Employees and Contractors
Who are they?
BHP Billiton has some 36 000 employees and a similar number of contractors in more than 25 countries. Each, in their own way, acts as an ambassador for the Company. In supporting them to be effective in this role, as stated in our Charter and our Sustainable Development Policy, we aim to be 'forthright in our communications' and 'engage with and support our employees, contractors ….in sharing responsibility for meeting our requirements'.
Interests and Concerns
Employees and contractors have a broad range of interests and concerns, commencing with the health and safety of themselves and their fellow workers, to more general working conditions. Career opportunities and aspirations as well as learning and training opportunities are also central to maintaining satisfied employees and contractors.
As many of our workforce live in towns near to our operations, many of their broader concerns are directly aligned with those of neighbouring communities. These include local employment, business creation and social infrastructure and such programs as schooling and health care. Additionally, in many remote communities, quality of housing is an aspect key to employee attraction and retention.
Dialogue
Specifically, our approach to internal communication aims to:
- inform employees of, and share with them, the Company's business strategy, objectives, policies, cultures and values
- enhance the sharing of information across the business
- provide consistency and avoid duplication
- provide a framework for all Company communication to protect and strengthen the BHP Billiton brand with all stakeholders.
The challenges to achieving effective communication can be significant: our large global footprint, a diversity of businesses, various time zones and different cultures, languages and needs.
To meet our aims and address the challenges, we employ a two-pronged approach to our internal communications strategy:
- Keep everyone informed by targeted information through mass channels, including email, intranet, corporate newsletters and general communications, HSEC or Sustainability reports and presentations, and communication guidelines and toolkits.
- Achieve alignment through face-to-face channels, including regular performance reviews, employee surveys, direct communication with immediate supervision and management, knowledge-sharing networks, communities of practice, conferences and workshops and general training.
A centralised communications resource (Investor Relations & Communications) provides global communication on areas of Company-wide importance and significance. It also develops appropriate resources and tools for other communication areas that can be used and tailored at the discretion of each CSG, operation or office's communication and management team. The function is also responsible for facilitating the cross-sharing of information between CSGs and offices.
Each CSG and operation is responsible for communications at a localised level. This results in messages targeted to the relevant audiences, reduced email through cascading of information, rather than an 'everyone gets everything' approach, and cost savings as the onus moves to the operations/offices to implement communication strategies in the most suitable manner available.
At the site level, in line with HSEC Management Standard 7, sites are required to ensure processes are in place to enable stakeholders, including employees and contractors, to participate in and commit to HSEC performance improvement initiatives. This may include processes such as committees representing both worker and management interests in HSEC matters.
Details of all significant incidents and their investigation findings are collated and circulated to relevant line managers and HSEC personnel on a weekly basis. The incidents are then stored on our Significant Incident intranet site for reference.
Company-wide Communities of Practice (CoPs) also exist to address specific HSEC concerns or deepen knowledge about specific HSEC topics. CoPs play an important role in helping employees to effectively share and steward their knowledge, and our people are encouraged to join them.
We are committed to effective performance management, through regular formal and informal feedback and review, and open communication. Performance management involves:
- recognising and acknowledging excellent performance to motivate employees and encourage further achievement
- identifying the cause of poor performance and taking appropriate corrective action
- eliminating inappropriate behaviours from the workplace.
Each employee should receive a formal performance appraisal from their manager at least annually. Incentive rewards paid by the Company are aligned to the relative performance of the business, assets and individuals.
As we look ahead, the challenges to employee and contractor communications include improving mechanisms to share learnings across the business and adopting better mechanisms for seeking feedback and measuring the effectiveness of communication strategies.
Download a summary of all BHP Billiton Stakeholder Relationships.
