Workplace diversity programmes
As noted above, the Act requires that agency heads establish workplace diversity programmes to assist in giving effect to the Values. This year in response to the agency survey 78 agencies (95%) indicated that they had a workplace diversity programme in place. Those agencies without a programme were all small agencies. Twenty-eight per cent of workplace diversity programmes are currently being reviewed and 23% were reviewed during 2004–05. An audit of agency workplace diversity programmes in early 2005 found that 79% of the eighty programmes held by the Commission were current.
During 2005, the Commission carried out the second of its rolling evaluations of APS agencies’ written workplace diversity programmes. The evaluation looked at how effectively the requirements set out in the Commissioner’s Directions have been incorporated into a sample (24) of APS agencies’ written programmes. The methodology used was similar to that used in 2004, and can be found in Appendix 3 of the report.
Evaluation of written workplace diversity programmes
The evaluation found that most agencies in the sample had taken substantial and positive steps towards meeting the requirements for workplace diversity programmes, though room for improvement remained. The key findings are as follows:
Workplace diversity programmes—General
The overall quality of written workplace diversity programmes in the sample was inconsistent, with only a few programmes taking a consistently high-quality approach to all measures required to be included under the Commissioner’s Directions. However, the majority of agencies addressed most of the measures required to be included in workplace diversity programmes to some extent. Some have invested considerable effort into articulating the measures required under the Commissioner’s Directions to reflect their own organisational context.
Large agencies consistently presented more comprehensive workplace diversity programmes than did small and medium agencies. As a group small agencies’ workplace diversity programmes were generally of a similar quality; there was a much bigger range among workplace diversity programmes for medium and large agencies.
In some cases agencies’ workplace diversity programmes consisted of a range of documents, rather than one comprehensive document. Diversity strategies were included in agencies’ Indigenous employment strategies, disability action plans, certified agreements and/or agencies’ people management strategies. This adds an additional level of complexity to the evaluation of agencies’ written workplace diversity programmes.
Often, there were few cross-references between the documents that sit under the workplace diversity banner. This may limit the value of such workplace diversity programmes as planning, monitoring, evaluation and promotional tools.
Commitment to diversity
Nearly all agencies in the sample had made some links to their corporate documentation in their workplace diversity programmes, although in some cases workplace diversity programmes only referred to the relevant documentation, while in others cross references were more extensive. The most commonly-linked documents were the agencies’ certified agreements followed by their HR policies and then their corporate plans.
Linkages to other corporate documentation such as workforce plans and business plans could be further developed, bringing about stronger integration of workplace diversity into the agency’s business.
Most agencies have adopted a broad and inclusive definition of diversity.
Most workplace diversity programmes sought to demonstrate a commitment to workplace diversity and recognised the link between diversity and agency performance.
Half of the agencies in the sample outlined what they saw as ‘workplace diversity principles’.
Quality of overall measures and performance indicators
Most agencies were identified as having ‘excellent’ or ‘high quality’ measures in their workplace diversity programmes—that is, they had made or sought to make links between workplace diversity objectives and specific measures, though there was still room for improvement.
The quality of performance indicators was generally much poorer than the quality of measures (a similar finding was in last year’s evaluation). Most workplace diversity programmes in the sample included some performance indicators designed to measure the effectiveness of workplace diversity programmes, but the quality of these indicators varied considerably.
Agencies need to place a stronger focus on better articulating performance indicators for the success of workplace diversity objectives to ensure that they are measurable.
Reporting on the effectiveness of workplace diversity programmes
The Commissioner’s Directions provide that an agency head must evaluate and report annually on the effectiveness of its workplace diversity programme, although they do not specify where this reporting should occur. Few agencies indicate in their workplace diversity programmes where they report on the effectiveness of workplace diversity measures; the annual report appears to have become the default vehicle.
There is limited reporting on diversity outcomes in many agencies’ annual reports, even though most agencies mention workplace diversity in their reports.
In many cases, for example, the reporting is confined to a simple statement that a workplace diversity programme exists.
Internal reporting of diversity within agencies was not assessed by the evaluation. Some agencies mention internal reporting in their workplace diversity programmes. This could be assessed through future State of the Service agency surveys.
Impact of quality of workplace diversity programmes
There is a strong link between the quality of workplace diversity programmes and EEO representation, with high-quality workplace diversity programmes more likely to be associated with above average representation of EEO groups. However, other factors may also contribute, making direct causal links difficult to determine.
Unlike last year, there was no clear link between employees’ views of their agencies’ commitment to workplace diversity and workplace diversity programmes rated as being of higher quality.
evaluation
