Rio Tinto sets ambitious goals to increase diversity

Josette Ross is making groundbreaking history at Rio Tinto, a leading metals and mines company. In December 2020, Ross became the first woman director of the Arvida Research and Development Centre, Rio Tinto Aluminium, since it was started 75 years ago. The centre is based in Saguenay, an important hub for Rio Tinto’s global aluminum production.

While Ross recognizes she is a seminal example of Rio Tinto’s tangible action to improve gender balance in a traditionally male-dominated industry, she credits the company most for its training and sensitization programs on diversity.

“Everyone has biases and it takes effort to be aware of how we are influenced by our beliefs,” says Ross. “I try to be better in understanding my own bias to reduce the influence in my decision-making. In this way, the programs at Rio Tinto have given me a new lens that helps me even in my personal life.”

With more than 10 different nationalities represented at the Arvida Centre and 60 external partnerships, Ross says she is always exposed to diversity. “It’s always positive,” she says. “I encourage my teams to mix brains, people and culture, and to increasingly interact with each other internally and externally. By mixing different mindsets, we further our ability to think out of the box, which is so important in research and development.”

Ivan Vella, chief executive officer for Rio Tinto Aluminium, affirms that at Rio Tinto, diverse cultures, communities and points of view are not only respected and recognized, but seen as essential to its long-term success.

“Inclusion is everyone’s business and to live by this, we have clear expectations for individual and group behaviours and accountability,” says Vella. “This goes all the way through our business, with diversity and inclusion targets directly linked to the remuneration for our senior leaders.”

To that end, the company is currently focused on implementing a comprehensive gender-neutral parental leave policy. Another goal is increasing the number of women hired by two per cent per year and ensuring that 50 per cent of the graduates hired are women. Globally, the number of women in senior management at Rio Tinto Aluminium is at 40 per cent.

“In addition to being the right thing to do, inclusion and diversity enable us to deliver strong performance, growth and innovation by attracting, engaging, retaining and developing the full potential of our talent,” says Vella. “We’re proud that our positive impact on diversity and inclusion extends outside of Rio Tinto, as part of our commitment to working with communities where we operate.”

Besides promoting women inside the organization, Rio Tinto supports numerous outside initiatives and organizations, such as the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Chair for Women in Science and the International Women in Resources mentoring program. Additionally, the company supports Catalyst, a global non-profit organization dedicated to improving workplace inclusion, and donates to community organizations such as women’s shelters.

Rio Tinto has also developed multiple key partnerships with Indigenous communities across Canada. For example, in 2010, the company signed the Haisla Legacy Agreement, establishing a collaborative working arrangement with the Haisla Nation for the next 30 years.

“Employees are proud of the proactive, respectful and long-term engagement we have with our communities,” Vella says. “We know we have more to do and are eager to be involved and improve our engagement and relationships with host communities and First Nations where we operate.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Canada's Top 100 Employers winners, published November 12, 2021 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.

Inclusion is everyone’s business at Rio Tinto

As a woman in the mining industry, Claudia Bérubé says she gets a lot of support at Rio Tinto, a leading metals and mining company.

Right from the start when she joined as an economics undergraduate five years ago, she was paired with a mentor under the Rio Tinto graduate program, who has helped fast-track her career, supporting her move from commercial to the climate change team. Now a senior advisor, climate change, at the Montréal hub, Bérubé encourages women in her network to consider the industry in a new light as well as advising others within the company.

“My general manager is a woman and there’s definitely been more tangible action promoting women this past year,” says Bérubé. “But we’re still a minority. Mining isn’t the most feminine industry – people think about it as extracting rocks from the ground – but it’s much more.

“It’s about having a purpose in contributing to sourcing essential materials with so many applications in our day-to-day life, such as aluminum which is used in everything from electric cars to mobile phones.”

Bérubé is also a member of the company’s diversity and inclusion committee, focused on raising awareness and fostering an inclusive work culture. The group organizes lunch and learn events, around topics such as unconscious bias, the gender equity, gender gap and the multi-generational workplace.

“I found the workshop on unconscious bias really inspiring, because it helped me think about what people could be experiencing if they’re a minority,” says Bérubé. “We tend to mentor people that are like us, so that was really eye-opening. The committee also involves our executive team so people can see it’s a priority for leadership as well. Rio Tinto is really diverse in terms of expertise, but also in our cultural background which really makes us stand out.”

During the pandemic, when staff couldn’t gather in person for their annual cultural potluck, the committee organized a cookbook instead as a way of sharing people’s cultural heritage.

“We want people to feel safe and valued so that they can share their thoughts openly and contribute to the company, helping it reach another level through diversity,” says Bérubé. “Rio Tinto is a really dynamic workplace where I get to work with multidisciplinary teams from every culture. I’m continuously learning and I feel like my job is part of a greater purpose.”

Ivan Vella, CEO for Rio Tinto Aluminium, based in Montréal, feels the same way. “Our internal teams dedicated to diversity and inclusion are really important to keep us connected to evolving ideas and leading practices outside our company.

“Diverse cultures, communities and point of views are not only respected and recognized here, we see diversity as being essential to our success. We know there’s more to be done and have a strong commitment to continuing our journey.”

To that end, Rio Tinto’s ‘Everyday Respect Taskforce’ is dedicated to ensuring a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for every employee through various internal initiatives, including listening sessions and group-wide coaching programs. Over the past year, the task force’s work focused on embedding psychological safety, respect and inclusion into the company’s foundations, while addressing behaviours such as sexual harassment, bullying or racism in the workplace.

“Inclusion and diversity are imperatives for the long-term sustainable success of our business,” says Vella. “The other challenge facing our world is climate change and the need to decarbonize.

“We’re very focused on our role in supplying the required low-carbon materials and in making changes to our own business to reduce our carbon footprint and associated impacts. We’re all very motivated about contributing to this significant challenge.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Montreal’s Top Employers winners, published February 15, 2022 in the Montreal Gazette. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.