Diversity
Renewed focus on employment diversity will help us meet our growth plans
Our business is planning to grow considerably. We anticipate we will recruit in excess of 1,000 new and replacement roles in 2011. By sourcing employees from a wide range of backgrounds, we benefit from a range of experience, insight and skill.
Our diversity strategy is currently focussed on increasing female and Indigenous participation in our workforce. We hope to see women form 20 per cent of our workforce by 2012, while our Indigenous employment strategy outlines a number of ways in which we seek to achieve five per cent Indigenous employment at Rio Tinto Coal Australia by 2012.
We have a number of strategies in place and planned to help meet these targets.
Programmes in place to specifically encourage women to join our business include flexible working arrangements such as job sharing and shift rosters within school hours. Improvements to our talent management system have been well received by leaders and team members and will enable more targeted career management strategies for women.
The overall proportion of women in our workforce is 12.5 per cent compared with 12 per cent in 2009, largely as a result of recruitment into senior management, graduate and operator roles.
Indigenous people currently represent about three per cent of our workforce. Our target of five per cent Indigenous employment is greater than the regional demographic and reflects anticipated Indigenous population growth.
During 2010, our leadership team approved new measures to increase Indigenous participation in our workforce, including direct employment strategies, working with suppliers and contractors to employ Indigenous people, and supporting the development of Indigenous owned enterprises to provide services to our operations.
Our operations have worked hard to increase diversity, but this will require concerted effort to move to the next level as our workforce grows.
Rio Tinto Coal Australia's 2010/2011 graduate intake placed more than 30 graduates across our operations and corporate office. The graduate programme features a range of development activities designed to prepare graduates for future leadership roles and to build their technical competency. More than 30 per cent of these roles are held by women.
The vacation student programme places students in their final years of university with us for 12 weeks to gain work experience over the university holidays. During 2010 the programme placed more than 50 students across our operations and corporate office. Forty per cent of these places were secured by female students. The vacation programme is a key recruiting pipeline for the graduate programme.
Each year, our community development funds provide university scholarships in a range of disciplines at tertiary institutions including the University of Newcastle and Central Queensland University. Applicants are chosen from areas neighbouring our operations. During 2010, we awarded 26 scholarships.
Read more
