BHP’s first recruitment drive designed to engage with transgender and gender diverse talent has delivered results for the Maintenance and Engineering Centre of Excellence (MECoE) based in Santiago, Chile.

With the MECoE having achieved and sustained gender balance for employees since May 2021, the team wanted to widen their inclusion and diversity recruitment to a much broader talent pool. After connecting with Jasper¹, BHP’s LGBT+ ally employee inclusion group, a position within the team was dedicated to the recruitment of a trans diverse person. 

This was also an opportunity to address an important topic within the Minerals Americas region and highlight the challenges and opportunities that could be created with a more diverse and inclusive workforce. 

As the first trans diverse recruitment campaign for BHP globally, the campaign provided opportunity to determine if any inherent biases against trans diverse people existed within existing recruitment processes.  

Using BHP’s standard recruitment processes as a base, any perceived biases were identified and removed. A recruitment checklist was also developed to address any issues specific to trans diverse talent.  

The result was an updated process and for MECoE, the appointment of a successful candidate. A simplified checklist was also developed for use by leaders during the onboarding process.  

The MECoE has now been approached by other trans diverse people looking for opportunities to join the team.  

1 Jasper’s aim is to drive a safe, inclusive and supportive work environment for everyone by providing advice on ways to reduce bias and ensure LGBT+ people are respected and valued irrespective of their sexual or gender identity.