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SAFE AND EFFECTIVE PEOPLE WHO RESPECT AND CARE
Attracting, retaining and developing talent

Our competitive advantage is driven through individual and team development

Attracting and retaining talent remains a significant challenge, not only for Implats, but for the mining industry as a whole, both locally and globally.

Factors contributing to this challenge include the growing competition for skilled resources, the reduced supply of skilled and semi-skilled mining talent, low education levels in our semi-skilled talent pool, and the general poor image of the mining industry as a potential employer.

While this year's strike at our Rustenburg operations did not have an immediate direct impact on our retention of skills, since our competitors were in the same position, it impacted negatively on the delivery of our training programmes, and brought into sharp focus the need for us to be effective in communicating and living the ‘employee value proposition' associated with working for Implats.

Our strategic approach to people

Our people strategy focuses on ensuring that our employees are motivated, have the ability and requisite skills to carry out their duties, and that they operate in a safe, fair and ethical work environment. The strategy seeks to support the overall corporate strategy by ensuring that we have the right people, at the right place doing the right things. Our competitive advantage is driven through individual and team development, working with shared values founded on respect and care. Our vision is to progressively mechanise our mining processes and continue to improve levels of workforce proficiency, satisfaction and diversity.

In the first half of this year we made good progress in implementing our people strategy and towards achieving our objectives and targets. This progress was hindered in the second half of the year as a result of the prolonged strike, during which many of our training and development programmes were suspended.

The organisation employs approximately 40 000 permanent employees and 16 000 contractors, none of whom are self- employed individuals. The organisation does not have seasonal employees. A detailed breakdown can be found here of the report.

Our people strategy

Motivating our people

A key focus this year has been on ensuring more effective communication throughout the organisation of the benefits and opportunities associated with working at Implats. Our ‘employee value proposition' encompasses our programmes relating to employee housing, skills development, health and financial reward. It will be communicated internally first and then externally through posters, electronic media, graphics displayed in the workplace and in public places such as shopping malls. The underlying message is: if you work for us, this is what you will enjoy.

In delivering on our employee value proposition, we have the following strategic focus areas:

• Rewarding good performers: Through our performance management programme we have committed to offering attractive remuneration and employment benefits, coupled with effective incentives linked to our safety and production efficiencies. Lower levels of mining productivity and increased safety stoppages have placed additional pressure on our fixed pay elements and employees' disposable income. We offer maternity leave of four months, and family responsibility leave of four days. In Zimbabwe, levels of mining activities continue to increase, placing greater demand on critical skills and talent. Our Zimbabwean operations pay rewards that fall into the upper quartile of the market rate, which is effective in attracting good talent. Benchmarks are conducted to ensure we remain competitive.
• Developing skills: Our skills development activities focus on three main areas: technical skills, general education and people management skills. These are all critical enablers for us to increase intellectual capacity within the Group and to facilitate succession planning and advancement activities, thus reducing our reliance on the external market for these skills. Talent development also supports the attainment of our employment equity targets in our South African operations. We continue to improve the measurement (both quantitative and qualitative) of the outcomes of the training and development programmes being implemented. A more detailed review of our approach to developing people with ability is provided overleaf.
• Providing career advancement opportunities: Succession planning is undertaken at semi-skilled and supervisory level positions, as well as at professional qualified (D level) and senior management (E level). Discipline-specific talent management forums and area-specific talent identification forums identify, develop and assess talent at various levels within the organisation as a line management function with the support and assistance of the talent department. The talent pools are reviewed quarterly and assessed to ensure that identified talent is considered for promotional and developmental opportunities.
• Developing leadership capacity: Ensuring effective leadership skills is critical in promoting sound employer-employee communication and relations. Developing attributes to deal with people challenges is a priority in the current labour environment. Our targeted leadership interventions focus not only on developing the technical ability of managers, but also on ensuring that they have the necessary people leadership skills.