Employee Relations and Recruitment

Our workforce is geographically dispersed between our head office operations in Saskatoon, our four uranium operations in northern Saskatchewan, our fuel services operations in Ontario (Port Hope, Cobourg and Blind River), and three in-situ recovery (ISR) mining operations – two in the United States (Nebraska and Wyoming) and one in Kazakhstan. We also have ongoing exploration activities in Australia. Our operations depend heavily on skilled tradespeople and other employees with specialized knowledge and skills, like geoscientists, chemists, and structural and environmental engineers.

Challenges

Like many employers, Cameco faces challenges in the recruitment and retention of quality employees and ensuring we meet the expectations of our employees and the communities in which we operate. Our main challenges include:

Competing for employees with specialized skills and training – We compete with other natural resource companies for skilled people, especially those with technical skills, who are willing to work in remote, live-in locations. The large oil sands projects in Alberta, for example, are competitors for our Saskatchewan operations.

Achieving our commitments for employing residents of northern Saskatchewan – Cameco is committed through its surface lease agreements in Saskatchewan to use best efforts to ensure two thirds of the people we employ in northern Saskatchewan are residents of Saskatchewan’s north (RSN). While we employ a large number of RSNs (nearly 750), we’ve never achieved more than a 55% RSN workforce. To support this goal in 2013, we made RSN hiring a short-term incentive plan measure, but challenging market conditions and other factors made it difficult to achieve our target of net new RSN hires.

Meeting community expectations for employment – Although we employ many northern residents in Saskatchewan, community expectations and demand for work often exceeds the amount of work available. Currently, a large proportion of our RSN workforce is in entry level and unskilled labour positions. In order to hire more local people, we need to see more RSNs entering non-traditional roles and internal movement into more technical and supervisory positions.

Continue increasing workforce diversity, particularly in senior roles – Although we’ve been recognized as one of Canada’s top diversity employers, the number of self-declared candidates in supervisory, management and professional jobs is not meeting our expectations. We want to increase the number of women, aboriginal people and other designated equity groups in these types of roles at Cameco.

Taking Action

Cameco’s policies and programs are structured to support four key aspects of our workforce:

capacity – building and sustaining a flexible, skilled, stable and diverse workforce
engagement – creating a culture of excellence and trust
leadership development – developing and retaining leaders at all levels
relationship development – developing strong and sustainable relationships with people inside and outside the company.

Fair hiring practices – about a quarter of Cameco’s workforce is covered by collective bargaining agreements and we actively promote diversity and fair hiring practices throughout the company. We continue to be recognized as one of Canada’s best diversity employers, a top employer for young people and as a top employer for workers over 40.

More about diversity and equity

Our commitment to diversity includes:

implementing fair hiring practices
recruiting and retaining qualified candidates from all four equity groups
maintaining a corporate culture that fosters excellence, innovation, employee satisfaction and engagement by respecting individual differences and encouraging a diversity of views.

We comply with Canada’s Employment Equity Act by removing barriers that may make it difficult for some people to fully participate in the workforce.

In addition to our fair hiring and respectful workplace policies, we have a formal system to ensure human rights complaints are resolved in a timely matter, whether they’re raised by an employee or someone outside of the company.

Training programs and tuition subsidies – we actively support ongoing education for employees through both in-house and online training. We also offer tuition subsidies for professional education related to work at Cameco.

Apprenticeships and mentoring – apprenticeship and other programs aimed at finding and developing our people help us secure the skills we need. Our trade apprentices are mentored by an experienced journeyperson. We also provide financial support for tuition, living and travel expenses.

Leadership development training for employees – we also invest in our people through dedicated leadership training, including personal assessments and Cameco-focused career planning and mentoring.

Compensation and benefits – competitive compensation and benefit packages, including flexible and culturally-sensitive work arrangements, help us compete for in-demand skills. We offer week on/week off schedules at our remote locations to allow employees who live at camp to balance their work commitments with family and other priorities, including traditional activities in northern Saskatchewan.

Corporate philanthropy and volunteerism – Cameco employees are encouraged and actively supported in volunteering their time and energy to worthwhile community causes. Cameco is a proud corporate sponsor of charities that support youth, health and education.

Support for under-represented groups – Cameco works with Women in Mining and the Mining Human Resource Council to research employment barriers faced by women in the mining industry. Cameco is also a member of Women in Mining/Women in Nuclear, an organization that hosts learning events and professional development days throughout the year. We attend career fairs for job seekers who are new to Canada and maintain a formal workplace inclusion and accommodation program. We are also the largest industrial employer of aboriginal people in Canada, primarily through our work in northern Saskatchewan, where we have developed a comprehensive suite of programs to attract, develop and retain aboriginal employees.

More about Cameco’s workforce development programs

In northern Saskatchewan, Cameco has developed a series of programs to help build knowledge and practical skills in northern Saskatchewan residents who want to work in our industry. We encourage northern students to stay in school, provide financial support for their post-secondary education, and deliver practical, work-based training to the northerners we hire.

Our programs include:

Academic awards and scholarships for students
- Athabasca Education Awards – a monetary award and gift for students in Grades 7-12 for high achievement in a variety of subjects.
- Cameco Corporation Scholarship for First Nation and Métis Students – in partnership with Indspire, this scholarship provides financial assistance to northern aboriginal students, as well as networking and mentoring opportunities.
- Cameco Aboriginal Scholarship in Business – recognizes and promotes excellence among Aboriginal students who have completed the second or third year of their program in pursuit of a bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Saskatchewan.
- Bernard Michel Scholarships – provides support for a Saskatchewan aboriginal student entering their second or third year of study within the College of Engineering or College of Arts & Science.
Apprenticeship programs and work placements
- Cameco’s Apprenticeship Program – designed to increase the success rate of candidates entering trade programs. Includes workplace education, aptitude testing and academic assessments.
- Work placements – one, two or three-week visits for students attending designated training programs in Saskatchewan.
- Cameco Summer Student Program – provides real world work experience to high school, university and technical institute students. Students work in a variety of areas with the goal being to supplement a student’s education and create interest in future work in the uranium mining industry.
School presentations and ambassador programs
- School presentations and career days – in-school presentations where we encourage kids to stay in school and complete Grade 12, while promoting science, math and mining-related occupations.
- Science Ambassador Program – places graduate and senior undergraduate university students in northern schools with high aboriginal enrolment for six weeks. Ambassadors assist teachers, act as role models and expose students to science-based career options.
Career development
- Career Transition Program – helps high-potential northerners who have some post-secondary or technical certification obtain a college diploma or university degree in a mining-related profession. A key goal of this program is to increase the representation of RSNs in professional occupations and managerial roles at Cameco.
- Career Compass – a career management program focused on helping employees grow their careers within Cameco.
- Northern Workforce Skills Assessment Program – provides skills assessment and counselling to northerners interested in working for Cameco.
- Workplace Education Program – gives employees and contractors online access to instructors from Northlands College and other resources to help them with their apprenticeship or university coursework, prepare for the GED, or upgrade their computer or literacy skills
Counselling and wellness
- Elder Advisors – elder advisors work on site at our northern operations twice a week, providing traditional support and counsel to employees before and after their shifts.
- Employee and Family Assistance Program – counselling, e-learning and wellness information for Cameco employees working in remote locations.

Employment targets – Cameco’s goal is to have 67% of the workforce at our mining and milling operations be residents of Saskatchewan’s north. To help meet this goal, our executives’ short-term incentive plan for 2013 included a target number of northern residents to be hired.

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Case Study - Cameco’s Apprenticeship Program

Thirty-one people have completed the program and are fully qualified tradespeople. Cameco currently has twenty people apprenticing with us.