Hecla is dedicated to investing in technology, training, systems, and programs to protect and support our people. We empower employees to contribute ideas, make decisions, and take action toward the company’s success. We foster an inclusive environment that values diverse perspectives, transparency, and teamwork and build trust and engagement through clear communication and a culture of empowerment.
Hecla’s workforce has driven our success for 134 years, and this is reflected in the relationship between our overall business strategy and objectives and our policies and practices related to people. We invest in Hecla’s people by offering training, systems, and programs to support each employee’s career progression and foster a value-based organizational culture. Learn who has oversight for HCM in our 2024 Sustainability Report.
Total Workforce
Direct Workers
Contractors
79% of our total workforce is local to our operations (excluding Greens Creek and Keno Hill)
83% of our senior managers were local to their communities
Several of our mining operations prioritize using local vendors, which helps to build service partnerships, supports local businesses, strengthens the local economy, and minimizes lead time. Hecla understands the importance of capacity building, and is continually looking for opportunities to provide training, employment, and economic benefits through contracts to businesses owned and operated by local community and Indigenous Peoples, including the Abitibiwinni First Nation Community in Quebec.
Hecla supports fundamental human rights in all our operations, including our supply chain, and in all jurisdictions in which it conducts business. We operate in countries where human rights laws are respected and promoted. Our Human Rights Statement discusses our commitment to conduct business in a manner consistent with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Our Casa Berardi mine has been verified as being compliant in accordance with the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) Protocol on the Prevention of Child and Forced Labor by an external auditor. While risks related to forced labor are typically low in Canada, Hecla has implemented the preventative measures. The directors of Hecla Canada LTD and Hecla Quebec LLC have also produced an annual report relating to child and forced labor.
Hecla Canada Resolution: Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act
Hecla Quebec Resolution: Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act
We seek to work with suppliers who share our values and ethical standards. Suppliers are also expected to adhere to the Hecla Code of Conduct, which describes expectations for all suppliers, vendors, and third-party contractors to act ethically when conducting business on Hecla’s behalf. In our Supplier Code of Conduct, we also ask them to commit to respecting fundamental human rights in their own companies and supply chains.
Hecla’s leadership program provides all supervisory employees with foundational training in key leadership attributes and Hecla’s core values. Our program focuses on how positive energy and a people-first mindset can promote employee engagement, inspire trust, and improve decision-making. Additional training in communication, coaching, emotional intelligence, and proper use of influence gives supervisors the tools they need to advance our mission and enable innovation.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion starts at the top with our Board of Directors and the Board’s Governance and Social Responsibility Committee. Our Board recognizes the benefits of having directors who bring diversity of gender, age, race, ethnicity, and cultural background. In 2017, we had no women on our Board. Currently, 38% of our directors are women, including Board Chair Catherine Boggs, who was elected in 2022.
In general, our workforce reflects the demographics of the communities near our mine sites. Hecla analyzes this trend on a yearly basis in support of our goal to be a responsible employer in the communities where we operate. In 2024, our U.S. workforce was more racially diverse than the communities in which we work, with the exception of our Juneau, Alaska and Keno Hill, Yukon sites where the operation has a high percentage of fly in/fly out hourly workers.
Though the mining industry has traditionally had a predominantly male workforce, Hecla seeks to create more opportunities for women in the Company. Hecla encourages participation in Women in Mining (WIM). Our employees have taken active roles in local chapters, including serving as committee chairs and officers and participating in networking meetings and educational activities. In 2024, women made up 10% of our total workforce and 23% of our professional/managerial positions.
Hecla’s Code of Conduct expresses our commitment to conducting our business responsibly with regard to the communities in the areas in which we operate. It calls on all employees to reflect this commitment in their work and respect the different cultures and the dignity and rights of individuals in all countries where we carry out our activities. Hecla’s core values, also conveyed to employees through our Code of Conduct, include respecting local and national cultures.
We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities and complying with all applicable employment laws in the countries where we operate, as outlined in the “Employee Relations” section of our Code of Conduct.
We seek to hire people with relevant and current skills and qualifications for modern mining operations, and we give them continuous access to training and growth opportunities. Safety and health training requirements for our workforce are specified in Hecla’s Safety and Health Policy, as part of our Safety Health and Management System
44,736 hours of safety and health training completed company-wide in 2024.
4,529 hours of employee environmental training completed in 2024.
