THE FIRST FEMALE
to be an asset
president of a BHP Billiton mining project,
Laura Tyler, has won the Exceptional
Woman in Australian Resources Award at
the inaugural Thiess Women in Resources
National Awards.
One of her many achievements was
introducing the first diversity plan to
improve attraction and retention of women
at the company’s Cannington Mine, which
Tyler manages in North-West Queensland.
“Nowadays, it’s not unusual to see
women on our crews, even women leading
teams running entire sites,” she says.
“These achievements are real and we
should be really proud to be working in
BHP’S TYLER AN
exceptional talent
an industry that empowers and builds in
this way.”
Delivering a keynote address at the
awards, BHP human resources president
Mike Fraser spoke of the company’s
diversity focus.
“We are addressing the historical
gender imbalance we have seen in our
industry by having a particular emphasis
on increasing female representation in key
operational roles,” Fraser says.
Due to its targeted diversity strategies,
BHP Billiton has achieved 25 per cent
female participation at its Daunia mine
and 21 per cent at its Caval Ridge mine
in Queensland.
RP
THE WORKPLACE GENDER
Equality Agency (WGEA)
has launched a campaign to raise awareness and
understanding of gender pay equity as national data
shows the salary gap has widened.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS),
the average man working full-time earns 18.2 per cent or
$283.20 more than the average full-time working woman.
The resource industry is one of seven industries analysed
by the ABS that has a pay gap above the national average.
Men working in mining, oil and gas roles occupations on
average 23.8 per cent more than women.
New data released by WGEA shows almost three
quarters of Australian employers haven’t taken steps to
ensure they pay women and men fairly. 73.7 per cent of
organisations have never done a gender pay gap analysis,
and less than one in five have done a gender pay gap
analysis in the past 12 months.
Of those organisations that haven’t done a gender pay
gap analysis, the most common reasons were because pay
is set by awards or industrial agreements, or because they
pay market rates.
WGEA director Helen Conway says there is a lack of
awareness of how gender bias can creep into performance
and pay decisions.
“Most leaders genuinely believe they pay people in
their organisation fairly, but without examining their
payroll data they simply don’t have the evidence to back
that up,” Conway says.
“Employers who analyse their data tell us they always find
instances of pay gaps that can’t be explained or justified, at
least the first time the analysis is conducted, and so they take
corrective action to fix imbalances and develop action plans
to address the root causes.”
As part of its campaign WGEA launched the website
where employees can see if their
organisation has undertaken a gender pay gap analysis
and offers practical resources to promote and calculate
pay equity.
RP
CAMPAIGN TACKLES
widening gender pay gap
Laura Tyler
SUMMER 2014-15 RESOURCE
PEOPLE
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