With recruitment, retention, and career advancement proving to be an ongoing challenge for CEO’s and HR leaders across the globe, the resources sector faces its own unique challenges in a bid to advance gender parity within companies.
Evidenced from the latest 2021 report from the AusIMM Women in Mining Survey, the lived experience of women in the resources sector continues to be a decisive factor for industry participation rates.
The annual Women in Mining Survey looked to uncover key factors of participation, on-site experience, and perceptions, with a view to track, inform and build on future areas of research.
While the on-site experience has seen improvement for many women, workforce flexibility and support in managing inter-role conflict head the list of challenges.
Despite these hurdles, 2021 has seen substantial growth in the number of women who have worked in the sector for 5-10 years. With a five percent increase on the previous year, this indicates a promising trend on female industry retention.
When looking deeper into the numbers and engaging a female perspective, it’s clear there are three critical elements to the progression of women in the sector. Recruitment, retention and promotion.
The three key factors identified as most influential in drawing women to the sector are:
With a high number of entry-level roles being filled by women, the continuing gender disparity overall points to issues with retention and promotion. For women, a major contributor to the revolving door of employee turnover is when the work becomes no longer intellectually challenging. Paired with a perception that male colleagues are favoured when advancement opportunities are presented, this creates disillusionment.
Additionally, poor company cultures and lack of diversity beyond the entry-level appear to be significant factors for any exodus of women from the sector.
In addition to the basic values of equity and equality, there are proven organisational benefits of gender diversity both commercially and from an operating performance standpoint.
Diverse teams are widely reported to be more productive and to employ and ensure safer work practices. From digital disruption to sustainability and decarbonisation targets, mining and energy companies are looking to meet evolving industry challenges.
With gender diversity helping to promote creativity and strategic resilience, organisations would be wise to place emphasis on increased retention and promotional opportunities for women.
Keep things interesting for your female employees. To help maintain a level of mental stimulation, consider exploring opportunities for rotational programs across business functions and locations.
A model well proven in many large resourcing environments, inclusivity through rotational programs provides clearer pathways and a deeper understanding of the business with the opportunity to add value.
While cultural change can seem an unscalable mountain for some, companies that invest in systemic behavioural shifts and bias training gain significant competitive advantage in the market.
With a high demand among women for female mentoring and coaching, sponsorships are a key high-impact initiative helping retain and promote women in the sector. As one survey respondent noted:
“The reason I entered the resources sector is 100% the result of joining a resources sector mentoring program, where I was mentored by an incredible female who had created a successful career for herself.”
Initiatives such as the AWRA, are leading the way and offer outstanding support to organisations looking to become an employer of choice for women.
At Concentis, we understand women play a vital role in the progression and future of the resources industry. We actively look to support this push wherever we can, engaging women across a number of roles.
Sourcing and assigning resourcing industry professionals into specialist roles, we elevate existing capabilities to help you deliver projects safely, on time and on budget.
To get in touch, call us on 07 3607 6305 or email us at hello@concentis.com.au
28 Mar 2024