2. Executive Summary

Demographic and pandemic recovery trends will increase the need for leaders to understand how to motivate and engage human capital and the talent pipeline. In preparation for the release of The Mining Industry Belonging-First Study, this white paper provides terminology, context, and key indicators to support industry growth in the interim. Executive leaders face both significant opportunities by implementing strategies to enhance human capital, as well as daunting risks in terms of retaining diverse talent and stakeholders. So, how should executive leaders in the mining industry prepare to build the next generation of workers and leadership?

Key Points

• To shift from high-level generalized terminology, behavioral neuroscience reveals key components that fundamentally change the way people think about human capital, the importance of belonging, and the impacts on wellbeing.
• Creating a Belonging-First culture is instrumental for attracting, retaining, and developing quality diverse talent.
• Structural racism and oppression are driving corporate social justice into new areas of awareness. As social issues become more prevalent, leaders must account for diversity blindness due to the cost associated with unfairness and inequality.
• Interrupting patterns of inequity will require critical understanding, key indicators, and insight into whose voice is being heard and driving decisions.
• Corporate impact will be driven by positive collective intentionality, shared mission, vision and goals, and improved wellbeing for betterment.
• Employee impact, performance, engagement, and retention will be directly connected with intersections of identity, career advancement, and belonging metrics.
• There are five key indicators that create baseline belonging metrics. Indicators are: comfort, connection, contribution, psychological safety, and wellbeing.