Employer of choice

Palabora strives to be an "employer of choice". This means attracting, optimising and holding top talent for long tenure because employees choose to build their careers with us.

From the time Palabora commenced operations in the mid-60s, the company has been at the forefront of employment practices in the local mining industry. Our employees are our most valued assets. Our conditions of employment are competitive in the industry.

The following are Palabor's main HR objectives and performance areas to support the business:

Attract and retain top talent
We employ individuals who have demonstrated talent, self-motivation, high-level performance and commitment in their chosen fields. Whilst we aim to attract professionals from the Manufacturing and Mining sectors, we appreciate the value of cross-industry and cross-functional experience and evaluate the overall competencies of potential employees in an open and progressive light.

We continuously benchmark alternative HR strategies as part of our drive to retain and develop new talent. High- performing employees who show exceptional potential are further encouraged and supported through our mentoring and coaching programmes; accelerated learning schemes; and leadership development programmes.

Our "Employee Value Proposition" is to offer a safe working environment, competitive conditions of employment, progressive talent management programmes (including succession planning), training and development, challenging and interesting work, exciting career advancement opportunities, and transparent performance management.

Remunerate and reward
Our salary packaging and remuneration benefits include retirement contribution, medical aid, disability and personal accident cover. We continually benchmark our remuneration and reward offering with those of other companies and conduct market salary surveys in our sector to ensure our salaries are competitive. This extends to the development of best-practice conditions of employment and leadership advancement initiatives.

Encourage learning and development
We actively encourage and facilitate a learning oriented culture at Palabora - particularly in terms of core sector skills and functional competencies. Accordingly, we provide technical and behavioural skills training programmes. Technical training addresses the technical skills of employees in relation to their functional areas, while behavioural training focuses on self mastery and leadership development. This is in addition to mandatory training on specific policies and regulatory responsibilities, all of which ensure that our colleagues can continually build or refresh their skills and experience.

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Ensure active employee engagement
We recognise that successful employment relationships are built on mutual benefit and trust. We are ever aware of the misunderstandings that can arise from poor communication and unclear directives. At Palabora, clear communication and a transparent procedural framework is not simply about communicating and achieving organisational goals - it saves lives and prevents serious injuries.

Accordingly, we maintain two-way communication through regular Employee Opinion Surveys, which are used to understand our colleagues' views and prioritise management actions. This dialogue allows the views of our people to be taken into account as we shape organisational change programmes or policies.

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Promote organisational development
Organisational growth does not simply mean that the company has to grapple with the same problems on a larger scale, but rather that it has to understand, adjust to, and manage many new challenges and opportunities as the business changes and grows. Organisational growth requires planning, effort and work; and maintaining effective methods of communications with and between employees and departments become increasingly important as the firm grows.

At Palabora our HR management practices-from hiring to training, to succession planning and diversity management - are geared towards establishing, maintaining and improving standard practices as a key element of managing and sustaining growth.

Diversity management
At Palabora, we are committed to respecting and valuing colleagues, customers and clients of all backgrounds, abilities and disabilities. We integrate our equality and diversity rationale across our employee and contractor network, our supplier-base, the various communities we impact through our operations in the Ba-Phalaborwa region; and our business practices.

We endeavour to create and nurture an environment where people are aware of, understand and appreciate the differences in one another as an essential ingredient to attaining real employment equity. This is one of the key ways employees, and ultimately businesses can reach their full potential.

Our diversity is informed and propelled by section nine of the Constitution of South Africa which guarantees equality before the law and freedom from discrimination to the people of South Africa. This equality right prohibits both discrimination by the government and discrimination by private persons; however, it also allows for affirmative action to be taken to redress past unfair discrimination.

We have a detailed Employment Equity policy that addresses the company's demographic profiles, workplace conditions and practices. Our Employment Equity Forum meets on a regular basis and informs the company on issues of strategic importance. The company aims to have at least 25% of our workforce representing female employees, particularly in roles that were traditionally held by male employees. Our current female representation is 20% and representation of Historically Disadvantaged Persons (HDPs) in our professional cadres and senior positions is 70%. Also included in the plan, is the employment of people with disabilities as we have made an effort to understand issues of disability and be able to address them in a meaningful and sustainable manner. We continuously create an enabling environment within the workplace that will be of mutually beneficial to Palabora and the employees.

Palabora has developed a wide range of initiatives across its operations to ensure that we establish a working environment, and instil a culture, that supports and proactively attracts women at all levels and accelerate gender equality. We have made it a priority to promote gender equality as our commitment to human rights as well as the recognition of the vital contribution that women make to economic development. Monthly meetings are held with the Executive Committee members to provide feedback on transformation issues which prioritize the development of women and identification of specific positions to be filled by women.

Palabora has no tolerance on sexual harassment as it violates our values and disrupts the workplace. We had a mine wide awareness campaign to create an understanding of the impact of sexual harassment on both males and females. We have developed a sexual harassment policy which details the procedure to be followed in dealing with sexual harassment and the support that can be provided when it happens.

It is our belief that excellence does not distinguish between genders and our leaders are sensitized to create a balanced work environment that actively promotes gender equality.