Rio Tinto culture report: ‘Thoughts aren’t worth expressing any more’ as overhaul brews backlash from men

Rio Tinto’s efforts to fix culture issues over the past two years have left some male workers feeling “undervalued or overlooked” compared with their female peers, and of the belief that there is reverse discrimination at play. The global mining giant released a progress update on Tuesday, two years after an initial bombshell report by former Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick unveiled bullying and sexism were systemic at the company. The latest report revealed there had been “positive momentum” within the company in trying to turn things around, but it also found there had been “resistance” to Rio’s Everyday Respect agenda — from both men and women. It found men had at times felt undervalued and overlooked, with some claiming there had been “reverse discrimination and that women were being hired who were not suitably qualified”. “As a white heterosexual male, I feel as though my thoughts and feelings aren’t worth expressing any more,” one respondent said. “There is so much talk and acknowledgement surrounding women, Indigenous and LGBT communities that my thoughts just get squashed.” Men also shared fears of being labelled as sexist or a perpetrator if they “said or did the wrong thing or did not agree with the Everyday Respect agenda”. Edith Cowan University Diversity and Inclusion experts Dr Judy Lundy and Dr Uma Jogulu believe the ‘redpill movement’ — an internet term associated with men’s rights activism derived from the 1999 film The Matrix — was contributing to the negative commentary across workplaces trying to make changes. “Really toxic influences, like the Andrew Tates of the world and people like that are very loud,” Dr Lundy said. Dr Lundy said companies needed to bring more men aboard the journey of changing culture, create platforms to listen to disgruntled workers and explain why cultural change was important. “I don’t think we’ve been listening enough. We need to accept that more and so that we make men feel listened to because that’s the only way we’re going to counter those more toxic voices,” she said. In December, Elon Musk had labelled diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as a form of discrimination. Ms Jogulu was of the view men had previously benefited from a patriarchal structure in Australia, and that backlash towards the empowerment of women and minority communities was misplaced. “When Elon Musk says that diversity and inclusion is a new form of racism I think people jump on that type of bandwagon when they feel like their privilege is going and the status quo has been challenged,” she said. “We need them in the conversation to meaningfully drive an inclusive workplace.” Dr Lundy and Dr Jogulu are currently researching diversity and inclusion initiatives in the WA mining sector. According to Rio’s report, “several women” had also shared concerns about cultural change and suggested a focus on gender quality and diversity had “undermined women’s credibility in the workplace because of the perception of special treatment”. “The focus on females has been good. But it hasn’t been cascaded or communicated well,” one respondent said. “Bringing more women in is the right thing to do, but the way we’ve explained it to men hasn’t been the best approach.” In its latest report, Elizabeth Broderick & Co said resistance was a natural part of any change agenda “and is seen across all efforts to advance cultural change in different contexts”. “Resistance can be a sign that people either don’t understand or don’t believe in the case for change.” Rio chief executive Jakob Stausholm told The West Australian there had to be a fair transition, and that finding the balance was difficult. “You can see in the report the gender balance has improved every single year,” he said. “We still have a long way to go, but there’s just a limit on how fast you can go, because if you try to go too fast, then the other group feels not fairly treated, so it has to be a fair transition. And finding that balance is difficult. “There’s no doubt, and we see that in the commentaries in our people survey, that there are a lot of, particularly men, who find it difficult that suddenly we draw a line in the sand and saying ‘what we have done in the past is not OK, this is how it should be in the future’. “Quite a lot of help is necessary to help them to understand why certain behaviours needs to change.” Actual or attempted sexual assaults at Rio Tinto had increased since 2021, from five cases to eight in the past 12 months. And 40 per cent of review participants witnessed bullying, sexual harassment or racism in the past 12 months. Mr Stausholm admitted while progress was evident in the review, there was still a long way to go to change culture. “I am greatly troubled by this and sincerely apologise on behalf of our leadership team to anyone affected,” he said. “We’ll stay the course. We will continue working on strengthening the diversity and the inclusiveness in our culture.”