Gold Fields

6.2.2 Performance management

Approach
The performance management system, driven through the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) for D and E-band (middle- to senior management and professional) employees, ensures we identify, incentivise, reward and thereby retain top performers, and identify skills gaps among low-performers that could be addressed through training and development programmes.

The BSC is structured around four key business pillars: financial, business optimisation, people and social licence to operate. Within each of these pillars, key focus areas are identified, and matched to goals and, finally, metrics for delivery.

Through a structured cascading model, the Group BSC informs the BSCs for each of our regions, which in turn drive operational, departmental and then individual BSCs. An employee’s BSC rating is a 35% determining factor in their annual bonus calculations, with the Group’s performance determining the remaining 65% portion. This percentage varies based on the position of the employee.

Performance management initiatives during 2015
The BSC itself is reviewed and refined on an annual basis. The four pillars for 2015 were adopted to ensure greater alignment with Group business objectives and the number of objectives reduced to a smaller, more focused group. The BSC was again adjusted around the same four pillars for 2016 (p26).

Introducing a new production bonus system at South Deep
Bargaining unit employees at our South Deep operation are measured and rewarded through a production bonus system, instead of the BSC. Following issues raised in 2014 by trade unions, the mine introduced a new production bonus system in 2015, ensuring that the behaviours being driven and rewarded on the mine support the achievement of South Deep’s business objectives and entrenching the high-performance culture necessary to the success of this critical operation.

The following bonus parameters have been incorporated in the new bonus system: gold produced, metres/tonnes produced, and safety performance. Gold produced and delivered out of the plant serves as a qualifier, which means that the mine must first produce gold before any bonus parameter kicks in.

The performance of individual crews – not whole corridors – is measured, ensuring greater accountability is devolved to the level of small teams and individuals. All teams are now measured on tonnes or metres advanced – in line with mine design. The new production bonus system also now includes all employees on the mine, which rallies employees around the achievement of a single, common goal.

Safety remains a key metric in the new production bonus system and accounts for 30% of every employee’s production bonus. A leading safety indicator has been added to ensure employees are rewarded for behaviours that proactively work to prevent safety incidents – and not simply penalised for accidents. The safety score is now split evenly between lead and lag indicators.

Finally, South Deep introduced a quarterly gold sharing scheme in addition to the monthly production bonus. This scheme benefits employees in core production and core support jobs, further incentivising and rewarding them for gold produced over the quarter.