International Women’s Day – Supporting the Advancement of Women at Goldcorp

March 8th is International Women’s Day – a celebration of the economic, social, cultural and political achievements of women around the globe.

Goldcorp has been a signatory to the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Principles since 2015.  There are seven Empowerment Principles, which are in alignment with our core values of being Safe, Productive and Responsible.  Let’s explore what we are doing to support gender diversity under these seven Principles.

Principle 1 and 2: Establish high-level corporate leadership and gender equality and; Promote Gender Equality through community initiatives and advocacy

In 2017, we achieved our goals under the Catalyst Accord and the 30% Club Canada, and are proud to see an increase in the overall percentage of women on our Board to 30 percent. Gender equality is sponsored at the highest level and we provide a wide variety of leadership and development opportunities to women in a traditionally male-dominated mining industry.  Across every part of our business, wherever we operate, we aim to create an inclusive culture where everyone feels respected, welcomed, supported and encouraged to achieve their full potential.

Principle 3: Promote education and training and professional development for women

We offer a large selection of comprehensive training programs to help personal and professional development – programs to develop women, from graduates to leaders. In addition to our StepUP behaviour training, which includes components on diversity and inclusion, we are also providing managers with training on raising awareness and deepening understanding of unconscious and conscious bias in the workplace, ensuring that women are not overlooked and are given equal opportunity in the entire organization.

 We also support the education of women and girls by funding support programs with post-secondary institutions, including sponsorship of the University of British Columbia’s Goldcorp Professorship for Women in Engineering, and donations to the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the National College of Technical Professional Education in Mexico to encourage leadership development for women in technical fields.

Principle 4: Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and nondiscrimination
Our Diversity and Inclusion Policy applies to all our employees, and demonstrates that we respect and value diverse and unique perspectives, experiences and skillsets of all our people. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion aligns with our values and is reflected in our Code of Conduct, our Human Rights Policy, and in our Respect in the Workplace program. Our leaders across the company are expected to promote an inclusive workplace culture and champion diversity and inclusion in their teams, and all employees should demonstrate, through their behaviours and actions, commitment to fostering workplaces where people feel included, valued and able to contribute their best. In accordance with our values and behaviours, all our employees are expected to demonstrate respect for their colleagues.

Principle 5: Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers
“Safe Enough for Our Families” is the vision that guides our efforts to ensure and support the safety and health of our people at work, at home and in our communities. We provide training on all technical, behavioural and cultural aspects of safety and encourage our people to participate in external training, conferences and workshops to keep them up to date with the latest in safety advancements and innovations, both inside and outside the industry. Each operating mine develops its own safety programs within our overall vision and framework for coaching, training, workshops and program development. This ensures a successful, sustainable implementation by considering the unique culture at each operation.

Principle 6: Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women

Our Creating Choices, Growing Choices and Future Choices programs are very distinct in the global mining industry.  The programs offer development opportunities and coaching and were created for women, but will now also encourage male enrollment. Since the launch of the first Creating Choices program in 2010, more than 1,800 Goldcorp women have graduated from the programs, developed to promote education and to assist women in progressing their careers within the organization through education, skill training and mentorship. The third and final component of the program, Future Choices, was launched in 2017. It’s aimed at providing women at our operations with the tools they need to lead and succeed long after a mine closure and will offer entrepreneurship skills to help build sustainable careers for the future.

Principle 7: Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality
We measure and publicly report on the gender diversity of our board of directors, leadership and workforce in our annual sustainability report. Our workforce consists of over 14,000 employees and just over 10% of our workforce is comprised of women. We embrace workforce diversity and empower our employees to achieve their full personal and professional potential in an environment which values, attracts and retains diverse talent.

Over 3,000 full time, salaried employees across the company participated in a diversity survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in late 2016 to better understand where we are as an organization and to identify opportunities to do more to make our workplaces more diverse and inclusive. The survey showed that we are a diverse workforce that respects and values the perspectives, experience and cultures of our people, with 86% of respondents agreeing that diversity contributes to business success.

As a result of this and other initiatives, a key focus for us this year is Diversity and Inclusion within our organization. We support an inclusive workplace environment and the principle that all individuals, both male and female, should have an equal opportunity to participate in our company and achieve their full potential. And while our important work to improve gender diversity continues, throughout the coming months we will develop our understanding and include a much wider spectrum of diversity, where all are valued, regardless of our different backgrounds, perspectives, experiences and skillsets.