Celebrating International Women's Day

International Women’s Day is celebrated annually on March 8th to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women around the world. It is also an opportunity to recognize and celebrate achievements in promoting gender equality. 

In recent years, we have witnessed the change that is taking place in the mining industry to give women a greater place, and at Eldorado Gold, we are actively involved. Recent examples of Eldorado Gold’s approach to inclusive diversity that promotes gender balance come from our Québec operations. 

Improving childcare options for working parents 

The lack of options for childcare in the Abitibi region is challenging. With an average workforce age of 38, many of our employees are parents to young children.  We saw how difficult it was for new parents to find adequate childcare opportunities. That’s why in 2019, our team launched a pilot project to foster new childcare locations in Val d’Or to help our employees find daycare for their children, which allowed employees to return to work more easily.   

With the added complexities brought on by the pandemic, these additional childcare locations have been very beneficial, particularly for our female employees, as it has made it easier to balance work, personal and family life.  

As part of this project, Eldorado Gold Québec is offering monetary assistance to new family care locations that are opening their doors and able to provide a healthy and safe daycare environment for children. Since the implementation of this pilot project, eight childcare spaces have been made available for the children of our employees in two new childcare facilities. 

Emilie Pelletier has been a shuttle loader operator since 2018 and has benefited from one of these new spaces for her son: 

“This pilot project arrived at a perfect time in my life: I couldn’t find daycare for my son and my return to work was fast approaching. When the human resources team offered me a place, it allowed me to come back to work, but above all to have peace of mind as to the environment where my child was going to spend his days. I have only good things to say about our daycare provider, and my son loves it!”

Flexible working hours 

Since 2018, Eldorado Gold Québec has offered three different work schedules for employees to enable them to maintain a healthy quality of life. This creates flexibility for employees with different personal situations and allows them to be at home with their loved ones every night.  

We have also added a flexible schedule regarding work-from-home and on-site work for our employees. In October 2020, in response to the continuing pandemic situation, Eldorado Gold Québec implemented a policy that allows employees in eligible positions (on a voluntary basis) to work from home 1 to 2 days a week. 

Amélie Cloutier, an Executive Assistant since 2020, takes advantage of her flexible work schedule to spend time with her young children:  

“The work schedule allows me good balance between my professional and private life. The fact that my employer is offering this flexibility shows that they understand the importance of my well-being and that of my family.” 

Women on the job 

Eldorado Gold Québec’s team includes 69 women working in departments such as mining, exploration, administration, technical services, procurement, environment, mine, and plant maintenance. This represents 17% of the overall workforce. 

At Eldorado Gold, we recognize that inclusion is essential and make every effort to provide a healthy, creative, collaborative, and innovative workplace for all our employees.