Sustainability: People

Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity are important principles to us. Mining has been an historically male-dominated industry. We’re dedicated to finding, recruiting and retaining more women and helping them make inroads across all levels of our business. 

Our focus is on increasing representation of and opportunities for women, by identifying and mitigating barriers to their success. Gender equality and the empowerment of women are crucial issues everywhere and particularly in Mexico. Our commitment to gender equality includes equal pay for equal work. Our men and women receive the same remuneration for the same position at all of our operations, subject to their training, experience and performance. Men and women are entitled to the benefits by law for parental leave.

Every new employee and contractor participates in a three-day induction program. They are educated on Endeavour’s vision, mission, values, and policies, including our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics; our focus on safety in the workplace; union relationships and representation; and social and environmental responsibility. Similar training is provided to consultants or visitors at sites.

Employees and contractors receive ongoing training to do their jobs effectively and safely, and we provide additional opportunities for professional development, including external training..

Our company-wide training program is based on three strategic themes:

• People: Foster the development of non-technical, ‘soft skills’ such as team building and leadership skills.
• Production: Focus on building technical capacities and mastering operational processes.
• Safety: Instill high standards and continuous improvement of our safety culture based on incident and accident prevention, the ability to respond to emergencies and compliance with Mexican safety laws.

We have an HR Superintendent at each site who oversees training, with a long-term goal of increasing overall skill sets, certification levels and lifelong employability.

As part of the annual performance evaluation process, employees and their direct supervisors work together to review performance results, which affects employee compensation and sets personal objectives for the year ahead. Top management oversees the process to ensure that our objectives are “SMART” (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) and people take ownership of their goals and performance. Bonuses for managers are paid based on three aspects: corporate objectives, site objectives and personal objectives.

Fostering good relations and work conditions 
Endeavour honours national and international labour standards that protect and guarantee basic rights for all. We strive to provide good working conditions, including safe, quality facilities. Currently, we have collective bargaining contracts with one union representing the miners at Guanaceví and Bolañitos, and the development project in Terronera. We respect our employees’ right to freedom of association and collective bargaining and have negotiated contract renewals with their union through effective collaboration.

We believe that rewarding people through a well-designed compensation and benefits program enhances our ability to attract, retain and motivate talented and loyal employees. This is especially relevant in Mexico, a country that has a large, active mining sector, thereby making the labour market for qualified workers very competitive.

We exceed legal minimum wage at all our work sites in Mexico. One of our mines is within or near communities, so workers are able to return to their homes following their shifts. Our mine in Guanaceví is in a remote location, workers live in an on-site camp, which includes living accommodations, dining facilities and cleaning services. In Terronera there is a mix of site accommodation and people to go back and forth to the city of Puerto Vallarta, which is the closest big city.