Sustainability
Empowering our people
Employee relations is a vital focus area for Seriti because we recognise that every employee brings their whole self to work, not just a skill set or a job title.
Employee relations is a vital focus area for Seriti because we recognise that every employee brings their whole self to work, not just a skill set or a job title.
Local employment
Attracting and retaining local people is critical for our company’s long-term success. We seek, as far as possible, to create employment opportunities within local communities, and ensure our contractor companies do the same.
Diversity and inclusion
We have embedded a culture of respect for gender diversity and different ethnicities throughout our organisation. Our commitment extends beyond compliance and we have set internal targets that exceed those prescribed by legislation. We monitor our progress in terms of our recruitment practices and employment equity policy. We address barriers to entry though our women in mining committees at our operations. We undertake workplace audits, and through our mentorship and informal coaching programmes we identify and support women to reach senior levels within the company.
Training and development
We operate in a competitive industry where employees tend to move between mining companies. Not only is there a business need to secure particular skills, but there are certain positions that are a legal requirement. We need to ensure that we have a continuous pipeline of skills coming into and moving through our business. That is why we invest in various bursary programmes, sponsoring students at university whom we eventually place in our business. During FY25, we spent R450.6 million on training and development (FY24: R490 million).
In FY25, we provided 433 learnerships in the business (FY24: 252) and employed 109 interns (FY24: 108).
The increase in learnerships was a result of a specific effort to increase learnerships for people with disabilities. Of those in learnership positions, 96% are HDSAs and 37% are women. Of our interns, 97% are HDSAs and 32% are women.
Evolving approach to contractor management
Our approach to employee relations and contractor management has evolved, particularly with the shift to a contractor mining model on the export side of our business. In this model, contractors bring their own workforce and equipment to site while we, as the mining right holder, retain full legal accountability, especially in matters of mine health and safety.
With a strong focus on fair employee relations, the increased incidence of contractor mining has heightened our focus on contractor governance. Ensuring that contractors are fully compliant with labour laws and Seriti’s standards is a critical priority.
Sound labour relations
Over the years, we have fostered sound relationships with recognised unions and associations, which are based on open communication and engagement. Seriti recognises three unions: the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the United Association of South Africa (UASA) and Solidarity.
