Family friendly workplace at the heart of gender equality

Fortescue Metals Group is proud to support International Women’s Day reflecting the Company’s commitment to ensuring as many women as possible have an opportunity to participate and make a strong contribution to Australian mining. 

Fortescue is focussed on implementing practical policies such as child care and flexible paid parental leave that support women at work, while fostering a workplace culture that truly embraces diversity.

The Fortescue Family Room, based in Perth, offers care on a casual basis and has facilitated over 3,000 stays since it opened in August 2017, averaging 22 children a day.

Fortescue also has a flexible paid parental leave policy that allows primary carers to take leave at any time in the twelve months after the date of birth or adoption. This is complemented with ‘keeping in touch days’ which provide employees the option of working up to 10 days during their parental leave to assist with the transition back to work. In FY18, Fortescue had a 96.3 per cent retention rate of employees returning from paid parental leave.

Speaking at International Women’s Day events in Perth and Beijing, Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Gaines said a family friendly workplace which supports parents is key to encouraging diversity and inclusiveness.

“Paid parental leave schemes funded by employers are proven to significantly increase the retention rate of managers returning from parental leave. With only half of Australian organisations currently offering paid parental leave, businesses can do more to support women in the workforce.

“Our Family Room and Paid Parental Leave are practical initiatives that support women balance work and family responsibilities and help them reach their full potential.”

“The family friendly policies at Fortescue encourage authenticity and inclusion to foster a culture that benefits both women and men, and ultimately builds a greater pool of talent of future leaders and executives to deliver better outcomes for our shareholders”, Ms Gaines said.