Inclusion and diversity
Inclusion and diversity promotes safety, productivity and the wellbeing of our workforce.
We’re committed to providing a safe, inclusive and diverse workplace. It’s a commitment that’s embedded in Our Charter and is critical to our success.
Our inclusion and diversity story
We’re committed to providing a safe, inclusive and diverse workplace. It’s a commitment that’s embedded in Our Charter and is critical to our success. In 2016, we set an aspirational goal to achieve a gender balanced global employee workforce by the end of CY2025. We define gender balance as a minimum 40 per cent women and 40 per cent men, in line with the definitions used by entities such as the International Labour Organization. At the time, the mining industry had 16 per cent female representation. While BHP was slightly better at 17 per cent, it was simply not good enough. We knew we needed to do something different to improve. If we continued doing what we were doing, it could have taken us 30 years plus to get to 30 per cent female representation.
With more than 90,000 employees and contractors working across 90 locations worldwide, we knew we could create a big impact because inclusive and diverse teams are good for our business. Our numbers prove it – these teams are safer, more productive and have a better culture. With our global employee workforce now gender balanced, we are committed to fostering and maintaining an inclusive workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging.
Our approach to inclusion and diversity
Our strategy to achieve a more diverse and inclusive workplace is focused on four areas:
1. Embedding flexibility in the way we work
A flexible workplace helps support our people to achieve the balance they may need at all life stages.
2. Encouraging and working with our partners
We’re working with our supply chain partners to support our commitment to inclusion and diversity beyond our operations.
3. Uncovering and taking steps to mitigate potential bias
We’re taking action to make sure we mitigate any potential bias in our systems, behaviours, policies and processes.
4. Making our brand attractive to everyone
We can only attract and retain the best talent if we are open minded about drawing upon a broad and diverse talent pool.
In April 2025, BHP reached 40 per cent female representation in our global employee workforce. This is a world-first for a global listed mining company and a source of immense pride for our business and our people.
BHP's LGBT+ employee inclusion group
Jasper is our employee inclusion group for our LGBT+ community and its allies.
The aim of Jasper is to drive a safe, inclusive and supportive work environment for everyone by providing advice on ways to reduce bias and make sure LGBT+ people are respected and valued irrespective of their sexual or gender identity. It was formed to strengthen our culture through inclusion and diversity for all.
The group’s name is inspired by a unique mineral Jasper that is found in Australia and other countries where BHP operates. It is an opaque and fine-grained variety of quartz, known for its unique multi-coloured patterns.
Like the community Jasper supports, it is a stone of endurance, perseverance, tenacity and shields against negativity. It impacts the courage to speak out against injustice and is a powerful protection stone.
Indigenous employment
Indigenous peoples are critical partners of BHP across our operations.
We recognise, as part of our global Indigenous Peoples Policy Statement, we can contribute to the economic empowerment of Indigenous peoples by providing opportunities for employment, training and procurement and by supporting Indigenous enterprises.
Racial Equity program
There is no place for racism at BHP or anywhere in the community.
We recognise and acknowledge racism impacts our people’s sense of identity, value, feelings of respect and psychological safety. We are taking action to better understand the prevalence of racism at BHP to promote racial awareness and equity in our workplace, and we recognise there is more still to do. We continue to take action to increase awareness of and promote reporting, response and investigations in relation to racial harassment matters.
Disability access and inclusion
At BHP, our commitment to a diverse and inclusive work environment involves measures to improve the accessibility of our workplaces for people with a disability. In support of this commitment, our Accessibility and Inclusion Network, Amber, was established in FY2023. Amber is an employee-led network sponsored at the executive level, designed to drive change through leadership and influence.
In 2024, we proudly launched our first-ever Disability Action Plan. This is an important step towards making our workplace a place where everyone can join in and thrive.
