Our more than 90,000 employees and contractors globally form the foundation of our business. We strive to attract and retain the best people. Through the BHP Operating System (BOS), we empower our people to continuously improve and achieve excellence in their work every day.  

Our Values set the tone for our culture, and are a unique part of our competitive advantage. Our Values are a declaration of what we stand for and guide our decision-making, reinforce our culture and help ensure our people deliver on our Purpose.  

Developing our capabilities and an enabled culture

We invest in our people to build capability and drive stronger performance.  

BHP’s early career and training pathways provide accredited maintenance and production traineeships or apprenticeships to new employees, including those new to our industry. Once qualified, employees move to one of our operated assets.  

During FY2025, the Transition to Trade program was introduced in Minerals Australia allowing those who have successfully completed the Maintenance Associate program to complete a trade qualification in 12 to 18 months, splitting time between the FutureFit Academy, BHP’s purpose-built learning centre, and practical work on site. In Canada, we launched the BHP Potash Academy in partnership with the Carlton Trial College in Humboldt. Once qualified, the inaugural cohort of trainees will transition to various roles at our Jansen operations.  

BHP continues to invest in future talent through our intern and graduate programs. In FY2025: 

• In partnership with the Minerals Council of Australia, BHP sponsored 40 first-year university students for a two-week immersive experience across Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. 
• An additional 163 university students participated in internship placements, gaining practical experience on mine sites. Interns are given early access to apply for graduate roles. 
• A total of 146 graduate program participants commenced across Australia, Chile and Canada. 

In FY2025, around 1,950 current and potential leaders, participated in the BHP Distinctive Leaders programs. These programs develop leaders’ abilities to lead through complexity, ethically and inclusively. We also held monthly Senior Leadership Forums and a Leadership summit in late FY2025 to further engage and align senior leaders in our purpose and strategy. Our Integrated Leadership Forum provides quarterly masterclasses and an annual forum for operational general managers. 

Western Australia Nickel (WAN) transitioned into temporary suspension in FY2025. Supporting our workforce and local communities to safely transition operations was a crucial part of this change. WAN met the commitment to provide redeployment opportunities for its frontline workforce. Overall, around 1,400 employees were made offers of redeployment across BHP, with the majority transitioning to WAIO. Where redeployment was either not suitable or available, individuals were supported through proactive career coaching and professional outplacement services to assist with their transition. As at 30 June 2025, around 360 employees remain at WAN to maintain the asset. 

Twice a year we ask our employees and contractors about their experiences working with BHP via an Engagement and Perception Survey. After each survey, team leaders evaluate strengths and areas for improvement, while the results measure wellbeing progress under the Safe, inclusive and future-ready workforce pillar of BHP’s social value scorecard. In March 2025, we had an 88 per cent employee response rate, with 21,000 contractors also providing feedback. Of these, 83 per cent responded favourably to engagement and connection questions, compared to 80 per cent in FY2024 and 88 per cent responded favourably to wellbeing questions, compared to 87 per cent in FY2024.  

Our global recognition program, Big Thanks | Muchas Gracias, has been running since FY2021 to help embed a culture of recognition at BHP. The program supports leaders and peers to recognise employee actions that are excellent, values-based and go above and beyond what is expected of them. We also acknowledge and celebrate years of service through the program, which is aimed at making employees feel appreciated, do their best work and stay at BHP.  

Since Big Thanks | Muchas Gracias was launched, more than 661,000 individual recognition moments have occurred (through e-cards, nominations) and we have celebrated nearly 44,000 career milestones

Achieving excellence by unlocking inclusion

We believe an inclusive and diverse workforce promotes engagement, safety and productivity, and is valued by current and prospective employees. Our aspiration is to attract and retain an inclusive workforce. 

Our Inclusion and Diversity Position Statement guides our commitment to deliver on inclusion, equity and diversity. Since 2016, our work to create safe and inclusive workplaces has included flexible working, ensuring our facilities and equipment are fit for everyone, and work to reduce bias in our systems. 

Gender balance^1,2

In April 2025, we achieved our aspirational goal set in CY2016 to achieve gender balance within our employee workforce globally by the end of CY2025. We are the first global, listed mining company to achieve this milestone. We define gender balance as a minimum 40 per cent women and 40 per cent men in line with the definitions used by entities such as the International Labour Organization. The gender balance of our employee workforce is a key metric in the Safe, inclusive and future-ready workforce pillar in our social value scorecard. 

As at 30 June 2025, women represented 41.3 per cent of our employee workforce, more than double the representation compared to 2016 (17.6 per cent) when we first set our gender balance aspiration. We increased the representation of women working at BHP in FY2025 by 4.2 percentage points compared to FY2024, with around 12,400 more female employees at the end of FY2025 than FY2016.

In FY2025, our new hires were 63.3 per cent women and female representation in leadership roles increased by 4.8 per cent compared to FY2024. As at 30 June 2025, 36.5 per cent of people leaders were women, while senior executives included 41.3 per cent women.   

We recognise pay is a critical mechanism for creating gender equality. To help mitigate gender pay disparities and avoid pay gaps, we continue to drive improvements in our systems and processes to mitigate the risk of systemic bias. Our FY2025 employee remuneration data, including a breakdown by gender, is included in the BHP ESG Standards and Databook.  

Gender composition of employees, leaders and the Board^1,3,4 

Footnotes: 

1. Based on a ‘point in time’ snapshot of employees as at 30 June 2025, including employees on extended absence, as used in internal management reporting for the purposes of monitoring progress against our goals. 
2. New hires are based on a 12-month period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. ‘People leaders’ are defined as employees with one or more direct reports. ‘Senior executives’ are defined as employees in the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and direct reports to the ELT in grade 15 and above roles.
3. For FY2023, this included employees of BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s Blackwater and Daunia operations, sold to Whitehaven Coal during FY2024. 
4. For FY2023, some of our employees did not identify as male or female (<0.1 per cent of total employees). These employees were excluded from data presented in the gender composition graphs to protect the privacy of those employees.

Indigenous employment  

Our Indigenous Peoples Policy Statement acknowledges our role in improving economic outcomes for Indigenous peoples. We aim to achieve this through our regional Indigenous Peoples Plans by providing opportunities for employment, training, procurement and support for Indigenous enterprises.  

We have set targets to increase Indigenous employment opportunities in our Minerals Australia operations, Minerals Americas operations in Chile and our Jansen potash project in Canada.  

In FY2025, Minerals Americas operations in Chile increased their Indigenous employee participation to 10.5 per cent, having achieved their target of 10 per cent in FY2024. In Canada and Minerals Australia, we are on track to achieve our targets in FY2026 and FY2027 respectively (see the below infographic). Indigenous employee participation is a key metric in the Indigenous partnerships pillar of our social value scorecard. 

In FY2025, we identified opportunities in our employment ecosystem to better support Indigenous Australians through our people processes, including selection, development and career progression. In Minerals Australia, we also established a systematic network of Indigenous support liaisons across our Australian assets to improve day-to-day experiences for Indigenous employees and enhance leaders’ cultural competence. In Canada, the BHP Potash Academy, graduate and student programs are designed to help Indigenous peoples enter the mining industry. 

Indigenous employee participation^1,2 

Footnotes: 

1. Point in time data at 30 June 2025. 

2. Indigenous employee participation overall in Australia at 30 June 2025 was 8.2 per cent, including Minerals Australia operations, 9.0 per cent Indigenous, and non-operational locations, 2.0 per cent Indigenous. 

For information on our 2030 goals related to Indigenous partnerships refer to the BHP Annual Report 2025, Operating and Financial Review 9.12 – Indigenous Peoples. 

Cultural diversity and racial equity 

Racism has no place at BHP. We acknowledge racism’s impact on identity, value, respect and psychological safety. We are working to promote racial awareness in our workplace and recognise there is more still to do.   

Our racial equity working group, EmBRace (Employees Beyond Race), is led by Chief Financial Officer Vandita Pant as the executive sponsor and oversees work with a focus on eliminating racism and striving to create an environment free from racial discrimination. As part of its work, this group works alongside our Indigenous engagement teams in Australia, Chile, Canada and the United States.  

In FY2025: 

• Our Inclusion and Diversity Champion, Chika Onyeogaziri, received recognition from the Queensland Resource Council and Women in Mining and Resource Queensland for her outstanding work fostering inclusion and diversity. 
• We developed our Indigenous Cultural Respect Framework (ICRF), which drives cultural capability through learning experiences across Minerals Australia. 
• Employees around the world joined our International Day of Elimination of Racism event.  

Disability access and inclusion  

At BHP, our commitment to a diverse and inclusive work environment involves measures to improve the accessibility of our workplaces for people with a disability. In support of this commitment, our Accessibility and Inclusion Network, Amber, was established in FY2023. 

Amber is an employee-led network sponsored at the executive level, designed to drive change through leadership and influence. The network was named after the amber gem, which often contains fossilised material called ‘inclusions’. Due to these inclusions, the amber gem can be found in a diverse range of shapes, shades and colours, which enhance the value of the gem. The name of the network reflects the diversity of the disability community and how its inclusion can enhance the workforce. 

Our Amber Accessibility and Inclusion Network provides a platform for employees to share their perspective, connect with others who have similar experiences and provide peer support. Amber is focused on those who identify as having any kind of disability, as well as carers and allies. The network also encompasses our already established Neurodiversity@BHP group, which supports all neurodivergent people at BHP, as well as our commitment to mental health and wellbeing. 

In FY2025, BHP launched our global Disability Action Plan, aimed at empowering our employees with disabilities. This plan is built around three strategic pillars: people, culture and systems. The goal is to recognise the unique needs and strengths of each person and to systematically eliminate barriers, as part of our efforts to ensure equal participation for people with disabilities in the workforce. 

In Chile, legislation requires that our workforce comprises at least 1 per cent of people with disability. As of 30 June 2025, people with disabilities represented 2.5 per cent of our Chilean workforce. 

LGBT+ inclusion 

Our LGBT+ ally employee group, Jasper, is open to all our workforce and is an extension of our inclusion and diversity aspirations to help our employees develop a strong sense of belonging in and outside of BHP. By the end of FY2025 its membership base grew to around 3,000. We are the proud sponsors of Pride Western Australia, the Pinnacle Foundation and Pride Professionals. 

Jasper has a global committee, which works across seven key pillars that map to the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) areas: 

• HR policy and diversity practice  
• Sustainability, strategy and accountability 
• Employee and leadership engagement 
• Visibility and awareness 
• Education, training and professional development 
• Data collection and reporting 
• Community engagement 

In FY2025, BHP in Australia was awarded gold status at the Australian Workplace Equality Index Awards. In Chile, we achieved our second Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Equidad certification for our commitment to LGBT+ inclusion and we were awarded the ‘Best Place to Work’ seal by the HRC.  

Working with suppliers 

We continue to work with our supply partners to ensure their products and services are suitable for our workforce, as well as encouraging diversity in their own work teams. 

Employee relations 

In Australia, recent significant industrial relations legislative reforms have introduced changes to the enterprise bargaining framework, which are having an impact on BHP, including by increasing labour costs. Unions in WAIO have unilaterally commenced bargaining. The Fair Work Commission will issue 13 Regulated Labour Hire Arrangement Orders that will require two labour hire providers and Operations Services to pay their employees performing work at BMA mines Goonyella Riverside, Peak Downs and Saraji at least the relevant rate of pay in the BMA Enterprise Agreement 2022. As BHP considers that Operations Services is a mining services contractor and so is exempt from becoming subject to Orders, BHP is seeking Federal Court judicial review of this outcome. An Order is already in effect at Mt Arthur Coal, requiring a labour hire provider to pay at least the relevant rate of pay in the Mt Arthur Coal Enterprise Agreement 2023. We will continue to monitor the application of the reforms to further assess their impacts on BHP and our contracting partners, including the potential impact on labour costs. 

In Chile, pension reform was approved in January 2025. This will result in a 7 per cent company contribution (pre-tax and additional to the current 1.5 per cent for disability insurance), which will be gradually increased over nine years starting from August 2025. The 40-hour work week regulation, enacted in April 2023, will continue its gradual implementation over the next four years to transition from 45 to 40 working hours per week. During FY2025, implementation occurred through agreements reached as part of union negotiations. In June 2025, following a legal dispute between two unions, Escondida was notified of a ruling ordering the seizure of CLP$8.5 million in bonuses. Deductions to impacted employees will occur for at least four months. Progress on various other legal developments that may affect employee relations in Chile is being monitored, including remuneration gender equity branch negotiation regulation and litigation seeking to treat various BHP entities as a single employer for labour, social security and union purposes.   

Our people policies

We have a comprehensive set of frameworks that support our culture and drive our focus on safety and productivity. 

Our Charter is the foundation of what we do at BHP. It describes our purpose, Our Values, how we measure our success, who we are, what we do and what we stand for. 

Our Code of Conduct (Our Code) demonstrates how to practically apply the commitments and values set out in Our Charter and reflects many of the standards and procedures we apply throughout BHP. In March 2025, we relaunched a simplified and streamlined version of Our Code designed to support clearer values-driven decision-making. BHP’s reporting channels to raise misconduct concerns comprise an online portal and a confidential, 24-hour, multilingual call service which are open to all, including employees and contractors and members of the public for reporting queries and concerns relating to the interpretation and application of Our Code.  

Our Human Rights Policy Statement outlines our commitment to respecting human rights, which includes rights related to workplace health, safety and labour. For more information refer to the Human rights webpage. 

The Global Standards outline the mandatory minimum standards we expect of those who work for or on behalf of BHP. Some of those standards relate to people activities, such as recruitment and talent retention.  

We offer market-aligned benefits for our employees, reflecting the standard practice and applicable legislation in each jurisdiction where we operate. For full-time and part-time employees, these may include retirement/pension benefits, parental leave and other leave categories, recognition program benefits, share ownership via our all-employee share purchase plan, Shareplus and, in some locations, medical/health/life insurance benefits. For employees on fixed-term contracts and casual employees, these may include retirement/pension benefits (as per standard market practice and applicable legislation), recognition program benefits, share ownership and some leave entitlements (as per standard market practice and applicable legislation).  

Permanent full-time and part-time employees are eligible to participate in the short-term incentive plan (variable pay), subject to the terms of the plan.  

People data 

For more data on our people refer to the ESG Standards and Databook 2025. 

Case studies