HR Management Case Recruitment and Selection at a Mine Site

Strategic Human Resource Management [711SHRM]

Word Count: 2986

Executive summary
Through the analysis of the turnover rates and the current recruitment process with the aim
to provide a solution to the current inability to operate equipment due to operators still
being recruited and that the turnover rates are excessive. The current findings shows that
the turnover rate, without being industry best, is not excessive as claimed within the
department of mining at Hope Downs, and the main reason as to why the turnover is
perceived as the caused is due to the nature of the recruitment process which is lagging and
not capable of providing operators at a rate of 13% (average turnover rate).
Therefore it is propose in this study to implement a formal recruitment strategy to manage
the levels of turnover with a systematic approach. There are four main initiatives to the
overall strategy proposed, firstly, a formal systematic joint approach within the mining
department as one entity, removing the ad-hoc Supervisor recruitment process, secondly,
include additional recruitment only positions within the org-structure to facilitate the
recruitment process, thirdly, recruit as contractors for the short term to reduce the current
gap, and lastly change the current interview questions for behavioural based questions.
In the report, there are various other initiatives that form part of the overall recruitment
and selection strategy however not worth mention in the executive summary.

Contents
1. INTRODUCTION

2. SUMMARY OF OPERATION

3. TURNOVER

4. CAUSE OF TURNOVER

4.1 Lack of engagement

4.1.1 Monotonous:
4.1.2 Meaningfulness:
4.1.3 Peer pressure:
4.1.4 Training:

8
8
9
9
9

4.2 Other job opportunities

4.3 Personal reasons

10

4.4 Terminations

10

5. RECRUITMENT STRATEGY

12

5.1 Systematic recruitment

12

5.2 Joint mining department

12

5.3 Recruitment positions

12

5.4 Behavioural base interview

13

6. SELECTION STRATEGY

14

6.1 Selection centres

14

6.2 Selection criteria

14

6.3 Concurrent validation process

15

6.4 Hiring as contractors

15

7. CONCLUSION

16

REFERENCES

17

1. Introduction
Hope Downs (HD) is a mining operation with an average turnover rate 13% over the last
three years due to various reasons within the mining department. It is currently perceive
that the turnover rates are unmanageable and that the recruitment process is not
addressing the issue quick enough by the group. Therefore this document links the analysis
of the turnover with a proposal of a recruitment and selection strategy.
The current report discusses the turnover rate for operators at the mining department, the
root cause of the problem to propose a recruiting and selection process strategy to address
part of the problem. This report will not review the impacts of a high turnover rate and the
impacts to the business. It will briefly describe the operation then analyse the cause of
turnover and present a proposal for recruiting and selection.

2. Summary of operation
HD is an iron ore open pit mine site owned by Rio Tinto Pty as a joint venture with Hancock
Prospecting, it is considered a large operations with 692 site based employees and a yearly
production of ore of 31.2Mt with an annual revenue of AU$ 1,100M (Source HD financial
report 2014).
The current mining department is constituted of a total of 295 total employees of which 261
are operators. This department is constituted by the Operations Planning (engineers, office
based personnel) and Operations (operators and equipment).
The operations team structure constitutes of two departments, Development (drill & blast
and special projects activities) and Production (load & haul and road construction), both
team under two Superintendents (total of 4) who are back to back on a 9/5 roster fly in and
out (FIFO). Within each department, there are three teams (Team 1, Team 2, Team 3) in a
2/1 (two weeks on and one week off) FIFO roster, refer to organizational structure in Figure
1.
The sizes of the teams are 52 operators in the Production teams and 35 operators for
Development, with two Coordinators and one Supervisor on each team.
Figure 1: Organization Structure Mining Department at HD

In regards to the recruitment process on site, it is managed ad-hoc by the Supervisors, who
know their team and their shortfalls. However, this has generated an inability to deliver
production targets and the usual reason from the Supervisory group is operator resigned
or operating being recruited.
The expected recruitment process requires that every permanent placement is made
through the company channels, therefore contractors are not to be considered unless they
form part of a special short term project. There are two main drawbacks when recruiting
permanent placement, firstly the limitation to remove them if the selection process has no
be rigours enough and a candidate does not have the skillset expected as per resume.
Secondly, the timeframe is currently 58 days on average (due to various internal HR
processes), leaving the team with no one to fulfil the job for three months (the 58 days does
not include the training they need to do on site). Therefore the turnover rates are perceived
worse by the Supervisors who has limited headcount to work with to manage their staff.
It has been highlighted that the process of recruiting needs attention and to be discussed
the following paper, however the perceived out of control turnover rate must be
explained to properly link the findings with the recruitment strategy.

3. Turnover
The current turnover rates at HD, are not out of the norm when comparing with the sister
sites within Rio Tinto iron ore in WA (in WA is a network of 15 mine sites, and it is encourage
to facilitate movement between sites. The continued expansion of iron ore and the mining
boom has led to culture of accepting the turnover rates as something that is outside of the
companys control.

Table 1: Market environment for Iron Ore in Australia

Year
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15

Enterprises
(Units)
6,801
7,235
7,448
7,388
7,791
8,074
7,817
7,009
6,540

Employment
(People)
117,000
127,800
135,100
143,200
159,400
194,200
191,100
186,900
179,800

Iron Ore spot

price (AU$/t)
81
93
121
164
187
155
118
98
85

However, the current economic climate has change this dramatically since 2014 with the
drop in iron ore price the lowest in eight years (IBISWorld report 2015), but interestingly the
turnover rates has only dropped from 15% to 12% over the last 18 months, therefore one
could assume that the market impact has only a 20% impact on the turnover rates (this
assessment is merely a gross estimate).
The 12% turnover achieved over the last 12 months may continue to reduce due to the
current market, however, currently this represents 32 operators every year, equating to
three new employees every month for the Production department alone.
The profile of the individuals who leaves site can be grouped in three main categories to
facilitate a targeted recruitment plan, refer to Table2 (source HD HR recruitment database).
Table2: Distribution of profile of workers that have been replaced
Profile of Last 12 months
replacements
Class 3 or above
3
Class 2
7
Class 1
2

Main Sub Groups

Percentage of
group

Qualified
Operators

12

34%

Indigenous

Non FIFO
ability

10

29%

Terminations
Resignations
Other

7
3
5

Other

13

37%

Interesting the highly qualified operators (Class 2 and above) have seen an important
reduction in movement over the last six months, therefore one can assume that they fall
under a category driven by market conditions. The indigenous fit mostly under the category
of Non FIFO ability, however non-indigenous operators do also fit this description, and
thirdly the Other with no particular segment to be grouped, includes the likes of
terminations, females leaving to become mothers, promotion and others.

4. Cause of turnover
There are various reasons of why a mine worker earning a salary over AU$ 100k and with a
high job security decides to leave a well-established company. The theory of progression of
withdrawal proposes four main causes that generate job dissatisfaction manifesting in a job
withdraw of some sort at the end, they are Personal disposition, Task and roles, Supervisors
and co-workers and Pay & Benefits (N. Hollenbeck, G. Wright, 2013). For the purpose of this
analysis, the practical application of the theory has been translated into four main tangible
reasons that lead to job withdraw as in lack of engagement, other job opportunities,
personal reasons and termination due to unacceptable behaviour.
It is clear that the personal dissatisfaction would come first, however, in terms of practical
application; this theory has been the base in the definition of these four groups to enable a
practical proposal to the inherent problem of turnover.

4.1 Lack of engagement

The lack of engagement at HD has been identified to source from four main common items,
the monotonous aspect of the job, the lack of Supervisor contact, the peer pressure and the
lack of training. These will be briefly discussed in the following paragraphs.
4.1.1 Monotonous:
Working in a mining environment can be really exciting, however after a while, it all
becomes monotonous. The enthusiasm an operator had when he or she started may get
impacted if they do not find a way to manage the monotonousness of the role. The
company has aimed at a mechanistic job design approach (N. Hollenbeck, G. Wright, 2013),

meaning a job design to be as simple as possible to reduce the need for high ability
individuals.
4.1.2 Meaningfulness:
As mentioned earlier, in a team of 50 people, the face to face interaction with the
Supervisor is limited to mainly in the morning pre-start meeting, the occasionally discussion
in the field or the informal lunch break, therefore leaving not much chance to address
concerns and the operators get a sense of left out alone out in the field. Therefore the
motivational approach of the various roles may develop a sense of low meaningfulness for
those operators left out alone to work without any sense of feedback. As the research
suggests, to achieve a sense of meaningfulness in the work place is an important tool to
manage work related stress (N. Hollenbeck, G. Wright, 2013).
4.1.3 Peer pressure:
As in any group, the peer pressure is always present. The social pressure arises mainly due
to the diverse personalities, skill set of the individuals and the different interpretation of the
Supervisor expectation. For someone who does not have the social skills to fit into the team,
the team may push them out, by exposing them or letting them fail. It is obvious to mention
the potential hazards and risk this possesses in a mining environment, therefore the
importance of understanding the teams beliefs beyond the policies and addressing them
correctly.
4.1.4 Training:
Lack of training or promotion, this is a common request when discussing job satisfaction
amongst the operators. Getting certified is a desirable feature to have on the resume and a
personal insurance policy for job security. This sense of not going anywhere with the
training amongst certain operators is a strong cause of job dissatisfaction.

4.2 Other job opportunities

Over the last six to seven years, the mining environment in WA, has had a major boost, and
the demand for workforce has been lagging at all levels, leaving a very comfortable
environment for an employee when it comes to options to choose from.

Year

Enterprises (Units) Turnover at HD

2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
2013-14
2014-15

6,801
7,235
7,448
7,388
7,791
8,074
7,817
7,009
6,540

No data
No data
12%
23%
18%
18%
15%
13%
12%

It was believed earlier this year, that the turnover was going to be reduce by this economic
downturn, and it has, however, it is now clear that it only affects 20% of the total turnover
population.
These operators are known for moving from one job to another and clearly showing that
they have the skill set, however, they exploit the system fairly well in a sense as try to do the
minimum and see how much they can get away with it. And once they start to feel that the
heat is on them, they search for another place to go to.
4.3 Personal reasons
This affects both experience and non-experience workers, but within HD, this group is a
minority and when they do leave, they have a very different approach, giving plenty of
notice and demonstrate good character.

4.4 Terminations
This is about the operators who are terminated due to breach of policies in relation of drug
and alcohol, aggressive behaviour or had major safety breaches.
An analysis of data from the WA Health and Wellbeing Surveillance System found that
compared to shift workers who are not FIFO, and workers in other types of work
arrangements, FIFO workers drink at risky levels, with significantly more consumed on a
drinking day and a significantly greater number of drinking days in total.
For the purpose of this review, we will categorised them into the Non-FIFO ability, and
define this group as employees who cannot perform a job working away for such a long time

therefore generating a dissatisfaction that growths as time goes by that leads to a policy
breach.

5. Recruitment strategy
Having reviewed the burning platform regarding of the current workforce at HD, the
following recruitment initiatives are part of a recruiting strategy to address part of the HR
issues at HD, they encompass the following, remove the add-hoc recruitment for a
systematic approach, define a joint plan between Development and Production, define
positions for recruitment only and formalize the interview process. The major aim of the
recruitment strategy is to generate synergies and combine forces between departments to
have a common approach when it comes to recruitment, and therefore reduce the
perception amongst crew members, that it is impossible to get a job at the mine site unless
you are close friend with the Supervisor (general consensus of crew members at HD).
5.1 Systematic recruitment
The removal of the add-hoc recruitment process for a systematic approach, will ensure that
it complies with the site policy and meet the diversity targets for indigenous and females on
site. It also makes the process homogenous and ensures all candidates have equal
opportunity to get hired. As some teams may experience higher turnover, it is easier to
manage a pool of candidates instead of the occasional operator. Process to be presented to
crew members.
5.2 Joint mining department
The recruitment strategy should be a combination of both production departments
(Development and Production) as the total number of operators required are higher and
greater synergies are to be gain, the opportunity for higher number or roles available makes
it more attractive for potential candidates. This strategy should be sponsored by the Mine
Manager to ensure the quotas and total numbers are aligned with longer term plans.
5.3 Recruitment positions
The creation of additional positions in the organizational structure allows the internal
process for recruitment to be initiated, and the current 58 day gap can be therefore
minimized with candidates already on site. This is highly sensitive at Manager level,
therefore it is imperative to gain the Managers support before proceeding.

5.4 Behavioural base interview

The current interview process is borderline illegal and inefficient, hence it is proposed to
change the current practice from the traditional interview process to a Competency-Based
Behavioural Interview system (V. Hoevemeyer, 2006), this considers training the current
Supervisors in the theory of why it is valuable and how to perform it.

6. Selection strategy
The strategy for the selection process is proposed to encompass the following main items;
all candidates should undergo a selection centre, the selection criteria to be common,
implementation of the concurrent validation process and hire the new employees as
contractor initially.
These proposals are the results of an analysis of the turnover and the aim at reducing the
incorporation of experience operators who would stay with the company for more than two
years and to create more realistic expectations of the job, therefore reducing the
disappointing later down the track. The aim is to find candidates who can fit with the
current expected culture making it easier for them to enjoy what they do.
6.1 Selection centres
The initiative to have all candidates participate in a selection centre provides an
environment with a common approach to the selection criteria and therefore equal
opportunity. This removes the pressure to the Supervisor from the crew to hire someones
friend or relative, as they are encourage attending a selection centre and therefore allowing
the candidates to offer themselves at a similar plane field as any other candidate, and if
unsuccessful, the crew members cannot blame the Supervisor.
Also, it is imperative to review the internal expectation regarding hiring friends and relatives
of current crew members.
It is important these sessions are run by a Superintendent, as there should be a single strong
message of what the company is searching for, why, and how the selection will be
performed, transparency in the process is key (V. Hoevemeyer, 2006).

6.2 Selection criteria

The selection criteria should be common, and it is proposed to implement two approaches
for when selecting personnel, one for experience operators and one for non-experience
operators. This strategy facilitates that the skill set, diversity and other attributes are being
aimed at from a mining department as a whole. The main approach for HD is recommended
to be suitability and malleability (A. Price, 2007), however this may be controversial
amongst Supervisors and Superintendents. It is still imperative to aim at candidates who are

happy to stay in one place and not migrate at the first sign of problem (N. Hollenbeck, G.
Wright, 2013).
6.3 Concurrent validation process
Establish a concurrent validation process with successful candidates to set a solid source of
information and validate the selection process (N. Hollenbeck, G. Wright, 2013). It is
important to define a set of questions and parameters that a current successful candidate
would stand out with; this is aimed to consolidate the interview and selection process to the
current culture at HD.
6.4 Hiring as contractors
Hiring new employees through a contracting company for the first three months before
converting them over to full time employee gains a powerful insight of the candidates
personality and skill set. During the first three month as a contractor, a constant review of
the new employee should be performed by the Supervisor to understand if the candidate is
a fit.
This should be mentioned at each selection centre and a reasonable explanation should be
presented to the candidates highlighting the cost of having the wrong candidates, but also
to understand if the candidate is a suitable FIFO person. One study in the Pilbara region of
WA found that many couples take around 6 months to work out if the FIFO lifestyle is
suitable for them and their families.
The cost associated with hiring through a service provider has been reviewed, and it is
feasible to negotiate with the service provider and reduce the early exit fees if we ensure
the usage of the particular provider. The rates differences are only important when it comes
to Level 3 operators. However the costs are easily offset, due the timeframe it takes to get a
candidate on site from a service provider (31 days) in comparison through the normal
company channel.

7. Conclusion
The current analysis, gives an insight into the culture and inherent problems within HR on a
mine site as HD, the aim to give the reader some key information regarding the human
aspects in a mining environment may have been ambitious in such a short assay. However it
is key to highlight that a turnover rate of 13% or 10% is only a problem if the recruitment is
not aligned with those statistics. If the recruitment plan has an inherent design flaw and can
only manage 5%, it will snowball and become a more serious problem than what it is.
It is clear that with a solid recruitment strategy, as in a plan aligned to manage the 13% of
turnover rate, the problem should be minimized in the long term, and it is expected to see a
reduction in turnover not just due to an economic change, but due to a better selection of
candidates.
As per the recruitment strategy, it is proposed to formalize it, combine it between
departments and use the contracting avenue in the short term.
The key to successful implementation will be the responsibility of the Superintendents
under the guide of the Manager.

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics, Population distribution based on census 2011 data,

http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2011/quickstat.
Hoevemeyer, V, 2006, High-impact interview questions, AMACOM, New York.
Hollenbec, N, Wright, G, 2013, Human Resource Management, Mc Graw Hill Education, New
York.
n.a, 2015, Mining in Australia, IBISWorld Industry Report B, IBISWORLD publications, New
South Wales.
n.a, 2015, World price of iron ore, IBISWorld Business Environment Profiles, IBISWORLD
publications, New South Wales.
NA., 2014, Fly-in fly-out workforce practices in Australia: The effects on children and family
relationships, CFCA Paper No. 19, https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/fly-fly-outworkforce-practices-australia-effects/influence-contextual-factors
Prince, A, 2007, Human Resource Management in a Business Context, Thomson, London.