Bullies push back against Rio Tinto diversity drive

Retaliation in response to Rio Tinto’s efforts to promote gender diversity and inclusion has been identified as a likely factor in an increase in reported bullying of women across the organisation. A progress review on the company's efforts to improve workplace culture showed 39 per cent of survey respondents had experienced bullying in the last 12 months, with women more likely to have experienced bullying than men (50 per cent compared to 36 per cent of men). Generally, while reports of bullying increased across all genders, the largest increase between 2021 and 2024 was against women, the report showed. Two years into a long-term cultural change program, Rio Tinto said the review found that progress was being made with promising signs of improved culture, innovation, and performance. However, it revealed mixed results, with concerning behaviours persisting in some areas and requiring sustained attention to address effectively, the company said. “People are still experiencing behaviours and attitudes in our company that are unacceptable and harmful," Rio Tinto chief executive Jakob Stausholm said. "I am greatly troubled by this and sincerely apologise on behalf of our leadership team to anyone affected." However, he said he was proud and greatly encouraged by the genuine effort across Rio Tinto to change and by the fact that the progress review showed the majority of the workforce believed the organisation was heading in the right direction. "The review also shows that while progress is being made, achieving the sustained change we want to see in our culture will require ongoing focus and effort. My message today is that we will stay the course.” The progress review was conducted by former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, who also undertook the Everyday Respect review of workplace culture that Rio Tinto publicly released in 2022. It found that Rio Tinto's response to the Everyday Respect Report was gaining momentum throughout the company and had established a solid foundation for building a more diverse workforce and inclusive culture. Findings of the Progress Review include: The 26 recommendations outlined in the 2022 Everyday Respect Report have been largely implemented, with longer-term actions, such as continued investment in facilities, ongoing. Around half of survey respondents reported a perceived improvement in relation to bullying (50 per cent), sexual harassment (47 per cent) and racism (46 per cent), compared to 8 per cent who thought bullying had become worse, 2 per cent who thought sexual harassment had become worse and 4 per cent who thought racism was worse. A majority of respondents expressed confidence the company would make a meaningful difference in these areas in coming years. People are more empowered to speak up and Everyday Respect is now widely considered a normal conversation within the company, which is a critical step for culture change. The survey data in this Progress Review is a lagging indicator, suggesting that the full benefit of the changes made in this time are yet to be fully experienced by the Rio Tinto workforce. The study showed that people continued to experience harmful behaviours in Rio Tinto’s workplaces over the past year, including: Eight people reported experiencing actual or attempted sexual assault or rape, compared to five people in 2021. Thirty-two people reported experiencing pressure or requests for sex or sexual acts, compared to 37 people in 2021. The majority of people in both cases were women. 7 per cent of respondents reported experiencing sexual harassment (the same as in 2021). 39 per cent of respondents reported experiencing bullying (compared to 31 per cent in 2021) 7 per cent of respondents reported experiencing racism (the same number as in 2021, when comparing racism behaviours to those included in the 2021 survey). The report said a range of factors should be considered when interpreting the finding that bullying at Rio Tinto had increased since 2021. One hypothesis was that the increased reports of bullying may be due to increased education and awareness efforts by the organisation helping people recognise bullying when it occurs and feeling safer to share their experience than in 2021. However it noted that the figures indicated that women had experienced the most significant increase in bullying and also were more likely to have experienced a higher volume of bullying. Thirty per cent recorded three to five recent experiences of bullying and 11 per cent recorded six to 10 experiences in 2024. Meanwhile men reporting bullying were more likely to have experienced a one-off incident. 'This aligns to insights from the qualitative data that shows that women are experiencing increasing retaliation in the form of gendered bullying due to Rio Tinto’s efforts to promote gender diversity and inclusion,' the report concluded. Women operators were particularly more likely to have experienced bullying. More than 11,600 individual contributions of experiences, views and insights were made to the progress review process. View the full report HERE

Bullies push back against Rio Tinto diversity drive

Industry Queensland

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