resource people issue 002 | spring 2012

Benefits of Enterprise Migration Agreements

OMSA Indigenous recruits making waves

Work culture with Fortescue and Macmahon

PLUS Fair Work review, Abigroup’s diversity and mental health matters

Issue 002 | Spring 2012

Ian Smithexclusive

Breaking new groundwith Orica Limited

Global thinking with Ausenco’s Zimi Meka

Engineering allaround the world

| Spring 2012 | www.amma.org.au

03CONTENTS

Editor | Tom Reid [email protected]

Advertising | Tara Diamond [email protected]

AMMA Contacts1800 627 771 | [email protected]

[email protected] [email protected]

[email protected]

COVER STORY

30 | Ian Smith breaking new ground

OHS & WELLBEING

34 | Supporting safety on remote mining sites36 | Worker health a strong investment37 | Drug testing case no wee matter38 | Mental health matters

LEADERSHIP

40 | Queensland Resources Minister Andrew Cripps41 | Lean management theory with SA Partners

DIVERSITY

42 | An ocean journey: onboard with OMSA’s Indigenous program44 | Building a work-life balance with Abigroup45 | Workplace flexibility: embrace the conversation

INNOVATION

46 | Getting tough on diesel emissions48 | Fresh take on people risk management50 | Funding available for abatement innovation

30

Benefits of Enterprise Migration Agreements

OMSA Indigenous recruits making waves

Work culture with Fortescue and Macmahon

PLUS Fair Work review, Abigroup’s diversity and mental health matters

Issue 002 | Spring 2012

Ian Smithexclusive

Breaking new groundwith Orica Limited

Global thinking with Ausenco’s Zimi Meka

Engineering allaround the world

25

42

www.amma.org.au |Spring 2012 |

04 REGULARS

AS AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL resource industry continues to draw investment capital and create widespread local employment opportunities, recent events have reinforced the global nature of our industry.

Commentary about competitive forces and cost pressures aside, our country’s rich natural resources and insatiable

appetite for constant innovation still makes Australia the envy of the world.

This AMMA-produced magazine focuses on the Australian resource industry and the boundless opportunities found within, but there is a distinctive global feel about the Spring 2012 edition.

Our cover subject, Ian Smith, is one of the industry’s great leaders, having grown Newcrest Mining into a $30 billion global mining house after just five years at the helm. Now less than a year into his new role as CEO of Orica Ltd, this is a rare insight into both Ian Smith the corporate visionary and his wider attitude to business and life.

Also featured is a detailed interview with Zimi Meka, founding director and CEO of Ausenco Ltd. Meka’s global outlook and aptitude for expansion has seen the engineering services firm grow to now boast 3400 employees across 19 countries. Both Smith and Meka provide invaluable insight into Australia’s

competitiveness in the international marketplace and their thoughts on leadership and policy matters.

The global discourse continues with a large focus on skilled migration matters – including the benefits of the industry’s first Enterprise Migration Agreement and expert advice on managing and leading culturally diverse workforces.

Given AMMA’s unrivalled IR expertise, in this edition we explore the outcomes of the Fair Work Act Review Panel and what it means for Australian employers. Federal politicians Chris Bowen and Joe Hockey, as well as new Queensland Minister for Resources Andrew Cripps, also feature.

There is also much to takeout from the recruitment, OHS, training, diversity and remaining segments. OMSA’s Indigenous employment case study is particularly uplifting.

As a final note, AMMA thanks everyone who contributed to the success of our first edition and those who provided feedback to make this publication bigger and better. We believe this has been achieved with Spring 2012.

Resource People is a magazine dedicated to unearthing all the workforce stories within the wider resource industry, and in just our second of many more editions to come, we’re only just cracking the surface.

Tom Reid Editor

From the Editor

East Coast Conference

West Coast Conference

RESOURCE INDUSTRY EMPLOYER GROUP


05REGULARS

RECENTLY THERE HAS been an array of commentary that investment growth in Australian resources projects will slow in the medium term, but the numbers domestically don’t stack up to such theories.

The latest ABS labour force figures show an additional 15,000 Australian people in three months; 55,000 more than this time last year are employed in resources jobs. Similarly, industry research has upgraded the total value of projects either committed or proposed for our nation to more than $680 billion.

The greatest challenges in delivering on these opportunities come from the cost of doing business in Australia. Recent events have proven that now, more than ever, such costs are influenced by the political environment and an industrial relations system that needs a major overhaul.

In order to keep Australia’s pipeline of projects flowing in the face of falling commodity prices, our government must make a concerted effort to design policies and legislation that will encourage and assist the sector, rather than make Australia a less attractive investment destination for resource employers.

The future of our industry needs to shift away from the focus on the distribution of wealth and move towards a more astute awareness of our position in a very competitive global marketplace. With such a focus, there will be hope that we can translate policy outcomes into arrangements that encourage, not discourage investment and well-paid jobs.

Key news events since our successful pilot edition of this magazine was launched in May include the approval of our industry’s first Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA) and the publication of the Fair Work Review Panel’s recommendations.

The former saw the shrill commentary around foreign workers and attacks on individual mining entrepreneurs reach new heights as Hancock Prospecting was granted approval for the Roy Hill project EMA.

The trade-off here between a small number of temporary migrant jobs and a large number of long-term jobs for Australians should be simple. As a nation it is important that we move beyond the shallow political discourse that emerged following the Roy Hill EMA announcement and focus on the

long-term sustainable employment opportunities that flow on from such projects.

In May we were hopeful of some positive reforms to our workplace relations framework that would address the escalating pressures and costs of employing people. At this stage it would appear the outcomes from the Fair Work Act Review process won’t have any such upside.

The Fair Work Act Review was a golden opportunity for both political parties to actively listen to industry and make the necessary changes, but unfortunately this opportunity again appears lost amid the political discourse.

Both the EMA and Fair Work Review matters are explored in detail within these pages, but more importantly we continue to highlight the innovative practices and positive contributions being made by resource employers on a daily basis.

Our industry’s capacity to produce positive news stories surrounding the people that make our sector unique, appears – but is not – impervious to the market constraints and regulatory burdens that AMMA works relentlessly towards easing.

It is our role as your national employer group to not only keep up with, but facilitate the rapid evolution of our workforce practices.

The last few months has seen AMMA elevate the workforce challenges faced by our members to a new level on the policy agenda and display leadership in moving these discussions forward in a productive way.

The capacity in our industry and consultancy divisions has been greatly bolstered by several new appointees that bring a new level of expertise to their respective areas. These include our new executive director, consulting Richard Berriman, who is leading the expansion of our workplace relations, training, migration and legal services.

The Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) continues to break new ground in the efforts to attract and retain more women in our industry, as our Way Forward guides begin to be distributed within our membership base.

I can also proudly announce the AMMA Pit Crew Labour Index has been formally given the green light. This service will see us deliver an invaluable tool for our members and those outside the industry to understand the true magnitude of labour demand and skills shortages within our sector.

Finally, the AMMA Skills Connect project is entering the final stages of development, and this service, which directly links our members to qualified and job-ready candidates, will soon be rolled out for industry use. The next edition of Resource People will provide great insight into these new services and how our members will ultimately benefit.

I trust you will enjoy the stories within these pages as we endeavour to bring you up to speed with the latest ‘people’ matters affecting our employers, and continue to bring attention to the true achievements of our industry.

Steve Knott AMMA Chief Executive

Chief Executive’s Message


WORKPLACE RELATIONS MINISTER Bill Shorten may not yet have acted on the Fair Work Act Review Panel’s recommendations, but the Labor frontbencher isn’t getting any reprieve from the criticism flowing from Australia’s industry groups.

Employers were anticipating the review panel would address the major flaws in the Fair Work legislation as identified in a myriad of industry submissions. The consensus however, is that the panel’s recommendations have missed the mark and aim to further entrench unionism into Australian workplaces.

AMMA’s chief executive Steve Knott was among the most vocal critics when the report was handed down in August.

“Many of these recommendations are nothing more than a vehicle to allow the federal government to move further away from its IR election promises to deliver productive workplaces,” says Knott.

“The irony here is that the review’s report recommends Fair Work Australia (FWA) gets more involved in business activities in order to boost productivity – all the while ignoring calls from business leaders and academics that the Fair Work Act itself is one of the barriers to restoring productivity.”

The resource industry did secure a win with the recommendation to close the JJ Richards loophole in which a workforce was able to strike without majority support and before bargaining began.

The panel’s recommendations also address a bargaining representation issue as highlighted in the recent Technip case, recommending that union officials be prevented from representing workers in negotiations unless the union has the right to represent them.

AMMA was heavily involved in both cases, including investing more than $300,000 into appealing the JJ Richards decision. However, Knott is now more concerned with recommendations he believes will enable FWA to ‘impose themselves on employers’ through compulsory conciliation and arbitration processes.

In one example, he says the review panel acknowledged that greenfield agreement making was a major issue under the Fair Work Act, but the recommendation for ‘final offer’ arbitration could ‘make FWA a de facto project manager of greenfield sites’.

AMMA’s criticism of the review process was heavily backed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI).

“The economy and flagging productivity don’t wait for bad regulations to catch up or for courts to fix them. The price for waiting is weaker businesses and weaker job security,” says ACCI chief executive Peter Anderson.

“Labour productivity growth has fallen badly under the Fair Work laws, compared to long-term averages. The panel’s recommendations, even those that propose minor changes, don’t fix areas where the system has not worked as the government promised industry it would.”

Despite the chorus of criticism of the panel’s recommendations, Minister Shorten continues to back the Fair Work Act in its current form and has flagged intentions to make only minimal changes, most of which have been welcomed by the union movement.

The federal government has used the process to reinforce the perceived meritsof the legislation, claiming the framework has proven to strike the right balance between ‘productivity and fairness that works for both employers and employees’.

“Economic issues ranked high in the panel’s assessment of the operation of the Act, given the considerable weight given to these objectives in the legislation, including promoting productive workplace relations, economic prosperity, achieving productivity and fairness,” says Shorten.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has similarly praised the review process for reinforcing that the current laws ‘are working well’.

“In the wake of this report, unions maintain the view that any further changes to workplace laws should improve job security, rights and protections for Australian workers, not hand more power to employers,” says ACTU president Ged Kearney.

Kearney’s argument doesn’t wash with Knott, who says Australia’s resource industry employers continue to be impacted by cost pressures associated with excessive claims for wages and conditions and the increased ability for unions to interfere with management prerogative.

“The review is way off the mark,” says Knott.“We had an opportunity to make real improvements to the

way Australian workplaces do business and deliver productivity and global competitiveness – but it appears it is all but lost.”

Knott says it is critical to the ongoing prosperity of not only the resource industry but all Australian workplaces that Shorten considers implementing wider changes than those recommended by the review.

Australia’s business community is continuing to pressure the federal government for effective reform to the country’s workplace relations framework, following widespread criticism of the Fair Work Act Review Panel’s recommendations.

Fair Work reform remains in focusPOLICY06

Reconsider damaging IR proposals, says AMMA

POLICY 07

RESOURCE INDUSTRY EMPLOYER group AMMA is urging the federal government to reconsider many of the proposals handed down by the Fair Work Act Review Panel in August.

Its top concerns for the resource industry include:1. A proposal to require employers to continue to provide

accommodation to striking workers, regardless of what’s best for the employer or the enterprise;

2. An obligation on employers to lodge bargaining notices on a public website, which equates to having to ‘prop up’ unionism;

3. Giving Fair Work Australia greater powers to resolve disputes about the frequency of union workplace visits;

4. Giving Fair Work Australia greater powers to determine the location of union visits, i.e. lunch rooms;

5. A requirement for employers to notify all relevant unions of an intention to negotiate a greenfield agreement;

6. Allowing employees who join a union after secret ballot orders have been obtained to vote in the ballot and take any ensuing protected industrial action;

7. A requirement for employers to notify the Fair Work Ombudsman in writing of making an individual flexibility arrangement (IFA), including naming the employee;

8. A prohibition on making IFAs a condition of employment, despite the protections in place for employees;

9. A proposal that the Fair Work Act be amended to prohibit clauses allowing employees to opt out of enterprise agreements; and,

10. That the greenfield ‘last offer’ arbitration power be enacted in a way that is not detrimental to employers.

In addition, AMMA executive director, industry Minna Knight, says the review process has ignored several areas in need of urgent reform, including:• The failure to restrict the scope of subject matter that can

be bargained for in enterprise agreements and over which protected industrial action can be taken;

• Dismissing any notion to extend Fair Work Australia’s power to intervene and end protected industrial action; and,

• Ignoring the industry’s recommendation to lower the bar for what constitutes ‘serious economic harm’ in order to terminate or suspend protected industrial action.

“We encourage all employers to consider adding more voices to the chorus of concerns that are being raised in the public domain, as well as in your own private discussions with governments,” says Knight.

“It is not too late for the government to act on workplace reform that is not only critical for the resource industry but all Australian businesses.”

resourcesuper_advert_outlined.indd 1 12/04/12 2:17 PM



08 POLICY

Fair Work Act ReviewThe three-member Fair Work Act

Review Panel has handed down 53 recommendations for changes to the IR legislation. The overwhelming response from the business community is that there is no meaningful reform contained within the recommendations and that some of the recommendations are hostile to employers’ interests.

ADJ Contracting outcomesThe Federal Court has dismissed an appeal against Fair

Work Australia’s (FWA’s) approval of clauses in an agreement between ADJ Contracting Pty Ltd and the ETU covering the Victorian electrical contracting industry. AMMA intervened due to the inclusion of terms and conditions that have nothing to do with increasing productivity or what’s best for the enterprise, but which are aimed at entrenching unions’ stronghold in the workplace. The result is very concerning for industry.

Construction lawsLegislation reforming the industrial regulation of the building

and construction industry has now taken effect, with the Australian Building and Construction Commission renamed to Fair Work Building and Construction and the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 changed to the Fair Work (Building Industry) Act 2012, complete with reduced compliance powers.

Picketing in good faith?The Toll Transport Pty Ltd versus National Union of Workers

decision failed to acknowledge that an unlawful picket that occurred onsite during enterprise agreement negotiations was undermining collective bargaining. While Toll received an interim order from the Victorian Supreme Court, the decision questions whether employers can apply to FWA for bargaining orders in response to stop this kind of unlawful behaviour.

Victorian project guidelinesAll contractors undertaking Victorian Government-funded

building and construction projects and subsequent privately funded projects must now comply with the Victorian Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry and the Victorian Implementation Guidelines to the Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry.

FIFO inquiryThe House of Representatives inquiry investigating issues

associated with fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workplace arrangements will shortly make its recommendations. These could include the need for extra government funding to support regional communities and/or incentives to entice relocation to remote areas for work.

Endeavour drug caseIn the Endeavour Energy case, a full bench of FWA has found

the employer cannot implement the drug and alcohol testing procedures of its choice.

Super changesSeveral important changes have taken effect to Australia’s

superannuation landscape. Tax on contributions for those earning more than $300,000 per annum has doubled to 30 per cent; over 50-year-olds can now only contribute the same as under-50s on a tax concessional basis ($25,000); and directors’ liabilities have been extended to include a company’s unpaid superannuation contributions on behalf of employees.

OHS harmonisationThe harmonisation of various OHS jurisdictions continues, with

the Commonwealth, NSW, Queensland, the NT and the ACT having implemented their harmonised laws on 1 January 2012. Victoria is not participating in harmonisation at this stage; while the remaining states will implement their versions of the model Work Health and Safety Act within twelve months.

Shipping regulation reviewThe Navigation Bill 2012 has passed federal parliament

and aims to provide for the regulation of international ship and seafarer safety, employment conditions for Australian seafarers and shipboard aspects of protection of the marine environment.

No free hospitality for strikersEmployer Mammoet Australia achieved a favourable

outcome from the Federal Court when it ruled striking workers were not entitled to be housed in onsite accommodation. However this case is a shallow victory given proposed amendments to the Fair Work Act by the government’s review panel would ultimately reverse this decision.

Qantas dispute outcomeFWA has handed down a much-anticipated workplace

determination binding on Qantas, Q Catering, the Transport Workers Union and approximately 4,000 ground staff to end the ongoing dispute. FWA balanced the interests of both parties, accepting that Qantas faced significant competitive pressures and needed to implement cost savings in order to respond.

Concession orders winThe Federal Court has overturned bargaining orders made

by FWA that would have gone further than the Fair Work Act’s good faith bargaining principles allowed by forcing the employer to make concessions during bargaining. The decision upheld the tribunal’s finding that Endeavour Coal Pty Ltd was engaged in ‘surface bargaining’ with APESMA and reaffirms that employers cannot be forced to make concessions during bargaining.

Education for illegal hiresAMMA has encouraged greater education and awareness of

the current penalties and sanctions against employers who illegally hire non-citizens, as a key recommendation in its submission to the Federal Department of Immigration and Citizenship on the Migration Amendment (Reform of Employer Sanctions) Bill 2012.

A wrap-up of recent case law decisions and policy activity by AMMA executive director, industry, Minna Knight.

Policy at a glance

MINNA KNIGHT

The greenfield bargaining process under the Fair Work Act remains one of the biggest focus areas for the legislation’s review process, with industry data showing one in five new resources projects are being put at serious risk.


09POLICY

Grass no greener under IR reforms

NEGOTIATING A GREENFIELD agreement with union bargaining representatives has been a high profile issue within the Fair Work Review process, but leading industry groups say the panel’s recommendations do not adequately address the problem.

AMMA has long called for reform to the greenfield provisions under the act, arguing the framework allows unions to hold new projects to ransom and extort inflated wages and conditions from employers.

Industry’s anecdotal accounts are backed by empirical data from the latest report of the RMIT University-led AMMA Workplace Relations Research Project, which shows one in five greenfield resources projects are put at serious risk due to ongoing union stalling tactics.

AMMA executive director, industry Minna Knight, says the Act’s mandatory involvement of unions in greenfield agreements has led to a culture where employers are pressured to accept exorbitant claims or face lengthy delays to project timelines and the risk of severely denting investor confidence.

She says the government’s Fair Work Act Review Panel’s recommendations have recognised there are problems in the framework, but without further industry consultation risk making matters worse.

“The proposal is that when negotiations for a greenfield agreement reach an impasse, Fair Work Australia may on its own motion or by application from one of the parties, conduct a limited form of arbitration including ‘last offer’ arbitration to determine the content of an agreement,” explains Knight.

“AMMA opposes changes that would result in a determination power taking a ‘middle ground’ between the employer’s best offer and the union’s claims, or worse, based on union claims alone. AMMA is concerned this approach will only make matters worse.”

The panel has also recommended that the good faith bargaining (GFB) principles apply to greenfield projects, however, again AMMA is calling on the government to ensure there are sensible parameters around how this would work.

The resource industry employer group has suggested a number of modifications to the GFB framework that Knight says would provide employers with effective relief when union representatives refuse to bargain or make uncommercial claims.

AMMA’s position is backed by other employer bodies including the Australian Industry Group.

“The problem that needs to be fixed is that unions have far too much power to hold up new projects unless all their claims on the new project and other projects are met,” says Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox.

“[Under the proposed solutions] many clients, head contractors and employers are likely to be concerned about the prospect of having to bargain with a very large number

of unions before work commences on the project and of a tribunal determining project labour costs without their consent.”

When publicly releasing the Fair Work Act Review Panel’s report, Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten would not be drawn into a detailed discussion on greenfield matters, but said there has been ‘recognition’ that the framework requires attention.

Despite the minister’s comments that employer groups were supporting a compulsory arbitration process, AMMA’s Knight says this scenario is not in the best interests of getting new resources projects underway – projects she says are ‘economically very significant’.

AMMA recommended a much more limited ‘greenfield determination power’ that would be available only on application by the employer, in recognition that unions already had the upper hand.

“AMMA is staunchly opposed to any compulsory arbitration power and advocates only a limited determination power; and only in relation to greenfield negotiations, and only by application from the employer,” says Knight.

“This is a crucial area of reform for the resource industry and a missed opportunity if the government does not amend the proposed changes before implementing them.”


RECRUITMENT10

THOSE WITHIN THE resource industry are the first to concede that high staff turnover is traditionally a serious issue and one that needs to be tackled front-on.

Amid the industry’s increasing skills shortages, many resource organisations are as focused on rectifying this trend as they are in recruiting and training new employees. Fortescue Metals Group and Macmahon Contractors typify this action and are achieving strong results.

Linda Dawson is Fortescue’s HR manager and, amid the biggest expansion program in the company’s history, has her sights firmly set on retention practices. Under chief executive Nev Power, Fortescue is increasing production by 180 per cent over two years as part of the company’s ‘155 Program’ – and Dawson needs to keep the company’s top talent onboard for the long haul.

She says better retention within the mining sector comes from a ‘holistic approach’ to workforce engagement.

“This is about mind, body and spirit – it’s about the whole individual. Work is a social place; it is important that we recognise them as a whole individual for them to be able to achieve their best, and collectively for us all to be able to achieve our best,” says Dawson.

“The industry needs to recognise people at all times and Fortescue works hard at doing this. We don’t get it right all the time – but we learn each and every day, that you need to love and recognise your employees, because people want to feel wanted and valued – we all do. It’s a pretty simple recipe.”

Contracting companies face additional challenges in addressing staff turnover issues and, with a 40 per cent boost in its workers planned over 18 months, Macmahon is similarly driven to retain its current workers.

Executive general manager of people Angie Young says 95 per cent of Macmahon’s 4700 employees are based on-site. This has inherent challenges, particularly when many workers experience anxiety around the project-based nature of the job.

“What we find with workforce planning is that a project may finish, or a project may commence, but they don’t seamlessly meet. So the challenge for us is definitely trying to contain turnover and insecurity about people leaving the organisation,” says Young.

“Another issue is that we don’t have the luxury of hordes of people waiting in the sidelines to go to our projects and we need to carefully consider our investments. Because we have a

Much of the talk within the resource industry is on the latest recruitment drives and widening the talent pool, but Fortescue and Macmahon are investing heavily to retain the great people they already employ.

A CULTURE TO RETAIN

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RECRUITMENT 11

wide variety of projects we need to ensure that we spread that value both nationally and internationally.”

Macmahon recently held a workshop with the company’s top 40 strategists to discuss ways to deal with the contractor’s expanding workforce requirements.

“We got our top 40 leaders in the company and narrowed it down to about 12 good ideas. What generated the most enthusiasm among our managers in terms of meeting the challenges was ‘creating the pool’, or ‘growing our own’ through investing in and up-skilling our existing employees.”

The result of this round table was four new initiatives that Macmahon implemented aimed at retaining and up-skilling its current workers.

These included doubling its apprenticeship program; accelerating graduate engineers into management positions; tripling its graduate intake; increasing its intake of women; and, developing re-employment training such as up-skilling its employees into qualified tradesman.

“In terms of the return, we found that over the next 12 to 18 months, these people are going to supply 40 per cent of our workforce demand, which we wouldn’t have otherwise received,” says Young.

“We also found that there was a cost saving. Although there is an initial upfront investment, we found that it amounted to a 50 per cent cost saving. If we had gone through the normal recruitment processes we certainly wouldn’t have had these savings.”

Macmahon is certainly leading the charge for contractors to hold on to its workers, but in the mineral resource sector, Dawson is ensuring Fortescue’s culture gives the company an edge over its competitors.

A broad spectrum of engagement methods is regularly utilised to maintain Fortescue’s ‘family culture’, which Dawson accredits as the core value which make its people stick around.

These methods range from weekly morning forums held by the company to allow its workers to voice concerns and opinions, through to open plan offices to drive collaboration and team work.

Dawson says Fortescue’s leadership team is visibly engaging with and reaffirming to its workforce that the company’s people are its key asset.

“Our CEO and chairman are out at our construction and operational sites about once every six weeks. This is really

important; they rally the guys on a regular basis, so there is very strong leadership from the front,” she says.

“We talk about the [Fortescue] family; we talk about being in a family. It sounds a bit novel and a bit silly to some people, but once it starts it grows, and it builds on itself. We talk about keeping the family alive, we talk about creating opportunities.

“People are a precious resource; we need not forget that. I think often we do take them for granted [and] we only ever talk about them when there’s a tight skills market.”

Dawson notes that Fortescue’s turnover, including the FIFO workforce, currently stands at approximately 16 per cent and its recruitment program is currently employing around 150 to 200 people per month.

“We’d certainly like it to be lower than that because there’s always a cost with turnover, but for a FIFO workforce it’s pretty reasonable,” says Dawson.

“We need to think about the capabilities that we need for the future, while holding on to the things from the past that have actually allowed Fortescue to deliver what it has to-date. We need to talk to our people, but most importantly we need to listen to our people.

“Our people have the ideas; our people have the paradigm shifts that can actually make a difference to all of our organisations. It’s actually getting down to the grassroots and listening to them that makes an enormous difference to Fortescue and how we do things, how we accelerate our projects and [how we can] change the grade of work each and every day.”

We need to think about the capabilities that we need for the future, while holding on to the things from the past that have

actually allowed Fortescue to deliver what it has to-date. We need to talk to our people, but most importantly we need to listen to our people.

LINDA DAWSON.

Macmahon is focused on a culture of retention.


RECRUITMENT12

SO HOW DOES an organisation with more than 15,000 employees in over 50 countries measure employee engagement?

“You can have the best products and be the market leader, but for sustainable growth and profitability, you also need to have capable and highly engaged people. You need to know how to further

motivate and support these employees,” says Supriya Iyer, Orica group practice leader, human capital.

“The key point for the leaders in the boardroom is to know that the difference between employees who are engaged and those who are not can affect business performance by up to 30 per cent. Fully-engaged employees are 2.5 times more likely to exceed performance expectations than their ‘disengaged’ colleagues.”

“At Orica, before 2010 we would conduct an employee opinion survey every couple of years. Though this gave us information on how employees felt about the company and their satisfaction levels, it was more qualitative and, more importantly, didn’t tell us whether employees would continue to work for Orica and for how long. It also didn’t tell us whether they were motivated to go ‘above and beyond’ to achieve their work goals.

“Engagement is distinctively different from employee satisfaction, as it is not only about advocacy and commitment but also about actively striving to do one’s best for the organisation. It is a quantifiable measure and key to understanding how employees ‘feel’ about the organisation.

“In the resource industry, there is a big drive to attract and retain the right talent. Once you bring new employees into the organisation, you want to set them up for success. You want to understand what motivates them, provides meaning and purpose, and increases their satisfaction and commitment

at work. Hence, at Orica, we started measuring employee engagement in an annual survey,” Iyer says.

Measuring employee engagement also provides insight into the key dimensions that positively and negatively impact engagement. For employers, employee engagement surveys help identify their workers’ positive and negative emotional attachments to their job, colleagues and organisation, which in turn impacts their performance and willingness to learn. The best question to ask is ‘is engagement by itself enough?’ What if employees are continually striving to do their best but are not enabled and supported?

According to Iyer, this is the concept of ‘enablement’, which is about removing barriers. Orica found there was a lot of existing research that talked about the concept of enablement, including matters involving providing support and ensuring people are in roles that best fit their skills and abilities.

“Ultimately, it’s about having the right people in the right roles. Leaders who want effective teams need to not only engage and motivate their workers, they need to provide proper support/infrastructure and remove the barriers. If you put engagement and enablement together, it leads to employee effectiveness and greater productivity,” she says.

Orica has implemented an Employee Engagement survey for the last two years which are administered in both online and in paper formats. According to Iyer, there is strong leadership support and commitment at all levels and the response rates have been very high – over 80 per cent both years.

“Results from the surveys told us the following – strengths – things that we do well across the organisation such as SH&E and work structure, processes and clear accountabilities. Areas of opportunity – provide more clarity on potential career paths, manage change better etc,” says Iyer.

“It also gave us valuable insights into the employee experience by various demographics. It provided us with lead indicators into specific areas that could become a cause for concern if not addressed.”

Having easy-to-use online dashboards, tools for results sharing, analysis, communication and actions planning put the reins firmly in the hands of the managers.

“We monitor the progress of the actions, communicate, aim to share and translate best practices from one region to another, from one function to another. We have concentrated on two-to-three big and strategic initiatives, which are cascaded down through the organisation and into site-specific initiatives. The aim is to touch as many employees as possible through these actions.”

The power of word-of-mouth is not a concept restricted to marketing, says Orica’s Supriya Iyer. She points out how the way in which people describe their jobs and working environment to friends and family provides insights into how engaged and committed employees are to their work and workplace. This is powerful information that leaders need to know as employee engagement can impact the financial performance of an organisation.

Achieving EFFECTIVE employee engagement

SUPRIYA IYER

You can have the best products and be the market leader, but for sustainable growth and profitability, you also need to have capable and highly engaged people.

SUPRIYA IYER.


RECRUITMENT 13Job snapshotWhat led you to become a senior geologist?

It started at school with an interest in sciences, in particular chemistry. University could open the door to many life adventures and I chose an earth sciences bachelor degree with the encouragement of my family. I then chose

the mining industry as an area of particular geological interest having enjoyed metamorphic, structural geology and optical mineralogy subjects. I started as a mine geology graduate, which was fascinating and challenging, and have since progressed to my current position.

What exactly does a day’s work involve for you?I’m currently working on the Ernest Henry Underground Sub

Level Cave Mine, which is producing copper, gold and iron ore. I supervise a team of geologists, field technicians and a hydro-geologist, overseeing the management of the material (ore/waste) extracted from the underground mine on a 24-hour basis, through to the point at which the material enters the processing plant. This involves tracking the required tonnages and managing the grades to ensure we know what we have available, and that the right material reaches the concentrator at the right time.

Other tasks involve the supervision of a diamond drilling program which is, at the moment, designed to improve the

company’s copper grade estimation in certain areas ahead of the mining front, and to assist with water management.

Where has this career path taken you?It has taught me an enormous range of things technically, and

about large businesses and life in general. I’ve seen numerous places in Australia I never would have without this career choice. I also met my husband and, importantly, was converted from a Victorian to a Queenslander.

What are the greatest challenges with this role?Time is the biggest challenge – to be able to complete all

the things you would like to, not just the things you need to. Second to that would be the site’s hydrology, given we are currently mining through areas with high pressure, flow and temperature water.

Do you have any advice for young people looking into this as a career option?

Be prepared to take a leap and move to where the work is. I believe the places are part of the experience with this career.

Where do you think the industry will be, and where do you hope you will be in ten years’ time?

I would like to see Australia remain at the forefront of mining safety and technology worldwide. With myself, I would like to remain in the mining industry and continue to further my geological knowledge base.

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RECRUITMENT14

AMMA’s Cara Spence, Employee Relations Consultant

Cara Spence has recently moved from Perth to Brisbane, bringing a decade’s worth of experience to AMMA’s Queensland operations.

I’ve worked for AMMA for: Just over one year.

My work involves: A combination of industrial relations, human resources

management, mediation and legal matters. We really have to be right across all ‘people’ issues our members might encounter.

The thing I love about my job is: The variety of work, direct interaction with AMMA members

and the constantly changing nature of the industry.

The greatest challenge of my work is: Juggling member requests and prioritising tasks.

In Queensland I’m looking forward to: Reviving old contacts and the opportunity to work on

Queensland’s exciting resources construction projects.

What I’ll miss most about Western Australia is: Being able to run to work along the Swan River of a morning

and catch the occasional glimpse of a pod of dolphins.

My colleagues think I am: An exercise junkie. In my spare time I like to play tennis and

Gaelic football.

You wouldn’t know it but: I lived in Düsseldorf near the Rhein River in Germany for a year

and a half, working in Vodafone’s human resources department.

My alternate career choice would be: A journalist for a travel magazine.

If I could be anywhere else in the world it would be: Back in Germany practising my language skills.

I couldn’t live without: My friends and family.

I’m inspired by: Motivational speakers and positive, creative types.

5 minutes with...CARA

SPENCE

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Call Searson Buck today.


RECRUITMENT 15

THEY MAY BE enjoying their final year at the University of Melbourne, but it won’t be long until Miranda George and Nada Kalam are travelling across the country to engineer Australia’s largest resource projects.

Mechanical engineering student George will start her graduate placement with QGC in Queensland next year, while electrical engineering whiz Kalam has been snapped up by leading firm WorleyParsons.

Both women attribute their interest in engineering to male figures in their lives who were at the top of the field. George’s leading role model was her father, who runs his own manufacturing company, and her grandfather who spent many years in Australia’s engineering sector. Kalam is also following in her father’s footsteps.

Without this personal exposure to the possibilities within the industry, they both admit they likely would not be travelling down this path. They share a similar opinion to many within the resource industry – that there is not enough being done in early childhood to attract more young women to the industry.

“I really believe that interest starts in early childhood development. I find it incredibly frustrating when you look at the range of activities and toys that boys and girls engage in at a young age. They’re still very gender-specific,” says 22-year-old George.

“The boys are really more driven towards thinking ‘I am going to build something and move it around; I am going to put it together and I am going to pull it apart’. Girls, however, are encouraged to play with dolls.

“If you carry that on right through later childhood and early teenage years, generally those same sorts of stereotypes still exist and are suddenly emphasised with the majority of girls doing social sciences and the boys doing the maths/science classes. Then you get to university and we wonder why we have no females in engineering.”

23-year-old Kalam has spent time coordinating events for an industry-led ‘Endeavour Program’, which promotes engineering to the wider community, including primary and secondary school students throughout Victoria. She says that in her school life, career planners had actively tried to talk her out of a career in engineering.

“I went to an all-girls school where engineering was discouraged, if anything. I was told that it wasn’t for me and that I should do medicine,” says Kalam.

“After this, I went to a ‘women in engineering’ seminar and took my careers coordinator along. She was amazed – she saw that you could actually do meaningful projects. I think it really comes down to educating staff as well as students; a lot of careers coordinators at girls’ schools are not good at this promotion.”

Considering that 24 per cent of Victoria’s top-scoring female students are educated in all-girls schools, Kalam’s case is a worrying anecdote for the industry.

However, the buck doesn’t stop with school programs. George and Kalam agree the engineering sector should be promoting the role of engineers in the community and their expertise far more greatly.

Kalam is amused that her young niece still believes that an electrical engineer fixes light bulbs, while George says many women think if they are ‘not very hands-on’, they won’t make a good engineer.

“This is not right at all. We need females in engineering, because we think differently to men and the way that we look at our problems is generally much more holistic,” says George.

“I think this is why women do so well in management roles, and that’s often where they would like to go because that’s where they feel they can naturally maximise how they think, and use it to their advantage.”

Both students are again in agreement with what attracts young people to a particular employer – sustainability, opportunity and culture.

Kalam, who will get her start with WorleyParsons, believes she will be genuinely valued, and is quick to assert that graduates should not just be viewed as a purchasable commodity. George on the other hand is excited to join QGC after being impressed by the attitude of the employees at the BG Group subsidiary’s assessment centre and focus on sustainability.

The pair were again in chorus on the gender diversity issue, saying the thought of ‘working onsite with the blokes’ is not at all daunting, and that a job with room to move internationally is a big drawcard.

As shortages of engineers continue to plague the resource industry, the open-ended stories of students like Kalam and George certainly seek to brighten the future.

If only the industry can attract many more just like them. The ball is in our court.

Between mid-year exams and weighing up employment offers, two Victorian engineering students spoke with Resource People about what attracts young women to the resource industry.

unearthing the future of engineering

BRIGHT SPARKSNADA KALAM AND MIRANDA GEORGE


16

AUSENCO FOUNDER AND chief executive officer Zimi Meka describes the global engineering firm first and foremost as a ‘people business’.

While delivering technical services and management across the full project lifecycle, it is Meka’s focus on the culture and capability of his people that has seen Ausenco evolve into a truly globalised company with 29 offices across 19 countries.

Sitting in Ausenco’s picturesque South Brisbane headquarters, Meka explains how the company was founded 20 years ago with one small office just a stone’s throw away.

“Back then the focus was on month-to-month cash flow, but I always felt that with the right people we would be successful and when you have good people you can do anything,” says Meka.

“In the late 1990s, we started thinking in the longer term. You get to a certain size in a business where you have to decide that if you’re going to grow, you need to build some critical mass, larger clients, bigger systems and sophisticated management processes.

“We started a diversification of geography program and could see South America, as there was a lot of exploration money being spent there, as a key market for growth.”

Today, the ASX-listed firm has a market capitalisation of approximately $340 million and includes Rio Tinto, BHP, Xstrata, Orica and Newmont on its ‘who’s who’ of resource industry clients.

Strategic acquisitions have seen Ausenco consolidate its South American footprint, with a particularly strong presence in Chile, Brazil and Peru. The continent equates to 28 per cent of Ausenco’s revenue and with 70 per cent of its people located outside of Australia, Meka is also taking full advantage of strong investment in Canada, Africa, Asia and even Europe.

The company secured more than $130 million worth of contracts in the first quarter of 2012 alone, and has the largest long-term pipeline of projects in its history.

“The world our clients operate in is very global and you have to be where they are to service them. Our philosophy is to be where our clients and the projects are,” says Meka.

“The advantage of having an Australian presence is the access to the Australian client base that does work in other parts of the world. For instance we are quite strong with Newcrest, who are Australian-based and working in Asia, and

also the juniors that are doing projects in South America and Asia but are based here as well.

“Australia for us will be modest growth. The opportunities here lie in the bulk commodities and also the gas market, which is an important growth area for us. Over the next five years, we want our young energy business to represent a quarter of our revenue.

“More than 80 per cent of our earnings are derived from outside Australia. South America, Canada and Africa are driving our growth.

“We leverage our innovative and our low-cost approach to capital, and to operating to differentiate ourselves from competitors.”

Despite the company’s strong financial performance, Meka reiterates that the fleet of 3400 skilled people across the globe is Ausenco’s key strength.

This attitude was demonstrated in the only period Ausenco made a financial loss – the first half of 2010 – where the impact of deferred or cancelled projects during the GFC finally caught up with the mining services sector.

Meka says the decision was made to make minimal cutbacks to Ausenco’s global workforce and accept the financial blow of carrying a lot of overhead in a quiet period.

“If we had of cut any further for short-term financial gain, it would have really impacted on the intellectual property (IP) of the business, and we are a people business at the end of the day,” he says.

They may be in critical shortage across our national resource industry but there is no lack of engineers at Ausenco. In this feature, Zimi Meka explains how he manages 3400 people across every corner of the world.

MEMBER FEATURE

all around the worldENGINEERING

In the late 1990s, we started thinking in the longer term. You get to a certain size in a business where you have to decide that

if you’re going to grow, you need to build some critical mass, larger clients, bigger systems and sophisticated management processes.

ZIMI MEKA.


17

“So we elected to keep our IP intact and ride that four or five months of difficult time, as we could see it turning around; and it has put us in a good position. We dropped to probably 2300 people through that time. Today we are just shy of 3400, so we were able to build on a pretty solid base.

“Australia is a difficult place to compete from globally at the moment. However, last year’s financial performance was strong, and this year we have guided the market at a net profit after tax of $40 million. So it was a pretty good bounce from 2011–12 financially as well.”

While the shortage of engineers in Australia has many companies competing for the top talent, Ausenco’s global outlook on recruitment sees the company develop local workforces in its international markets and use Australian expats to boost technical capability.

Another highly successful strategy is sourcing skilled expats from high unemployment markets for Ausenco operations in other areas of the world.

“For example in the UK we’ve recruited a lot of engineers and project managers from England and Ireland that we’ve sent to our North American operation; and we’ve recruited out of Spain and Portugal for South America,” says Meka.

“The language is already there and unemployment in Spain is at 20 per cent so there is no difficulty in finding people in Spain.

“We are probably adding 80 people a month to the business globally. Our recruitment team is very global and pushes the brand pretty hard in Vancouver and South America. We run ten employment fairs all over the world and our graduate development program is very aggressive as well.”

Aside from technical capability, Meka says cultural fit and enthusiasm is the top quality Ausenco looks for in its people. From a management perspective, his biggest challenge is ensuring consistency across its global operations. Meka says the company’s strong brand has seen it recruit ‘some really senior people, globally’.

“Our focus is to try and deliver a consistent service. We see ourselves as a global company and that’s how we structure ourselves, with all our support services like IT and HR and finance structured regionally,” he explains.

“They are run on the ground and report back to the various functional heads who are based here in Australia, so we are very much locally managed.

“The consistency of the service offering and quality of service is a challenge, but we’ve managed to overcome those challenges by the fact that of our five business lines, four of the presidents are located in North and South America and only one is located here.

“That really does put the focus into those local areas and it works really nicely.”

MEMBER FEATURE

Turn the page to read Zimi Meka’s outlook on Australia in the global marketplace »

Ausenco boss Zimi Meka.


ECONOMY AND FINANCE18

AS I TRAVEL the world with Ausenco, I hear our clients and some investment funds making comments like ‘what’s going on down there?’. Whether their perceptions are right or wrong is immaterial; when you start to hear this type of sentiment openly expressed, it’s not a good thing. Generally, such commentary gets traction, snowballs and can have a negative impact.

Australia has got to maintain its position as a good place to invest capital because the country relies on the capital of global resources companies to develop projects.

It’s important that Australia recognises global capital for what it is. Capital will find a home where it can get the best return, whether that’s in South America, Canada, Africa, Asia or Australia. When a board makes a decision based on the best return for their shareholders, I believe anything Australia can do to promote itself as a good place for capital is very important.

Anything Australia does to discourage that capital impacts our global competitiveness and attractiveness as an investment destination, which is not good for the nation. On a global scale, there are some real cost challenges within Australia at the moment.

To illustrate my point, at Ausenco, our operational costs in the comparable economy of Canada are probably 25 per cent less than they are here in Australia. Many markets are more than 40 per cent cheaper for Ausenco to operate in than Australia.

I believe we have got to try and take advantage of the very fortunate position Australia has been put in as a nation. We’ve been blessed with great resources and great people. We need to consider that there is a global demand for both and how we can have a sustainable growth environment, rather than what would be considered a cyclical boom/bust situation.

We should be thinking about creating secondary industries, up-skilling our workforce and using technology and innovation to differentiate ourselves globally.

Infrastructure could also be improved to gain access to some of these projects, because if you look at the development of some of these projects, they are the result of exploration efforts some 10 or 15 years ago. I believe we should be encouraging and supporting exploration investment to ensure we have discoveries to support a project pipeline of developments for the benefit of the nation’s future generations and wealth.

Forward-thinking leadership with a coordinated approach across government, industry, educational and research institutions would, I believe, ensure we could become globally cost-competitive again, and importantly, lay the foundations for enduring national prosperity.

That’s what we need to keep focused on rather than who’s doing well out of the boom and who isn’t. To see through it and look at the strategic growth initiatives Australia could have in place – that’s how our nation will truly gain out of this period.

Ausenco CEO Zimi Meka manages 29 global offices from his Brisbane headquarters. Here, he talks policy and the local investment market.

Global thinking with Zimi Meka

Forward-thinking leadership with a coordinated approach

would, I believe, ensure we could become globally cost-competitive again and importantly, lay the foundations for enduring national prosperity.

ZIMI MEKA CEO AND FOUNDER AUSENCO.


ECONOMY AND FINANCE 19

WHEN RECENTLY RELEASED ABS figures showed Australia’s economy grew by 4.3 per cent in the 12 months to March 2012 – its highest level in almost five years, Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan both attributed the strong rise to the mining sector.

The leaders were also quick to use the figure to shore up support for the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT), a policy which Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey is unsurprisingly opposed. The Opposition heavyweight says growth in the resource industry cannot be taken for granted.

“Undoubtedly, the mining industry was a major driver of the growth data, and that is notably reflected in the state final demand for Western Australia and the Northern Territory,” says Hockey.

“[But] with the current high international investments in Australia’s mining industry, it is easy to forget that what Australia offers the world in terms of mineral resources is not unique.

“Australia’s proximity to Asia is beneficial in encouraging international investment, but ultimately the nation’s competitiveness in securing these investments comes back to government policy.”

Hockey, a former banking and finance lawyer before entering parliament in 1996, argues increasing the taxation on the country’s most profitable industry is threatening the sector’s global competitiveness.

He reiterates that keeping the industry as a viable investment market for Asian companies requires a ‘stable and secure government’ not held back by a ‘confused’ mining tax.

“The alarm bells are sounding loudly when you hear executives like Glencore chief Ivan Glasenberg state that it is easier doing business in the Congo than it is in Australia right now,” says Hockey.

“The mining tax has had six iterations before it even collects a dollar – and the revenue forecasts keep diminishing. The Gillard Government wants Australians to believe it will be a cash cow, yet the mining tax represents 1 per cent of total government revenue.

“It has already been spent many times over through ill-judged government promises, and we know the major mining companies don’t expect to be taxed at anywhere near the levels the government is anticipating.”

The Opposition’s pledge to revoke the mining tax is sure to feature heavily in the lead-up to the next federal election – not expected until at least November 2013.

Whether it is the impacts of the MRRT, the carbon tax, Australia’s workplace relations environment or the economic management of major projects – there is a feeling that the resource industry will often be central to the debate.

Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey speaks exclusively to Resource People about the federal government’s management of the resource industry and how the Opposition plans to do better.

talks mining tax


JOE HOCKEY

Australia’s proximity to Asia is beneficial in encouraging

international investment, but ultimately the nation’s competitiveness in securing these investments comes back to government policy.

JOE HOCKEY SHADOW TREASURER.


ECONOMY AND FINANCE20

THE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS in Europe are real and, in some respects, seemingly insurmountable.

This is unquestionably bad news for Europe, but has created an opportunity for Australian investors to buy quality shares at deeply discounted prices.

Those investors who are willing to be patient can take full advantage of the bargains on offer, not just in Australia but in Asia as well.

What’s really going on in Europe?One of the big problems in Europe is that everything is

connected to everything else. When Spanish banks or the Greek Government need bailing out, the money comes from the European Central Bank, which is in turn funded by Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and in theory, even Spain and Greece.

Fear of Greece leaving the Euro has created a run on Greek banks from anxious Greek depositors. The money to meet the withdrawals theoretically comes from all of Europe, but in practice, is virtually all coming from Germany. As a result, German government debt is now soaring and the Germans expect to be repaid by the other European nations in the event that Greece or Spain defaults.

This is unlikely as the rest of Europe simply does not have the ability to do so. All of Europe is being drawn into what is a slow moving train wreck and we know that it will end badly, both financially and socially. What we don’t know is exactly how or when.

Australian impactsThe European crisis is having a number of impacts on

Australia, all of which appear to be temporary.

These impacts include:• Reduced demand for some Australian exports: This is real,

but temporary. A collapse of the European economy will slow global growth and demand for some of our exports, principally resources. The impact on resources demand may last for a few years but, given the huge sources of growth in China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, it will not be permanent.

• Lower interest rates: The Reserve Bank of Australia has reduced cash rates in response to the loss of confidence by Australian business and consumers in an effort to get the economy going. In our view, the term deposit rates on offer today will probably be as good as we will see for the next few years. Lower rates on term deposits could also turn out to be the trigger to finally kick-start the Australian share market.

• Lots of noise and a resulting loss of confidence: The media is having a field day with the bad news. The result is that business and consumers are very wary about spending and so the Australian economy is growing slowly, but it is growing. The noise coming from the media is also resulting in low investor confidence, but if we stand back to take a slightly longer term look at the Australian share market, we can see that it has hardly moved at all in recent times.

The Australian share market is cheapThe fact that Australian share prices have stopped falling

(over longer periods of time), despite all the bad news from Europe, is largely because the Australian share market is cheap. Shares have been valued to reflect the ongoing turmoil in Europe.

There is no doubt the ongoing financial volatility of European markets continues to impact on business confidence all around the world – but for the savvy investor there is an upside. In this exclusive column, Big Sky’s financial guru Tim Farrelly highlights where these market opportunities abound.

ONGOING TURMOIL in Europe keeps markets volatile...and cheap


ECONOMY AND FINANCE 21

Institutional investors have seen this coming for a long time and have been selling Australian shares on the back of every piece of bad news coming out of Europe. But value investors keep on buying the bargains in Australian shares and so, for the last two years, the market has recovered after every dip.

It has been like a see-saw, but broader confidence will return over time. And, when it does, the Australian share market will richly reward patient investors.

So how do we know that Australia currently has a bargain basement share market? We forecast the next decade’s returns by estimating how much income investors will receive, how fast companies will grow their profits, and how much the market is prepared to pay for a dollar of profit.

When that is calculated, we come up with expected returns in excess of 11 per cent per annum over the next decade for quality Australian shares. This high forecast of 11 per cent or more per annum is not the result of optimistic assumptions; it’s the result of very low prices caused by the turmoil in Europe and the lingering effects of the GFC.

Yet while Australian shares are cheap at the moment, property and international shares are currently much less attractive.

Asian markets are also cheap In our view, the prices of international markets do not fully

reflect the problems faced in much of the developed world. It’s not just Europe that has problems with debt; Japan, the

US and the UK have excessive government debt. However not all international share markets are the same; not all have the problems faced by Europe, the US and Japan.

We expect the rise of emerging Asian economies to continue over the next decade. Companies exposed to those markets should enjoy solid profit growth. Further, the share markets of the emerging Asian economies are depressed and so, like Australian shares, they generally represent excellent value and should produce long-term returns in excess of 10 per cent per annum.

Getting the timing rightAustralia and many Asian share markets are cheap at the

moment, but we do not know when they will turn around, let alone when the next bull market will be on in earnest.

We suggest investors start buying now (if you haven’t already), but do so slowly. Break up any buying into a number of steps and spread out your investment program over one to two years.

If the markets quickly move higher, then you will have the benefit of having done some buying at extremely competitive prices. If they stay low for a year or two, so much the better for you.

Investment is a long-term business. We advise you to buy when markets show reasonable value, move cautiously and be patient. This may not sound exciting, but when it comes to investing, excitement is something we like to avoid.

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MIGRATION22

“As per the universal findings, being team-orientated is also important, but a participative style of leadership is also highly desirable. That’s probably one of the differences in Australia – you want have a team, but you want to include everybody in it.”

The style that was universally seen as inhibiting effective leadership was the self-protective style, which Trevor-Roberts describes as a leadership behaviour that focuses on ensuring the safety and security of the individual and group through status enhancement and face-saving. It is widely recognised in eastern cultures but is a new concept for western cultures.

“If anybody displays a self-protective leadership style, particularly in Australia, it is viewed extremely negatively,” he says.

“It’s that egalitarian nature of Australia that defines who we are, but it means that our leadership has to be equal and all-encompassing. If you try and push your own agenda, or your own ego, you will be knocked down very quickly or viewed unfavourably.

“Self-protective behaviour and more individualistic leadership styles aren’t viewed anywhere near as badly by people from Southern Asia as they are by Australians. So the difference in culture there affects the leadership.”

According to the GLOBE study, Australians are one of only a few cultural groups that feel there are ‘too many’ rules and regulations in place. When advising resource clients on the cultural differences around expected leadership, Trevor-Roberts says these seemingly small differences are in fact significant.

He explains there are three key messages for the resource industry from the findings; the first being ‘culture matters’.

ARMED WITH THE results of a ten-year long international study into cross-cultural management techniques, Dr Edwin Trevor-Roberts is advising resources clients on exactly how to get the best from their migrant workforces.

Conducted by a group of international social scientists, the Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) Project produced ground-breaking data into the correlation between leadership and culture.

“It’s critical at all levels to understand how best to lead migrants and integrate them into the organisation; from multinational enterprises that are working across cultures to smaller companies that may be based in one country but employ people from different cultures,” says the Trevor-Roberts Associates CEO.

“The GLOBE Project really provides practical guidance and outcomes for organisations. It was much wider in its representative scope and had more detail than any other study undertaken. It comprehensively looked across 62 cultures around the world and received 17,000 responses to the questionnaire.”

The GLOBE Project found nine different ‘culture dimensions’ – five more than what has been previously reported in research – which Trevor-Roberts says gave more nuance to how cultures are actually differentiated.

From these nine dimensions, 112 different leadership items were measured, with six different leadership styles identified.

“Of these six different leadership styles, two of these were universally endorsed as contributing to effective leadership, one was universally endorsed as inhibiting effective leadership, and the remaining three were culturally-dependent,” explains Trevor-Roberts.

“Charismatic/value-based leadership is a style of leadership that connects with the values of the followers, connects the values to the organisation and provides more of a person-orientated approach to leadership.

”The team-orientated style is about bringing people together and encouraging the team to work together as opposed to focusing on the individuals. There were some differences between cultures for both of those styles, but overall, they both enhanced the effectiveness of leadership.”

Due to the number of countries involved, Trevor-Roberts says Australia was grouped in the ‘Anglo Cluster’ with New Zealand, America, Canada, parts of South Africa, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

“The charismatic/value-based leadership style was seen to be more effective in the Anglo Cluster than in any other cluster,” he says.

It has always been important for employers to be aware of cultural differences within Australian workplaces, but as more skilled migrants help build large-scale resource projects, it has become critical to know how to manage people from different cultures.

LESSONS from around the globe


MIGRATION 23

Trade occupations assessed by VETASSESS Countries where VETASSESS can conduct skills assessmentAutomotive electrician Baker Bricklayer Cabinetmaker Carpenter Carpenter and Joiner Chef Cook Diesel Motor Mechanic Electrician Electrician (Special class) Fitter

Fitter and Turner Joiner Metal Fabricator Metal Mechanist(First class) Motor Mechanic (General) Motorcycle Mechanic Panel Beater Pastrycook Sheetmetal worker Vehicle Painter Welder Civil Construction Mobile Plant

America Republic of Ireland United Kingdom Brazil China Fiji India Papua New Guinea Philippines South Africa South Korea Sri Lanka

Thailand United Arab Emirates Vietnam Zimbabwe Other countries (by request)

VETASSESS, Unit 9E,

817 Plaza, 817 Beeliar Drive

Cockburn Central WA 6164Due to growth in the demand for

Vetassess services, the Perth office is

relocating to new larger, premises.

We are also opening

a new office in Brisbane

DR EDWIN TREVOR-ROBERTS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER TREVOR-ROBERTS ASSOCIATES.

“There needs to be a shared understanding between managers, the migrant workers themselves, and human resources. It’s not just about training the managers to be better leaders – it’s also making sure that the migrant workers understand the Australian context in which they are working,” he says.

“The second message is that the style in which you display your leadership is extremely important in culturally-diverse organisations. Culture affects our belief about what constitutes effective leadership, so it is critical to tailor your leadership style to ensure you engage your migrant workers in the best possible way and that you don’t unintentionally put them offside.

“The third is about individual motivation. If we’re going to lead anybody – regardless of culture – we need to understand what drives them, what motivates them. Each individual’s motivation is influenced to a certain degree by the culture from which they come.”

Trevor-Roberts recommends that organisations weave in the cultural understanding learnt from the GLOBE Project into their existing leadership program.

He also says it is important to recognise that a key aspect to individual motivation for skilled migrant workers is that they are technical experts. Therefore, their motivation is driven to a large extent by the opportunity to continue to learn and develop their technical skills, and to make a contribution to the organisation.


MIGRATION24

Why is it so important to give employers access to skilled migrants on Australian projects?

Managing the boom is a great opportunity for Australia, but it also presents challenges. I’m convinced that if we don’t ensure adequate supplies of skilled labour, some of the very substantial projects we have in Australia will not proceed.

The absence of skilled labour is one of the biggest risks to some resource projects. Obviously, we all want Australians to get the jobs first, but where that’s not possible, access to skilled labour is vital.

How can Enterprise Migration Agreements (EMAs) assist project developers with attracting skilled workers to their projects, and therefore moving closer to proceeding with development?

EMAs offer certainty. Of course, any project can sponsor workers on a 457 visa – that has always been possible. This is about providing certainty upfront for big projects so that people can make their investment decisions based on the certainty of knowing that they’re going to get the skills that they need.

It’s really agreeing with resource companies on what the shortages are, what challenges they’re going to face, and agreeing on a way forward for the entire project, so that resource companies can then say to their investors and financiers that they have a plan in place for managing the shortages for that project.

What is your response to negative feedback from some union groups over the awarding of an EMA to Hancock Prospecting’s Roy Hill project?

EMAs are not only appropriate, but vital. Unions play a very important role in Australia and that’s why they’re built into the

consultation process, but at the end of the day, we need to acknowledge the skills shortages in Australia and we need to acknowledge that important steps need to be taken to deal with those.

What is your response to AMMA chief executive Steve Knott’s comment that the government should ‘shut down divisive and uninformed dialogue’ on the engagement of foreign workers in Australian resource projects?

What we all need to do is talk about the facts, and that’s what I’ve endeavoured to do – talk about the facts of the identified skills shortage in Australia; talk about the facts of the lengths that resource companies go to in order to hire Australians.

I think resource companies can enter into the debate in a measured and calm way, and outline the facts of the shortages and the steps they take to recruit Australians. That’s certainly what I attempt to do and I think more facts in the debate can only be a good thing.

How will the integration of the employer nomination scheme and the regional sponsored migration scheme with SkillSelect connect Australian employers with potential skilled migrants?

The federal government has a substantial reform package underway and on 1 July 2012, the SkillSelect program came into place. SkillSelect is a big step forward – it will make it a lot easier for my department to manage skilled migration, and will mean much faster processing times for permanent skilled migration.

Just as importantly, it will give employers an opportunity to see the sorts of people available offshore. Just like the Jobs Board serves those sorts of opportunities for Australians, SkillSelect opens up the opportunities for resource companies to examine the sorts of people expressing interest in coming to Australia to work and their potential sponsorship opportunities.

Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen came under heavy fire from the unions and some parts of the government when he recently approved Australia’s first Enterprise Migration Agreement for the Roy Hill project.

In this Q&A, the Federal Immigration and Citizenship Minister provides Resource People with an insight into how his department is helping manage the resource industry’s skilled labour shortages.

Skilled migration in the resource industry

HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH CHRIS BOWEN MP:

CHRIS BOWEN


MIGRATION 25

IT IS WIDELY accepted that skilled migration plays a small, but essential role in the workforce requirements of Australia’s resource industry. Nonetheless, the approval of the industry’s first Enterprise Migration Agreement (EMA) sent political shockwaves through the Labor Party.

Federal government frontbenchers Chris Bowen (Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) and Martin Ferguson (Minister for Resources and Energy) were criticised by many of their Labor peers and colleagues for their support of the concept, which streamlines the access an employer has to semi-skilled migrant workers on a ‘mega’ resource project.

EMAs were introduced for ‘mega’ resource projects that had a capital expenditure of $2 billion or more and a peak workforce of at least 1500. This threshold is currently expected to cover between 25 and 40 resource projects.

The objective of the EMA program is to allow the temporary use of highly skilled migrant workers in the construction phase in order to get a project to the point where it will provide economic and employment benefits for decades to come.

Hancock Prospecting’s $10 billion Roy Hill iron ore mine certainly fits that bill.

“The Roy Hill project will create jobs for 8000 workers during the peak construction phase, of which only up to 22 per cent could be migrant workers under the EMA,” explains Knott.

“Meanwhile, up to 2000 pro rata training positions have been committed for local workers and 83 per cent of the $10 billion capital expenditure for the construction of the project will be spent in Australia to support local jobs and industry.

“Resource employers only use skilled migration when absolutely necessary, and these programs are proven to create long-term training and employment opportunities for local workers.”

Gray was a key player in the design of the EMA framework, having been heavily involved in the federal government’s National Resources Sector Employment Taskforce (NRSET).

The NRSET Resourcing the Future report was released in mid-2010 with a range of proposed strategies to meet labour

demands on future resource projects. Recommendation 4.2 introduced EMAs as a vital workforce concept.

“We have spent a number of years looking at how we might design this idea and to this stage,” says Gray.

“This agreement between the federal government and Roy Hill kick-starts a migration program that is skills-based and is designed to get that mining operation to production on time. On this particular site, 8000 workers are required for construction and there will be between 1700 or 1800 people within the EMA.

“This project represents a substantial contribution to Australia’s export effort, but most importantly as a Western Australian, delivers a critical piece of mining infrastructure to support our economy over the next generation – a mine that will create jobs, sustainable jobs, for over two decades and produce export income for our nation.”

Despite the inherent benefits of the Roy Hill EMA, various trade unions continue to vocalise their opposition to skilled migration programs within the resource industry. The CFMEU and MUA also held rallies across WA and in Melbourne in support of their anti-migration campaign.

Knott says the industry is concerned that it has become commonplace for unions to roll out ‘the same old campaigns of negativity and self-interested public fear mongering’ that ignores the industry’s skills requirements.

“In short, this is not the mining magnate class war issue being perpetuated by some. Instead it is a serious skills and investment issue,” says Knott.

“No doubt the arrival of EMAs will continue to foster myths and mistruths, but as a nation we need to move beyond the shallow political discourse that followed the Roy Hill EMA announcement.

“The facts clearly demonstrate how EMA programs like that at Roy Hill will create long-term sustainable employment opportunities in Australia, and promote rather than threaten our national wellbeing.”

Roy Hill EMA to deliver local jobsRegardless of the political discourse, Labor MP Gary Gray and AMMA chief executive Steve Knott explain how the approval of the resource industry’s first Enterprise Migration Agreement will deliver jobs and training prospects for local workers. An artist’s impression of the Roy Hill project, set to commence in 2015.


MIGRATION26

AS CEO OF media management, lobbying and government relations firm Communications & Public Relations (CPR), Dullard has been more than an interested observer of the skilled migration debate.

While assisting her clients to manage community fallout around the use of migrant workers, she says there are opportunities to shift the perceptions of the wider public.

“One of the problems in existing perceptions of migrant workers is that few businesses take the time to proactively address or challenge public misconceptions,” explains Dullard.

“At CPR we’ve developed a strong suite of tools for engaging with these audiences, but we rarely have the chance to work with a client until after the crisis hits – that’s when assistance from agencies like ours is typically sought.

“Fixing up the mess after it is spilt is obviously more costly and more damaging than being clever about it from the outset, and by that I mean initiating a targeted, evidence-based conversation with audiences away from the flashpoint of an incident or complaint.

“What we need to do is go back to the beginning and make the case for why the industry needs migrant resource workers; why those jobs are not being done by Australian workers; why they will never be done by Australian workers; and why using migrant workers is a benefit to the economy as a whole and therefore to all Australians.”

For Dullard, research and education is the key to getting the right message across. She says resource employers should conduct focus groups in addition to quantitative surveys to identify precisely what it is that informs the perceptions of constituents.

“We all speculate about why people think what they think, but until you ask them, you can’t actually know. Research enables us to uncover the reality of individual and social thought, and this can profoundly influence the way we build and activate a communications strategy,” she says.

“In addition to arming ourselves with this knowledge we would look to build, for example, a store of positive case studies involving migrant workers, the companies who have employed them, the Australians who have worked alongside them, and the communities that have benefited from this collaboration and the introduction of skills and different ways of thinking.

“Sponsors could also start talking about the difficulties faced by migrant workers coming to work here, their fears and anxieties and the benefits to them when we get it right – in short, personalise and humanise what for many people is an abstract industrial or political concept.”

If Jayne Dullard had her way with tackling the divisive issue of employing migrant workers in the Australian mining industry, she would ‘handcuff people to the facts’. The campaign specialist says just three or four key messages would help employers break down the misconceptions around migrant workers on their projects.

Education key

Migrant workers have been essential to many great Australian infrastructure projects, including the Great Ocean Road.

TO MIGRATION DEBATE


MIGRATION 27

Australia’s history is littered with compelling case studies where the use of migrants has delivered nation-defining infrastructure projects. In their key public messages, Dullard believes mining companies could draw more attention to cases like the Snowy River Hydro-Electric Scheme and the Great Ocean Road.

“Both are examples of projects where migrant workers have been employed very successfully, and they have made contributions to our history and economy that have been valued by all Australians,” she says.

“Telling that story again and again until it gets through is what sponsor companies need to do, and that should be predicated with some really good research.”

Trade union opposition to Enterprise Migration Agreements and other skilled migration programs continues to be a major threat to the resource industry’s ability to source overseas labour.

Dullard admits it is a ‘tough issue facing companies’, but creating a less adversarial relationship is a good place to start.

“I think that most union bosses understand very well the need to keep good people coming into industry, and keep skills going. This is actually a point of commonality, albeit often obscured, between unions and employers,” she says.

“Early dialogue between the parties might help build support for a decision to bring in skilled labour in particular instances – and to generate leading practice case studies that both groups could use to set standards into the future.”


JAYNE DULLARD CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS.


TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT28

THE ONGOING CHANGE in Australia’s skills mix is often attributed to the social and organisational impacts of the country’s shifting economy.

Globalisation, new technology and demographic changes are all factors that influence the labour market and the type of skills resource firms require to stay ahead of the pack.

Yet despite the need for constant capacity building of human resources, a recent survey by Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA) showed 25 per cent of Australian businesses do not have the necessary skills to realise growth potential.

AMMA’s new director of training and development Janine Temple is concerned by this trend and says the boosted production in the resource industry is placing ‘great pressure’ on staff capability.

“The development of the resource industry’s workforce is critical to the continued growth of the Australian economy,” says Temple.

“The greatest skills needs often identified by business in general are in professional and technical areas such as customer service, leadership, supervisory roles, coaching and mentoring skills.

“With many organisations within the resource sector struggling to find the skilled staff they require, organisations need to look closer to home and start investing in skilling their up-and-coming leaders and supervisors.

“It’s important to note that your current staffing pool has various levels of formal skills and experience and, most importantly, they are already familiar with your organisation’s mission, values and culture. The skills of your existing employees can be enhanced by formal qualifications.”

Temple signed on the role with AMMA to revamp the resource industry employer group’s training and development offering. The Registered Training Organisation (RTO) specialist is tailoring a variety of courses to suit individual business needs, including the Certificate IV in Frontline Management and AMMA’s Resource Industry Leadership Program.

AMMA’s capacity to assist in the development of its members’ workforces has been bolstered by the appointment of three highly specialised trainers.

Craig Gilvarry primarily operates in the OH&S compliance space and has extensive experience across aircraft, civil contracting and chemical processing operations. Geoffrey Timmerman is a renowned corporate development consultant and specialises in areas including reward and recognition,

employee engagement, change management and leadership programs.

Perth-based Debbie Butler has more than a decade’s training experience in management and leadership programs across the wholesaling, veterinary and private consultancy sectors.

“The most attractive aspect of the resource industry, from a trainer’s perspective, is that the rapid growth of the sector is drawing new employees from a diverse range of skills and experience,” says Gilvarry.

“Many of these skills are transferrable into resource operations and it’s our role to facilitate this in a seamless and rewarding process. For other workers who may have been with a particular employer for some time, it is our job to help them grow in their careers and become leaders as the industry evolves.”

Temple says AMMA’s RTO will continue to consolidate its new programs throughout the year and ultimately work education and up-skilling into its member companies’ recruitment and retention strategies.

“We work with our members and other industry bodies to ensure quality and industry-relevant training is consistent and cost effective for the resource sector,” she says.

“It has proven very effective to getting the best out of those wishing to pursue a long resources career through enhancing their skills.”

Australia’s shifting economy is increasing the demand for a higher level of specialised and service-oriented skills – a challenge the resource industry must meet to remain globally competitive.

Capacity building

JANINE TEMPLE DIRECTOR - TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT AMMA.

for the long haul


TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT 29

THE CONSOLIDATED CONTRACTING Company Australia (CCC) Skills Connect Scholarship Program – a partnership between AMMA Skills Connect, CCC and XLT Trainers – is designed to train Australians with little or no experience to work in the LNG industry.

AMMA executive director, industry Minna Knight says seven students are currently undertaking training, with recruitment underway to bring more students on board.

“With the resource industry expected to create 90,000 new jobs by 2016, this scholarship program is a great example of how the industry is working collaboratively to meet skills shortages head-on,” says Knight.

“Armed with internationally recognised qualifications in metals and engineering, the first students have graduated and the target is to have 15 students completed by the end of this year.”

CCC Australia country manager Hassan Seoudi commented

that this partnership will benefit Australians who want to upskill and get into the booming LNG sector.

“As part of an international group, CCC is committed to fulfilling its obligations toward the development of locals in the country they operate,” says Seoudi.

“The graduates will be offered positions with CCC as trade/technical assistants and will go on to work at CCC project sites to further their skills and become experienced welders.”

Each competitive scholarship is open to Australian citizens and provides financial support, mentoring and leadership development valued at $9,500.

Students are expected to attend all training, meet all safety requirements and make satisfactory progress through the course.

Training is delivered at XLT’s Brisbane campus, and once completed, the students will work on pipeline construction from the Surat Basin to Gladstone for the Australia Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas (APLNG) project in Queensland.

A new scholarship program is meeting the growing skills demand by providing locals with career opportunities in the resource industry.

Skills Connect programtrains locals for resource careers

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AMAA half page april 2012.indd 1 4/12/2012 8:37:56 AM


COVER STORY30

This was probably the only job that would have brought me back into the CEO world because it is so different and

so exciting. Orica is a truly international Australian-based company.

IAN SMITH.

31


COVER STORY

IAN SMITH CONDUCTS business with the same philosophy in which he lives his life – ‘this isn’t a dress rehearsal; give it a proper go’. But even he didn’t see his move from Newcrest Mining to Orica coming.

Over his five years in the top job, Smith had grown Newcrest’s market capitalisation from $4.5 billion to $30 billion and completed the $10.5 billion acquisition of Lihir Gold Ltd. As a strong believer that CEOs ‘shouldn’t hang around for too long’, he was content to hand over the reins.

The former Rio Tinto and WMC Resources (since acquired by BHP) senior executive was prepared to close the book on his career as a managing director and rather apply his strategic vision across a range of board positions.

When he was approached over the Orica vacancy, he immediately reconsidered.

“I was moving into the next phase in my life and I had a couple of chairmanships and non-executive directorships lined up,” explains Smith, who has been president of AMMA since 2010.

“This was probably the only job that would have brought me back into the CEO world because it is so different and so exciting. Orica is a truly international Australian-based company. We have people in 50 countries and we sell into over 100 countries around the world.

“I like working with Australian-based companies that have the capacity to create a long-term sustainability profile with a mid to large capitalisation. I think we did that with Newcrest and Orica to me is the next opportunity.

“It really has a great envelope of opportunity, especially when we constitute about 28 per cent of the world’s explosive market.”

Smith came into Orica following a period where the company had consolidated its global approach to its explosives and chemical markets. Citing plans for Australasia, the Americas, Europe and China, he says Orica’s portfolio ‘is rich with growth opportunities’.

Particularly exciting for Orica and its shareholders is that the demand for ammonium nitrate-based explosives will rise at an

even greater rate than mineral resources activity. As evidence of the opportunity, Smith produces a graph that compares the growth in ammonium nitrate demand in Australia to production increases in iron ore and coal over the last 30 years.

“Our product, bulk explosives, is facing a market that is going to be driven by commodity growth. But the average grade or quality of deposits is deteriorating, so people have to move more and more material to get the same amount of resource out of the ground,” explains Smith.

“So the volume of product we get demand for doesn’t directly track to resources growth. If people expect that resources will grow by 3 per cent over the next year, then we should grow by about 8 per cent.”

One of Smith’s core management focuses is optimising Orica’s assets and boosting accounting productivity. The company is well ontrack to take advantage of increased product demand with consideration of further investments in Kooragang Island; its new ammonia plant in Bontang, Indonesia moving into operation; and the recently announced joint venture with Yara and Apache for an $800 million ammonia plant in Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula.

“Only 3 per cent of our earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) comes out of WA at the moment so that’s a big growth point for us,” says Smith.

“We have also just finished the ammonium nitrate plant in Indonesia and are looking at other places around the world where we can be building assets. For instance we’re just getting into the African market; so we’ve got growth all over.”

It’s certainly a promising period for Orica and Smith personally, though his new role hasn’t been without its challenges. The most notable being a chemical leak at Orica’s Kooragang Island plant only months before Smith was due to take control of the company.

The incident had a $90 million hit to Orica’s half year EBIT, but more importantly says Smith, provided a ‘wake-up call’ that some attention was required to the company’s community relations strategy.

IAN SMITH BREAKING NEW GROUNDOrica Limited’s announcement that outgoing Newcrest Mining boss Ian Smith would be its new CEO was the highest profile resource industry appointment of 2011. Now eight months into the job, Smith tells Resource People why he took on the role with the global explosives giant, and opens up about AMMA and his time with Newcrest.

32


COVER STORY

“On reflection and as a result of what we saw from Kooragang Island and our profile, I’ve introduced in our new structure a corporate affairs and social responsibility group. We needed a higher level of expertise and approach to how

we interrelate with the community,” says Smith. “We want to brand ourselves as Orica so every community we

touch can expect certain things from us. This includes good compliance with regulation and legislation and

very significantly, being a valued and responsible member of the community.

“This is a fundamental way that we should be going about our business.”

Other ongoing challenges for Smith involve managing Orica’s global workforce of more than 14,000 people. While utilising local

innovation and technology expertise, the company localises its management teams

as much as possible and adopts cross-cultural communication techniques.

“One of the challenges for Orica is that we are always facing a trade-off between translation and speed. You

have got to be very mindful that it is hard to get those communications

out there on a regular basis with the right amount of clarity,”

says Smith.“On some things like

safety I will give a personal message and I’m not

going to wait months to get it translated and

subtitled. It’s better to get the message

out there and people can see

I seriously believe that CEOs and managing directors should not hang around for too long or you start to fall in love with your creation. Around four to seven years is a good stint.

IAN SMITH.

33


from your body language or hear in your voice how passionate you are about something.

“We always try to localise the people who will be running a plant. In our new Bontang plant, over time, 100 per cent of the team will be Indonesian. If you set that performance culture and people understand the context, it translates well across any background or region in the world.”

Leadership and AMMASmith may be notable for his success in expanding into new

international markets, but as AMMA’s president and a past chairman of the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), he has been a strong advocate for Australian employers for many years.

“Australia is a great country but it hasn’t got a legislative and regulatory base that enables growth for business in the longer term,” says Smith, who was awarded the 2011 AusIMM Institute Medal for his contribution to the mining industry.

“I try to contribute not only from a business sense but also from a general sense in how we get Australia to the point where it is a better country than it is today.

“It can get more frustrating because a lot more of the people just want to talk about cutting the cake differently, and not thinking with that long-term vision about how our grandkids get jobs. I’m not worried about me and I’m not so much worried about my kids, but for my grandkids, what’s Australia going to look like in 20 or 30 years’ time?

“And the fact is we are a very expensive country. People have a McDonald’s basis of comparison, but I have a beer basis. When it gets to the stage where you can buy a beer in the middle of London cheaper than you can in Melbourne, you know there is something fundamentally wrong.”

Smith says he is ‘very proud’ of the evolution of AMMA in recent years, as the resource industry employer group continues to grow its services and member representation offering.

He points to AMMA’s role in elevating the industrial relations debate to the forefront of public attention and says the unique profile of the employer group will only see these successes grow.

“AMMA has a sustainable profile with the industrial debate and other aspects of legislation in Australia and so the industry’s relationships can be built with various politicians,” he says.

“The individual politicians may change but the understanding of the relationships and AMMA’s stance on policy matters continues to exist over time. So it doesn’t matter which party is in government or opposition – the people that frame legislation that affect labour forces in Australia know they should be talking to AMMA on an ongoing basis.

“One of the great things with AMMA’s strategy is that we have such a great membership base and offer a range of valuable services, and that we are actually getting to a position where we can generate a good income stream and carry those resources to better represent the members and offer improved services.

“When you put all that together, it’s quite a unique profile.”On workplace relations specifically, Smith says all parties

must start to think that capital, people and sustainability are

not independent factors. He says trade-offs, such as higher wages for increased productivity, are a logical way forward.

Past, present and futureSmith has no regrets in moving on from Newcrest, despite

the legacy he has left on the multi-national miner.“I seriously believe that CEOs and managing directors

should not hang around for too long or you start to fall in love with your creation. Around four to seven years is a good stint,” he says.

“After that – and it doesn’t matter what your attitude is – you tend to want to enshrine what you’ve put in place and you lose your objectivity to new ideas. It doesn’t matter how much you try and fight against that – it’s a natural reaction.

“I’m proud of a lot of things that we built over my five years with Newcrest. I’m proud of the team we built and the portfolio we put together. We found a lot more resource and reserve than a lot of other groups ever thought was possible.

“I’m also proud of the way we went about things and some of the community liaison points that we put in place. We got Cadia East approved without any objections in New South Wales, which is a bit of a record.”

While the term ‘people are our best resource’ may be a regular corporate adage, Smith says the team and culture he built at Newcrest were the drivers of success.

But while fondly reflecting on his achievements with the company, there is no doubt he has his sights firmly set on delivering on expectations in his new role with Orica.

“The culture you set in a company is really set around the executive table. Most people want to be a part of a winning team and understand the context of the company. If you create that atmosphere, 99 per cent of people sign on to it,” he says.

“At Orica, we are in the process of refreshing our strategy and the way we go about restructuring the organisation, and it’s all good fun.

“My attitude in life is that it isn’t a dress rehearsal and I’m happy about everything I’ve done. So if you’re going to have a go at something have a proper go at it and get involved. You are in business to be in business.

“You’re going to spend a lot of time at work and you’re going to spend a lot of time working with other people. Get as much out of it as you can and give them as much out of it as they can absorb.”

COVER STORY

The fact is we are a very expensive country. When it gets to the stage where you can buy a beer in the middle of London

cheaper than you can in Melbourne, you know there is something fundamentally wrong.

IAN SMITH.


OHS & WELLBEING34

THIS IS, IN essence, the Compass Group’s vision for occupational safety within its business. Safety as sustainable behaviour for life is Compass Group’s ‘safety slogan’ and supports its vision and values. In fact, Compass has recently renamed one of its values “Can-Do Safely” to “Safely Can-Do”.

Compass Group provides Australian miners with comfortable, safe, and

enjoyable work environments and central to its ongoing success, is vigilant management of OHS.

This philosophy is allowing the Compass Group HSEQ and risk general manager to successfully implement the company’s “great! safety program” at remote mine sites all over the country.

The initiative is dedicated to the consistent application of OHS practices within the operations of all Compass Group brands, including Delta FM Australia, Omega Security Services and its primary resource industry provider, ESS Support Services Worldwide.

The success of the program has not been without challenges because Compass Group’s OHS strategies must cater for both its own workers and also ensure its operations don’t pose a risk to its client’s workers.

“The main challenge for ESS is to demonstrate that we are a responsive organisation which partners with our clients to deliver upon the service request that exceeds their service delivery expectation and providing value for money,” says Whitely, who has more than 20 years’ experience in managing health, safety, environment and quality (HSEQ) risks.

“The caveat is that we will do so only if it is safe to both our workers and to all other stakeholders present. Our approach in this regard is to undertake our site operational risk assessment (SORA) and present the information to our clients in a more engaging manner.

Dr Justin Whitely believes that when people turn up for work each day, they have a right to finish their shift in the same condition, if not better, than when they began.

Supporting safety on remote mining sites

An ESS chef cutting vegetables using the correct-coloured chopping board and cut-resistant gloves.

“By using photos, engaging with our client’s health and safety professionals, and offering solutions to the hazards identified, we are generally able to obtain traction with our clients to remedy the structural deficiencies that we have identified. On some occasions, we may even elect to redress the structural deficiency ourselves and talk about the commercial implications later.”

Daily risks for Compass workers are associated with manual handling, slips, trips and falls, electrical safety, vehicle safety, heat stress, dehydration and food safety hazards. Some of the sites may have been built many years ago and as a result these older sites may also contain inherent hazards.

Whitely says Compass encourages its staff to identify and report any hazards, as well as to suggest process and business improvements to ensure that the safety programs in place continue to be effective.

However, it can be difficult to align the ESS/Compass health and safety systems with that of the client, as often both parties will use different tools to implement their safety system requirements especially when undertaking risk assessments and safety interactions for example.

“One of the most successful ways that we have achieved alignment is by discussing each of the parties’ needs with the client and then to create a bridging document that links and aligns the Compass system with that of the client,” says Whitely.

“We have also achieved agreement and alignment with the client by working closely with them during construction risk assessment workshops (CRAW) or hazard identification and

DR JUSTIN WHITELY


OHS & WELLBEING 35


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Fitness activities have become essential to onsite health and well being.

control workshops (HazID) that have been scheduled as part of the mobilisation process.”

As a member of AMMA’s OHS Advisory Group, Whitely is a regular contributor to the broader OHS policy environment.

On the harmonisation of Australia’s OHS laws under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 2010 (Cth), he says the classification and data analysis of incident reports remains a contentious issue but overall, the process should streamline risk management within national organisations.

“Compass Group operates in all regions throughout Australia, and it is more efficient and practicable for our organisation to develop plans that comply with one set of requirements and regulations,” he says.

“Notwithstanding this, we must not forget that the focus should always be on ensuring our workers are working safely and that corrective actions appropriate to the root causes are implemented.

“I believe that the focus also needs to be on behavioural change and culture in all work environments as a strong safety culture is considered to have a significant impact on reduction of incidents and injuries.

“We all need to work collaboratively to develop a package of indicators that provide a valid and robust measure of safety performance rather than analysing lag indicators in isolation. This will produce a culture where businesses are less tolerant of hazardous conditions existing in the workplace.”

Whitely believes that there are still further improvements that could be made to legislation to ensure national uniformity and standardization. Notwithstanding that, Whitely, recommends that all businesses should increase the focus on the elimination of hazards in the workplace ‘rather than merely controlling them with lower level controls’ in line with the legislative intent.

In addition to OHS risk management solutions, Compass Group also provides education and advice to mine workers on OHS and general nutritional and health issues under the company’s Tastelife initiative which encompasses its Nutritiouslife, Healthylife and Activelife programs.


OHS & WELLBEING36

McCartney makes a strong case for mining companies to step up to the mark when it comes to protecting the health of their employees.

“Not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because if you don’t, there is good evidence this will directly affect attracting and retaining people and impede workplace productivity.”

SPENDING ON WORKERS’ health may once have been considered a ‘feel-good’ prerequisite for valuing employees, but Kinetic Health’s medical director Dr Robert McCartney believes mismanagement of a workforce’s health issues doesn’t just lead to human cost, but also company losses.

He says the resource industry should be particularly wary of mental health issues and the impact on absenteeism, decreased productivity, increased workers’ compensation claims and diminished staff retention.

“When people ask me what I see in the future of the mining industry, I tell them it’s an increase in mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety and stress,” says McCartney.

“Such psychosocial issues then have the potential to escalate into other problems. For example, depression, anxiety and stress can lead to binge drinking and increased drug use. They can also be the cause of insomnia, which means you have sleep-deprived individuals operating heavy machinery and carrying out safety critical tasks.

“If you see this in your workforce, or if one of your employees starts talking about not sleeping, I strongly recommend you intervene and have them appropriately assessed.”

McCartney advises individuals to carefully consider prospective employers and think twice before accepting a role with a company that does not offer some form of onsite health and wellbeing services.

It’s a growing position that every employer should be aware of.“When you’re dealing with a workforce isolated from family,

friends and health advisers, the lack of a support network often results in diminished health and wellbeing,” says McCartney.

“Plus, you’re talking about a workforce that is often situated in small towns with a medical infrastructure that caters to the population of the town, not the additional population made up of the workers. So, if you’re the company that has brought them there, there is a good case to be argued that it’s up to you to take care of them.

“There are enough companies that do offer health protection such that mining employees no longer have to take the risk of their health being neglected in isolated and often dangerous work settings. Given the competition for quality people in the sector, such services can be considered good business.”

According to Dr Robert McCartney, assisting employees with their general health and well being can no longer be considered ‘discretionary’ spending by companies interested in the long-term health of their workers.

Worker health a

When you’re dealing with a workforce isolated from family, friends

and health advisers, the lack of a support network often results in diminished health and well being.

DR ROBERT MCCARTNEY MEDICAL DIRECTOR KINETIC HEALTH.

STRONG INVESTMENT


OHS & WELLBEING 37

A ruling that restricts an energy employer from urine testing for onsite drug use has been declared ‘a win for workers’ rights’ by the union movement, but employers have expressed grave concerns over the implications for on-site health and safety.

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Drug testing case no wee matter

FAIR WORK AUSTRALIA handed down its controversial decision in August, ruling NSW state-owned Endeavour Energy could only implement saliva-testing methods as approved by the workers’ unions.

AMMA had intervened in proceedings to support Endeavour Energy in its appeal, with chief executive Steve Knott arguing the decision impacts on all employers’ ability to manage their businesses as they see fit.

“There is no proper basis in the present matter for Fair Work Australia or the unions to interfere with managerial autonomy. Further, this decision fails to give proper weight to the employer’s workplace health and safety obligations,” says Knott.

“Drug and alcohol testing is a critical feature of many Australian workplaces. The ability to put appropriate forms of testing in place is integral to many workplaces, particularly in the resource industry where the presence of drugs and alcohol can risk safety and threaten lives.”

United Services Union energy manager Scott McNamara says the umpire’s decision is ‘gratifying’, and urged the matter should be laid to rest.

“[The] decision by Fair Work Australia is a massive win for workers in the electricity industry in NSW and brings Endeavour into line with the practice employed by Ausgrid and Essential Energy,” says McNamara.

“Fair Work Australia has now found on two occasions that saliva swab testing is superior to the invasive urine based model when it comes to detecting drug and alcohol impairment.”

Mr Knott, however, disputes McNamara’s statement, saying independent research proves urine testing is ‘far superior’ to saliva testing in detecting substance abuse and providing workers with a safe working environment.

“This decision contradicts the November 2011 decision in the HWE Mining case, in which the tribunal ruled in favour of urine testing as the more effective method of keeping our workplaces safe,” he says.

“But at the end of the day, an employer should always have the right to implement those policies and procedures that it believes best satisfy its obligations to provide workers with a risk-free environment.”

THERE IS NO doubt resource industry employers place great importance on mental health issues within their workforces, but the latest research doesn’t lie and shows more attention is required at an operational level.

Corporate psychology services firm Davidson Trahaire Corpsych (DTC) has run the numbers that have come from the company’s Employee Assistance

Programs (EAPs), and the data shows an increase in mental health issues.

Some increases have been reported in workplace bullying, work satisfaction issues and alcohol-related problems, but among the concerns is a 131 per cent increase in the presentation of depression cases in the year to July 2012.

While some of the rise can be attributed to the large growth in industry employment numbers, DTC chief executive Michele Grow says the industry must ‘up the ante’ on support, leadership and training to keep worksites mentally healthy.

“In the community generally, people recognise that mental health is an issue, and it’s talked about a lot, but the action is slow to follow,” explains Grow.

“More than 20 per cent of people who present for the EAP across all industries do so for stress, anxiety or substance abuse – that’s a really big number.

“If we think about the mining sector specifically, there are people often working in environments away from home such as with fly-in, fly-out work where they’re away from their normal support network with no break from the work environment.

“They’re working long hours, so fatigue becomes an issue; there’s significant pressure around how they’re working, so the stress factor comes into play; and there’s often an increase in things like workplace bullying and harassment in that kind of environment.”

According to Grow, there are many complex impacts of not properly managing mental health issues, particularly on remote mining worksites. These include productivity losses, absenteeism, the increased risk of injury to all workers and even negative impacts on a company’s recruitment brand.

She says some managers fail to address the real cost of not providing a supportive work environment.

“Wellness spending is no longer optional, it’s business critical. If you don’t have people who understand not only physical safety but psychological safety, you’re going to put yourself, your employees and your business at very significant risk,” says Grow.

“An employee with an untreated mental health condition can impact the level of teamwork

within an organisation; their alertness and productivity can be affected by

difficulties with sleeping, and they can become unable to make

clear decisions and experience an increased desire for risk-

taking.”Despite the traditional

challenges, Grow is at the forefront of a movement to address, inspire and maintain mental and physical wellbeing in

Australian workplaces.Experience has shown actions to

minimise high work pressure, improve

flexibility, and recognise and address conflict and tension in the workplace will

reduce the risk factors and re-align a business towards protective measures.While OHS legislation

and the access to EAP

OHS & WELLBEING38

Cases of depression among resource industry workers have more than doubled over the past year and Michele Grow is on a mission to make our workplaces the most mentally healthy in the country.

Mental health MATTERS


MICHELE GROW


OHS & WELLBEING 39

programs in the workplace play a critical role, Grow says more focus should be placed on effective leadership, social connection and improved mental health policy.

“The first step is awareness and acceptance – making sure that an organisation is providing information on mental health issues from induction onwards, as well as providing workplace resources and training,” she says.

“The second step is leadership behaviour, applying from the CEO down to every supervisory level. Language, behaviour and communication needs to respect and recognise that improving mental health is a significant community issue and in the workplace, creating a culture of being a role model across every level of the organisation.

“And the third step is the provision of effective training, such as the beyondblue National Workplace Program. The most common call DTC takes from managers is from those who know poor mental health is an issue, but lack the confidence and capability to address needs.

“The easiest way to do so is through mental health awareness training, which can be anything from a one-hour introductory session for all employees through to detailed training for managers. Effective training together with positive leadership will make a measurable impact on individual employees, their families and the organisation as a whole.”

Grow says that if organisations invest in mental health training and building resilience, they will see a significant

positive shift, but warns that if these steps are undertaken in isolation they won’t be as effective.

“All employers have a duty of care to provide a safe workplace, and a workplace that’s without stigmatisation of any issue,” she says.

“At DTC, we’re seeing some resources companies who are getting to this point, but it’s been a slow journey.

“We’re working with several of those types of companies and it is being taken on quite quickly once managers have a better understanding of what the issues are and what they should do about them, and they have the confidence to take action.”

An employee with an untreated mental health condition can impact the level of teamwork within an organisation; their

alertness and productivity can be affected by difficulties with sleeping, and they can become unable to make clear decisions and experience an increased desire for risk-taking.

MICHELE GROW.


yt: www.amma.org.au/youtube


40 LEADERSHIP

CRIPPS HAS REPRESENTED the North Queensland electorate of Hinchinbrook strongly for six years, but now finds himself on the main stage as the new minister for the state’s biggest economic driver.

Queensland’s prospering resource industry is underpinned by $160 billion worth of approved or planned projects, forecast to create 40,000 new jobs by 2015. The state’s three major LNG pipeline projects equate to $50 billion in capital expenditure alone, and Cripps is well aware of the responsibility he now shoulders.

“Make no mistake, this state’s $2.8 billion deficit and ballooning debt must be reined in, and the resource sector will play a pivotal role in that process,” says the 31-year-old MP.

One of the immediate challenges for Cripps is managing the bureaucratic impasse between Queensland landowners and miners which threatens further exploration in the state.

The government’s recently publicised Land Access Review Report highlighted the economic damage of ongoing tensions between farmers and resource companies, and Cripps says strong governance is needed now more than ever.

He blames the former State Labor Government for the lack of a modern regulatory framework in the coal seam gas (CSG) sector, before indicating the Newman Government is working towards a ‘transparent and respectful relationship between resource companies and landholders’.

“Through the tabling of the report of an independent review into land access arrangements, the State Government has taken a step towards striking a balance between the resource

sector’s ambitious growth plans and the legitimate concerns of landowners,” he says.

“The Newman Government has also established the GasFields Commission to better manage the co-existence between landholders, regional communities and the resource industry in Queensland.

“We have prioritised statutory regional plans for the Darling Downs and in central Queensland, including the development of strategic cropping land maps. Additionally, the Liberal National Party (LNP) has committed to boosting transparency in the industry by making agreements between gas companies and landholders publicly available.”

Under the new framework, Cripps’ department has conditionally approved several important projects including Anglo American’s $1.7 billion Grosvenor mine near Moranbah; GVK-Hancock’s $6.4 billion Alpha coal project in the Galilee Basin; and Rio Tinto’s $1.45 billion South of Embley bauxite mine on Cape York.

“Approvals such as these are important if mining is to remain the engine room for jobs growth in Queensland,” he says.

“Achieving regulatory and investment certainty for industry is paramount, however I make no apology in saying that, in return, the Government will expect the world’s best social and environmental outcomes for Queenslanders.

“Queensland’s LNG-CSG industry must manage the social and environmental impacts of enormous growth in order to regain its social licence to operate.”

The central Queensland town of Moranbah has been the epicentre of the clash between Queensland’s rural landowners and multi-national miners. Using Anglo as an example, Cripps is confident in the ability for resource companies to positively contribute to regional communities.

“The Grosvenor mine approval will create up to 1,000 new jobs for Queenslanders and represents a significant expansion of Anglo American’s Queensland operations,” he says.

“Residential infrastructure is a critical issue for Moranbah and I am pleased that Anglo American is working with other local coal companies to develop and ensure the availability of accommodation and key community facilities,” he says.

“I am advised this company will offer a range of accommodation options to its workforce and build more than 50 new houses and townhouses in the Moranbah area. The Grosvenor project will also create many opportunities and significant income in the region across its 40-year lifespan.

“This is another boost for Queensland and demonstrates our commitment to get the state back on track.”

The youngest member of the Queensland Parliament when first elected in 2006, Andrew Cripps has his work cut out for him as the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines within Queensland’s newly elected Liberal National Party Newman Government.

QUEENSLAND RESOURCES: Open for business

ANDREW CRIPPS

Queensland’s LNG industry is driving employment growth.


LEADERSHIP 41

TOYOTA’S ASCENSION FROM a capital-starved Japanese automaker into one of the most powerful corporations in the world was driven by cutting three types of waste: non-value adding work, overburden and unevenness.

The process involves reviewing every step in the value chain to eliminate unnecessary waste and lower costs, increase efficiency and boost productivity. It’s a simple and effective management philosophy that has made corporations across the world stand up and take notice.

Today, ‘Lean Thinking’ is fast infiltrating Australian organisations and evolving beyond manufacturing to a range of sectors – including the dynamic resource industry.

Consultancy firm SA Partners provides thought leadership in this area, and managing director Chris Butterworth says its principles are proving to be very effective in project-based work, service sectors and support functions.

“There are a lot of myths about lean thinking, but an obviously one is that it is just for manufacturing,” says Butterworth, who worked for SA Partners in the UK for a decade before heading the firm’s Australian expansion.

“The other myth is that it is for order fulfilment – getting stuff out the door – and a lot of people think it’s just a continuous production, rather than project work. I think the key thing that people need to recognise is that it’s about lean thinking as opposed to lean manufacturing.

“Lean thinking isn’t about providing tools and techniques to help make business decisions. Success and sustainability is about people, and 10 per cent about tools and techniques.”

Butterworth’s right-hand man is Jon Lindsay, the managing consultant of the firm and its leadership coach. Lindsay’s view in applying lean management to resources clients is that the principles can be applied to more closely match supply and the varying demand of take-up by the end customer. He says lean management isn’t solely about controlling costs and cutting corners, but rather about providing value to the customer, often defined in terms of time and quality, which encourages repeat business and increases profit.

“The principles of lean can be applied to the resource sector, despite the fact that the industry has often felt the need to stockpile and maintain production even in the light of rapidly fluctuating demand. The principle of ‘flow’ is as applicable to digging and transporting materials as it is in a manufacturing sense,” says Lindsay.

“The resource industry can apply lean principles to processes outside of just producing material. For example, lean approaches can be used in matters of recruitment, sales management as well as operations management and product development.

“One striking example in the resource sector is that projects and operations are not necessarily aligned with their objectives. Operations can quite often be starved of funds for incremental improvement, whereas projects can benefit from headline catching investment cash.

“So there is an opportunity for a combined goal – one more aligned between projects and operations to make a massive improvement in operational effectiveness in some resource sectors.”

Butterworth elaborates on this in a human resources sense, explaining that a wide understanding of the company’s overall goals and objectives helps employees understand why they are doing what they are doing.

“What delivers customer value? Its key processes. And processes cut across every department. For example, just take the simple process of getting the material to the customer – it involves purchasing, planning, logistics, operations, finance. However, the main thing to consider: is what are the value streams within these processes?” says Butterworth.

“If I am sitting in a department, how do I understand what my role is in supporting the process and not just in supporting the department? What we see is many organisations create massive waste by optimising departmental performance at the expense of efficiency in another area of the business.

“So when we’re looking at value stream, we are looking at how people understand how they can fit in supporting the process as a whole, and make sure that the measures we’ve got in place assess the process performance and not an individual department performance which drives everyone’s behaviour.”

The concept may have been born in Toyota’s manufacturing plant in the 1990s, but lean management has caught on across the world and is reinventing the way leaders in the resource industry operate and work with their teams.

CUTTING THE FAT, adding the value

CHRIS BUTTERWORTH MANAGING DIRECTOR SA PARTNERS.


DIVERSITY42

TUG AND BARGE contractor Offshore Marine Services Alliance (OMSA) may have been formed especially to service Chevron’s $40 billion Gorgon Project, but the joint venture is leaving a permanent legacy for Indigenous communities in Western Australia.

The company’s Indigenous Employment Program has delivered a successful program that provides Indigenous Australians training and employment pathways within its Gorgon maritime operations.

General manager of employee relations Ben Matthews says OMSA was not content with simply fulfilling its participation obligations in the contract. Rather, the company identified a lack of long-term Indigenous participation in the offshore operations and sought to remedy the situation.

“From our perspective it is social responsibility – we took our commitment to employing and training Indigenous employees seriously, not just as a statement in a contract that was required of us,” says Matthews.

“You can’t instigate a program like this purely for marketing or for sending a report through, and you’ve actually got to have a greater goal to help people who have been disadvantaged.

“You have to have that social responsibility embedded within the leader. We had a CEO at the time that was fully committed

and fully motivated to do it for reasons other than just ticking a box. We saw that there were jobs available that we could train Indigenous applicants for, and employment opportunities that had really good working conditions.

The OMSA pre-employment training course for Indigenous employees was created to identify ‘real jobs’ within the Gorgon Project, with traineeships immediately offered in stevedoring as well as business administration.

Trainee positions were also established for certification in Integrated Ratings (crew members assigned to general maintenance work and often at sea for long periods) and participants were sponsored to obtain full qualifications.

According to Matthews, one of the crucial aspects to the program’s success was the Indigenous leadership team employed within OMSA’s management. Mark Woodhouse and Sherrilee Riddell were employed specifically as indigenous employment manager and advisor, respectively, within OMSA.

“I think that if you’re employing a large number of Indigenous employees, even at the pre-employment phase, they need to have an Indigenous manager or mentor,” he says.

“I found that the trainees and employees related to Mark and Sherrilee. They were able to cut through a lot of areas that, quite frankly, non-Indigenous people can’t cut across.

If you ever need a great example of how mega resource projects are delivering real positive outcomes for Indigenous communities, look no further than the great opportunities Offshore Marine Services Alliance is providing on the Gorgon Project.

AN OCEAN JOURNEYOnboard with OMSA’s Indigenous program

Trainees enjoying a life jacket demonstration performed by head trainer ‘Astro’ on the deck of the training vessel, Master Class.


43DIVERSITY

“Typically, they have been through similar struggles in the past. They have a shared purpose, or shared goal, which is to increase opportunities, employment and wealth within Indigenous communities.

“It’s important for that manager to educate the line managers and greater workforce of the cultural sensitivities in a way that’s not deemed to be secular or non-inclusive.”

Another important component for the project was the Wardarn Koorl logo, which Matthews says was created to provide the employment program with its own identity and mission statement.

“It’s Indigenous for ‘Ocean Journey’,” explains Matthews.“An Indigenous artist Darryl Bellotti created our OMSA logo

and we also thought the Indigenous Program deserved its own specific logo. So you’ll see that both the indigenous colours and the words have significance.

“It is an ocean journey for these guys, because they’re either receiving cargo from vessels that have been on the ocean, or they’ve actually been out on the ocean on our tugs, landing crafts and various vessels.”

In terms of employee retention, Matthews describes the project as a huge success. In pre-employment, OMSA was committed to employing 13 of the 17 trainees going through the program. Of 17 starters, 16 graduated. Of the 13 who were offered jobs, 12 that achieved employment with OMSA or its sister company Offshore Marine Service (OMS) remain in employment.

“We’ve only had two in the greater pool of workers resign or move on. When you consider that was above 50 employees, that’s a great statistic for any workforce,” notes Matthews.

“The successes are seen at the local footy clubs, like Nollamara, where the indigenous guys play football, and the success just flows on. The guys that they play footy with and they knock-around with see that there are real opportunities, and that they’re not just being trained for the sake of funding.

“They’re actually receiving jobs that are well paid and have put them on a career path. Because once they actually become Integrated Ratings, it gives them more options and employment opportunities.

“Or they may decide they want to go down an engineering pathway to become and engineer on a vessel. Or, as a lot of them want to, can become ‘vessel masters’ and get their time as a skipper on vessels and work their way up to ‘Master’ level. So we’ll soon see these Indigenous Masters out there in charge of running their own vessel crew and the vessel.”

Ultimately, Matthews says the project has given hope to a ‘remarkable set of individuals’ and helped to stop Indigenous Australians being ‘pigeon-holed’ into certain lines of employment.

“I’m sure there were only small numbers of sea-faring Indigenous Australians prior to this program, to my knowledge anyway,” he says.

“It gives others hope, and you see the flow-on effect when you see the brother or cousin of a sea-farer apply for a position either as a trainee or a deck-hand.”

OMSA was awarded the Indigenous Employment and Engagement Award at AMMA’s recent 2012 Industry Awards ceremony.

Trainees striking a pose following water rescue training.

Safety in numbers – trainees enjoying water rescue training.

The success just flows on. The guys that they play footy with and they knock-around with see that there are real opportunities and that they’re not just being trained for the sake of funding.

BEN MATTHEWS.


DIVERSITY44

THEY MAY BE building Australia’s future mining, oil and gas projects, but construction engineers are fast becoming valuable commodities themselves.

Triulzi is dedicated to attracting more women to the sector but it isn’t for the sake of the skills shortage alone; the diversity manager says women bring their own unique qualities to engineering projects.

“The women that I’m aware of in the engineering profession share many similarities to the men. They understand what is required of them to manage a project and to complete it to a high standard,” says Triulzi.

“But women certainly bring a different perspective to construction. They bring a different logic in some ways to a particular project, or a different way of thinking about a solution to the project.

“They also bring a more consultative approach; a different communications approach which enables people to have their voice heard.”

Triulzi believes women shouldn’t be missing out on the ‘fantastic and financially rewarding’ career opportunities arising from Australia’s resource industry but admits drawing women to the sector is a major challenge.

Abigroup became aware of the industry’s poor diversity image when its strong presence at engineering and graduate tradeshows failed to attract women to its stalls.

In addition to increasing school visits to promote Abigroup and the industry to students, the company began sponsoring initiatives by Engineers Australia that are specifically targeted at attracting women.

These combined initiatives have led to a rise in female graduate intake to 25 per cent – the highest percentage the company has ever seen. Abigroup may be making inroads on the attraction side of the problem, but the barriers for long-term retention of professional women present many new challenges.

Triulzi says the long hours and remote sites are factors, but the inherent issue is how working women balance their careers with motherhood.

“Why are retention levels low? It could be the culture that women enter into, which is perhaps not supportive or perhaps is unattractive due to the behaviour of colleagues,” she says.

“[But] one of the most obvious retention issues, which we’re dealing with ourselves within Abigroup, is when a woman decides to have a child and then doesn’t know how to resume a career in construction.

“How do you resume a career with a small child in an industry where you could be working on a project site, or a remote site, with long hours?”

The key here is work-life balance, she says.Abigroup is achieving this by reducing the number of working

days a week from six to five. While only a minor change, Triulzi

The Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) extends far beyond traditional mining organisations and is facilitating increased gender diversity in all the allied and servicing sectors. Abigroup national diversity manager and AWRA champion Sandra Triulzi explains how the company is addressing the gender imbalance in construction engineering.

Building a WORK-LIFE balance

Abigroup is fast attracting more talented women.

How do you resume a career with a small child in an industry where you could be working on a project site, or a remote site, with long hours?

SANDRA TRIULZI.says it has a significant impact on the lives of workers.

“That still means longer working hours during the five days and that’s another area we’re working on. But we’ve got some operational managers here that are really keen to challenge the norm or processes that have always been in place,” she says.

Additionally, Abigroup is formalising its ‘Keep in Touch’ program, which is a broad and comprehensive program centred around managing the life cycles of the company’s employees.

One of the central themes in this program is providing a support base for employees on parental leave, given the recurring conversations about how workers will be integrated back into the workplace.

“It’s all of these conversations that the person will have with their direct manager and the HR department, etc. to make this transition as seamless as possible,” says Triulzi.

New metrics have now been introduced into the company that focus on specific divisions such as engineering, which remains a top priority.

“Abigroup’s main goal is to increase the representation of women in the engineering field and has set itself a challenge through stretch targets to achieve this outcome,” says Triulzi.

“This means innovation in recruitment, not only at the graduate engineer level, but at middle and senior management level.

“An engineering discipline provides women with a breadth of exciting, creative and innovative roles. Construction and engineering is a special industry – it’s great to know that your work has contributed to the broader social good. I hope, through the work we do at Abigroup, that we can influence and encourage more women to join us.”

DIVERSITY 45

Workplace flexibility:


SANDRA TRIULZI NATIONAL DIVERSITY MANAGER ABIGROUP.

embrace the conversation

THE INTERNATIONAL CONTROVERSY created by a recent article about workplace flexibility in Boston magazine The Atlantic Monthly has prompted many HR professionals to reflect on their attitudes in this area.

The author, Anne-Marie Slaughter, is a former US State Department director who left her high-profile position with

the Obama Administration due to the unworkable pressures the role placed on her family life.

She explores the issue of ‘why women still can’t have it all’ and argues that fundamental attitudes continue to place a high value on work at the expense of family for both women and men.

The article went viral in social media circles and opens up the possibility for a range of different conversations about how work-life balance might be achieved, and what this could mean for women’s participation in an industry like Australian resources.

Slaughter highlights that leaving an organisation for family reasons has become a euphemism for being ‘forced’ out rather than a reassessment of life and work commitments.

Many women who desire to spend more time with their family are seen as lacking career commitment while being focused solely on career at the expense of family also brings criticism.

Such challenges are magnified in the resource industry where women are often engaged in shift work, long hours and FIFO arrangements. I would argue the briefest of conversations with women in resources, who juggle work and care responsibilities as well as anyone, would demonstrate an incredible level of commitment.

It is often discouraged to talk openly about such challenges, and in some organisations this discourse could be a career-limiting move. However, it is important from AWRA’s objectives and those of workplace flexibility more broadly, that we both encourage and embrace how our workplaces can be more flexible.

Working flexibly shouldn’t be seen as a lack of career commitment and it may well be one of the most underrated indicators of employee engagement.

Organisations who recognise this and engage in meaningful discussions with both women and men about their careers and caring responsibilities, may find that benefits of a long-term committed workforce outweigh any short-term costs associated with flexible work.

DR LINLEY LORD

Curtin University associate professor Dr Linley Lord is the resident academic for the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA).


INNOVATION46

BUILDING A CULTURE of continuous improvement not only keeps an employer on top of new environmental and work health and safety requirements, but can be the difference in today’s ultra-competitive recruitment market.

That’s why Perth-based miner Barminco boasts some of the best safety statistics in the company’s 23-year history, and yet is always seeking new ways to raise the bar.

The latest initiative being rolled out by the company focuses on the reduction and control of diesel exhaust particles in its underground mines. Through the use of scientific research and the latest emissions control technology, Barminco is moving well beyond its compliance regulations to lead the world in management of diesel particulates.

Diesel particulates are believed to be associated with ill health effects such as lung cancer, cardiovascular problems and many acute symptoms.

According to Barminco environmental health safety and training manager Peter Nicholls, the use of state-of-the-art technology doesn’t detract from the project’s key purpose – providing a healthy working environment for every worker.

“We have undertaken research into the potential long-term occupational health and safety effects of diesel particulate matter on our people, and taken the initiative to reduce their exposure to diesel engine emissions,” says Nicholls.

“Diesel particulates are believed to be associated with some ill health effects over time, and by focusing on the reduction of exposure to diesel particulates, Barminco is striving to provide all of our employees with a safe and healthy workplace now and into the future.”

Nicholls says the company recently began conducting its own positional, personal, vehicle and real-time monitoring of diesel emissions.

Now Barminco is working with the leader in mine emissions management, Peak3, to ensure it is at the forefront of world best practice when it comes to measuring and treating underground diesel particulates.

The joint initiative is known as the Whole of Mine Diesel Emissions Management Program and has been recognised industry-wide for its innovative approach to controlling the environmental risks to Barminco’s underground mine workers.

“The breakthrough that separates the initiative being done by Peak3 and Barminco from what is typically done in mines today is [we are leveraging the] fact that diesel vehicle efficiency and emissions efficiency are closely related; if you improve one, then you improve the other,” says Nicholls.

“We are working together to provide an automated program of monitoring and state-of-the art treatment technology.

“The net result of that will not only be the reduction of emissions for the underground workforce, but an increase in mine productivity and a reduction in operating costs.”

Barminco was selected as a finalist in the 2012 CME Safety and Health Innovation Awards and shortlisted for recognition for innovation in environmental management in the WA Department of Mines and Petroleum’s Golden Gecko Award.

The resource industry is renowned for combining innovation with workplace health and safety. As demonstrated by underground miner Barminco Limited, having a near perfect safety record shouldn’t stop employers from continually improving their workplaces.

Getting TOUGH on diesel emissions

Barminco’s underground operations in action.


INNOVATION48

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN human resource (HR) management and business risk is becoming greatly entwined as Australia’s resource industry continues its phenomenal employment growth.

Yet despite the increasing importance of ‘people risk management’ to modern HR practices in this capital-intensive industry, many employers are yet to fully catch on.

According to Aon Hewitt’s head of workforce risk solutions, Robyn Perkins, identifying the cost inputs and risks of employing people can drive improvements to productivity and profitability.

“The employment relationship is based on the expectation that workers will come to work and be productive in return for remuneration and benefits. Both parties have an obligation to one another as productivity supports growth and profit,” says Perkins.

“Yet the risk of this paradigm breaking down or not operating to the norm is often unmeasured, generally because the data is not captured in a form that is measurable.

“Most organisations acknowledge that people are their greatest asset. However, they often fail to recognise that risks associated with employing people can severely impact their productivity and profitability.

“People risk management is about managing the risks

associated with employing people and the contexts within which their work is carried out.”

Perkins emphasises that holistic people risk management is not confined to work health and safety matters, but says many organisations closely align the concept with OHS practices and insurances such as workers’ compensation and salary continuance.

Using the national harmonisation of Australia’s OHS laws as a prime example, she says streamlined compliance rules should be viewed as a small part of the solution.

“Relying only on a stringent set of rules and a regulatory governance process is not an effective way for employers to manage risk,” says Perkins.

“Harmonising rules might mitigate some of the risk of employing people, but how

will organisations know that the approach is effective

and contribute towards their productivity and

profitability?“Compliance-

driven regulatory approaches address only part of the problem. Legislation

should be a safety net, not the driver. The

answer lies in people-driven strategies.”

Perkins says many employers utilise a

measurement called ‘lost time injury frequency rate

(LTIFR)’ to measure the people risk within their organisations.

Conceptually – the lower the LTIFR, the safer the organisation.

Unfortunately LTIFR is an easily manipulated statistic

that is solely based on OHS and influenced by early intervention activities. An example is how effectively an organisation responds to an injury after it

Innovation in the resource industry is often associated with great technical feats, but as demonstrated through Aon Hewitt’s workforce risk solutions, new ways of managing people and business risk are just as vital to success.

FRESH take on people risk management

ROBYN PERKINS


INNOVATION 49

happens and how often the worker returns to work within a day of injury.

Aon Hewitt identifies and quantifies internal risk costs through a measure called Total Cost of People Risk that links costs with business and productivity measures to create a link between people risk, cost and business profitability.

The Total Cost of People Risk methodology provides organisations with an in-depth analysis of the people costs within their business by analysing core components such as business KPIs, direct costs such as overtime, contractors, recruitment, and other people related profit and loss items and lost productivity costs.

Drawing on this concept, Aon’s Productivity Risk Chain measures all of the business risk factors that are influenced by the health, characteristics and behaviours of people who work in your business.

“Given the Total Cost of People Risk is founded on data elements that are present in all companies, we believe that

it will replace the LTIFR metric as the best way to measure people risk within an organisation,” says Perkins.

“It eliminates the threats that come from a fragmented approach to managing your people risk and helps identify often unrecognised factors that contribute to productivity and profit drain. These include poor workforce planning, employee engagement, talent management and leadership practices.

“Organisations need to understand how best to finance the risk, and to do this they need to understand the potential cost and understand their own risk appetite and tolerance.

“This allows them to know what risks they need to transfer to the market via an insurance program and what risks they want to retain and manage.”

Aon Hewitt’s ‘Productivity Risk Chain’• Factors that influence productivity –

the state of the workforce• Factors that drain productivity –

employee wellness, safety and security, and absence

• Factors that allay recognised risks – insurance

• Factors that are often unrecognised and unmeasured.

Your resource industry contact: Genevieve Paton, People Risk Solutions Principal, [email protected]

Many unrecognised factors contribute to productivity and profit drain, including poor workforce planning, employee

engagement, talent management and leadership practices.


INNOVATION50

Funding available forABATEMENT INNOVATION

THE PROGRAM IS seeking to support the mining industry to assist in developing processes that can be safely incorporated into the ventilation system of underground mines to treat the large but very dilute volumes of methane in ventilation air.

The package, which commenced on 1 July 2012 and is set to continue through to 30 June 2017, has three key elements:

Supporting industry efforts to develop technologies and processes that provide future solutions to safely reduce fugitive methane emissions;Addressing mine occupational health and safety issues associated with the development and deployment of abatement technologies; and,Supporting small- and medium-sized participants to develop greenhouse gas abatement strategies.

The program is set to be administered by the Federal Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism. A Technical Advisory Committee has also been established to provide advice on the development and implementation of this program.

Funding opportunities The federal government has announced that it will be

providing $70 million over five years for the program, and will match funding from other sources which support the program with a ceiling of around $140 million.

Funding for the first two elements of the program will support merit-based grants and the engagement of contractors on a commercial basis. Grant funding will also support discrete research projects, multi-year research programs and demonstration projects.

According to the government, the scale of the package’s grants will be around $50,000 to $300,000 for discrete research projects, $500,000 to $3 million for multi-year research programs, and up to $10 million for demonstration projects.

Further consultation with small- and medium-sized coal industry participants will be undertaken to fully develop the third element of the program.

Smaller participants will be invited to participate in a roundtable meeting in early 2013 to identify their specific requirements in developing greenhouse gas abatement plans and how these can be supported under the package.

As a means of shoring up support for its carbon tax, the Gillard Government has implemented The Coal Mining Abatement Technology Support Package, focused on facilitating industry involvement and innovation in methane emission abatement technology.

Technological advancements developed for early exploration Minerals and energy resource explorers will now have access to pre-competitive data in unprecedented detail following a collaborative project between Geoscience Australia and the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) Facility.

Using the NCI supercomputer operated at the Australian National University, geologists from Geoscience Australia have developed high resolution 3D images of sub-surface geology which will eliminate the often degraded resolution and scales in models generated via traditional methods.

Geoscience Australia geologist James Goodwin explains that data from the national gravity and magnetic anomaly maps of Australia use geophysical inversion software developed by the University of British Columbia to achieve the high definition models.

“High-resolution models covering an area of 240 square kilometres and containing 6.48 million cells can now take as little 30 minutes to process,” Goodwin says.

“Models have already been built successfully for offshore and onshore areas in Western Australia, with the onshore model supporting interpretation of deep seismic survey data identifying features separating the Pilbara, Capricorn and Yilgarn geological regions.

“The improved data quality will allow minerals and energy resource explorers and mining companies to more accurately identify specific areas with resource potential.”

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FP AD 2minigoilandgasjobs.com


52 EVENTS

SEPTEMBERNational Conference call for papers! AMMA is calling for abstracts that relate to workforce issues, for consideration for the 2013 National Conference Program.To find out more, contact [email protected]


Tuesday 18 – Wednesday 19 Open Cut Mine Planning 2012 will provide industry professionals with solutions, strategies, best practice methods and benchmarks to overcome operational challenges and technical issues in open cut mine planning. Venue TBC, Perth. More info at: www.mineplanninganddesign.com.au

Tuesday 18 – Thursday 20 Mining the Territory 2012 brings together key industry leaders, opinion leaders and experts to provide up to date information on the current exploration, investment and development opportunities in the Northern Territory’s resource industry, Darwin Convention Centre, Darwin.More info at: www.miningnt.com.au

Wednesday 19 – Thursday 20 Process Control and Design in Mining 2012 will focus on demonstrating how a 1 per cent improvement on system processes in the mill can save millions of dollars. Venue TBC, Brisbane.More info at: www.processcontrolinmining.com.au

Wednesday 26- Thursday 27 Criterion Conferences is hosting its two-day Regulatory Reform 2012 event which will focus on reform priorities aimed at enhancing productivity and regulatory performance. Guests include COAG Reform Council deputy head Paul Elton and various ministers.More info at: www.regulationreform.com

OCTOBERMonday 10 – Wednesday 12 Policy and regulation, land access, water management, social licence to operate... all CSG conversation starters, all hotly debated, and all firmly on the agenda at the inaugural 2012 APPEA CSG Conference & Exhibition. Held at Brisbane Exhibition and Convention Centre.More info at: www.appeacsgconference.com.au

Tuesday 30 – Wednesday 31 Mergers and Acquisitions in Mining 2012 will cover the main challenges and opportunities of mergers and acquisitions within the mining sector. Venue TBC, Sydney. More info at: www.miningmergers.com.au

Tuesday 30 – Thursday 1 The Goldfields Mining Expo will provide opportunities to meet, network and do business in the heart of Western Australia’s mining sector. Venue Kalgoorlie Boulder Racecourse, Western Australia.More info at: www.goldfieldsminingexpo.com.au

NOVEMBER

Tuesday 20 – Friday 30 AMMA’s annual End of Year Briefings will take place throughout the November and December in your nearest capital city. Visit www.amma.org.au to locate the nearest briefing to you.

THE AMMA EAST and West Coast Conferences provide members with a great opportunity to interact with and hear from expert practitioners and leading policy makers in workplace relations and other skills matters.

Outside the resource industry employer group’s May National Conference, these one-day events are the most popular annual forums for discussions around all workforce issues in the national resource industry.

Featuring a range of high profile speakers and industry leaders, the informative and interactive conferences have been designed with a special focus on issues relevant to operations in the east and west of Australia.

Learn about the outcomes of the Fair Work Act Review; the latest in OHS regulation; migration; training and development; and other policy-related topics.

AMMA’s West Coast Conference is being held in Perth at the Perth Convention Centre, 24 October. AMMA’s East Coast Conference is being held in Brisbane at Stamford Plaza Brisbane, 11 October. For more information or to register, visit www.amma.org.au

THOUSANDS OF QUEENSLAND jobseekers will get direct access to employers across the resource and servicing sectors when AMMA miningoilandgasjobs.com brings its popular Jobs Expo format to Brisbane on October 26-27.

The AMMA miningoilandgasjobs.com Expo is an exciting industry initiative aimed at providing jobseekers with avenues into resource careers. Exhibiting at this event provides resource organisations with direct access to jobseekers and students keen to work, develop their career, or become job ready for the mining oil and gas, and allied industries.

Presented by the industry, for the industry, the event is a key initiative of AMMA miningoilandgasjobs.com - the only site created by industry and endorsed by Michigan State University (the home of modern HR practices) as the best content for job seekers looking to work in resources.

The Brisbane exhibition follows the success of the first AMMA miningoilandgasjobs.com Jobs Expo, which drew more than 10,000 people to its Perth site in May.

The event is being held at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Visit www.JobsExpo.org.au to book your booth.

2012 AMMA East and West Coast Conferences

Jobs Expo visits Brisbane

AMMA Training and Development can customise and deliver on site programs outlined here. Please call us 1800 891 663 to discuss your requirements.

Training and developmenT

3 & 4 September

Supervisors’ Toolkit 2 days Perth WA

5 September Certificate IV in Human Resources - Establish Networks 1 day Perth WA6 September Flexing Muscles: Union Right of Entry 1/2 day Perth WA10 & 11 September

Leadership Skills for Supervisors 2 days Perth WA

17 & 18 September

Strategic Employee Relations 1 day Perth WA

3 October Understanding the Industrial Relations Safety Net 1/2 day Melbourne VIC23 November Contact Officer - Discrimination, Harrassment and Bullying Complaint

Handling1 day Melbourne VIC

27 November Discipline and Termination: Reducing the Risk 1 day Melbourne VIC30 November Flexing Muscles: Union Right of Entry 1/2 day Melbourne VIC3 December Bargaining Skills under the Fair Work Act 2009 1/2 day Melbourne VIC

14 November Contact Officer - Discrmination, Harrassment and Bullying Complaint Handling

1 day Adelaide SA

15 November Flexing Muscles: Union Right of Entry 1/2 day Adelaide SA

6 September Flexing Muscles: Union Right of Entry 1/2 day Brisbane QLD12 October Employee Relations for Supervisors 1 day Brisbane QLD4 & 5 October Supervisors’ Toolkit 2 days Brisbane QLD16 & 17 October Leadership Skills for Supervisors 2 days Brisbane QLD24 October Fundamentals of the Australian Employment Relationship 1 day Brisbane QLD

11 September Discipline and Termination: Reducing the Risk 1 day Newcastle NSW12 September Fundamentals of the Australian Employment Relationship 1 day Newcastle NSW

WA

VIC

SA

QLD

NSW


BUSINESS PARTNER DIRECTORY54


Resource Industry Employer Group

BUSINESS PARTNER DIRECTORY54


55BUSINESS PARTNER DIRECTORY


www.searsonbuck.com.a u


www.searsonbuck.com.a u


55BUSINESS PARTNER DIRECTORY


nib can also provide Overseas Visitors Health Cover

for your employees who are temporary residents.

We do this through our subsidiary company – IMAN

Australian Health Plans.

IMAN is a leading long-term provider of health cover

for temporary residents working in Australia on 457

and other working visas.

All health cover plans offered by IMAN comply with

the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC)

regulations regarding minimum levels of cover for 457

and other specified 400 series visas. All plans offered by

IMAN are 100% underwritten by nib heath funds limited.

IMAN offers a range of health cover options.

All plans provide In-Hospital (In-Patient) benefits, and

varying levels of Out-of-Hospital (Out-Patient) benefits.

nib319308_0412

At nib we believe health insurance should be easy to understand, easy to use and above all great value.

Newcastle Industrial Benefits (now known as ‘nib’) was founded 60 years ago to provide

health insurance for the workers of BHP Steelworks and their families. You could even

say the resources sector is in our blood.

We’ve come a long way since 1952. These days nib is one of Australia’s fastest growing

health funds now covering over 850,000 people. We have a network of recognised

providers, retail centres and nib agreement private hospitals throughout Australia.

nib is excited to launch nib Resources - specifically catering for the corporate health

needs of the mining and resources sector.

nib Resources can offer you and your employees:

• An extensive range of domestic health cover. We’ll help you choose the right health

cover to suit you and your employees. We’ll also provide a dedicated nib Account

Manager to look after the day-to-day business of your corporate health plan

• Health cover for overseas visitors living and working in Australia on 457 and other

working visas

• Global health cover for Australian residents deployed overseas

• Your choice of a fully-subsidised, partially-subsidised or voluntary corporate health plan

• Health and wellbeing programs are available at your request

• We’re happy to negotiate a discount on the covers available in your nib Resources

product range.

A subsidiary of nib

DISCOUNTED HEALTH INSURANCE FOR MINING & RESOURCES

OVERSEAS WORKERS?WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED

Simply get in touch with Samantha Edmundsyour nib Resources Business Development Managerph: 0419 710 501 email: [email protected]

Getting started is easy

For more information

1 3000 COVERcoverforce.com.auAFSL 238874

Insuretheir salaryIt pays

resource people issue 002 | spring 2012

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