Respect key to keeping employees, mining sentiment survey finds

October 6, 2021

A new poll surveying the sentiments of mining industry employees across Australia has found while workers are happy, they’re also happy to move.

Mining industry employees have an overwhelming positive sentiment towards the industry, the company they work for, and their bosses, but that won’t stop them switching to a job that pays more, a new survey has found.

During September Mining People polled the sentiment of industry workers across Australia, to understand their innermost thoughts and feelings about their jobs and the industry itself. Some 216 current industry employees took part, responding to 14 simple statements by either choosing “absolutely”, “somewhat”, or “not at all”.

A positive outlook but a willingness to switch

When it came to some of the big questions, the news for the industry and its employers was very good indeed: employees like their jobs and they’re planning for long careers.

But it’s when they’re asked to reflect on their current jobs that the picture gets a little less rosy: loyalty to, and happiness levels with, existing employers isn’t as high as mining companies might hope for when we’re in the middle of a skills shortage.

Only a third of employees are actually happy with their existing job, and it appears about the same number would switch to a higher-paid job in a heartbeat and almost half could be tempted away.

Of those who said they were “absolutely” happy with their current mining job, 21% said they would “absolutely” switch jobs for more money and more than 52% answered “somewhat”, suggesting they could be tempted to switch.

The causes of staff attrition rates

We wanted to dig a little deeper into the factors informing people’s responses, so we asked for responses to some statements about:

• Their company, the culture and their colleagues
• The impacts of the mining industry lifestyle.

Let’s look at the factors relating to existing employers first.

The results here are a bit of a mixed bag, but it’s encouraging to see people generally have a positive view of those they work with directly. The worry for mining industry employers is clearly the way employees feel they’re being treated.

When we drill down into the data, a fascinating pattern emerges.

Respect a key indicator of intention to move

Of those who agreed their company shows great respect towards its employees, more than 52% said they were absolutely happy in their current mining job and more than 47% said somewhat. None said they weren’t happy.

Of those who answered “not at all” to the same question about respect for employees, more than 28% said they were “not at all” happy in their current job, 64% said “somewhat” and only 7% said absolutely.

Of those who said their company “somewhat” showed respect to its employees, 31% were happy in their current mining job, 13% weren’t happy at all and 54% said they were somewhat happy.

There’s a similar correlation between showing respect for employees and the likelihood employees would switch jobs for more money. More than 57% of those who said their company did not show respect to its employees said they would absolutely switch jobs for more money. Another 21% said somewhat, indicating a willingness to consider a move. More than 86% of those who said their company was somewhat respectful were either absolutely or somewhat likely to switch jobs for more money.

The impact of FIFO

Let’s look at the impacts of the lifestyle factors that affect people working in mining.

With the mining industry buoyant and brimming with job opportunities, it would be easy to think it’s a happy place to work right now. But with skills shortages, border closures, lockdowns, shift changes, the ongoing threat of Covid and (for many) pressures at home, it’s also potentially a very tough time for a lot of people.

Here’s what we found.

The news here is good. While obviously there are some people who struggle with or don’t enjoy the lifestyle that often comes with a career in mining, generally it seems most employees aren’t suffering unduly with it.

Nerves, lies and mining recruitment

Lastly, we asked a couple of questions related to the recruitment process. (As a mining industry specialist recruiter, we couldn’t resist.) 

The fact two in five people are willing to exaggerate on their CVs doesn’t really surprise us. What might surprise those people is how good we are at finding those exaggerations, and the effect that can have on their chances of being recommended for a role. We take that kind of thing very seriously.

If anything, we were more surprised by how few people feel nervous about the interview process. Perhaps that has something to do with the supply and demand equation for skills and labour in the industry at the moment? It’d be interesting to ask the question again during a downturn and see if the results are different.

Just a little R.E.S.P.E.C.T

Overall, the sentiment survey is positive news for the industry: those who work in it generally think well of their colleagues, the company they work for, and of mining in general.

The opportunity for mining companies, dealing with the current skills shortage and desperate to keep good employees, is to find ways to demonstrate respect for their workers. That, it seems, is the secret to staff retention in the long-term.

Mining People International has more than 26 years’ specialist experience helping mining companies find the best candidates across every job category. Find out more here or get in touch today.