Early in 2022, global miner Rio Tinto released the findings of a survey showing 21 of its women employees had been raped and many more had been sexually harassed over a five-year period. It made global headlines, which prompted further revelations across the industry and put issues about the treatment of women firmly on the table for the industry. But that survey was not just about exclusionary and discriminatory practices against women, and that is even more so in the case of the “Respectful Workplace” study that Gold Fields released last week.
The two in-depth global studies, both of which were conducted by independent expert Elizabeth Broderick and her team, focused on workplace culture much more broadly. Their findings raise important questions for an industry that has historically been hierarchical and male-dominated, with worksites that often are in remote areas where it is hard to hold managers and supervisors accountable for their behaviour. But as Broderick has made clear, there was nothing she saw at Gold Fields (or Rio) that she hadn’t seen elsewhere.
Ironically perhaps, mining companies may be ahead of the curve in zeroing in on what really goes on in the corporate workplace, where there is still plenty of bullying, exclusion and discrimination despite all those well-worn executive taglines about how “people are our most important asset”. It was found, concerningly, in the Gold Fields survey that as many as half the group’s employees reported they had experienced bullying, sexual harassment or racism in the past five years.
Those behaviours are not exclusive to the group: they go across industries and across regions, though the nuances may be different. But the mining industry has long been preoccupied, necessarily, with physical safety, so it’s not too far a stretch to extend this to what Gold Fields calls “psychological safety”, and make workplaces feel safe and welcoming for all who work in them. It’s also an industry that increasingly has to focus on its social licence to operate, in a world in which many communities are pushing back against new mines for environmental and safety reasons. And it’s one that is struggling with a talent shortage globally, not just in SA. Perhaps hardly surprising then that mining is under pressure as never before to nurture its people and improve its workplace culture.
CEO apologised
Gold Fields has taken the lead in taking an honest look at how its people experience the workplace, in its operations across SA, Ghana, Latin America and Australia. It commissioned Broderick, a UN special rapporteur and former Australian sex discrimination commissioner, to conduct an independent review. The group is to be commended for publishing the report in full.
As importantly, its interim CEO, Martin Preece, has apologised for those who have experienced harmful workplace behaviours under the watch of the board and executive team — and made it clear that the group’s leadership has taken action to tackle these behaviours and build a respectful and safe workplace culture in Gold Fields, and that it will hold itself accountable.
It is crucial that these are issues that the board and executive team own, not something they devolve to the HR department. Preece has promised executive incentives will be linked to progress on the “respectful workplace” targets the group sets itself. Fortunately, the survey also revealed that more than 80% of the group’s employees do feel valued and trust that they can report harmful behaviour and that action will be taken. So the group can build on the good that’s there to tackle the harm the review uncovered.
The review wasn’t just quantitative but also qualitative: Broderick surveyed employees and contractors at all Gold Fields’ operations but also conducted face-to-face “listening sessions” with more than 1,000 employees. The process itself was important, enabling workers to feel they were being heard, and supported. The lengthy report is rich with the voices of Gold Fields’ workers around the globe. Much of it is uncomfortable to read.
And the numbers are arguably less important than the nuances of those everyday experiences. That ranges from supposedly casual comments that people find hurtful or offensive, to women’s toilets that are substandard or protective gear that doesn’t fit, making them feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in the workplace. And it extends to full-on exclusionary and discriminatory behaviour, be it against women or gay people or black people or First Nations people.
The report should be essential reading for anyone in an organisation who manages people or works in teams. Ideally, it will fuel a much-needed debate on how to make workplaces into places where a diversity of people want to be and to work.
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