Our material matters

Employee health and safety

• Employee safety
  Mining and extractive processes pose significant health and safety risks to our people and could negatively impact their wellbeing. With zero harm top of mind, safety, health and wellbeing are a core value and key focus areas for Harmony.
• Employee health and mental wellbeing
  Safety and health go hand-in-hand. Wellness programmes in Harmony include initiatives aimed at both physical and mental health.

Supporting our people

• Sound labour relations
  We acknowledge our employees’ right to freedom of association and fair labour practices. Our employee relations are based on mutual respect and trust, reflecting our firm belief that each person is critical to our business strategy.
• Diversity, equity and inclusion
  Harmony is committed to gender inclusion, maintaining a steadfast commitment to gender inclusivity in the workplace as a moral and strategic imperative.
• Attract and retain key skills and experience
  We invest in and care for our people. We attract and retain key skills and experience by promoting strong leadership and an enabling culture, maintaining sound labour relations, and providing fair and responsible remuneration and workforce training and education.

Social licence to operate

• Sustainable community partnerships
  Harmony’s social initiatives positively impact employees and communities by enabling them to improve their living conditions and have better access to social services, healthcare, education and training. We do this through collaborative funding efforts on transformative projects that address the needs of communities.
• Supply chain transformation
  Our aim is to accelerate the transformation of our business while facilitating meaningful transformation in our host communities and the broader economy. Harmony’s supply chain model ensures preferential procurement1 is embedded in our sourcing processes.
• Cultural heritage
  Harmony is mindful of and respects different cultures and their cultural heritage in the regions where we operate. Local and indigenous people have a deep understanding of the social and environmental challenges facing their communities. Acknowledging and respecting traditions, norms and values are key to building deep and meaningful relationships. Meaningful engagements and partnerships with our communities build trust and earn our social licence to operate.

Governance

• Operational resilience
  To ensure continued operational resilience, employees’ safety and the security of our assets, it is imperative for Harmony to be able to quickly and effectively manage the impacts and risks of a crisis or business disruption. This relies on our ability to prevent, detect and respond to shocks. This is proactively managed through Harmony’s emergency response and business continuity management (BCM) structures and maturing processes.
• Fair and responsible remuneration
  We aim to enhance the lives of our employees by enabling them to improve their living conditions, and to have better access to social services, healthcare, education and training through fair and responsible remuneration. This enables us to attract and retain key talent.
• Responsible procurement that safeguards human rights
  As a responsible employer, we adhere to corporate policies, comply with applicable laws and regulations, engage with our stakeholders regularly and contribute, directly or indirectly, to the general wellbeing of communities where we operate. We leverage our procurement power to drive positive human rights outcomes, protect vulnerable workers and communities. Refer to Harmony’s website for our human rights policy.
• Legal and regulatory compliance
  Changing regulatory landscapes in our operating territories create uncertainty, delay key decisions, and have the potential to affect investor sentiment towards Harmony and our sustainability and licence to operate. We therefore aim to operate beyond compliance, ensuring we deliver on our commitments and retain our licence to operate.
• Cybersecurity
  An information security compromise or data breach could lead to the accidental or unlawful use, destruction, loss, alteration or disclosure of data. Harmony continues enhancing its cybersecurity abilities by implementing state-of-the-art technologies and processes to identify threats, protect our environment and respond to cyber incidents. We introduced cybersecurity training interventions and regular communications to raise cybersecurity awareness across Harmony.
• Ethics and governance
  Good governance is the core of our performance and reporting. Guided by our policies and codes, we adhere to sound corporate governance principles to enable strong, experienced management teams and promote a culture of shared value for all stakeholders. Risk management is also a significant component of governance, integrated into our daily operations and corporate culture.

Business growth and resilience

• Capital access and allocation
  Capital allocation is aimed at producing safe, profitable ounces and increasing margins through meeting approved capital allocation parameters. Consistent and disciplined capital allocation decisions provide a stable investment case for our investors.
• Diversified portfolio growth (geographical and commodity)
  Diversifying commodities and jurisdictions contributes significantly to derisking the business. Copper offers counter-cyclical diversification to our portfolio while acquisitions in Australia and Papua New Guinea mitigate the impact of South African risks, including political instability, regulatory changes and economic downturns.
• Higher-quality asset investment (organic and acquisitive)
  Capital investment in higher-quality assets and projects are transforming Harmony into a higher-quality, international gold and copper producer. Our mix of ultra-deep and surface sources ensures a future production pipeline of quality reserves that will enable us to operate sustainably and profitably.
• Innovation, technology and digitalisation
  We pursue opportunities to improve safety and enhance our ability to improve cost and productivity efficiencies, as well as overall financial management. Failure to adopt digital technologies may influence the upskilling or reskilling of existing employees and retaining talent.
• Execution of multiple, significant projects (new matter this year)
  With the right people, processes and tools in place, our goal is to successfully execute multiple complex projects in parallel. Project management practices include a standardised project management system, clear plans and responsibilities, balanced workloads, transparent communications and continuous monitoring of progress to make the necessary adjustments when required.

Managing a changing context (new theme this year)

• Commodity price and exchange rate fluctuations
  Mining is a cyclical business while geopolitical uncertainty affects the commodity market and gold price. As commodity prices fluctuate, guided by our derivative and hedging strategies, we analyse potential outcomes to ensure we respond proactively and appropriately to these fluctuations.
• Impact of socio-economic challenges (new matter this year)
  Socio-economic challenges including high unemployment and related social unrest, corruption challenges, unreliable power supply and service delivery failures have a compounding negative impact on quality of life, economic performance, and social cohesion. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated efforts across government, business, and communities to drive inclusive growth and development.