Initiative
TELL US HOW DO YOU D&I
*** Want to tell us how your organization supports diversity and inclusion? Send your completed format to diac@cim.org. ***
Organization: Sherritt International Corporation
Sherritt International Corporation is a world leader in the mining and refining of nickel and cobalt from lateritic ores with projects and operations in Canada and Cuba. The Corporation is the largest independent energy producer in Cuba, with extensive oil and power operations across the island. Sherritt licenses its proprietary technologies and provides metallurgical services to mining and refining operations worldwide. The Corporation’s common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “S”.
Why did your organization decide to implement a D&I program?
Sherritt is determined to live up to our purpose of being a low-cost nickel producer that creates sustainable prosperity for our employees, investors and communities. As we strive to live up to our purpose, we established five promises that define how we work as a company. One of the promises we have made includes a commitment to treating people with respect and being inclusive. It is a foundational promise to our stakeholders and our D&I program is focused on ensuring our culture lives up to that promise each and every day.
In addition to D&I being the right thing to do, Sherritt believes a diverse and inclusive workforce will be a competitive advantage. Sherritt knows that diversity leads to better business results. There are an unlimited number of studies that support the idea that diversity is good for business. When you get down to it, the reality is diverse perspectives lead to better decision making, which leads to better business outcomes. Quite simply, it is a good business decision to ensure we have a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture.
Mining does not have a history of high levels of diversity – whether from the lens of gender, sexual orientation, racial, aboriginal or culture – in Canada, and Sherritt believes that if we are a leader in diversity with a culture of inclusivity, we will be a leader in the industry.
Tell us about a few successful D&I policies/actions, big or small that made the difference.
In late 2019, Sherritt rolled out a five-year D&I Framework. Our Framework is intended to guide the organization and our operating divisions on a consistent path to being a mining sector leader in D&I. 2020 represented the first year of the Framework and we focused our efforts on establishing the foundation needed to drive towards a more inclusive, diverse and respectful workplace. Some highlights from 2020 include:
- Establishing a Global Steering Committee, which is accountable for setting the D&I strategy, executing, monitoring and adjusting Sherritt’s 5-year D&I framework and ensuring alignment across the organization
- Establishing Local D&I Committees which are accountable for setting local D&I objectives aligned with the global D&I strategy, executing, monitoring and adjusting local annual D&I action plan, and providing ongoing input and recommendations to the Global Committee
- Setting clear targets by making public commitments. These include:
- Joining Catalyst’s 30% Club Canada with the goal to achieve better gender balance at board level, as well at executive management levels
- Committing to double the number of females across all locations by 2030. From 18% women (January 2020 level) to 36% women by 2030
- As a result of the social awareness that came to the forefront in 2020 with the Black Lives Matter movement, we recognized that we needed to do more. In July 2020, Sherritt signed the BlackNorth Pledge, which is committed to the removal of anti-Black systemic barriers negatively affecting the lives of Black Canadians
- Completing our first D&I survey to better understand how our employees identify, allows us to understand thoughts and concerns on D&I topics and establish a baseline measurement that we can revisit as we move through our D&I journey
- Introducing Diverse Hiring Panels to ensure that diverse perspectives are considered during the selection of candidates
- Delivering Respectful Workplace training across the organization
- Rolling out inclusive language guidance and reviewed all policies to ensure inclusiveness of language
- Providing personal protective equipment designed specifically for women and reviewed signage and facilities to ensure appropriateness and gender access
- We had an employee take it upon herself to develop and deliver Unconscious Bias training at one of our locations, which has been very well attended and received leading Sherritt to roll out the program globally across all divisions
- Our CEO, David Pathe, won the 2020 CIM Diversity & Inclusion Award
How did your organization benefit from a D&I program?
In late 2020 we ran one of our regular engagement surveys and the feedback received indicated that our focus on D&I was having a positive impact on our engagement, and included various comments from employees who were encouraged by the focus on D&I and the related progress being made.
We have also seen a tremendous amount of interest from employees wanting to get involved in the D&I program. So much so that we have established an approach to rotating out people on our committees. This is seen as a great opportunity for individuals to participate in a very visible initiative at the local level, establish stronger working relationships with individuals outside of their normal operations, and also have the opportunity to possibly participate on a global committee. The design of our D&I committee lives up to our D&I focus – all committees must be diverse and include individuals from all levels of the organization.
We have also seen that employees are on board with our focus on D&I. In 2020 an employee resource group (ERG) was formed. LeadHERS is an ERG aiming to promote awareness for gender inclusivity and provide resources for all employees at Sherritt. It has established itself as a key source of information, an open and engaging environment for Sherritt employees to share experiences and ideas, and effectively uses Yammer to engage with employees across the organization. This ERG has been so successful that it was decided that they would have a seat on the Global D&I Steering Committee.
We still consider ourselves early in our journey and are fully appreciative that cultural change is a marathon and not a sprint. That said, it is clear that employees appreciate the focus on D&I and are putting forth a high level of support and engagement with our program.
Anything else to share (optional)?
We have many accomplishments thus far on our journey. A few additional accomplishments:
- We produced a diversity calendar using artwork from students in the local Fort Saskatchewan community (below)
- D&I goals are part of our 2020 and 2021 (individual) Performance Goals
- We featured Neurodiversity as a topic on one of our Sherritt Bits and Bytes webinars
