Our people are the most important asset of our business. To sustain and expand our operations, our focus is on a safe, healthy, and engaged workforce.

As the employer of choice, Rössing Uranium provides long-term, rewarding employment by investing in its people throughout their careers. We believe that through employment creation, we are making significant contributions to society and the Namibian economy and contribute positively to our partnerships with local communities and other stakeholders.

We recognise the importance of attracting, developing, and retaining people with diverse backgrounds in our business and realise the benefits of developing the skills of others. It is the mandate of the human resources department to see that this commitment is demonstrated and aligned with Rössing’s needs and objectives.

Employee relations

The main focus for 2023 was harmony and stability among the workforce after the lifeof-mine extension (“LoME”) decision was communicated in February 2023. This was successfully achieved with the help of the monthly communication structures which serve as the vehicle for timely raising and resolution of issues. The relationship between the Mineworkers Union of Namibia Rössing Branch and the company remained stable, with an external dispute related to negotiating the voluntary separation package on offer raised for the year. There were no strikes and demonstrations recorded for the year. A threeyear (2024–2026) wage agreement was successfully finalised on 18 January 2024. All the required legal appointments were concluded successfully to ensure compliance with relevant legislations.

Workforce at a glance

As at 31 December 2023, Rössing Uranium had a workforce totalling 871. This comprised 775 permanent employees and 96 employees with fixed-term employment contracts.

Rössing’s recruitment strategy is primarily aligned to its overall business strategy while providing equal employment opportunities for the job applicants. A key measure in the process is its compliance with the Namibia Affirmative Action Act (Act 29 of 1998) in ensuring equal employment opportunities for applicants and that they are equitably represented in the workforce. The company has made significant progress in achieving the country’s Affirmative Action objectives. The reduction in workforce of the historically disadvantaged Namibian men is attributed to the voluntary separation packages offered to the employees as part of the LoME strategy.

Statistical information on our workforce profile, 2023

• Namibians with permanent employment and fixed-term employment contracts: 98.74% (860)
• Non-Namibians, including Fixed Term Contract: 1.26% (11)
• Female representation, including FTC and excluding non-Namibians: 19.74% (172)
• Number of employees, including FTC who left the mine’s employment: 138
• Number of new employees, including FTC recruited: 104
  

The ratio of men and women employed in the company was 80:20. Measures have been put in place through talent management to increase the employment of women through focus groups, succession planning, targeted recruitment strategies, job attachments and graduate development programmes. A key enabler is the designated platforms and workplace committees in place that, from time to time, engage in addressing key environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) HR issues with a strong focus on a culture incorporating inclusion and diversity, pay and equality.

Leadership, ethics and governance

A new norm has been created in the training and development space as an aftermath of the pandemic. It focuses on a blended training approach to deal with the unforeseen changes in the business. Rössing changed its training and development landscape by redesigning its training strategy to ensure it has an agile workforce, keeping employees’ skills current, and focusing on re-skilling and upskilling.

The company’s voluntary turnover rate of junior and senior managers was 12.3% (9 out of 73 band I, H, G and F). Those recruited into the leadership team together with the existing leaders have all gone through leadership life coaching programmes with experienced consultants, focusing on enabling them to meet set performance targets in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

In maintaining good governance and ethical leadership, Rössing leadership competencies are in place: developing self, living our values, being a trusted partner, continuous improvement and managing people. Periodic reviews on the company leadership competencies and its core values are conducted on all leaders: safety, responsibility, innovation and co-ordination.

The company’s whistleblower facility is publicised on various platforms throughout the organisation to all employees, as a means to facilitate reporting of possible illegal, unethical, or improper conduct of fellow employees, contractors, and leaders. The medium has proven effective and practical.

A total of 74 employees recruited during the year also attended a four-day offsite business integration workshop, primarily for alignment into CNUC’s mandate on Rössing and its purpose statement. This aims to build an engaged workforce of high integrity and an ethical culture connected to the Rössing core values. All these new employees completed an induction programme immediately upon joining the company and were introduced to the company’s independent and outsourced Deloitte Tip-off Anonymous whistleblowing facility, which can be accessed by phone or email, where any unethical or fraudulent act observed in the workplace can be reported by any of the employees of the company.

The company has an electronic Learning Management System (“LMS”) in place for consistency in transfer of learning. All employees have access to the LMS for completion of periodic mandatory compliance training.

Training and Development

Rössing remains committed to the training and development of all employees within the various job categories. Fourteen (14) employees initially recruited as operators were offered an opportunity to be developed into their trade qualifications. A three-year Work Integrated Learning (“WIL”) programme was developed and offered to these employees so they could undergo the trainee-artisans development programme. All 14 have successfully completed the second year of the programme. The aim of the tailor-made Rössing programme is to provide practical work experience to employees who are not working in the artisan field and to enhance competencies to enable them to become skilled artisans.

Rössing provided opportunities to six interns in the field of water management and metallurgy to gain exposure to various forms of on-the-job training.

To ensure safe operations, 705 employees attended various safety and equipment compliance training sessions.

Rössing embarked on a leadership coaching programme for frontline managers and leaders. Forty-five (45) frontline leaders and 11 superintendents and managers went through formal individual coaching by professional life coaches. The aim of the programme was to build capacity to lead more effectively, explore undiscovered leadership qualities, improve self-awareness, and refresh leadership competencies to improve team and company performances.

eLearning has been implemented company-wide with 21 well-organised and structured interactive online courses activated on RUL LMS during the period under review. The eLearning strategy was implemented to improve efficiencies, reduce training time and costs, and to increase productivity. A total of 2,509 online sessions on multiple modules were completed.

For the purpose of succession and career progression into leadership positions, a Leading Hand position was introduced for internal development. 14 of the 17 people appointed from lower levels have successfully completed the development programme and are due for assessment to be confirmed into their substantive positions. The remaining three have just commenced with the development programme during the period under review.

Graduate development programme

Our graduate programme is a valuable bridge between university and working life and it aims to develop technical competencies over a period of 24 months. For the year under review, one graduate was recruited for a two-year graduate development programme.

Educational support

Part of the training and development strategy is to create opportunities for employees to invest in personal development through our correspondence study scheme. Thirty-one (31) permanent employees were awarded an interest-free study loan to pursue their studies and obtain formal qualifications from tertiary institutions, of which six were on post-graduate qualification level. Rössing further provided non-refundable financial contributions towards the tuition fees of 33 children of permanent employees and children of pensioners who studied at various universities and vocational training institutions. One of the full-time employees was also assisted with a non-refundable grant as part of the individual development plan with the company.

Vocational Education and Training Levy

Rössing has been participating in the Vocational Education and Training Levy submission since inception and has contributed N$8,483,662.37 to the 2023 Training Levy cycle. Nineteen job attachments from Namibia Institute of Mining and Technology (“NIMT”) vocational training centre were provided an opportunity to work alongside skilled artisans to gain valuable practical technical skills and knowledge.

The cost of external training interventions for 2023 amounted to N$6 million.

The overall training and development cost amounted to N$28 million.