Tag: Gender Equality

The Future of Fatherhood: Transforming Behaviours for Generations 

Posted on | by Jpalmer

At Wyloo, we are proud to have a supportive and flexible work environment that allows our people to bring their whole selves to work every day.  

Recently, our Chief Development Officer, Joel Turco, spent the morning exploring the transformative journey of fatherhood at an event held by CEOs for Gender Equity. Hosted by Sarah Maconachie, Founder and CEO of Work Hard Parent Hard, The Future of Fatherhood event explored how the role of dads is shifting and what that means for families, workplaces, and society. 

For Joel, it was an inspiring event and an opportunity to learn, reflect and share his experience as a father of two.  “The expectation of fatherhood is transforming,” he reflected. “And the way we show up for our children today will shape their own expectations of fatherhood when they’re parents themselves. That’s how change happens across generations.” 

One idea explored at the event, that stuck with Joel, was just how far-reaching the benefits of supporting fathers at work can be. Supporting fathers in the workplace supports everyone: the father themselves (as an employee), their partner, their children, other current or prospective fathers in the organisation, and other employees across the organisation who observe this attitude towards supporting employees to bring their whole self to work. 

Joel knows this first-hand. Balancing a busy professional life with the daily rhythms of raising a family isn’t always easy. There are mornings that feel rushed and bedtimes that stretch long into the evening. But he left the event with a new perspective, shared by parents in the room with older kids: those small, everyday interactions –   breakfast before school or a bedtime story – are the moments that matter most. These interactions are something to treasure and to look forward to. 

Research shared at the event reinforced this point. When fathers are positively involved in their children’s lives, outcomes improve across the board for their kids: better mental health, improved numeracy and literacy, stronger relationship building and better decision making. 

Workplaces play a critical role in enabling dads to be engaged fathers. At Wyloo, we’re proud to role model a lot of the recommended practices for supporting fathers in the workplace. As an organisation, we provide and encourage flexible working for all employees, whether that’s working from home or adjusting hours to be there for school drop-off and pick-up. Our parental leave policy makes no distinction between primary and secondary carers, aligned to our commitment to ensure all parents can take time to bond with their child as a family. We aim to make parenting visible and to support the fathers in our organisation to role model active, hands-on fatherhood. 

“It’s important to communicate that support for fathers is not a ‘special consideration’ but an extension of the support we give to all our employees (parents or otherwise) that enable them to bring their entire selves to work every day.  The future of fatherhood is here,” Joel said. “And by embracing it, we’re building stronger families, better workplaces, and healthier communities.” 

We want to connect!

Balancing work and family life with our updated parental leave policies 

Posted on | by Scott

In short:  

  • We recently shared our updated parental leave policies with our global workforce.  
  • We believe that our policies are progressive and reflect, or exceed, current standards in the Australian and Canadian mining industries.  
  • In Australia, the updated policy includes reductions in minimum service period needed, flexibility to commence parental leave anytime in the first 18 months of the child’s arrival and expansion of our stillbirth or infant death parental leave entitlement.  

Wyloo is pleased to share our updated parental leave policies, designed to provide the flexibility, care and support our people need when balancing their work and family lives. 

 “Our updated policies reflect our ongoing commitment to provide a culture of inclusion, equity and care,” said Vice President People and Culture, Xanthe Shaw.  

“We think that creating a culture of care and focusing on the wellbeing of our people is required to attract and retain talent. One of our values, as an organisation, is family and we are proud to offer our people a policy that allows them to thrive both at work and at home.’’ 

We believe that our policies are progressive and reflect, or exceed, current standards in the mining industries in Australia and Canada. Our approach to flexibility and parental leave reflects best practice across the industries that our people come from, including mining, banking and other professional services. 

Key features of the updated policies include:  

Australia 

  • We have reduced the minimum service period needed to access paid parental leave to six months and continue to make no distinction between primary and secondary carers, aligned to our commitment to ensure all parents can take time to bond with their child as a family.  
  • We continue to offer up to six months paid parental leave and accommodate up to 12 months total parental leave. This leave can now be commenced anytime in the first 18 months of the child’s arrival.   
  • We have expanded our stillbirth or infant death parental leave entitlement from three to six months. We recognise that in these tragic circumstances it may take time to physically and emotionally recover, and we want to support our people to return to work at Wyloo on a timeline that works for them.   

Canada  

  • Our entitlements continue to meet our ESA obligations and reflect best practice among Ontario employers.  
  • All new parents can access parental leave, and employees in receipt of EI or maternity benefits can access “top up” payments for up to six months to bring them to the level of earning that they would otherwise have received if they were working.  
  • Parental leave can commence anytime in the first 18 months of the child’s arrival.  
A Legacy for Leadership and Change: Glenn Nolan

Why can’t she? From mining to Australian rules football meet Caitlin

Posted on | by Scott

Principal Corporate Development Caitlin Boccamazzo understands the importance of diversity in many environments and is determined to continue to question “why can’t she?” instead of “why can she?”. 

Caitlin grew up in a regional town in Western Australia and sport, particularly Australian rules football (AFL), was a major part of her family’s life. Caitlin watched her dad play, coach and later became the Director of the Great Southern Football League, however there were no opportunities for young girls to play Australian rules football in the 90s/00s.  

It wasn’t until Caitlin was in her twenties that she had the opportunity to play the sport she loved and, while a knee injury cut her time on the field short, she found other ways to be involved, volunteering over the space of five years with the Claremont Women’s Football Club in several on-field and off-field roles. 

Last year Caitlin started a new position as a Director at the Claremont Football Club and is excited to continue to give back to the sport she loves in a leadership position. 

“In this new role I hope to further increase the exposure and visibility of the women’s program internally and externally including finding initiatives that promote the inclusion and respect of the female program, increase Western Australia Football League Women (WAFLW) sponsorship, and increase WAFLW matchday offerings and awareness,” Caitlin said.  

Caitlin also applies her approach, learnings and drive for gender equality and inclusion in her role at Wyloo and the broader mining industry.  Caitlin has sat on inclusion and diversity boards in the workplace and advocates for women to not only join the finance industry but also look for opportunities in the mining finance and investment industry, both of which have traditionally been male dominated.  

“I don’t think there is a huge difference between a sporting team and a workplace, both sets of groups are working and collaborating to execute a set of objectives,” Caitlin said. 

“Diversity in any environment is important, as it helps to facilitate out of the box thinking and creates inclusive and equitable discussion and actions through increased social intelligence.  

“These things will lead to better environments and cultures within teams and workplaces that support the objectives of a team or organisation while motivating a diverse number of groups and people. 

“There is still a long way to go, but each year there is more respect and recognition for females in both male dominated sports and industries.” 

At Wyloo we believe in driving performance through diversity and know that diverse perspectives lead to stronger, more innovative solutions, and value the contributions of people of various genders, ages, ethnicities and work and life experiences. 

We are targeting gender equality in leadership roles and across our broader workforce with 40 per cent women, 40 per cent men and 20 per cent any gender.