• 2007 At A Glance
• Our Approach To Sustainability
• Our Approach To Sustainability Reporting
• Feedback On Our 2006 Report
• Our Stakeholders
• Sustainable Development Governance
• Stewardship
• Healthy People
• Safe Workplaces
• Environmental Commitment
• Social Responsibility
• Our People
  • Attraction and Recruitment
  • Training and Development
  • Reward and Recognition
  • 2007 Performance
  • Case Studies
• Socio-Economic
• Case Studies
• Reports
• HSEC News
• Contact Details

Our People

At BHP Billiton, our objective is to be the company of choice – creating sustainable value for our shareholders, employees, contractors, suppliers, customers, business partners and host communities.

We are committed to open, honest and productive relationships with our employees based on the values of our Charter. This includes earning the trust of employees by being forthright in our communication, consistently delivering on commitments and maintaining an equal opportunity work environment based on merit. We aim to be consistent, fair and transparent in recruiting, assessing, and promoting and rewarding our people.

The precise nature of our relationships with employees is determined locally but is consistent with our BHP Billiton Charter, Human Resources Strategy, Sustainable Development Policy, Guide to Business Conduct, our commitment to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and relevant legislative requirements. Our commitment to open communication with our employees is reiterated through our Directors’ Report contained within the Company Annual Review.

Human Resource Strategy

In January 2007, we revised our Human Resources Policy and codified our Human Resources Strategy and Standards.

The Human Resources Strategy connects our values and culture (as defined by our Charter) and our business requirements to the way we manage our people and assess our human resources performance. As outlined in our Corporate Strategy, people are the foundation on which all activities rely and to be successful, we must identify, recruit, train, develop and retain a talented, diverse, mobile and motivated workforce.

Our Human Resources Management Standards establish our objectives on each of the major components of people management, and are aligned with our HSEC Management Standards. Each Standard also has performance requirements and metrics that are used to guide and assess human resources performance.

A significant portion of our workforce is contractor-based, and we work closely with our contracting companies, in particular those whose activities materially interact with direct employees in terms of culture, standards and behavioural expectations, to ensure their approach to human resource management, including employee relations, is consistent with that of the Company.

Leadership and Culture

Strong leadership is a cornerstone of organisational success. Our intent is to foster a culture where globally diverse and often remotely located leaders behave in a manner that models the Charter, drives superior performance and allows every employee to start each day with a sense of purpose and end it with a sense of accomplishment.

Our Leadership Model provides guidelines on what it takes to be a BHP Billiton leader. Importantly the leadership attributes and styles are based on proven safety excellence and fully integrate and reinforce our belief that good safety leadership is good business leadership.

Refer to the following for details on our approach to Human Resources:

• Attraction and Recruitment, including an overview of our graduate programs, freedom of association and child and forced labour
• Training and Development, covering such aspects as work/life balance, the employee assistance program, grievance mechanisms and managing transition
• Reward and Recognition, addressing priorities for financial and non-financial rewards programs.