Employees are at the heart of our Company and we place their safety and health above all else in everything we do.

UNSDG3

Good Health and Well-Being:

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Health, Safety and Wellbeing remain a core focus of our business.

• Our first value is Safety and Health of All which promotes safety and health as a priority in the way we operate;
• Sylvania strives to create a culture of ZERO HARM and improved safety and health performances;
• SHE Policy is in place which highlights our SHE commitment;
• Safety strategy to prevent and reduce injuries to employees and contractors;
• Sylvania complies and is aligned with host mine safety and health measures;
• COVID-19 policy and mitigation protocols in place to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on employees, families and communities;
• Conduct health medical screening for workplace illnesses; and
• Employees belong to medical aid schemes which include family members to provide financial protection.

The Company has had no environmental incidents in the last five years and the Doornbosch operation has achieved the significant industry milestone of nine years lost-time injury (LTI) free during June 2021. Mooinooi, Lannex and Lesedi all achieved one-year LTI-free milestones during the year. The Company’s LTI Frequency Rate (LTIFR) is 0.25 per 200,000 man-hours worked. Safety is an important element of the annual bonus scheme and the plants’ quarterly incentive schemes.

Whilst COVID-19 has been a significant focus of our regular health and safety reporting during the past year, it is a credit to management that, during this period, and since the commissioning of our first plant some 13 years ago, there were no other significant health or environmental incidents reported. Further, management’s focus on the identification and minimisation of pandemic-associated risk has been relentless, particularly given the unique challenges presented in mine working areas.

Sylvania has adopted a structured approach towards managing the COVID-19 risk posed. Sylvania believes that vaccines are key in the fight against the pandemic, together with other control protocols. We acknowledge that vaccines are a personal choice and we encourage employees to be vaccinated. Sylvania supports the vaccination of its employees against COVID-19 with the intent to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and its spread. Currently we are tracking and monitoring COVID-19 cases and the vaccinations of our employees. We have drafted a COVID-19 vaccination policy and continuously create awareness, provide updates and share information relating to COVID-19 and vaccinations. Sylvania has identified opportunities to collaborate with various role players and stakeholders regarding the vaccination of our employees.

UNSDG5

Gender Equality:

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

Since 2020, the Group’s employee complement has grown by 10% to 628, with the majority of our employees recruited from our local host towns and settlements.

Our commitment to local community employment and engagement also adheres to South African Mining Charter requirements, and aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No 1 (UN SDG No 1), in the fight against poverty, particularly in rural environments.

In aiming for a well-balanced and inclusive employee profile, we have established an employee equity forum which is represented by members from all levels of the organisation. This forum is well supported by employees and the union, and meets quarterly to discuss concerns around equity, skills development and other associated matters which arise and to plot improvements that may be required.

To boost our diversity profile, we have created structures and procedures to seek to remove barriers to this goal, both in terms of gender and ethnicity. In terms of our employment equity targets we strive to significantly increase our female workforce and Historically Disadvantaged Persons (HDP) appointments at a senior level. Currently women represent 19% of the workforce.

We plan to fast track women representation within the Company by introducing a number of interventions, namely the appointment of females within our Community Inhouse Programme. This programme is specifically earmarked to train individuals for the workplace. At least 30% of the programme intake is allocated for females. These delegates are viewed to be our talent pool for recruitment at Core & Critical Skills. We are further committed to earmark roles for females aligned with our Equity targets.

Table 1: Workforce profile

UNSDG8

Decent work and economic growth:

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Our strategy in terms of human capital is driven by the company’s business imperatives. Labour relations are a critical element of our human capital discipline: our employment policies, procedures and practices are guided by South African labour relations legislation, which is highly evolved, and on a par with that of developed nations. Freedom of association is implicit in our labour relations discipline and employees have rights to organise as per their legislatively protected rights in this regard.

The organisation’s human and intellectual capital function is guided by our business strategy. Our employment policies, procedures and practices take into account and comply with the relevant labour legislation of South Africa. South Africa is a member country of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the country’s labour legislation, particularly for an emerging economy, is evolved and our recruitment initiatives focus on local communities in areas surrounding our operations.

The Group has contributed to the South African economy in several ways.