Human Resources

Developing our people

Our people are the key element of Newcrest’s business strategy and we have enshrined this principle in our corporate strategy.

In particular, the Company is committed to building Newcrest into an organisation that will support the business strategy through attention to leadership, technical capability and the talent needed to deliver business outcomes on an ongoing basis.

People development initiatives

Over the past year, we have introduced many initiatives to further build the organisation (culture, capability, leadership and people resources) necessary to deliver Newcrest’s business strategy in an effective risk-managed way. These initiatives include:

• Development of organisation values. We developed our organisation values in October 2003 via a workshop with senior managers and executives. Since then, the values have been explored and understood by all personnel in the Company’s head office in Melbourne. The values are being rolled out throughout the Company. Newcrest’s values are:
  – We act with integrity and honesty
  – We seek high performance in ourselves and others
  – We work together
  – We value innovation and problem-solving
  – We care about people.
• Development and Training Matrix. Construction of a Development and Training Matrix to ensure the continued development of employees at all levels across the business, in technical and non-technical skills.
• Improvement in key areas. Managers and employees continued the improvement work identified through the employee opinion survey conducted during 2002/03. Improvements have been implemented in areas such as remuneration, communication, training and development, and health and safety.
• Review of remuneration policy. Our remuneration policy has been reviewed to develop a design more in keeping with the Company’s growth and standing. The policy elements include:

  –	A base salary based on total employee cost, augmented by a short-term incentive that is determined by performance against agreed objectives, and
  –	A redesigned long-term incentive for middle, senior and executive managers that is intended to better align the behaviour and actions of management with the interests of shareholders.

• Redevelopment of procedures and policies. Newcrest’s people procedures and policies have been redeveloped in line with the requirements of our business and alignment with the Company’s culture and strategy.
• Skills assessment and staff retention programs. Implementation of systems to enable the timely understanding of the skills and people needed across the business and strategies for attracting and retaining the employees essential for current and future operations.
• Introduction of new leave policy. We have implemented a new leave policy. A key feature is our new policy for parental leave that puts Newcrest at the cutting edge for the resources industry. Newcrest’s parental leave policy provides:

  –	Up to 14 weeks paid parental leave for the primary carer
  –	Provision for early return by agreement between Newcrest and the employee, and
  –	Up to 52 weeks leave.

Telfer recruitment

At Telfer, all senior operations management and senior professional appointments have been filled and Telfer now has an operational workforce in excess of 460 people including project support personnel. The Telfer open pit is fully manned and operational. Telfer is currently in the process of bringing on the ore processing and maintenance operational workforce in preparation for commissioning and operation of the concentrator. In addition, the on-site construction workforce at Telfer has peaked at more than 1,500 personnel.

Employee Statistics

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