measuring latest industry-wide patterns, strengths and practices. We trust this report provides valuable insights for employers striving to deal effectively with workforce and commercial conditions in 2025 and beyond.
Allan Feinberg Managing Director REMSMART
Steve Knott Chief Executive AREEA
H UMAN RESOURCES TRENDS
FEBRUARY 2025
ECONOMIC IMPACT ON THE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES AND PAY
1 3.8% FOR CRITICAL SKILLS, THE RANGE IS
Geopolitical instability and transitioning economies continue to impact local markets, with companies restructuring and reassessing workforce requirements as part of managing costs.
New remuneration strategies and frameworks are at the forefront of this change. However, systems must be fair and equitable to all employees while retaining the key capability needed to meet future skills demand.
2
AVERAGE SALARY MOVEMENTS HAVE MODERATED AT OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS 4%-8% 24%
DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION – STRIKING A BALANCE
A spotlight has fallen on the resources sector’s commitment to workplace diversity, inclusion and female participation. It’s important for organisations to monitor the ramifications of any gendered issues including the gender pay gap. Employees value peer recognition based on skills, ability and capability.
Organisations with a broader focus on leadership, culture and employee wellbeing underpinned by clear remuneration and reward incentives that ensure equity and fairness will be best placed to achieve the balance required.
AVERAGE AGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MALES AND FEMALES ACROSS THE INDUSTRY HAS REDUCED TO
FEMALE PARTICIPATION HAS GROWN TO 4 YEARS THE GENDER PAY GAP HAS LOWERED TO 9% AND 8% WITHIN THE MINING SECTOR ACROSS ALL BROAD BANDS
DELIVERING MORE WITH LESS
3 89% OF ORGANISATIONS PROVIDE FLEXIBLE WORKING HOURS TO ALL GENDERS. THE MORE BALANCED APPROACH TO HYBRID AND FLEXIBLE WORK OPPORTUNITIES COMES WITH ACCENTUATING COLLABORATION AND TEAM WORK. HYBRID ROLES ARE ON THE RISE, PARTICULARLY, SUSTAINABILITY/ ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY.
Economic factors and the changing hybrid work environment mean organisations are having to do more with less. Under cost pressures, resources and energy businesses have adopted a more conservative approach. Sustainability, community and other roles have consolidated. The work-life balance pendulum is shifting.
4
5
PSYCHOSOCIAL FOCUS
Companies are keenly monitoring workforce behaviour and its psychosocial impacts and implementing programs to meet the challenge. Reports of psychosocial hazards at work have risen.
PSYCHOSOCIAL INCIDENT REPORTS HAVE INCREASED – SHOWING EMPLOYEES ARE FEELING SAFE AND MORE COMFORTABLE TO COME FORWARD.
292 7.9%
PSYCHOSOCIAL SAFETY INCIDENTS REPORTED
RECORD LOW UNION MEMBERSHIP IN PRIVATE SECTOR
The resources and energy sector has been forced to contend with new union powers including expanded entry rights into workplaces, more facility to take strike action and a greater say in the bargaining process.
DESPITE NEW PRO-UNION WORKPLACE LAWS, PRIVATE SECTOR UNION MEMBERSHIP HAS FALLEN TO A RECORD LOW OF
FOR THE FIRST TIME, PUBLIC SECTOR UNION MEMBERS NOW EXCEED THOSE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR –
823,000 COMPARED WITH 9% REQUIRING TIME OFF WORK, 5% REPORTED TO POLICE WITH
756,600
65% OF COMPANIES PROVIDED INFO ON SALARY MOVEMENTS
SALARY MOVEMENTS
DATA HIGHLIGHTS (GENERAL):
Both salary movements and forecasts have softened over the last 12 months:
• Salary budget movements are between 3% and 4.5%, for an average of 3.8% (down from 4.1% in May 24).
• The median has remained consistent at 4%.
3% PROJECTED REMUNERATION INCREASES RANGE FROM 4.5%TO
• Projected remuneration increases for the next year have also softened at 3.8%, down from 4.1% in May24 and range from 3% to 4.5%.
• Salary budget observations are consistent in organisations with employees working nationally, compared with WA.
• 65% of companies provided information on salary movements over the last 12 months and 48% have provided salary forecast information.
BUDGET
AND FORECASTS
3.8% AVERAGE SALARY BUDGET MOVEMENT
Western Australia continues to provide bigger remuneration budgets than the rest of Australia. Engineering and construction have the highest forecasts.
SALARY MOVEMENTS
– 12 MONTHS % CHANGE MOVEMENTS
REMSMART data shows the following average salary movements for the sectors of Mining and Engineering and Construction over the last 12 months. Calculations are based on changes in role by roster.
• Across the last six months, salary movements were not as strong as the first six months of the year, however all functions have received strong increases between 4 to 8% on Total Fixed Remuneration over 12 months.
• In terms of remuneration movements by broad band there is only a 1% difference between the main remuneration elements.
• The functions of Engineering and Trades and Operations continue to maintain high movements across all remuneration elements.
• Geology and Exploration and Sales and Marketing have continued to remain high, as mining companies look to expand their operations or seek additional reserves, with project management, logistics and supply chains also increasing strongly.
• In operations, surface and underground mining and processing have received 6 to 8% increases across all measures of remuneration.
• Engineering and Trades families of Cost Control, Design Engineering, Environmental Maintenance, Mine Engineering and Project Controls and Project Engineering have received significant increases over the last 6 and 12 months of between 4% and 11%.
• Graduates overall have received 3% on base salary and 4% on Total Fixed Remuneration. Critical roles such as Civil Engineering, Maintenance and Processing have received between 6 to 18% on base salary and up to 20% on Total Fixed Remuneration.
• The higher Total Fixed Remuneration increases could be related to regional work settings where premiums are paid to attract younger employees.
3% GRADUATES
ON BASE SALARY
SALARY MOVEMENTS (CONTINUED)
REMSMART FUNCTION
FUNCTION - OPERATIONS
FUNCTION - ENGINEERING AND TRADES
FAMILY - GRADUATES
REMSMART DATABASE - BASE SALARIES BY OCCUPATION
Average and median base salaries for the main functions of Mining and Engineering and Construction sectors as of October 2024.
When looking at both average and Median Base Salaries, Operations is the highest function in Operational Executives and Advanced Operational, with Project management roles demanding a premium in Section/Unit Head or Professional and Technical Experts. REMSMART
Average and Median base salaries for the main functions of Energy sector as of November 2024. In the Energy sector, Strategy, Sales and Affairs is the highest in Operational Executives, with Geology & Exploration the highest in Section/Unit Head or Professional, and Operations the highest in both the Technical Expert and Advanced Operational bands.
REMSMART DATABASE - UNDERGROUND VS SURFACE
Average and Median Total Fixed Remuneration for Management and Operators underground versus surface are shown below.
There is a 6 to 11% premium for underground operators over surface. Management constantly changes and in this cycle we see smaller samples of underground managers who are working fewer hours and earning less.
- OPERATIONS
REMSMART DATABASE - ALLOWANCES
A number of other allowances are being utilised and included in the Total Fixed Remuneration packages in the resources and energy industry. The most common allowances are detailed in this section.
SITE ALLOWANCES
Below are the Average and Median Site allowances by Region for the Mining and Engineering and Construction sectors.
Regional Queensland (due to the state’s far north) is paying the highest site allowance, closely following by the Pilbara region of WA.
The table below separates the Project Management function which pays a premium site (project allowance). The Project Engineering job family has also received strong salary movements over the 12-month period.
The highest paying site allowances are in Regional Western Australia.
ALLOWANCES (CONTINUED)
HIGHEST PAYING ROSTER CONTINUES TO BE
14/7
Below are the most prevalent Average and Company Weighted Median (CWM) Roster allowances for the Mining and Engineering and Construction sectors.
22% OF COMPANIES PROVIDE HEALTH INSURANCE TO EMPLOYEES ARE MOST POPULAR SITE-BASED ROSTERS 8/6 EVEN TIME &
Although the highest paying roster allowance continues to be the 14/7, it represents only 8% of rosters. The gap between the 14/7 and other rosters has decreased slightly. This may be as a result of organisations transitioning to other roster arrangements. Even time and 8/6 variations are the most popular site-based rosters.
CAR ALLOWANCE – BY REMSMART BROAD BANDS
HEALTH INSURANCE – PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE (INCLUDING BOTH SINGLES AND FAMILY COVER)
22% of companies provide health insurance to their employees, with little difference between the broad bands as to level of cover.
ALLOWANCES – MINING SECTOR
Standby/On call allowances are provided by only 4% of companies.
REMSMART DATABASE – GENDER PAY ANALYSIS
The gender pay gap continues to reduce. Overall, the current resources sector pay gap is 9%, down from 10% in the previous report. The pay gap has lowered across the resource and Mining and EC sectors in executive, management and supervisory roles.
GENDER PAY GAP DOWN TO FROM 10% IN THE PREVIOUS REPORT 9%
In mining technical versus non-technical roles, it is pleasing to note the closing margin across all bands over the last six months.
Gender Pay Discrepancy For Females – AVERAGE, BY BAND AND SECTOR
AVERAGE AGE BY REMSMART BROAD BAND – ALL SECTORS
4 YEARS ON AVERAGE, FEMALES ARE YOUNGER THAN MALES
By level, females are on average four years younger than males (down from five years in the last report).
This reflects the growth in female workforce participation, with companies also emphasising succession planning, flexible work arrangements and a shift in workplace culture and equality.
INCENTIVES
Survey results reveal incentives remain a key component of pay in the resources and energy industry. The data shows:
• 84% of all respondents offer a short-term bonus to either all employees or specific levels of employees.
- General Managers and Executive Management maximum short-term incentives range from 10%-140%.
• 54% provide a short-term incentive to other levels of employees from Operators/Office Professionals to Frontline Supervisors and Superintendents, Service Leaders and Heads of Departments.
- Frontline Leaders and Supervisors and Superintendents’ maximum short-term incentives are 10%-40%.
- Department Heads’ maximum short-term incentives are 10%-60%.
- Operators, Administrators and Professionals’ maximum short-term incentives are 10%-40%.
• 63% of all respondents offer a long-term bonus to either all employees or specific levels of employees.
- General Manager and Executive management maximum long-term incentives are 15%-150%.
- Department Heads’ maximum long-term incentives are 10%-50%.
• 87% of respondents offer salary sacrifice arrangements to all levels of employees.
- Salary sacrificing is available on superannuation, laptops, parking, employee share schemes, remote area housing, novated leases, flights to point of hire, income protection, tools of trade, professional membership fees and donations.
Short Term Incentives paid out over the last 12 months have moderated slightly. On average, about 80% of the targets have been paid out.
REMSMART BROAD BAND
REMSMART
DATABASE
– OTHER BONUSES PAID - ALL SECTORS
• In general, bonuses paid over the last 12 months have moderated.
• Most sign-on and retention bonuses were paid in Technical Expert and Operations roles and mainly project completion bonuses at the Technical Expert level and above.
LONG-TERM INCENTIVES – ALL SECTORS
REMSMART DATABASE - SHORT-TERM INCENTIVE SNAPSHOT REMSMART BROAD BAND
LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS
Workforce Insights survey results show:
• Mandatory leave entitlements are for the most part being applied by all survey participants.
• Putting aside minimum legislated long service leave entitlements, the most common length of service (50% of respondents) to access long service leave is 10 years; 9% of companies have elected to pay out employee entitlements after 5 years’ service if the reason for termination is redundancy. 40% of companies are considering 7 years’ service to access long service leave.
• To improve work-life balance, 23% of respondents allow employees to purchase up to four weeks’ additional annual leave.
• 86% of companies offer employees paid parental leave entitlements over and above the government-funded scheme.
• The additional paid parental week entitlement is 1 to 26 weeks, with 18 weeks the most common.
CONSIDERING ACCESS TO LONG SERVICE LEAVE AFTER 7 YEARS’ SERVICE
• Additional leave available includes for family and domestic violence, community service, volunteering, cultural reasons and emergency community service.
Employers are strongly supporting workers with paid parental leave entitlements and encouraging a return to work after parental leave.
TURNOVER
Turnover has increased in the last six months by 1%.
• 22% average total employee turnover.
• 16% average voluntary turnover.
• 6% average involuntary turnover.
There is little difference (2%) in turnover between WA-based organisations and those outside the state. Engineering and Construction sector turnover is slightly higher than Mining and Energy. Small changes in turnover may reflect organisational challenges such as aligning remuneration strategies and restructures while maintaining costs.
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Companies are strategically attacking skills shortages by budgeting for, and driving, career and professional development:
Training
Organisations were asked about their training in 2024; training opportunities are generally rising.
• 59% of organisations gave information on external training, with 93% of these confirming the delivery of external training in 2024.
59% GAVE INFORMATION ON EXTERNAL TRAINING 57%
• 57% of organisations provided information on their training budgets for 2024.
- Of these, 31% confirmed they were increasing their training budget.
• 19% of companies outlined their intended training budgets over the next 12 months.
- Training spend by headcount ranged between 0.5% and 10%
- Average per employee was $100 to $8,000.
• 13% of companies provided information on the number of days, although it was usually undefined or as required. Capped training ranged from 2 to 10 days.
• Specified days varied little between current role and future skills training.
• Where training is provided, it is usually offered to all employees.
The most targeted training programmes for 2024 were:
PROVIDED INFORMATION ON THEIR TRAINING BUDGETS
2-10 DAYS CAPPED TRAINING RANGED FROM
Graduates, Trainees and Apprenticeships
• The most popular graduate programs are engineering and geology. Others include technology, health and safety, human resources and finance.
• 53% of respondents operate trainee programs and plan to continue recruiting trainees in 2024-2025.
• 53% of respondents offer apprenticeships and 47% support formal learning by employing vacation students.
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
The industry’s efforts to increase workforce diversity and drive inclusive cultures is mixed with over half of participating companies without diversity and inclusion policies and initiatives.
• 55% of organisations provided information on diversity, with 82% having a formal diversity and inclusion policy.
• 71% confirm they implement a company level diversity and inclusion strategy and associated programs.
• 49% of organisations do not have targets, with the remaining 51% confirming targets or quotas for specific workforce demographics.
- 59% relate to gender.
- 39% relate to Indigenous workforce participation rates.
- Very low indication of disability targets represented.
- 34% track both gender and Indigenous workforce participation rates.
• Over 39% of responding organisations have a formal pay equity policy.
• Over half are without policies and initiatives to ensure diversity and inclusion across the workforce.
71% IMPLEMENT INCLUSION STRATEGY AND PROGRAMS 82%
WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITY
Flexibility has become the way of work, with high adaptivity from employers and employees to hybrid roles. Workplace flexibility continues to be a leadership challenge with a wide range of options available to employers. Many non-Australian headquartered companies have adjusted their policies in recent months and some employers changed their operational rosters in the reporting period. In addition, the Albanese Federal Government enshrining workplace flexibility in the Fair Work Act ensures this is an area to monitor.
The data shows:
• 83% of all respondents have a formal flexible working policy.
• 89% provide flexible hours of work (through formal policies and informal management discretion).
• 40% offer compressed working weeks to their office workers, and 26% to their remote operating roles.
• 97% offer job sharing.
• 96% provide formal or ad hoc working from home arrangements.
• 72% provide time in lieu for additional hours worked and of these, 64% incorporate site-based workforces for time in lieu.
• 61% provide a mix of flexible working options for their operational/ site-based white collar or blue collar workers.
• In the last six months, 16% of responding companies altered or considered amending their predominate operational rosters – mostly to balance operational efficiency with employee satisfaction, health and retention in a competitive labour environment
96%
OFFER WORK FROM HOME ARRANGEMENTS
DRUG AND ALCOHOL
CONDUCT REGULAR & RANDOM SCREENING
Strongly managed policies and testing remain the focus of the resources and energy industry approach to the use of drugs and alcohol.
• 52% of organisations provided information on their policy approach to alcohol management. 34% of them have a zero alcohol tolerance and 23% have limited access to mid-strength alcohol at specific workplace sites (such as messes) or adjacent communities.
• 67% conduct regular and random screening to monitor and enforce breaches of alcohol management, with 7% of these enforcing immediate termination.
• 32% of these organisations reported 188 breaches over the reporting period ranging up to 53 breaches and for an average of 5.
Resources and energy employers have raised efforts to stamp out sexual harassment and other inappropriate workplace behaviours such as sex-based discrimination. These issues, including self-awareness, are a focus of leadership and external training.
95%
HAVE A FORMAL POLICY OR STRATEGY ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT
The Workforce Insights survey results confirm companies are on the front foot with reported incidents – and investigations are increasing:
• 95% of respondents have a formal policy or strategy on sexual harassment and preventing sex-based discrimination.
• Organisations continue to implement a variety of programs to support appropriate behaviours. including workforce surveys and audits, training and development, awareness campaigns, behaviour change campaigns, sharing sessions, zero or moderate alcohol policies and formal risk management processes.
• There were 648 separate cases of psychosocial safety incident investigations undertaken among 52% of responding companies.
RESPONDENTS REPORTED INCIDENTS
• The average timeframe for psychosocial safety incident investigation and resolution is 28 days (down from last survey’s 29 days). Several investigations took between 28 and 90 days. It appears employees are increasingly reporting these behaviours.
• There was an increase of sexual harassment/assault incidents reported, with 67 separate sexual harassment/assault incidents reported by 55% of respondents, with 39% reported to police.
• There has also been an increase in psychosocial safety/incidents reported, with 292 separate psychosocial safety/incidents reported by 52% of respondents with 9% requiring time off work, and 5% reported to police
• There were 91 separate sexual harassment investigations among 55% of responding companies.
• The average timeframe for sexual harassment incident investigation and resolution has decreased to 20 days (down from last survey’s 21 days) with the median 14 days. Several investigations took from 30 to 100 days.
WORKPLACE AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Organisations were asked a number of questions on workplace relations, union activity and other industrial relations issues in their work environment.
Workplace Relations Environment
The data shows:
• 67% of respondents reported no change in their workplace relations environment, indicating a broadly stable environment.
• Of those who experienced changes, 77% reported improvements, with the majority being slight improvements (69%), highlighting a generally positive trend in workplace relations.
• Deterioration was reported by 23% of those experiencing changes, with most being slight (15%), suggesting that while negative trends exist, they are relatively minor and less frequent.
Union Activity
• A significant majority (82%) reported no change in the number of union “right of entry” requests, indicating stability in union interactions at most sites.
• Among those reporting changes, (13%) experienced more union “right of entry” requests, suggesting some businesses may have seen an uptick in union presence.
• Only 7% reported fewer union “right of entry” requests, highlighting that reductions in union visits are relatively rare compared to increases or no change.
Delegate Activity
• There is Low Overall Delegate Activity with the majority (89%) reporting no instances of workplace delegates seeking to exercise new rights and protections.
• Among those reporting activity, half noted that delegates sought to represent members in discussions over workplace rights, entitlements or complaints.
Limited Union Influence
• Just over half of respondents reported no union presence at their workplaces, indicating that unions are not a significant factor for many businesses.
• (31%) stated that union influence has not changed over the past six months, highlighting stability where unions are present.
• (16.7%) reported unions being more influential than six months ago, whereas only (2.4%) noted a decrease, suggesting that union influence, while generally stable, is slightly growing in some cases.
67% NO CHANGE IN THEIR WORKPACE RELATIONS ENVIRONMENT
82% REPORTED NO CHANGE IN UNION ‘RIGHT TO ENTRY’ REQUESTS
50% HAVE NO UNION PRESENCE AT THEIR WORKPLACE
26%
DISCUSSED ‘RIGHT TO DISCONNECT’INVOKED THEIR RIGHT TO DISCONNECT 4%
Right to Disconnect
75%
REPORT NO CHANGES IN THEIR CASUAL EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES
16%
REQUIRE EMPLOYEES TO FORMALLY ACCEPT REQUESTS TO WORK ON PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
• The majority of respondents (69%) reported no discussion or activity related to the “right to disconnect”, indicating that this issue is not currently a significant focus for most workplaces.
• (26%) of respondents mentioned that general discussions about the “right to disconnect” have occurred, and only (4%) indicated that employees have actively sought to invoke their “right to disconnect” .
Casual Employment
• A significant proportion (75%) reported no changes in their casual employment practices.
• Among those who made changes, 11% reduced their use of casual employment in response to the new laws, indicating some adjustment to comply with the updated definition.
• 7% maintained the same level of casual employment.
• Among businesses that sought to convert casual employees to permanent roles: 28% of respondents said the majority of their employees preferred to remain casual, 24% stated they have casual employees but have not taken steps to convert them to permanent roles and only 9% reported that the majority of their casual employees accepted the offer to become permanent – indicating that while conversion efforts are happening, acceptance is relatively low.
Public Holidays
• A significant number of businesses (15 respondents, 27.27%) conducted an audit of public holiday payments and identified minimal or no exposure.
• 8 respondents (14.55%) have not conducted audits because they are confident their practices are compliant, showing a reliance on existing systems or processes without verification.
• A large number of respondents (21 out of 43, or 48.84%) reported that they clearly communicate, via contracts or policies, that certain roles require employees to work over public holidays, indicating formal processes are common.
• 7 respondents (16.28%) require employees to formally accept requests to work on public holidays, suggesting a focus on ensuring employee agreement and transparency.
• 11 respondents (25.58%) indicated no formal process or were yet to finalise their position on public holiday rostering.
REMSMART DATA SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS
DATA
155
GENDER SPLIT BREAKDOWN
APPENDIX: WORKFORCE INSIGHTS PARTICIPATION
We are pleased to confirm a high level of engagement in the Workforce Insights Survey: over 68% of organisations participated, while not all companies responded to every survey question.
