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› Legislative framework › Workplace diversity programmes › APSED and the quality of EEO data › Representation of EEO groups › Agency commitment to workplace diversity
Agency commitment to workplace diversity
This year the employee survey asked respondents about their organisation’s commitment to creating a diverse workforce. Sixty-one per cent of employees agreed that their agency was committed to building a diverse workforce.
Some State jurisdictions report a much higher response rate compared to the APS rate in relation to agencies’ commitment to creating a diverse workforce. The WA Public Service also asked employees in two non-metropolitan departments about their organisation’s commitment to creating a diverse workforce. Seventy-eight per cent of these respondents, agreed that their organisation was committed to creating a diverse workforce.7 Results for the Victorian Public Service were even higher with 80% of employees participating in their People Matter Survey agreeing that their agency is committed to creating a diverse workforce.8
Of the EEO groups, women were the only group that was significantly more positive than employees not from these groups about their agency’s commitment to creating a diverse workforce. Younger workers (25 years and under) were also more positive than workers over 25 years of age. However, older workers (45 years and over) were less positive than workers under 45 years of age.
Evaluation of workplace diversity programmes
As with last year’s evaluation, there was some indication that a broad approach to workplace diversity may be adopted at the expense of implementing specific strategies to remove employment-disadvantage for the specified EEO groups. No workplace diversity programmes contained specific measures for all four EEO groups and five agencies had no specific measures at all.
Indigenous Australians and people with a disability were the most frequently addressed EEO groups in workplace diversity programmes, with specific measures included to address the employment and retention of these groups. However, there was no clear correlation between the inclusion of specific measures for Indigenous Australians and people with disabilities and increased representation for these groups (although there was a link between the overall quality of the workplace diversity programme and EEO representation).
Only one workplace diversity programme contained initiatives designed to address employment related disadvantage for employees from NESB.
evaluation
Employees in medium agencies (57%) were less likely to agree that their agency was committed to creating a diverse workforce compared to small agencies (66%). Sixty-one per cent of employees in large agencies agreed that their agency was committed to creating a diverse workforce.
Of the 21 large agencies, employee agreement ranged from a low of 38% to a high of 75%, with the highest scoring agencies being DEST, DFAT and DIMIA.
7 Office of the Public Sector Standards Commissioner, Western Australia, Public Sector Climate Survey, 2004–05. ‘The data for Western Australia for 2004–05 represents 2 non-metropolitan Departments of Education and 2 non-metropolitan Departments of Health’.
8 Office for the Commissioner for Public Employment, Victoria, People Matter Survey 2004, <http://www.ope.vic.gov.au>
