Our goal is to employ a skilled workforce that reflects the demographic of the regions in which we operate and to create a positive, supportive and inclusive culture. The Group has established procedures to ensure that there are no instances of discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, nationality, ethnic origin, family situation, religion, language, political beliefs, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity, paternity or disability. Any reports of discrimination or harassment are investigated and managed.

In line with the Group’s corporate values we seek to select, recruit and promote employees based on merit. We give equal access to training and career development opportunities appropriate for every employee’s experience level.

We aim to develop the expertise required for our operations from our existing workforce, recruiting locally where possible. The Group has a leadership programme in place focused on the training and development of national employees to fill key positions in the future. Our operations are located in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and in 2020, 97% of the Group’s permanent employees were nationals of these countries.

In circumstances where specialist skills are required, we draw
on international expertise with a view to transferring knowledge and best practice in the medium to long term. The number of expatriates at KAZ Minerals is limited and they are largely employed at Aktogay and Bozshakol working alongside local teams who will ultimately take over the full management of operations.

Female employees (% of total)

Gender equality

KAZ Minerals is committed to offering equality of opportunity to all current and potential future employees, regardless of gender. The Group has relatively high female representation in its workforce benchmarked against major mining companies, at 21% of total employees (18% including temporary construction workers employed at the Aktogay expansion project). This is reflected at senior management level, where 19% are female and 25% of the members of the Board are female. The Group is working to increase the proportion of female employees at all levels.

The average age of the Group’s c.3,000 female employees is 39. Those working in production roles account for 57% of the total, 57% are married and 64% have children. The Group offers up to three years of maternity or paternity leave and re-induction training for employees returning from leave.

We regularly review salaries to check for equality of pay for equivalent roles, to ensure that a gender pay gap does not emerge.

The Group has successfully lobbied for a change in regulations in Kazakhstan which restrict certain operational roles to male employees only. Changes in these regulations are expected to lead to a higher proportion of female employees in the Group’s workforce in the future, as restrictions are removed. The proportion of female employees employed by the Group in roles which are not prohibited by law is 41%.