Sustainability Report - Leighton Asia

squalifications, abilities and experience. In a similar manner, thepromotion and development of Leighton people is merit based.We also maintain a culture that eliminates discrimination andharassment of any kind within the workplace environment andensure that no-one is disadvantaged on the basis of race,gender, age, religious beliefs, colour, national origin, maritalstatus, sexual orientation, appearance or disability. Leighton Asiastands by its belief and treats all employees fairly andwith respect.We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment whetherdirected at employees, clients, members of the community orother stakeholders and we have procedures in place to addressany breaches quickly and effectively.Diversity in our workplaceOur approach to the engagement and development of peopleensures that we have a diverse workforce which is representativeof the markets in which we operate. We consider our diversityto be one of our company’s greatest strengths, and we considerthat this gives us a competitive advantage in dealing with ourcustomers and stakeholders. We are leveraging upon both ourlocal knowledge and international experience.We support and encourage diversity in our workplace throughthe application of our values as well as the active application ofour policies and programmes.and requirements that they will encounter during their newworking and living experience.Families are also high on our priority list, as a settled and happyfamily guarantees that our employees are able to focus on thetask at hand in relation to their job. To further promote this,we hold regular family orientation events that positivelypromote social networking across all cultures, such as barbequesand bowling events, which also result in interaction beyondthe workplace.One recent example of cross-cultural work assignments occurredin October and November 2008, when two Filipino heavyequipment operators were sent to Mongolia to provide trainingto our new Mongolian operators. This required our local Filipinooperators to immerse themselves in Mongolian culture anddevelop positive relationships with their Mongolian counterparts,whilst also adjusting to extreme climatic conditions and overcominglanguage barriers.The recent Leighton Employee Survey has been invaluable ingaining a better understanding of our people attitudes andopinions as well as giving people an opportunity to have theirsay and be heard regarding the way in which the Companydeals with our diverse workforce and builds a strongerLeighton community.Leighton Asia supports “Women in Construction” programmeconducted by the Lighthouse Club. We provide a range oflanguage classes, such as Mandarin classes for Cantonese andEnglish speakers and English as a second language.We provide Leighton people with job transfer opportunitiesbetween our different business units and with other internationalLeighton Group companies. We support the employees andtheir families with guidance on the different cultural expectations