Table of Contents 6 2012 OVATION Awards Winning Entries

• Evelyn Yallen, Manager Internal Communications – 50%, including writing and editing, managing
production
• Henry Dang, Communications Specialist – 25%, writing, proofing, liaison with suppliers
• Julie Winget, Communications Coordinator – 10%, overseeing distribution
Other contributors include regional staff and subject matter experts who submit or review articles.
Challenges
1. Stories and story ideas come from many sources, including technical experts and people for whom
English is a second language. We must verify information, edit, and often rewrite stories to make them
suitable for a general employee audience.
2. Shipping newsletters is often subject to shipping and local Customs delays. We have found the switch
to local printing an effective solution to this problem. For sites that receive bulk shipments, we are
working with contact people at each site to ensure good distribution.
3. We rely to a large extent on photos submitted by employees who are not professional photographers.
When preparing stories, we advise staff about the type of photos needed to publicize their activities and
we work closely with regional communicators to obtain the required images. We hold an annual global
photo contest, which generates about 800 photos a year for our photo bank. Photo contest winners and
finalists are featured on the intranet and in a special insert of Issue 4 of Barrick News. In addition, we
often arrange to have a photographer attend global and function meetings to take portraits of
attendees so we have their photos on hand when needed for the newsletter and other purposes.
Measurement/Evaluation 2011 Objectives
Maintain and improve readership satisfaction
Ensure content is directly aligned with company
priorities: Safety/Security, Continuous
Improvement, Operations/Maintenance and
Corporate Social Responsibility
Ensure representation from each of four business
regions
Define and implement three or more internal
process improvements that enhance efficiency or
quality
Results
The annual online readership survey found high
levels of satisfaction and improved ratings over
the previous year on these key metrics:
• 89% said it’s easy to read (up 2% from 2010)
• 85% said it is visually appealing (up 4% from
2010)
• 87% said it reflects company vision, values and
priorities (up 1%)
• 81% said it does a good job of recognizing
employee achievements
Content analysis shows 2011 content reflects
company priorities:
• Safety/Security – 18% of all stories (in addition,
Safety has its own newsletter and the Safety
Awards issue is an insert in Issue 1)
• Continuous Improvement – regular column per
issue
• Operations/Maintenance – 19%
• Corporate Social Responsibility – 20%
•All issues contained two‐page sections from each
business region; other stories include successes or
comments from regions as well
•Introduced coated stock to improve visual
appeal, photo quality
• Used new Excellence Awards program to
increase reporting of employee achievements (140