Empowering our people to create impact is critical in building momentum and resilience as we progress against delivering on our strategy and business model.
Exxaro’s human capital is the knowledge, skills, know-how, safety, health and wellbeing of the people who manage our business and perform operational activities, including our employees and contractors. It is central to our business’s success.
We deliver value by investing in our people, safeguarding their safety, health and wellbeing, and fostering skills and capabilities aligned with our purpose. Our people strategy drives Sustainable Growth and Impact objectives, building a people-fit organisation and enabling human resources. Within this, we prioritise safety to achieve zero harm, promote employee and community resilience through health and wellness programmes, maintain a strong employee value proposition by fostering DEI and offer learning and skills development to ensure a robust talent pipeline for current and future needs.
| Material theme | Matters | Strategies to achieve our objectives | Related strategic objective |
Our broader impact |
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 Enabling a thriving workforce |
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Introduced personalised health monitoring through smartwatches and dietician-led guidance, addressing lifestyle diseases and promoting healthier habits among employees
In response to our 2023 culture and engagement survey, all BUs developed targeted action plans based on employee feedback. Feedback sessions, including honesty boxes, encouraged candid input, helping to address key DEI challenges. However, two cases of alleged discrimination or grievances were filed (2023: none), underscoring the need for ongoing vigilance in fostering an inclusive workplace
R402 million invested in training and development (2023: R358 million)
Our future focus includes launching the refreshed Exxaro safety strategy, fatal risk protocols, and zero tolerance rules to address top fatal risks. We will enhance employee wellness through expanded on-site therapist access, cancer awareness initiatives, and realtime health monitoring. A pulse survey to review the effectiveness of culture initiatives will inform the next phase of our culture journey. We are also focusing on strengthening leadership capability to enhance our employee experience, while men’s forums will support gender equity priorities. Expanded learning platforms, including AI training and the new EduMine platform, will prepare employees for future growth and innovation.
DETAILED DISCLOSURE
Read empowering our people (ESG report) for details about our approach and performance.
Our strategic response to growing our human capital
Exxaro’s ability to create sustainable value is intrinsically linked to our people. By fostering a safe, healthy and inclusive environment, we empower employees to thrive, ensuring we can meet both present and future challenges.
Our people strategy, operating within our broader Sustainable Growth and Impact strategy, prioritises safety, wellbeing, talent development and sound employee relations, positioning Exxaro as an employer of choice while driving long-term business resilience.
Exxaro’s human capital initiatives align with ESG objectives embedded in our Sustainable Growth and Impact strategy:
Prioritising safety
Safety is fundamental to our operational integrity and the wellbeing of our workforce and communities. Preventing workplace incidents and fostering a proactive safety culture not only safeguards lives but enhances operational resilience. Through leadership-driven initiatives, risk management and continuous improvement, we strive to achieve our ultimate safety goal of zero harm across all operations.
We implement a proactive five-pillar safety strategy to prevent and mitigate safety incidents, eliminating repeat incidents, embedding safe behaviours and applying stringent risk management processes to foster a culture of zero harm.
Our LTIFR of 0.06, slightly above the annual target of 0.05, reflects an improvement from the 2023 performance of 0.07. Lifting and material handling incidents accounted for 40% of reported incidents, followed by trackless mobile machinery-related incidents and those caused by slips, trips and falls, each accounting for 20% of the reported incidents. The completion of a high-risk shortwall move at Matla without injuries marked a significant safety achievement in 2024. We had no section 54(a) mining activity stoppages (2023: four). We remain steadfast in our commitment to eliminate incidents and will intensify daily efforts to achieve zero harm.
CENNERGI
Cennergi demonstrated its commitment to safety excellence by maintaining a zero-fatality incident rate and zero LTIs in 2024. No reportable health and safety incidents were submitted to the Department of Employment and Labour and quarterly external compliance audits scored Tsitsikamma and Amakhala Emoyeni at 95.9% and 95.1% respectively.
However, Cennergi’s main contractor reported two unrelated LTIs at Amakhala Emoyeni. Lessons learned from these incidents are used to enhance safety practices, including collaborating with the contractor to install new safety equipment on wind turbines.
The 2024 CEO safety summit, themed “Leave the world a better place than we find it”, highlighted critical safety, wellness and mental health issues, empowering employees and leadership to collaborate on actionable improvements. Frontline workers and supervisors led panel discussions that focused on identifying and resolving operational safety challenges.
Conducted on 17 October 2024 under the theme “Seven deadly signs”, our executive committee visited BUs to address the leading causes of fatalities and serious incidents. On-site VFL engagements further reinforced safety priorities and accountability, driving improved awareness.
Exxaro launched initiatives such as the supervisor indaba at Matla to address operational challenges identified at the safety summit. In addition, safety leaders across BUs were supported through targeted training programmes including a course for managers in risk management, legal liability and VFL.
CENNERGI
Cennergi fire safety collaboration
Following a turbine fire at a neighbouring windfarm, Cennergi implemented measures to enhance fire safety and emergency preparedness. These included introducing a fire management procedure, procuring a fire bowser with on-site training and fostering collaboration with neighbouring windfarms to strengthen collective emergency response capabilities
Promoting health and wellness
Health and wellness are key to a resilient workforce and sustainable growth. Our integrated health and wellness strategy addresses occupational and non-occupational risks through early intervention, proactive health management and tailored initiatives that enhance wellbeing, productivity and safety.
Occupational diseases We recorded 23 occupational disease cases (2023: 23), resulting in an occupational health incident frequency rate of 0.14 (2023: 0.15), against the target of 0.13. We measure our performance against the Mine Health and Safety Milestones, which were revised and communicated this year for adoption beyond 2024.
We identified 39 new diabetes cases (2023: 93) and 122 hypertensive employees and contractors (2023: 334). The prevalence of HIV/Aids cases is 1.4% (2023: 1.87%), significantly lower than the national prevalence rate of 12.7%, with HIV-positive employees having easy access to medication at our occupational health centres.
With a recent health report highlighting a rise in lifestyle diseases and high BMI levels among employees, we recognised the need for proactive measures to promote healthier lifestyles and reduce related risks. This includes the use of smart devices for real-time screening of blood pressure, blood sugar, fatigue and stress levels. We introduced dietician services to educate employees on healthy eating habits that prevent lifestyle diseases. On-site therapists are available at each BU, providing psychological support without the need for employees to take time off work. This has reduced absenteeism due to illness and improved workplace attitudes.
Grootegeluk clinic is an accredited external medication pick-up point as part of government’s CCMDD programme. Our employees collect their chronic medication from the clinic, reducing transport costs and allowing employees to receive two to three months’ medication at a time.
Exxaro hosted wellness days across BUs, offering screenings for lifestyle diseases such as blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, HIV, breast cancer and prostate cancer. Employees also received guidance from dieticians on balanced diets and the importance of physical activity to prevent or delay the onset of lifestyle diseases.
CENNERGI
Cennergi health screenings
Cennergi conducted medical screenings, including blood pressure, blood sugar and HIV tests, as well as financial wellness interventions for employees in 2024. Health initiatives were extended to contractors, including wellness screenings and mental health check-ins, ensuring all individuals on site have the knowledge and resources to manage their health effectively.
Our primary focus in 2025 will be:
Maintaining sound employee relations
Strong labour relations founded on open communication, mutual respect and proactive engagement with our people are key to maintaining a stable and motivated workforce. We value employee voices, advance workplace equity and achieve transformation objectives by aligning our efforts with our DEI and employee relations strategies.
Our approach to employee engagement centres on maintaining a representative workforce, with respect for the needs of our host communities, and is defined in our DEI strategy. To cultivate a thriving and equitable workplace, we create inclusive policies, address systemic barriers and ensure leadership reflects workforce diversity. We drive initiatives aimed at addressing any identified issues to improve employee engagement and inclusion.
In 2024, our ongoing commitment to sound employee relations, equity and engagement delivered meaningful outcomes. 5 483 employees (2023: 5 376) were represented by affiliated unions recognised by Exxaro (NUM, Solidarity, AMCU, FAWU and NUMSA). We secured three-year wage agreements with all employers, and these long-term agreements ensure ongoing labour stability across the business.
CENNERGI
Wind turbines are operated and maintained under contract by Nordex at Amakhala Emoyeni and by Vestas South Africa at Tsitsikamma. These contractors use sub-contractors for maintenance activities, employing 55 people (2023: 47) at Amakhala Emoyeni and 37 (2023: 29) at Tsitsikamma.
The 68MW LSP is being constructed under contract by Elsewedy and Edison, employing 428 people at year end.
Our DEI strategy, supported by our employee relations strategy and people with disabilities policy, ensures equal access to employment, training and skills development opportunities. These frameworks enable us to address systemic barriers and promote equity across our operations.
We conduct culture and engagement surveys across our corporate centre and BUs every second year to track progress on our DEI strategy, leadership effectiveness and the integration of key culture themes. Exxaro’s 2025 culture and engagement survey will evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives implemented in response to the 2023 survey and guide further enhancements to our workplace culture.
Our primary focus in 2025 will be:
Exxaro’s talent management strategy aligns with our Sustainable Growth and Impact objectives, considering global and local trends and the evolving needs of our energy and minerals businesses. This strategy supports organisational inclusivity, future capability development and a healthy, engaged working environment. We leverage technology and supportive leadership to achieve these goals.
CENNERGI
Cennergi prioritises internal recruitment of high-potential employees to retain talent and grow management expertise. Employees receive short-term incentives based on individual and company performance. Cennergi allocates 1% of its payroll to employee training and development. Line managers conduct performance appraisals twice a year to determine training and development needs.
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R402 million or 6.75% of our payroll spent on training and development |
Community development, such as portable skills training R9.4 million |
Support for Youth Employment Service to train and develop youth from our host communities R28 million |
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(2023: R358 million or 6.22%)
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(2023: R7.6 million)
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(2023: R22 million)
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Job-related skills development (functional and technical training) R200 million |
Bursaries, training professionals, internships, learnerships and skills programmes R173 million |
Developing targeted employees in management programmes, leadership roles, postgraduate studies and support functions R11 million |
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(2023: R193.5 million)
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(2023: R126.6 million)
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(2023: R10.5 million)
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Our primary focus in 2025 will be:
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