Teck

Innovative Practice/Initiative: Technical Career Development

Organisation Profile

Teck is Canada's largest diversified mining, mineral processing and metallurgical company. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, we are a world leader in the production of copper, steelmaking coal and zinc, molybdenum and specialty metals, with interests in several oil sands development assets. 

We own or have interests in 13 mines in Canada, the USA, Chile and Peru (Antamina), as well as one metallurgical complex in Canada. We have expertise across the full range of activities related to mining, including exploration, development, smelting, refining, safety, environmental protection, product stewardship, recycling and research. We are actively exploring in countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa.

Teck is committed to creating value for its shareholders while continually improving its performance as a responsible corporate citizen and a leader in its industry. We pursue development of new technologies that make mining more economically and environmentally sustainable and strive to be a Partner of Choice wherever we operate and with whomever we are associated.

As of December 31, 2010 we had approximately 9,100 active, regular employees excluding Antamina.

The organisations initiative 

Technical Career Development at Teck

At Teck, we believe we create value, and ensure our future success, by paying particular attention to the development of the technical personnel within our organization.  A technical employee is someone who is employed principally for their technical skills and competencies, rather than administrative and supervisory competencies. Technical employees add enhanced value by applying scientific and engineering principles in their work.

Teck has many career options for technical employees. Technical employees work in various roles throughout their career, often moving from management roles to technical roles, and back again.  Teck has established a technical career path based on business needs and that reflects the value of having technical employees work in technical roles. The technical career path is an alternate career path to operations management that permits technical people to be recognized and compensated for their contributions and impact. Often, employees will cross back and forth between the two paths as their careers progress.

Professional-in-Training Program

For technical employees in the first few years of their career, Teck has developed a framework for a professional-in-training development program which ensures that emerging technical employees have the skills, attributes and abilities they need to do their work.  The professional-in-training development program in North America lasts 4 to 5 years, depending upon progression time frames required by the professional registration bodies (where appropriate), the site and job specific rotations, the length of non-core rotations and the needs of the individual sites.  

Each professional-in-training has a list of core technical skill sets and progressions along with a timeline that outlines the role and the duration spent within the role.  This provides an overall road map for the technical employee through the professional-in-training program.  These professional development plans (PDPs) are flexible and are subject to change according to the business and employee's needs. Each professional development plan includes a minimum amount of direct operating experience as well as supervisory experience.  Appropriate technical training is provided for all professionals-in-training.  While most technical training occurs during the normal course of work, specific training sessions to cover unique elements of the role and/or site are provided as necessary.  

The ability to communicate is the most important aspect of a professional career.  Learning to deal with a variety of people and to communicate effectively through written, graphical and verbal means are key to being able to sell ideas, influence people and motivate them to effectively achieve their goals.  Throughout the professional-in-training program, opportunities to write reports and make presentations are given to the professionals-in-training, with appropriate feedback provided by their supervisors.  Professionals-in-training are encouraged to participate in lunch and learn sessions, professional events and internal meetings to develop their presentation skills.  

Safety is a core value at Teck. Professionals-in-training are provided all required training regarding safety at the site, along with any job specific or area specific training that may be required.  All professionals-in-training actively participate in Courageous Safety Leadership to allow us to achieve our vision of "Everyone Going Home Safe and Healthy Every Day".  Every employee in Teck is expected and encouraged to stop an unsafe act or question a situation that may pose a threat to themselves or fellow employees. 

Professionals-in-training need to have a broader understanding of the business outside of their technical expertise. Professionals-in-training are given training in non-core areas that directly affect their areas of work.  Training in non-core areas ranges from a long term (6 month) placement within a department where completion of a specific project is required, to a short term (1 day) familiarization tour.  The training should provide the professional-in-training with a good understanding of the core function of the department and how the department impacts the overall site.

A rotation is defined as a temporary move from one physical site (mine, smelter, research facility, exploration office, corporate office, etc.) to another for a defined period of time. While the rotation process is only one part of Teck's overall technical employee development strategy, it is considered a crucial component. Teck supports professionals-in-training rotations for a number of reasons that are mutually beneficial to the company and the employee.  These rotations not only help to recruit and retain the best professionals that are graduating from university, but they also serve to enhance a culture of mobility within the greater Teck organization.  Rotations are a form of career development that expose professionals-in-training to different management and leadership styles, to diverse operational cultures, and, in select cases, to the international work environment.  Those who take part establish meaningful networks and relationships that help them with future collaborations.  Teck aims to provide at least one rotation per employee within the first 5 years of the professional-in-training's career.

Teck's professional-in-training program ensures participants acquire the exposures and experience required to develop into well-rounded technical employees and obtain professional status. Teck strongly encourages all technical employees to seek professional registration in their respective field if such registration is available.  

Appropriate feedback maximizes the development of technical employees to help them realize their potential. Our goal is to support technical employee development through structured processes.  From the day to day coaching of employees through to formal reviews, the communication between technical employees and their supervisors is crucial to ensuring the best performance of our employees and the greatest success of our company.

Technical employees may pursue a purely technical career, a management career, or a mixture of the two.  An important aspect of a technical employee's development is the need to have a career end goal and an idea of the path (experiences, roles, training, and development) to achieve the end goal.  While not everyone is going to be a vice-president, they should have a road map laid out ahead of them as a possible route to achieving their goal, and have a plan in place to get the development they need.  Of course the plan is always changing, and as both the company and the individual grow in experience, certain doors will open and others will close. 

Oversight

Oversight of the program structure, implementation and effectiveness is provided through a three-tiered committee process.  

Each site has a Technical Personnel Committee consisting of supervisory, technical and management representatives covering the various technical disciplines at the site to oversee the implementation of Technical Careers. 

The members of the corporate Technical Employee Development Committee represent all of the strategic business units, technical support groups and technical disciplines within Teck.  The committee's mandate is to recommend and guide systems and processes that maximize the value of technical employees.  

The Technical Employee Development Executive Committee supports the technical employee development initiative and provides guidance and direction to the Technical Employee Development Committee to maximize the value and contributions of technical employees at Teck.   

Participation

Currently there are 126 participants in Engineer-in-Training and Geoscientist-in-Training programs.  It is expected that, in the future, additional Professional-in-Training programs will be established for other professional disciplines.

Currently there are a number of domestic and international rotations in progress at our operations in Canada and Chile.

"From my perspective, the bulk of the value of the rotation is just to be exposed to a different work environment, whether learning new technical skills, networking and meeting new colleagues, or being exposed to different management styles. With that in mind, the rotation has met my expectations thus far."