as a Team
Our employees, the heart of our business.
Global Corporate Challenge
Barrick has been named one of the most active Canadian-based companies in the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC), a 16-week competition that challenges participants to walk, run, or bike the equivalent of 10,000 steps a day to improve personal health. About 14,000 employees from around the world formed 199 teams to help Barrick win the GCC silver award for most active Canadian company. Barrick was one of 1,000 organizations from 83 countries that participated in the 2011 Corporate Challenge.
For each corporate participant, the GCC organization sponsors a child in a children’s version of the corporate challenge as a way to encourage young people to be more active. This year, thanks in part to Barrick, 120,000 children had the opportunity to participate in the challenge.
COMPASS Training Program
The Compass Level 1 program is a professional development course designed to guide entry level technical employees through their first few years at Barrick. The course, made up of five levels, uses various delivery methods to help employees work through different learning objectives. Level 2 provides advanced training for employees with three to five years experience. Level 3, 4 and 5 focus on leadership development as employees reach 20 or more years with Barrick.
Megan Jackson became the first graduate of Barrick’s new Compass training program for exploration geologists.
Barrick Skills Development Programs
- Courageous Safety Leadership
- Supervisor Development Program
- Compass Technical and Professional Programs
- Drive Safe
- Continuous Improvement e-Learning
- Project Management in Action
Employee Benefits
Barrick conducts business in many countries and provides wages and benefits relative to regional economics. We match or exceed average wages in the countries where we operate. Men and women employed in the same job category receive the same remuneration, according to their level of experience and length of employment. Benefits provided are in line with cultural sensitivities and include a core group of health care benefits at all operations, as well as non-core regional benefits. Non-core benefits are partially determined by local competitive practices and needs, and may include pension and other retirement programs, maternity or parental leave, life and accidental death insurance, wellness programs and employee assistance programs. In general, full-time employees receive our full complement of the benefits available in their region, while part-time and contract employees receive fewer benefits. Since this is locally determined, global information is not available.
Barrick has a number of instruments which provide post-retirement benefits to employees. We have qualified defined benefit pension plans (a defined benefit plan promises a specified monthly benefit at retirement) that cover some of our Canadian, United States and Australian employees and provide benefits based on employees’ years of service. We have non-qualified defined benefit pension plans covering other employees and former directors of the company. As well, certain employees take part in defined contribution employee benefit plans (examples of defined contribution plans include 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, RRSPs, employee share ownership plans, and profit-sharing plans).
Personal career development opportunities are an important benefit we provide to our employees. Barrick provides a professional development program for engineers and geoscientists who have joined the company directly from post-secondary education. This program is designed to accelerate the learning curve and advance the careers of our technical employees through active mentoring from more experienced professionals, targeted learning and individualized work assignments.
Our employees, competent and highly engaged.
We believe in life-long learning and that our employees can have multiple careers within our organization. Skills development and apprenticeship programs are often available at our sites. Barrick has developed role-based, in-house skills development programs to advance employee capabilities. Most of our programs are self-directed and utilize on the job assignments and mentoring.
Regionally, other programs complement our global curriculum and are designed to address local market capabilities and legislative requirements. Examples of regional programs that reflect a gap in skills by level or a legislative requirement include the Mining Supervisor and Manager Certificate Program in Western Australia, the Graduate Engineer Gap Program in Argentina and the Intermediate Management Program in Africa.
Additionally, professionals who participate in continuing professional development programs, offered through universities or professional organizations, are eligible for company reimbursement.
Barrick invests significant effort in maintaining a leadership pipeline including programs like the Frontline Supervisor Training Program, designed to strengthen the skills of our supervisors and managers. This program builds skills for frontline personnel who are responsible for coaching and managing employee performance. Frontline Supervisor Training helps employees develop skills for providing feedback and coaching, leading change, delegating, resolving conflict, managing performance problems and motivating high performance teams.
Many employees are part of our Global Succession Planning Program, which provides employees with an opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills by transferring into short- and long-term assignments of greater complexity at other Barrick sites, both regionally and internationally. Short-term assignments allow mine sites to fulfill specific business needs and provide a unique professional development opportunity for participants. In the fall of 2010, when the Buzwagi mine in Tanzania had a sudden need for trained people, a group of 25 employees from other sites and regions went to fill the gap and train local employees during an eight-week assignment. This worked so well that a second group of 15 employees took eight week short-term assignments at Buzwagi during early 2011.
Mentoring and on-the-job training help Barrick retain good employees .
We currently have performance review and career management processes in place for employees at our operations and offices. Since Barrick has grown through acquisition and inherited different systems, processes may vary from site to site; however, we are working to align these processes. One hundred percent of executives, senior and middle managers are covered by an annual formal performance planning and assessment process. Supervisors and non-management individuals participate in site specific performance review processes for professional and skilled employees. Employees in work crews at our operations have regular key performance indicator assessments, often in a team format.
“I believe that short-term assignments are a great way to develop people and give them a more global perspective of the company, while also serving an important business need.”
– Don Ritz, Senior Vice President,
Safety and Leadership.