The brilliance of our business, like our product, is reliant on many unique facets working together. By valuing diversity of thought, skills and experience we know will create a stronger and more brilliant business. Reinforced by Our Values, our Code of Conduct and Building Forever, our equity, diversity and inclusion approach at De Beers Group is therefore simple:
Imagine a workplace where people are excited to use their skills and talents for excellence. Where ideas matter and flourish, people are passionate to contribute and are valued. People are respected and know and feel they belong. Where failure is part of learning and being vulnerable is strength.
Our purpose is to create a space to bridge all gaps for every individual to feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their best work.
Within De Beers, we aim to cultivate inclusivity. By leveraging diverse perspectives, driving innovation and enhancing decision-making.
With De Beers as our canvas, we’re painting a future where every person is seen, appreciated and included and their beauty and diversity is celebrated.
This is important to us because we are part of the many. Every story shapes us, and together we will unlock the full potential of everyone. We will continue to build a culture and a lasting legacy where people are valued, respected, and championed.
Join us in making De Beers a resilient organisation, a beacon of inclusion and making life brilliant for all.
Our Belief
Equity, diversity and inclusion matters to De Beers Group. It reflects our company values, it is a key element of our Code of Conduct, and it underpins our ambitious business objectives. Ultimately, it powers our growth and drives innovation.
We work hard to create a safe, innovative and inclusive environment where:
- Everyone is encouraged to bring diversity of thought, skills and experience to work each day
- Everyone feels respected, valued and recognised for what they contribute to the organisation
- Everyone feels safe to speak up and able to achieve their full potential
Building an Inclusive and Diverse Workforce
Equity, diversity and inclusion matters to De Beers Group. Cultural transformation in southern Africa, as well as ensuring indigenous representation in Canada has been ongoing.
We’ve set ourselves the goal to achieve equal opportunity, including gender parity, for employees across our workforce by 2030. To achieve this we have a passionate steering group, with the support of executive champions, colleague networks and advocates across the globe focussing on three key areas:
- Everyone is encouraged to bring diversity of thought, skills and experience to work each day
- Everyone feels respected, valued and recognised for what they contribute to the organisation
- Everyone feels safe to speak up and able to achieve their full potential
1. Leadership and Culture
We are building a more inclusive culture by encouraging and supporting diversity of thought and experience, such as through group-wide unconscious bias training and an executive led reciprocal mentoring programme.
Case Study: Reciprocal Mentoring
Our Reciprocal Mentoring programme was set up in 2018. Initially, it offered the opportunity for women in the business to be mentored by an executive committee member who, in turn, benefited from hearing the different perspectives and learning about the experiences of those with whom they were paired.
Since it was established, the programme has developed to include more members of senior leadership as mentors, and to focus on addressing various aspects of diversity including gender, generational leadership and cultural differences. One participant is Vedantha Kundalram, a Systems Specialist based in South Africa. She was partnered with Domingos Valbom, General Manager of Debmarine South Africa. Both of them have spoken about how valuable and meaningful the experience has been for them.
Vedantha said: “As a result of the programme, I have learned to be more confident and sure of my skills. Having observed Domingos with his team, I am constantly evaluating myself in terms of how I engage and collaborate with my own colleagues, and I am looking for opportunities to emulate his leadership traits.”
Domingos added his thoughts, saying: “Vedantha sees things differently from my views and has brought a new perspective, which is important to enrich your considerations. It has been an excellent programme to be part of.”
2. Talent Attraction, Retention And Development
We are constantly growing our diverse talent by offering transparent and dynamic development opportunities, including through the development of inclusive recruitment processes and the launch of a joint Anglo American and De Beers Group project team to increase movement across the Group.
Case Study: Leadership Courses
Employees from across De Beers Group participate in a range of training and leadership programmes. These include some run by the Anglo American group, such as:
The Achiever Programme, which helps young and aspiring leaders build their personal and communication skills and business acumen.
The Accelerators Programme, which provides middle managers with tools and training to put them in control of their own development and career.
Connect, a four-day intensive course that takes high-potential employees through the Anglo American business strategy and develops leadership capabilities.
Future Shapers, an immersive course where leaders gain insights that will help them, and the business, prepare for a future shaped by new strategic challenges.
Our brand new De Beers Leadership Programme empowers our high potential senior leaders to develop and lead in line with our new leadership framework which focuses on the 'how’ and ‘what’ aspects of performance while mirroring our De Beers values and is underpinned by inclusive leadership skills and behaviours.
The Achiever and Accelerators courses are both delivered in partnership with the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science.
‘Leader as coach’ training has also been rolled out to increase leadership capability across De Beers Group and address areas identified for improvement, including better communication, greater trust in leadership and a stronger connection between employees and their line managers. Covering the fundamentals of coaching in areas such as performance, development and reward, the programme is supported by an online platform.
3. Working Practices And Measures
We continue to offer safe and flexible working environments, underpinned by Group-wide policies around equity, diversity and inclusion, which support our zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination, bullying, harassment and victimisation. We track our equity, diversity and inclusion progress using quantitative measures and pulse surveys.
Case Study: Creating A Safe Workplace And Supporting Work-Life Balance
We have introduced a new Flexible Working Policy to help us better meet the needs of people with commitments outside work, such as working parents or those with carer responsibilities. For office workers, this means the ability to work from home. For miners and those working in secure diamond-sorting environments, it means flexible shift patterns that can fit around family and personal life. Our ‘You Care’ colleague network was established to work closely with the organisation Working Families to promote a workplace environment which recognises the needs of, and supports, colleagues with caring responsibilities whilst ensuring career development opportunities remain to enable them to reach their full potential.
We do not tolerate any kind of behaviour that encourages, or results in, discrimination or prejudice against other people. We have carried out focus groups and an extensive study to understand the prevalence of harassment and bullying across our company, and to help drive our strategies to eliminate it. We have implemented training courses for colleagues at middle management level and above, and, in response to findings that highlighted the importance of anonymous reporting in empowering people to speak up, a new ‘YourVoice’ whistleblowing service was introduced in 2019, using the latest technology to protect anonymity, confidentiality and personal information.
Standing with women and girls
Having achieved our commitment to reach parity within the appointment rate of women into senior leadership roles by 2020, we’ve extended our goal to reach gender parity across our workforce by 2030. We are also extending our programmes to support women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, to engage girls in STEM, and to be a positive force for gender equality through our marketing campaigns.
Balancing generational diversity
To continue being a leader in our industry we need to attract and retain the very best talent with diverse perspectives, innovative ideas and fresh thinking. Through our colleague networks, De Beers Rascals and YouTHink, we are supporting our colleagues across the five generations that are working for us.
Supporting disability and wellbeing
At De Beers Group, we want everyone to excel because we know that only then will our business flourish. So we look for ways to enable people to perform to the best of their abilities. Through our corporate programmes and policies focusing on mental health and our Enabling You colleague network, we are creating a more supportive and inclusive environment for everyone.
Race, culture and ethnicity
At De Beers Group, we know that the diamonds we recover are intrinsically linked to the communities where they are found. It is therefore only right that our workforce is predominately comprised of the people from the countries where our diamonds are recovered. Through our Your Origins Colleague Networks we continuously conduct conversations around race, religions, ethnicity and culture to create a safe and open working environment for all.
Coming out for LGBT+
At De Beers Group, we want everyone to feel safe and encouraged to bring their full selves to work regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Our global policies and Code of Conduct underline this commitment, and these are supported through our Real You Colleague Network who support our LGBT+ colleagues and their allies and help shape an LGBT+ inclusive workplace worldwide.