PEOPLE & CULTURE
Capability Statement
AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & ENERGY EMPLOYERS ASSOCIATION
PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT
This document outlines AREEA’s commitment to positive leadership and workplace culture. The Australian Resources and Energy Industry Employer Association (AREEA) and AREEA’s People and Culture Advisory Board (PCAB) are introduced, and their vision and mission stated. The document provides an overview of recent and current people and culture projects and AREEA’s people and culture related service offerings for the resources and energy industry.
Abbreviations
AREEA Australian Resources and Energy Industry Employer Association
P&C People and Culture
PCAB AREEA’s People and Culture Advisory Board
DISCLAIMER
The information contained in this publication, including data, representations, advice, statements and opinions, expressly or implied set out in this publication, is guidance material only and does not constitute advice. It is provided in good faith and believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of publication. To ensure you understand and comply with your legal obligations, this information must be read in conjunction with the appropriate Acts and Regulations.
The Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association (AREEA), including every department, committee, statutory body corporate and instrumentality thereof and each employee or contractor of any of them, disclaims all responsibility and all liability (including without limitation liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, damages and costs liability, cost, expense, illness and injury (including death) you might incur as a result of the information contained in this publication, including data, representations, advice, statements and opinions, expressly or implied set out in this publication, being inaccurate or incomplete in any way, and for any reason.
This document is a general guide and does not constitute advice. Members should obtain tailored advice to manage their legislative obligations.
OVERVIEW
Australian Resources and Energy Industry Employer Association
Australian Resources and Energy Industry Employer Association (AREEA) is the national representative for Australia’s resources, energy and supply industry employers. Founded in 1918 as Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA), for over a century our organisation has worked to ensure Australia’s resources and energy industry is an attractive place to invest, employ and contribute to the nation’s economic prosperity.
AREEA’s vision is to assist the resources and energy industry to create a brighter future for all Australians. To achieve this vision, we work to support resources and energy industry employers to improve mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.
In line with this vision, AREEA is deeply involved in improving leadership, culture and people skills in the resources and energy sector and helping our members become employers of choice.
People and Culture Advisory Board
AREEA’s activities and initiatives in the space of people and culture are primarily guided by AREEA’s People and Culture Advisory Board (PCAB).
The PCAB comprises senior and experienced human resources and industrial relations leaders drawn from a broad range of AREEA members.
PCAB members guide AREEA’s programs and policies with relevant updates and insights from within their organisations; assisting in program design and improvement; identifying new priorities; and facilitating engagement between AREEA and the wider resources and energy community.
The founding members of the PCAB were Ausdrill, Bristow Helicopters, ConocoPhillips, Newcrest Mining, New Hope Group, Sodexo, and St Barbara. Information about current membership of the PCAB can be found at https://www.areea.com.au/who-we-are/areea-boards
The objectives of the PCAB include:
• Providing information on relevant updates within their organisations and in the industry;
• Assisting in program development;
• Assisting in setting priorities for the PCAB, including participating in ongoing planning activities;
• Advocating for the PCAB in public; and
• Facilitating cooperation and communication between the PCAB and their employer.
VISION & MISSION STATEMENT
AREEA and the PCAB are using their resources, expertise and enthusiasm to progress workplace mental health and wellbeing in the Australian resources and energy industries. Their vision and mission are shown below.
Vision
Transform the resources and energy industry through exemplary leadership and culture.
Mission
Support resources and energy industry to develop exemplary leadership and culture.
Serve as the peak industry voice for IR, ER and HR leaders and practitioners.
Provide a community of interest to drive improvements in culture and leadership.
Advocate for improved leadership and culture change.
Promote the resources and energy industry to key community stakeholders.
PEOPLE AND CULTURE PROJECTS
AREEA under the oversight of the PCAB facilitates programs and provides support and guidance materials that help employers improve leadership and people skills and realise the advantages of an inspiring workplace culture.
Recently delivered and ongoing workforce mental health projects include:
• Generational and Demographics Change
• Culture and Leadership
• Megatrends
• Evolution of Work
• Initiatives related to the Eradication of Workplace Sexual Harassment
• Diversity & Inclusion Training
• Respectful Safety Audits
• Female Role Model Toolkit
• Childcare Needs
• First Woman Campaign
• Early Reader for STEM
• Webinars
•Generational/DemographicChange
• Culture Leadership
• Megatrends
• Evolution of Workforce
• IR Advice
AUSTRALIAN RESOURCES & ENERGY EMPLOYERS ASSOCIATION
Founded in 1918, AREEA works to ensure our industry is an attractive place to invest, employ and contribute to the nation’s economic prosperity for a brighter future
• Mental Health and Wellbeing Training
• Mental Health and Wellbeing Research Phase II
• Mental Health and Wellbeing Maturity Assessment Tool
• Webinars
• Appropriate Workplace Behaviour Training
• Respectful Safety Audits
• Behavioural Intervention Campaign
• National Benchmarking Initiative
• Annual Taskforce Report
• Workplace Behaviour Guide Series
• Webinars
Demographic and Generational Change
AREEA commenced development and publication of the A New Horizon Thought Leadership Series, People & Culture | Workforces & Workplaces.
As first instalment in this series, a piece on Demographic and Generational Change was published and is available on AREEA’s member portal.
Recent analyses show trends of underrepresented younger and older generations amongst employees in the resources sector compared to all industries as well as trends of the ageing of the Australian population.
In addition, the economy in general and the resources and energy sector in particular, are experiencing significant labour shortages.
Therefore, it is imperative to embrace generational change and utilise all generations and demographic segments in the workplace to the fullest.
To inform this space, AREEA has developed as part 1 of the new thought leadership series a piece on the complexity of dealing with demographic and generational change.
The report investigates sentiments and practice in the industry related to the employment of Generation Z and the Baby Boomer Generation and related age groups and provides actionable suggestions to capitalise on the findings.
Culture and Leadership
As second instalment in the series, AREEA authored a piece on Culture and Leadership, which is available on AREEA’s member portal.
The resources and energy industry faces sizable challenges, including workplace behaviour issues, a declining appeal among prospective employees, labour shortages and demographic and technological change.
These are all issues that require significant adaptation, investment in culture and strong leadership. AREEA’s Culture and Leadership report is a starting point for discussion and guidance. It looks at the key elements of high‑performing culture, how to implement culture change and interventions to eradicate inappropriate workplace behaviour.
Megatrends
A plethora of Future of the Workforce reports have been published over the last several years, predicting that ground breaking structural change is imminent, mainly due to technological advances and societal changes. In addition, discussions on megatrends have started gaining traction.
As part 3 of the thought leadership series, AREEA has drafted a piece on megatrends and their impact on workforces and workplaces. This thought leadership piece considers trends including climate change adaptation, net zero, fourth industrial revolution, materials revolution, bio revolution, uncertainty, trust & governance and disruptive IT trends.
Evolution of Work
The final instalment of the thought leadership series is a piece on the evolution of work.
The resources and energy industry will be significantly impacted by changes due to changes to the future of work, ranging from flexible and hybrid work to the impact of AI. In addition, the sector experiences significant demographic changes, with forecasts suggesting these changes will continue to play a dominant role in the future of the industry to varying degrees over the coming decades.
Strategies for dealing with these challenges include adapting both the workforce and workplaces. This document is intended as a starting point for the discussion and guidance on the future of work.
INITIATIVES FOR THE ERADICATION OF WORKPLACE
SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
Employers are increasingly aware of the importance of appropriate workplace behaviours and eradicating workplace sexual harassment in order to foster psychologically safe and healthy workplaces. Accordingly, many employers have invested significantly in education and awareness campaigns which identify sexual harassment in the workplace as a key focus area.
AREEA and the PCAB have worked closely together with AREEA’s National Resources and Energy Industry Taskforce on Workplace Sexual Harassment. In November 2021 AREEA hosted a National Summit on Workplace Sexual Harassment, bringing the industry together to share best practice and determine employer and industry response initiatives.
The Summit culminated in AREEA forming the National Industry Taskforce on Workplace Sexual Harassment –comprising 16 resources and energy employer representatives with a range of professional disciplines and expertise – to take the response initiatives forward.
As part of the taskforce’s mission to drive meaningful change, it prioritised several areas for its flagship initiatives, namely an industry wide behavioural intervention and a measuring initiative.
AREEA will continue to work with members on stamping out workplace cultures that enable gender inequality, harassment and assault.
More details on the two flagship initiatives follow below.
Industry-wide Behavioural Intervention Campaign
AREEA’s That’s why I speak up campaign was launched in November 2022. Following on from that, the campaign was continuously promoted to AREEA members and to the wider industry throughout 2023.
The purpose of this campaign is to reinforce a clear understanding of behavioural standards and leverage the importance of ‘upstanders’ in the workplace as a powerful tool for eliminating sexual harassment.
This campaign is designed to offer a wide array of practical options to deploy, including a variety of creative themes, formats and options to customise campaign materials.
The campaign was downloaded by 91 individuals from 60 companies. In September 2023, a poll was conducted to gauge responses to the campaign. Although participation in the poll was low at only 4.4%, the responses were largely positive: 75% of respondents used the campaign. Of those who used it, the response was either positive or not measured. The results are graphed below.
Campaign Use
Campaign Success
Campaign use d
Campaign not use d
Positive Respons e
Negative or Neutral Response
Response not mea sured
Ongoing plans for this campaign include an update of the campaign with refreshed imagery and promotion materials.
Measuring: Transparency, Metrics, Benchmarking
AREEA has partnered with REMSMART to produce the inaugural edition of AREEA’s Resources and Energy Industry Workforce Insights Survey covering sexual harassment and bullying –incidence as well as policies and procedures for prevention and response.
Inaugural Edition of AREEA’s Workforce Insights Survey
The inaugural edition of AREEA’s Resources and Energy Industry Workforce Insights Survey was published in February 2023, was well received and involved around 115 companies, underscoring the sector’s thirst for an array of remuneration and other workforce information.
The ‘Workforce Insights’ section of the survey provides insights on a variety of topical workforce issues for AREEA members, including workplace behaviours (sexual harassment, bullying and harassment and related policies and procedures for prevention and response).
The survey results confirm resources and energy employers have been actively tackling inappropriate workplace behaviours, aiming to eradicate sexual harassment from their workplaces.
74% of respondents have a variety of programs to support appropriate workplace behaviours. These include 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 62 separate cases of psychosocial safety incident investigations undertaken amongst 12% of responding companies. The average timeframe for psychosocial safety incident investigation and resolution was 21 days.
There were 26 separate cases of sexual harassment investigations undertaken amongst 18% of responding
Second Edition of AREEA’s Workforce Insights Survey
The second edition of AREEA’s Resources and Energy Industry Workforce Insights Survey was published in July 2023 and found the following improvements.
The proportion of respondents having programs to support appropriate workplace behaviours rose to 97%. These included similar initiatives as listed above (e.g., surveys, audits, training, awareness and behaviour change campaigns, sharing sessions, alcohol policies and risk management).
In this edition there were 80 separate cases of psychosocial safety incident investigations undertaken amongst 45% of responding companies, indicating that reporting increased. The average timeframe for psychological safety incident investigation and resolution decreased to 11 days.
There were 35 separate cases of sexual harassment investigations undertaken among 39% of responding companies, indicating that reporting increased. The average timeframe for sexual harassment incident investigation and resolution decreased to 14 days.
The Taskforce has utilised the insights from the surveys and leveraged these to develop guidance material, namely a four part workplace behaviours guide series.
Member Support Series on Appropriate Workplace Behaviours
The Taskforce has used the insights from its flagship measuring initiative and leveraged these to develop support material, namely a four part Appropriate Workplace Behaviours Support Series, consisting of the below publications:
Foundation
The first part, Appropriate Workplace Behaviours – Foundations, contains the following topics:
2.Legislative background
3.Duty of Care and penalties
4.Definitions and examples
5.Respect@Work framework
6.Integrated approach to inappropriate workplace behaviours.
Prevention
The second part, Appropriate Workplace Behaviours – Prevention, contains the following topics:
7.Leadership and commitment
8.Risk management and workplace consultation
9.Work design
10. Recruiting and situational challenges at remote sites
11.Monitoring and review.
Response
The third part, Appropriate Workplace Behaviours – Response, contains the following topics:
12. Responding to complaints and reports (including practical examples)
13. Outcomes of the complaint process
14. Workplace investigations
15. Mandatory reporting and notification, record keeping
16. Post incident follow up and support.
Factsheet
The final part, Appropriate Workplace Behaviours – Factsheet, contains the following:
17.Brief overview of IR issues related to inappropriate behaviour.
PEOPLE AND CULTURE RELATED SERVICES
In addition to the programs and initiatives showcased on the previous pages, AREEA provides the following services related to people and culture:
• Appropriate workplace behaviours training
• Respectful safety audits
• People and culture related advocacy
• People and culture guidance materials
People and Culture Related Training
Resources & Energy industry employers across Australia have a shared commitment to exemplary leadership and good workplace culture. Mental health and wellbeing of our industry’s people plays a very large part of this commitment. In addition, because of recent advances in workplace sexual harassment (and bullying in general), member demand has risen for training to educate and raise awareness amongst executive leaders, managers, supervisors and all other employees of appropriate workplace behaviours. AREEA provides several bespoke training programs in this space.
AREEA’s Resources and Energy Mental Health Training is online, interactive, group based and facilitated by AREEA and an esteemed workplace mental health subject matter expert. It provides awareness and practical application of workplace mental health specific to Australia’s resources and energy industry, enabling understanding of mental health theory and concepts and providing practical applications to increase awareness, remove bias and contribute to a mentally healthy workplace. Gain insight into key mental health concepts as they relate to resources and energy industry workplaces and situations. Put learning into action through activities and case studies.
AREEA’s Appropriate Workplace Behaviours Training is designed to educate employees about legislative and policy requirements relating to appropriate workplace behaviour and the steps to take if they are subject to or become aware of inappropriate behaviour. Managers and leaders are also provided with knowledge relevant to preventing inappropriate behaviour and managing any breaches that may occur.
AREEA’s Supervisor Training develops key leadership skills such as communication, time management, performance management, conflict resolution and effective decision making, to equip frontline supervisors to provide leadership and facilitate respectful workplace behaviours.
AREEA’s Workplace Investigations Training combines both theoretical and practical aspects in order to equip managers and HR professionals with the knowledge and skills required to conduct an effective and fair workplace investigation, including workplace sexual harassment, bullying and anti‑discrimination.
Respectful Safety Audits
Psychosocial safety is an integral part of a good workplace culture. Consequently, AREEA members have shown a rising desire for AREEA to undertake Respectful Safety Audits (also called Inclusive Safety Audits or Gender Safety Audits) within their organisations, examining psychological safety in resources and energy operations.
The purpose of conducting a respectful safety audit is to examine the actual and perceived physical and psychological safety of employees, whether it is all employees, employees from a specific work location or employees in a minority group such as female employees.
The audit was developed by AREEA’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board with guidance from Professor Bob Wood. The design of the audit considers the range and variety of work practices and locations in the resources and energy industry to accommodate a range of employer specific purposes to conduct components or the full audit. The audits can be conducted at all types and sizes of companies, including contractor companies.
Each component of the audit serves a somewhat different purpose, and when combined, they give a multidimensional view of safe, respectful and inclusive behaviour.
Typically, the audits of workplace facilities, policies and practices are accompanied by a survey completed anonymously by employees. The survey asks if employees feel safe in certain areas, raising a number of practical matters including workplace cultures, reporting processes, alcohol consumption, social areas and activities, lighting and other facilities considerations. This approach allows organisations to have a better understanding of the issues facing their employees on site and subsequently to create safer working environments. It also provides an avenue for employees to anonymously provide information about their work environment without feeling intimidated or pressured to not speak out.
Respectful Safety Leadership Walk
Respectful Safety Survey
Respectful Safety Leader Interviews
Respectful Safety Focus Groups
People and Culture Related Advocacy
AREEA engaged and advocated on a number of people and culture related topics.
For instance, AREEA engaged with the Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins in response to the Respect@Work report, and how AREEA’s expertise can support education and training, industry wide initiatives and engagement in forums.
AREEA is a member of the industry expert panel for the Western Australian Government’s MARS Program industry mental health landmark research.
AREEA also collaborates on policy submissions.
The Knowledge Centre on the AREEA member portal contains the sections Industry Resources, Industry Initiatives, Government Resources, Research – Industry Specific, Research – General, and General Resources & Initiatives.
AREEA Member Portal
AREEA SUPPORT
Workplace Relations Advice and Support
Your AREEA team is available to provide advice and undertake training. For advice, support or training tailored to your workplace priorities, please contact AREEA’s Workplace Relations Advisory Team: advisory@areea.com.au or phone your local AREEA office. For any practical support relating to workplace and employment issues get in touch via membership@areea.com.au. For information on government policy and AREEA’s advocacy, contact policy@areea.com.au
PCAB Information and Support
For information regarding the PCAB, please contact pcadvisoryboard@areea.com.au.
