Leinster offers a variety of lifestyle and employment choices. Employees and contractors at the Leinster operation can choose to either live in the residential community with their families or fly in and out of Leinster from Perth. There are opportunities for employees to work in underground, open-cut and surface operations.

Maintaining our skilled workforce ensures good safety practices, plant reliability and production. However, there is a current shortage of skilled extractive industry labour and this shortage has presented new challenges in retaining skilled workers.

Over two-thirds of the workforce at Leinster are contractors and in the current robust climate, they are constantly being offered new opportunities. This has resulted in a current turnover at Leinster of 25% for 2004.

Improving retention is a key challenge and priority for the management team. In 2004 significant benchmarking activities were undertaken to assess Leinster's competitiveness against other operations within the industry sector. As a result, adjustments have been made, and improved benefits are now being offered for key roles.

Focus groups have also been utilised this year to gauge satisfaction and collect feedback to assist in making improvements. Across WMC, significant changes to roster arrangements are currently being considered, which will assist in addressing some of the family and lifestyle issues that have been raised.

Employee Development Programs

Providing opportunities to assist our people improve their skills and develop their careers is essential to retention. This year, 23 people from Leinster Nickel Operation travelled interstate to participate in the WMC-wide leadership program ‘Success Through People’. Another 22 key decision-making people have participated in a condensed regional version of the program.

The major focus for this year has been safety and compliance training. This has been conducted at all levels. There has also been a campaign to increase the multi-skilling of teams, such as the Metallurgy Department, where team members gained the skills to move between concentrating and filtrations.

Leinster Nickel Operation supports several programs designed to assist professional and trade people enter the mining and resources sector. There are currently 11 graduates on the Leinster Nickel Operation graduate program and a new apprenticeship program was initiated this year, with the commencement of four apprentices. A further four places will be offered in 2005.

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