Innovation

We decided to focus on 2 main innovations. The first one focuses on combating the lack of education by providing education for the workers' communities. The second innovation focuses on the inclusion of women in various sectors of the business. Hereby they are trying to reduce gender inequality and promote inclusion of women in the workplace.

The lack of education has been a serious struggle for the workers in the mines. Hochschild has prepared a program to try and deal with it. They have set up education programs within the nearby communities to provide them with the education they are lacking. This is a cost-free opportunity for the workers and their community members. In these programs, tools are provided for the community members to build a better future. This innovation focuses on dealing with SDG 4.

The next innovation focuses on SDG 5, which is reducing gender equality. Hochschild has instated a program called "Golden Women" which has the main goal of reducing gender inequality within the workspace. This program promotes the inclusion of women in different projects and places them in diverse sectors within the company.

Inspiration

The main things that inspired the team were their attributes and their purpose, which have evolved over time. In the past, they had only established vision, mission, organizational values, but now they have a defined purpose and cultural attributes. The reason why they decided to shift is because the vision at the time was nothing more than something aspirational. It did not inspire and therefore did not make them act in search of it. With the purpose of "responsible and innovative mining committed to a better world" the company seeks to transmit and inspire each person in the company.

In addition, the organizational values changed since many of them did not reflect the company. They replaced them with attributes that are focused on achieving changes that bring them closer to their purpose.

The leader said, "We believe that our decisions have to be based on our purpose and our attributes." They believe that having a better world requires education and knowledge, so this is the where they have decided to focus.

Also, it is really important for them to solve issues, such as the issue of connecting with communities. This is part of the equation of the company. Having a good relationship with the communities is part of their social responsibility.

Overall impact

There are many new innovations developed that have benefited the company, Hochschild, however, there are two of them that stand out. The first innovation has to do with training and the incorporation of people from the community into the company. The second innovation has to do with a greater diversity of inclusion, specifically regarding the inclusion of women, to the company's workforce.

The first program, which is the community formation program, is anchored in the purpose of Hochschild, which is to engage in responsible and innovative mining while committed to a better world. Hochschild strongly believes that through education and knowledge they can give sustainable tools to people. For nearly 8 years, the company has led training, skills, and competencies programs that are aimed at people in the community with very basic levels of education, some of whom having only completed secondary school. In the programs, technical tools that the business needs are taught so the learners can later be incorporated in the workforce. This concept of "employability" though goes beyond only working for Hochschild since not all of these people end up working in the company. Instead, the final objective of Hochschild is to give the learners a higher level of education so that they can have more opportunities and a higher quality of life. In fact, almost 95% of the training programs that Hochschild has carried out have had a positive impact on the quality of life of its participants.

Business benefit

These programs and innovations do not only support the human capital and benefit society, they also have a positive impact on the business profits. Since they started operations in Inmaculada 7 years ago, they have seen gains. The first year they had 4-5% of the community working for them, and today that number has increased to 33%. This increase has helped improve Hochschild's business objectives by reducing employee turnover, which has at least two costs. One cost directly relates to selection and training of the employee, which is lost when a worker leaves. More importantly, the second cost is the level of learning and value that new people, despite having experience, do not deliver from the first minute working. That is, turnover, as a total concept, harms the business. For this reason, the communities have a minimum turnover level, almost 0. For instance, transportation for them, meaning getting workers to the mine or from one city to another, is a multimillion-dollar expense that is budgeted to be about 10 million dollars a year. Taking a bus from Lima to the community costs the company $4,200. Transporting a community unit that that is an hour from the mine costs about 10 times less, even with community unit the security standard included. Actions like these show how there is efficiencies in the business that directly goes to EBITDA, to operating profits, and to financial margins. The community members also go through a process of training and practical instruction, that is, 70% practical, which makes them begin to deliver results right when they start working.

As for "Mujeres Oro", a recently integrated program, different research papers and studies showed that diversity in groups at work, such as having women in the teams, increases the effectiveness and productivity of the work. Having women in teams possibly increases these metrics because women are considered more confident. Since the company has been implementing this program and the movement to include more women, Hochschild has increased its effectiveness and profit.

Social and environmental benefit

These innovations benefit society. For example, the next generation of the people who work in the mining industry have access to a greater level of training and a higher education. Hochschild strongly believes that education transforms society since it is the most powerful tool. For instance, one worker from Hochschild remembers a lady that worked for the mining camps who had a son studying at the Cayetano Heredia University, a prestigious university of medicine in Peru. This story is linked to the programs because it is one of the many cases where people have received more education due, at least in part, to Hoschchild's training programs and perhaps its workforce. This story also shows the opportunities that these programs are giving to the workers and how the trainings eventually contribute positively to society.

Moreover, "Mujeres de Oro" has also had a great impact on society. Specifically, it has had great value in the mining sector. In fact, quotas of the CEO have stated that by 2030, 20% of their workers will be female, whereas today that number is at 5%.

Interview

Hector Lopez, Human Resources Manager