BHP Says It Must Do More to Address Toxic Workplace Culture
(Bloomberg) -- BHP Group Ltd. has been focused on tackling all forms of harassment at its workplaces for some time, but the company still has more to do, Chairman Ken MacKenzie said in a speech Wednesday.
His comments come after rival miner Rio Tinto Group in Feb. published an explosive report showing evidence of endemic sexual harassment, racism and bullying across its operations. The industry's remote mines can be especially risky for women. They remain largely male-dominated, with workers living in camp-style accommodation that blurs the line between work and social life.
“We know unacceptable behaviour still occurs in all workplaces, including BHP. And it shouldn't,” MacKenzie told a conference in Melbourne. “Our data shows that an inclusive and diverse workforce is safer, more engaged and more productive,” he added.
BHP revealed last year that it had fired 48 workers at its sites in Western Australia since July 2019 after verifying allegations of harassment, as well as receiving two substantiated allegations of rape.
READ: Mining Giants Face a Sexual Harassment Reckoning as BHP Fires 48
The global miner has increased female participation across the business by two-thirds since 2016, lifting it to over 30%, MacKenzie said, although it still has work to do to meet an aspirational target of gender balance by 2025.
Demands on large corporations from a range of stakeholders “seem louder, and more conflicting than ever before,” MacKenzie said, but BHP must not lose sight of the opportunities afforded by the increased focus on environmental, social and governance issues.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
