Vantaggi
Partners included on health care plan, with the turn-over so high if you show any aptitude you will soon be trained up in things that would have taken you years before you would have got a crack at doing them elsewhere. Hence Barrick seems to be a good training ground. But with the Gen Y coming through they want to be paid top dollar from the start so there is higher turn over. Which is a shame because given the chance Barrick seemed to look after it's people and train them up. I got put through numerous training coarses while with them and the mid level on site were great with the best intentions.
Svantaggi
Not flexible enough to compete in Australia in a highly competitive market. Always playing catch up with people getting poached by more aggressive competitors. The turnover onsite was horrendous and people were always being stretched to do work that was above there station at that time. With a couple of months of being underground I was considered senior enough to start showing people the ropes. In an boom economy it seemed that the management had their head in the sand and didn't want to step up to compete with other players, this from the worlds largest gold producer! It created a negative atmosphere. People wanted to stay as to not let their mates down but Management didn't seem to give a toss.