In a workplace where just 15 per cent of employees are women, Hudbay employees Landice Yestrau and Emma Vincent-Croft founded a professional network to give their female colleagues a place to connect and learn more about their chosen industry.
The Hudbay Women’s Network (HBWN) was founded in May 2018 by Yestrau and Vincent-Croft after a conversation about some of the barriers the pair and their colleagues faced coming into the mining industry. The network encompasses Hudbay’s Manitoba Business Unit (MBU) where 195 of the 1,332 employees are women.
“We’re both fairly new to [the industry],” said Yestrau, an environmental scientist who, as part of her department, oversees Hudbay’s water quality program.
Yestrau explained she had been in the mining industry for about three years and Vincent-Croft had been in the industry for about seven years when they put together a proposal for the network.
“[We were] talking about our colleagues and potential barriers they may be facing,” said Yestrau.
“It’s a fact that there are very few women in mining, and that’s true here at Hudbay, as well. So they might be the only women on their shift or in their area. We thought they may be feeling isolated, and wouldn’t it be cool if there was a body to connect different women from different areas...And then we thought we could bring all these fantastic resources to employees.”
The pair put together a business case and presented it to upper management, where they received enthusiastic support.
Over the past five months, the network, which serves Hudbay’s MBU, has hosted two events – a kickoff event, and the first presentation in its MBU Sessions: Learning the Business series.
The series, which consists of presentations on each department at Hudbay and how they interact, was inspired by a presentation Yestrau had seen. It explained that when women are mentored, they are often mentored on confidence building, relationship building and negotiating.
“All these things are great, but then you don’t have time for actually learning the business or business acumen,” said Yestrau.
“When men are mentored, they’re presumed to already have these things...and then they’re mentored on business. So when you have two candidates on the same level, women are already behind because they don’t have the same business wherewithal.”
Yestrau said HBWN wanted to host presentations on each department in order of the mining cycle – from exploration to sale of the final product – so that all members of the network could access what each department does and how one process leads into another.
“Employees might be inspired to go after different opportunities in different departments. Like ‘Hey, milling is really cool, I might want to get involved there.’ Or even have a better appreciation for their own job and how that ties into the bigger picture,” said Yestrau.
Yestrau said the feedback she has received about HBWN has been largely positive, but that she is open to negative feedback as well.
“Everyone is like ‘This is super great and awesome,’ but I know the reality of having a conversation about gender issues or gender bias is a really hard conversation to have. I think a lot of the time when you’re having any kind of conversation around a minority group, the majority is often quick to feel defensive and attacked, and we’re trying really hard not to approach the conversation that way,” said Yestrau, adding one of the network’s goals is to see more women hired, retained and promoted, not just for the sake of putting a woman into a position, but to find the right candidates and mentor them.
“We want to share information, we want people to learn about it. Mining is a super cool industry, and all of the people who would be great to have successful careers in mining, I want them to have that. I’m a woman, and I have a successful career in mining, and I want to see other women do that because I think it’s a great industry.”
Going forward, HBWN hopes to continue to build its programming and host more events, both internally and in the community. The network will make its debut in the community at the Wild Things Outdoor Market during Culture Days, promoting positively influencing workplace culture.
“If women in the community who are maybe looking for an opportunity, or want to throw their name into the labour pool or something like that, [it’s important] that they know this exists, that this is a resource that exists at Hudbay, now,” said Yestrau.
“I think it’s a good thing for everybody, and I want the community to know that.”
Yestrau noted that the HBWN is for everybody – not just women.
“It’s really important for men to be part of that conversation. If you’re only asking 15 per cent of the people to learn about your cause and fight for it, how successful are you going to be? We’re really looking for male participation and engagement.”
HBWN will have a booth at the Wild Things Outdoor Market during Culture Days from 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Creekside Park.
