We recently spoke to Peta Slocombe, Executive Manager of Capability and Culture at Northern Star Resources Limited, on the importance of mental health education and developing a vibrant workplace culture.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR ROLE AT NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES LIMITED AND THE COMPANY’S APPROACH TO MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING.
My role is designed to help people be at their best, as a company in our overall performance, as well as individually. That involves everything from talent, leadership, high performance and how we communicate, through to mental health and wellbeing.
The company’s mental health program is strongly aligned to our values. It is important to us that anything that we do is sustainable and embedded in our culture.
CONGRATULATIONS ON ACHIEVING GOLD WORKPLACE STATUS WITH MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID AUSTRALIA. HOW HAS THIS IMPACTED THE WORKFORCE?
Gold status required a number of criteria in addition to the number of employees trained. This included: how we stay connected to our mental health first aiders, having a policy and role for mental health first aiders in the business, feedback channels about how the program is going, and an authentic commitment showing that senior leaders also had involvement through participation in R U Ok Day, the Headspace Push-Up Challenge, and a range of other initiatives.
The impact on the workforce has been awesome! People have had more cross-discipline and cross-site conversations about mental health, they’ve made suggestions, prompted more supportive referrals to some of the resources we make available, and encouraged a culture of honesty around mental health.
WHAT WERE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES TO TRAINING 300+ EMPLOYEES?
Usually it would be balancing operations with attendance at training, given that there is a 12-hour commitment from employees. Massive credit goes to our General Managers and senior leaders who made it a priority themselves to understand the program and then supported their teams to nominate.
The complexity of our operations across Australia and the US, FIFO and residential, would normally be a issue. However, the 310 employees and 100 community members we have trained are best placed to understand and adapt to all these unique needs themselves.
HAVE YOU SEEN A SHIFT IN THE WAY COMPANIES / EMPLOYEES HAVE EMBRACED MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING?
Companies seem to have gone from ticking the box, to a genuine desire to make life easier for their people. Most companies firmly understand that it enables a strong workforce and isn’t a distraction from it. I think we are all clear that mental health is an issue that is not going to go away.
My hope is that we will see our mental health role as being about more than suicide prevention and crisis management, and in addition people will do themselves the honour of getting support to navigate the lows and struggles we all have from time to time. The sooner we resource the workforce to understand themselves and support each other in early intervention, the sooner we will start to make real progress.
TELL US ABOUT NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES’ “STARR” CORE VALUES AND CULTURE.
I’ve worked as a consultant in many companies throughout my career, and the one thing I admire enormously about Northern Star is the true commitment people have for our organisational values. There is a strong and unified understanding that Safety, Teamwork, Accountability, Respect and Results are a driver in all that we do. It’s a simple go-to whether we are recruiting, making leadership decisions, implementing change or completing our culture survey.
WHAT PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE CONSIDERING A CAREER IN AUSTRALIA’S GOLD INDUSTRY?
The diversity of roles, locations, and professions within the gold industry is truly impressive. They combine to be a sector that is always interested in better ways to do things and having a commitment to results. In respect to it’s sustainability and growth, even the gold price reminds us that in times of economic instability, the industry has a long track record of thriving. It is hard to think of many industries that match the gold industry in that way.