Employment

AngloGold Ashanti’s employment equity programme is a critical part of human resources management in the company’s South Africa-based business units. Fifteen years into democracy, the legacy of apartheid in South Africa remains a significant challenge to the integration and incorporation of previously marginalised groups into commercial organisations.

INSTITUTIONALISED RACISM

South African legislation such as the Constitution, the Employment Equity Act, the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act, and the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act are all aimed at addressing past injustices.

“Over the years black South Africans have been exposed to overt and legalised racism in the workplace but, in the past 15 years of democracy, that racism has often become subtle and institutionalised. It is still embedded in the organisational structures and systems which explains why the progress towards a non-racial and non-sexist working environment is not where it should be.

“However, the numbers aside, much progress in terms of the creation of a working environment that promotes diversity has been made,” explains Simeon Mighty Moloko, Manager: Human Resources.

Moloko cites the 2008 Commission for Employment Equity Report findings that management is still predominantly white and male-dominated which he cites as one of the contributing factors to the slowness of transformation in South African companies. This is also true of the mining industry.

PROGRESS, BUT BIAS TOWARDS WHITE WOMEN

Despite these challenges, AngloGold Ashanti has made significant progress in transformation and encompassing diversity; at the end of December 2008, the South African workforce comprised 37% Historically Disadvantaged South Africans (HDSAs) in management, including 19% women. HDSAs include Africans, Indians, Coloureds, women and persons with disability as defined by the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Development Act. An issue flagged in recent times by the country’s Employment Equity Commission chairman, Jimmy Manyi, is that white women are disproportionately represented in middle level management. The AngloGold Ashanti South African workforce has 9.90% women employed of which 77.32% are black women. The Mining Charter calls for the 10% representation of women by April 2009.

“It is a reality that there has been a bias towards white women and we are attempting to turn this around; we are looking at which levels historically disadvantaged individuals are being positioned in the company to achieve a balance,” explains Robbie Lazare, AngloGold Ashanti Executive Vice President: Human Resources.

Michelle Nadar, Human Resources Manager: Southern Africa Division explains the reasons for some of the organisation’s shortcoming in diversity in management.

“In the mining industry it takes longer for an individual to be developed to managerial level because, apart from a technical qualification, the candidate also needs vast experience which is unlike in other ‘softer’ sectors, such as banking for example,” she explains. To try to address this need, AngloGold Ashanti spends a significant portion of its payroll to provide training and development for its people. Legislation dictates that companies should utilise 1% of their payroll on training, but the organisation currently spends on average 4 – 5 % of its payroll annually on training and development.

“The main oversight that AngloGold Ashanti South African operations made when implementing employment equity programmes was to move away from the Employment Equity Act itself, which calls for representation at all levels and categories within the organisation. Instead, and understandably so, there was an emphasis on the Mining Charter which calls for representation of 10% women in the workplace and 40% HDSAs at management level. (Management has been defined broadly as Patterson band D-level job and above.) You found that HDSAs within the management ranks were employed at entry level and had very little representation at senior and top management levels. This is what we are busy addressing at this point in time,” explains Moloko.

“Evidence of this is the recent appointments of HDSAs in senior positions throughout the company over the past few months. The numbers look promising: against the Mining Charter target of 10% women, we are currently at 9%, with 31% employees from the HDSAs at management level against the Mining Charter target of 40%. Credit should be given to the South African Division team for putting in place a turnaround strategy in July this year and following it through,” says Moloko.

As at end December 2008, HDSA representation at management level in the South African Division was 37.5%, and 44% at the corporate office. The combined HDSA representation at management level is 40.5%.

SKILLS SHORTAGES A PROBLEM

The skills shortages contribute to the challenge of transformation. A large number of industries are tapping into one talent pool, and this is not sufficient to service all.

“For instance, we take some students through the bursary scheme and once they have completed their studies, they are poached by external organisations who buy out the rest of their contracts from AngloGold Ashanti,” explains Nadar.

Lazare concurs. “A large number of our trained black employees have been repeatedly poached by other companies or leave the organisation for opportunities abroad. It is a fact that South Africa needs to enlarge the pool of HDSA managers and AngloGold Ashanti cannot do this on its own - it needs to be a collective effort within the country. When you tap into the talent pool you find that most people have the intellectual skills, but not the experience or management skills to lead in the gold mining industry,” he explains. AngloGold Ashanti needs to address this by placing renewed emphasis on implementing quality-driven accelerated development plans underpinned by real commitment to coaching and mentorship programmes.

Another possible question is whether AngloGold Ashanti’s corporate culture in South Africa is conducive or welcoming to people of diverse backgrounds. Moloko believes that diversity education is needed in the organisation from top management down.

“If we want to transform organisations, policy decisions to this effect should be taken. We need to deal with the issue of diversity and values. AngloGold Ashanti’s values are a good start, but the challenge arises when behaviours do not support the values. In recreating society, we need first to recreate the context that supports our organisational values. The behaviours that work against our values should be identified and then managed at all levels within the organisation,” says Moloko.

External audits on the organisation have revealed that the slow implementation of transformation and inclusion of a diverse range of people within the leadership of AngloGold Ashanti South Africa has had a negative impact on the perception by prospective employees that they will not move within the internal ranks on joining the company.

An internally-conducted employment equity audit, the “McNamara Report”, was done at all the business units within AngloGold Ashanti in April 2007. The main findings of the report detailed the following weak areas:

• Poor representation of previously marginalised groups.
• Lack of transparency regarding management communication and commitment to diversity.
• Governance challenges.
• Retention and attraction of skills.
• Employment of women at the mines.
• Female employee concerns that were not being addressed such as demarcated change rooms and maternity benefits.
• Lack of employee career development plans and expectations.
• Engagement of individuals with disabilities.
• Succession challenges.
• Training and development.
• Low performance against targets.

Some of the problem areas detailed in the report are being dealt with by Skills and Employment Equity Committees based at each of the South African business operations.

NEW HUMAN RESOURCES MODEL FOR THE GROUP

AngloGold Ashanti is also in the process of rolling out a new human resources model at all its sites around the world that addresses issues of organisational design, succession planning and performance management. “We are educating all sites how to use this model and we hope to see results in the next three years,” says Lazare.

To complement this model, a number of training and development initiatives are currently provided for employees. One of these is the “Success through Diversity” programme which hopes to facilitate the change of culture within AngloGold Ashanti.

STRIKING A BALANCE

Moloko outlines his philosophy: “What is essential in the implementation of transformation is the striking of a balance between white employees’ fears and black employees’ aspirations. This can be done by assuring white employees that affirmative action does not translate into them being moved from existing jobs and distributing them to historically disadvantaged groups, but about using the vacancies that arise from time to time as an opportunity to redress the imbalances of the past. In this way, white employees’ job security fears are addressed, while suitably qualified HDSAs are afforded preferential treatment as and when opportunities arise. In this way, we can end affirmative action sooner rather than later, as workforce composition comes to reflect more closely the demographical make-up of the economically active population.

“I emphasise suitably qualified HDSAs, as we do not believe in tokenism and an entitlement mentality which destroys both the individual concerned and the organisation. Transformation is not an event; the change should not only be in the numbers but should be in the heart,” concludes Moloko.