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Indigenous employment

The representation of Indigenous employees has fallen steadily, from a high of 2.7% in 1998 and 1999, after increasing for some years before that.

The decline in employment for Indigenous Australians has continued this year. The proportion of Indigenous employees fell even more sharply this year to 2.2% of ongoing employees, down from 2.4% in 2004.¹³ The number of ongoing Indigenous employees fell from 2946 to 2770—a fall of 6.0%. This decline included 48 Indigenous employees who were transferred out of coverage of the Act, but who remained in Commonwealth employment. If these 48 Indigenous employees had not moved out of coverage of the Act, the representation rate for Indigenous employees would have been 2.3% at June 2005, rather than 2.2%. This compares unfavourably with the slight increase in total ongoing employee numbers of 0.8% over the year.

Despite this decline, the representation of Indigenous Australians in the APS still compares favourably with that in the broader Australian workforce, in which 1.9% of all Australians aged 15–64 and 1.4% of the Australian labour force identified themselves as Indigenous.¹⁴

Indigenous representation varies between agencies. Those that predominantly deliver services to, or work with, Indigenous communities generally had a higher proportion of Indigenous employees. As Table 9.5 shows, the agencies with the highest proportion of Indigenous employees in their workforce (i.e. more than 10% of total ongoing employees) at 30 June 2005 were Aboriginal Hostels Limited (AHL), the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA), AIATSIS, the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT) and DEST.

Table 9.5: Agencies with the highest proportion of ongoing Indigenous employees, June 2005

Agency	Indigenous ongoing staff	Total ongoing staff	Indigenous (%)
AHL	269	330	81.5
TSRA	24	33	72.7
AIATSIS	10	56	17.9
NNTT	29	215	13.5
DEST	183	1776	10.3

Source: APSED

At 30 June 2005, however, four agencies employed over half of all ongoing Indigenous employees (57.9%). These agencies were Centrelink (908 or 32.8%), AHL (269 or 9.7%), DEWR (217 or 7.8%) and DIMIA (209 or 7.5%). With the exception of AHL, Indigenous employees make up between three and eight per cent of employees in these agencies.

These four agencies accounted for 26.7% of all ongoing APS employees. Twenty-eight agencies reported that none of their ongoing employees had identified themselves as Indigenous.¹⁵ These agencies were all small, except for one large (ASIC) and one medium agency, the Australian Crime Commission (ACC).

Figure 9.3: Representation of Indigenous employees in agencies with more than 1000 ongoing staff, June 2005

Source: APSED

The agencies with the largest increases in Indigenous staff during the year were DIMIA (156) and DEWR (121). ATSIS employees moved to both of these agencies during the year following machinery of government changes. Agencies in which Indigenous employee numbers decreased were Centrelink (56) and Defence (8).

Table 9.6 shows that Indigenous representation fell at most classification levels this year. The exceptions were the APS 1–2 classifications, where representation rose from 3.9% to 4.4% over the year (due to a large decrease in total APS 1–2 employee numbers), and EL classifications, which remained steady at 1.1%, although the actual number of Indigenous employees at EL classifications rose from 277 to 293.

Representation in trainee classifications declined only slightly (from 53 to 52), but fell proportionally, due to the large overall increase in employee numbers in these classifications. There was a rise in the number of Indigenous graduate trainees (from 9 to 13) but a decline in that of other Indigenous trainees (from 44 to 39).

Indigenous employees are much less likely to have graduate qualifications than are other employees—at June 2005, only one-quarter (25.5%) of Indigenous employees had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with the APS average of 49.9%.¹⁶

There was a net decrease of four Indigenous SES employees during the year, down from 24 to 20. This net decrease comprised six separations—four former ATSIS employees, one each from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the Attorney-General’s Department (AGD), and two new Indigenous SES employees, one each in DEWR and PM&C.

Table 9.6: Ongoing representation of Indigenous employees by classification, 1996, 2004 and 2005

	1996			2004			2005
	No.	% of class’n who are Indigenous	% of Indigenous employees	No.	% of class’n who are Indigenous	% of Indigenous employees	No.	% of class’n who are Indigenous	% of Indigenous employees
APS 1-2	995	3.9	30.0	300	3.9	10.2	280	4.4	10.1
APS 3-4	1411	3.3	42.5	1428	3.2	48.5	1289	2.9	46.5
APS 5-6	623	1.7	18.8	864	2.1	29.3	836	2.0	30.2
EL	142	0.7	4.3	277	1.1	9.4	293	1.1	10.6
SES	18	1.0	0.5	24	1.3	0.8	20	1.0	0.7
Trainee	100	12.9	3.0	44	16.2	1.5	39	10.3	1.4
Grad trainee	26	3.2	0.8	9	1.7	0.3	13	1.7	0.5
Other	4	0.9	0.1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	3319	2.6	100.0	2946	2.4	100.0	2770	2.2	100.0

Source: APSED

Looking at longer-term trends, over the past ten years, Indigenous representation has risen in the APS 1–2, APS 5–6 and EL classifications, remained steady in the SES, and fallen in the APS 3–4, trainee and graduate trainee classification levels. Indigenous employees are less concentrated in the APS 1–2 classifications, and have actually increased their absolute numbers at the APS 5–6 levels, and among EL and SES employees.

The total number of Indigenous employees also declined over the last ten years, although numbers rose in 2002 and 2003, before falling for the past two years.

Engagements of Indigenous employees have followed a similar fluctuating pattern. These trends are shown in Table 9.7. As a proportion of total engagements, Indigenous representation has generally fallen over the past ten years, despite a rise in 2003–04 when Indigenous employees accounted for 3.0% of all engagements. During 2004–05, they accounted for only 2.3% of engagements. Both these percentages are much lower than they were ten years ago (4.3% in 1995–96). The number of Indigenous employees engaged in the APS during 2004–05 was 261. This was a decline of 6.8% from the number engaged during 2003–04. In contrast, total engagements in the APS overall rose by 22.6%.

Indigenous separations can be looked at in two ways—either as a proportion of Indigenous employees, or as a proportion of total separations. Using the first method, 15.3% of all ongoing Indigenous employees separated during 2004–05. As noted above, during 2004–05 48 ongoing Indigenous employees were transferred out of coverage of the Act. Excluding these employees, the separation rate was 13.6%. The comparable separation rate for the APS overall was 8.5%. Separations of Indigenous employees are considerably higher, both in proportional and absolute terms, than they were ten years ago. The absolute decline in the number of Indigenous employees this year resulted from both the decline in engagements and the increase in separations.

Table 9.7 looks at Indigenous separations using the second method described above. As a proportion of all ongoing separations, Indigenous separations fell this year, from 4.9% to 4.2% of all separations. The number of Indigenous separations actually rose, from 356 to 437, but the increase was proportionally less than for the APS overall.

Table 9.7: Indigenous representation in engagements and separations of ongoing employees, 1995–96 to 2004–05

	1995– 96	1996– 97	1997– 98	1998– 99	1999– 00	2000– 01	2001– 02	2002– 03	2003– 04	2004– 05
Engagements no.	347	256	255	260	276	382	394	405	280	261
(% of engagements)	4.3	4.5	4.1	3.3	2.3	2.8	3.2	2.7	3.0	2.3
Separations no.	309	454	417	434	395	262	270	291	356	437
(% of separations)	3.3	2.9	2.5	3.0	3.6	3.2	3.2	4.1	4.9	4.2

Source: APSED

In percentage terms, trainee programmes have represented an important source of engagements for Indigenous employees, as shown in Figure 9.4. The use of traineeships and graduate trainee programmes to recruit Indigenous Australians has varied over time, though Indigenous employees remain more highly represented in traineeships than in graduate trainee programmes (1.7% of graduate trainees at June 2005 were Indigenous compared to 10.3% of other trainees). Overall, the number of both graduate and other trainees rose substantially during 2004–05. While Indigenous graduate trainees maintained their representation in the increased intake, Indigenous representation fell for other trainees (down from 16.2% in 2004).

Figure 9.4: Representation of ongoing Indigenous employees in trainee classifications, 1996 to 2005

Source: APSED

Figure 9.5 compares the length of service in the APS by Indigenous status, for those employees who separated during 2004–05. It shows the proportion of separations that occurred at different lengths of service for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees. Results have not changed substantially for the past three years—Indigenous employees are much more likely to have considerably shorter service before leaving the APS. During 2004–05, 44.4% of Indigenous employees who separated had less than five years service, compared with 31.6% of non-Indigenous employees.

Figure 9.5: Ongoing separations by Indigenous status and length of service, 2004–05

Source: APSED

Impact of ATSIC and ATSIS changes

On 15 April 2004, the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs announced the abolition of ATSIC and ATSIS with effect from 1 July 2004.

Most programmes managed by ATSIS have been allocated to mainstream portfolio agencies. An Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (OIPC) has been established within DIMIA to provide policy advice and monitor the performance of mainstream agencies. Multi-agency Indigenous Coordination Centres (ICCs) have been established in 30 regions across the country to coordinate the administration and delivery of Indigenous services and programmes. More information on the whole of government governance initiatives for Indigenous Affairs can be found in Chapter 11, ‘Whole of Government’.

ATSIS employees were ‘mainstreamed’ into various Commonwealth agencies and co-located regionally within these ICCs. The majority of Indigenous employees and managers previously employed in ATSIS are now managing Indigenous programmes across several government agencies (e.g. FaCS, DEWR and DCITA, as well as OIPC in DIMIA).

One-quarter (278 or 25.2%) of ongoing employees who had been employed in ATSIS at 30 June 2004 separated from the APS during 2004–05. Of this group, 103 were retrenched, and 91 were transferred out of coverage of the Act but remained in Commonwealth employment. Excluding those who transferred out of coverage, 50.3% of those who separated were Indigenous. This compares with an Indigenous representation rate of 44.3% in ATSIS at 30 June 2004.

Challenges regarding Indigenous employment

This year agencies were asked if they were facing a range of challenges regarding the attraction and retention of Indigenous Australians. Agencies predominantly identified challenges relating to recruitment rather than retention. Twenty-eight agencies have

been identified as having no ongoing Indigenous employees,¹⁷ roughly the number of agencies to state that retention challenges are not applicable. However, of concern is the number of agencies indicating that challenges relating to the employment of Indigenous employees are not applicable to them.

The two most difficult challenges facing all agencies with respect to the employment of Indigenous Australians were the difficulty in recruiting Indigenous Australians with the required skills and the difficulty in recruiting Indigenous graduates (34% and 28% of agencies, respectively). These proportions increase to 54% and 62%, respectively, if agencies that indicated these challenges were not applicable to them are excluded.

Almost a quarter of agencies (that answered ‘yes’ that they had faced a challenge or ‘no’ that they had not faced a challenge) indicated that they had lost valued Indigenous employees.

Table 9.8 sets out the frequency of challenges faced by agencies in the employment of Indigenous Australians.

Table 9.8: Agency challenges in relation to Indigenous employment, 2004–05

	Number of agencies (N=82)
Challenges faced by agencies	Yes	No	Not applicable
Loss of valued Indigenous employees	14	41	27
Difficulty recruiting Indigenous graduates with required skills as part of a formal graduate programme	23	14	45
Difficulty recruiting Indigenous Australians (other than for a formal graduate programme) with required skills	28	24	30
Difficulty in managing underperforming Indigenous employees	11	41	30
Difficulty providing mentors with appropriate experience for Indigenous employees	10	33	39
Difficulty in accessing assistance and/or training on cross cultural issues	3	43	36
Difficulty in managing Indigenous employees’ cultural and community obligations within the framework of your current certified agreement	1	56	25
Difficulty in integrating Indigenous ex-ATSIS employees into your agency	2	16	64
Other	1	19	62

Note: Not applicable results include agencies that did not respond to the question relating to the particular strategy.

Source: Agency survey

Addressing the decline in employment of Indigenous Australians in the APS

The employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees within the APS is important to achieving government policy development, service delivery, and employment and equity outcomes. At the ‘Ministerial Conversations’ seminar¹⁸ on 12 August 2005, the Prime Minister noted that ‘we are as I say in the early stages of a major reform in the management of Indigenous affairs and this requires in my view as many Indigenous people as possible skilled in doing whole of government business and it is vital that Indigenous Australians are among the highly-skilled public servants who implement this important agenda.’¹⁹

The APS Employment and Capability Strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders²⁰ has been developed in response to challenges arising from emerging demographic and social trends, the new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs and the continuing decline in Indigenous representation in the APS. The Strategy aims to:

• stabilise numbers over the next two years, and then increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment in the mainstream APS
• contribute to increased social equity by improving Indigenous people’s income levels and employment opportunities in the wider Australian employment market
• increase the extent to which government agencies are able to use the existing and potential skills and capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in order to meet their business needs for skilled employees, including in areas of specific skill shortage and recruitment difficulty
• build the capacity of the APS generally to provide more effective service delivery to Indigenous people.

The strategy seeks to address these national interest concerns through initiatives directed at:

• Assisting agencies to address key barriers to the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees, by identifying pathways to employment that allow Indigenous people to develop the required skills and capacity to work within the APS. The Commission is currently running pilot traineeship and school-towork programmes and an APS-wide Indigenous graduate programme. Proposed initiatives include promoting the APS as an employer of choice and identifying and promoting existing pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.
• Supporting Indigenous employees to develop relevant skills that allow them to contribute to business goals and build successful long-term careers within the APS. Existing initiatives include targeted development programmes for APS and EL Indigenous employees, Indigenous employee networks and an Indigenous exchange programme in WA. New strategies will include the extension of Indigenous employee networks; the provision of coaching and mentoring services for individual agencies; the establishment of a central agencies’ Indigenous exposure programme to provide short-term secondments; and further research (including through a survey of all APS employees identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders to be conducted in mid-November 2005) into the nature of existing Indigenous employment in the APS.
• Supporting agencies to align strategies that promote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment with their broader strategies for achieving business outcomes through workforce planning and capability development. New strategies will include encouraging more agencies to develop Indigenous employment strategies and the development of specific recruitment strategies that focus on attracting Indigenous employees at more senior levels into the ICC network and the wider APS.
• Encouraging partnerships with other jurisdictions and organisations (including Job Network members) to develop innovative employment solutions that meet agency skill requirements. The Commission will establish an Indigenous Liaison Officer to provide advice to agencies on the development of their Indigenous employment strategies, and support to agencies seeking to participate in the other recruitment and retention programmes. An employer recognition framework that will reward innovation and commitment to these principles will also be developed to provide valuable recognition for the APS as an employer of choice for Indigenous Australians.
• Ensuring that employees working in whole of government service delivery to Indigenous Australians have the skills they need to deliver effective outcomes; for example, the Commission is coordinating the delivery of training in working in a whole of government context to all ICCs and identifying additional training and development requirements to support the new whole of government operating environment.

The strategy concentrates on recruiting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to the APS and developing existing Indigenous employees so that they have broadly-based APS skills that will equip them to gain jobs anywhere, and providing a supportive work environment.

Agency support for the employment of Indigenous Australians

Support for the recruitment and retention of Indigenous Australians is essential if agencies are committed to reversing the current trend of decline in the representation of Indigenous employees in the APS. A number of agencies have implemented strategies to address Indigenous employment in their agency, and others have incorporated recruitment and retention initiatives into their workplace diversity programmes, resulting in some positive outcomes at local levels. These are discussed in more detail below.

Indigenous employment strategies

The agency survey asked agencies whether they currently have a formal Indigenous Employment Strategy (IES) in place. Only 19 agencies indicated that they had such a strategy. The majority of these agencies provided a copy of their strategy to the Commission. Several strategies, however, were out-of-date, and six are due for review this year.

Centrelink, DEWR, and DFAT have new strategies in place to take them forward to 2007 or later. The development of an agency IES is a positive step towards addressing the declining Indigenous representation; however, the effectiveness of these strategies is significantly more important. An agency IES must be able bring about a positive and measurable outcome for Indigenous recruitment and retention. Following is a précis of two of these new strategies:

Indigenous recruitment

There has been little change during 2004–05 in the frequency of strategies used (across all agencies) to recruit Indigenous Australians, compared to 2003–04. Only two strategies saw any growth—the use of identified positions (23 agencies, up from 19 last year) and providing opportunities for Indigenous people to gain skills and experience under an agency-based Indigenous employment scheme (12 agencies, up from 10 last year).

Table 9.9 sets out the overall frequency of strategies used by agencies to recruit Indigenous Australians in 2004–05.

Table 9.9: Agency strategies to recruit Indigenous Australians, 2004–05

	Number of agencies (N=82)
Recruitment Strategies	In place	Being developed	Not in place
Special employment measures limiting employment opportunities only to Indigenous applicants	14	3	65
Identified positions21	23	1	58
Participation in the National Indigenous Cadetship Programme run by DEWR	23	2	57
Providing opportunities for Indigenous people to gain skills and experience under an agency-based Indigenous employment scheme	12	4	66
Advertising employment opportunities in Indigenous media	29	3	50
Own recruitment strategy	16	8	58

Note: Not in place results include agencies that did not respond to the question relating to the particular strategy.

Source: Agency survey

While it would not be appropriate, given the variation between agencies, to suggest that they should use a particular strategy or mix of strategies, it is concerning that a sizeable proportion of agencies (46%), including 24 small agencies, 11 medium and three large agencies, report that they do not use any specific strategies to recruit Indigenous Australians and only four of these agencies indicated that they are developing one or more strategies.

This year the agency survey also asked agencies if they collected data on the number of Indigenous Australians who applied for employment opportunities in their agency. Thirty-two percent of all agencies were collecting data on Indigenous applicants. This increases to forty-five per cent if those agencies that indicated that this strategy was not applicable are excluded. Two per cent of all agencies indicated they were developing the capacity to collect data on Indigenous applicants applying for employment opportunities in their agency.

Work undertaken by MAC for Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce²² found that the factors attracting Indigenous employees to the APS were similar to those that attracted other groups, with the exception of ‘the opportunity to work with a particular individual’ and ‘the ability to work on the ground with Indigenous communities’. MAC also found that Indigenous participants knew very little about the APS before joining it, suggesting a strong need to promote the APS as an employer of choice to Indigenous Australians.

Retention of Indigenous employees

Specific measures to retain Indigenous employees were more common than measures to recruit Indigenous employees. Two-thirds of all agencies (67%) reported using strategies to retain Indigenous employees. The most common strategy was provision of special leave (for example, ceremonial leave (77%)), followed by encouragement to participate in the Indigenous APS Employees’ Network (IAPSEN) (59%). These proportions exclude those agencies that indicated these retention strategies were not applicable to them, as they had no Indigenous employees.

Since last year there has been an increase in the number of agencies having various retention strategies with the exception of special leave provisions (48 agencies down from 56 last year).

Nineteen agencies (23%) do not use any specific strategies to retain Indigenous employees, and none of those agencies report that they are developing strategies. This group comprises mostly small agencies, and two medium agencies. Of these, four have Indigenous employees, and could reasonably be expected to have strategies for retaining them.

Table 9.10 sets out the frequency of retention strategies used across all agencies.

Table 9.10: Agency strategies to retain Indigenous employees, 2004–05

	Number of agencies (N = 82)
Retention strategies	In place	Being developed	Not in place	Not applicable (no Indigenous employees)
Encourage participation in the Indigenous APS Employees’ Network	34	4	20	24
Support another Indigenous employees’ network (e.g. internal network)	26	0	32	24
Provide study awards	20	0	37	25
Provide culturally specific training programmes	14	6	38	24
Provide Indigenous cultural awareness training for all employees	16	9	33	24
Provide special leave provisions (e.g. ceremonial leave)	48	0	14	20
Provide targeted leadership development opportunities	15	1	41	25
Other retention strategies	17	0	30	35

Note: Not applicable results include agencies that did not respond to the question relating to the particular strategy.

Source: Agency survey

Agencies were also asked a range of additional questions about the retention of

Indigenous employees (see Figure 9.6). These questions sought information on whether agencies were conducting exit interviews with Indigenous employees leaving their agency, were assisting Indigenous employees in attaining tertiary qualifications, or had put any measures in place to integrate Indigenous ex-ATSIS employees into their workforce.

Figure 9.6: Other measures used to retain Indigenous employees, 2004–05

Source: Agency Survey

Of those agencies that indicated that these measures were applicable to them 55% of agencies stated they undertook exit interviews with Indigenous employees when they left the organisation. This declines to 26% if all agencies are included, highlighting the likelihood that there is a gap in understanding in many agencies as to why their Indigenous employees are leaving. Of concern is the 54% of agencies that state that this is not applicable to them.

Fifty-five per cent of agencies that indicated that retention measures were applicable to them had strategies in place to assist Indigenous employees to attain tertiary qualifications during 2004–05.

The abolition of ATSIS saw ex-ATSIS employees move to other agencies as part of the Government’s strategy of having Indigenous affairs managed through a whole of government approach. These employees were transferred to eight portfolio agencies. All of these agencies indicated that they had implemented measures to integrate Indigenous ex-ATSIS employees into the workforce.

Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce highlights a range of factors that encourage Indigenous Australians to remain in the APS. These include: attraction to the type of work they are undertaking; the opportunity for learning and development; a feeling of being valued; and the opportunity to use their individual knowledge and skills. Many participants also considered that being a role model for other Indigenous employees was a source of great personal motivation.

Other factors that participants identified included: mentoring programmes; improved career advice and planning; stronger alignment between business, personal development and performance assessment; greater investment in current staff, especially around support for tertiary education; and assistance with mobility.

Agency Initiatives pertaining to Indigenous employment

The 2005 agency survey asked agencies to outline their major workplace diversity achievements for 2004–05. The following agency achievements were achieved in relation to Indigenous employment:

• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) made their Indigenous cultural liaison unit a part of a critical issue group for the agency. They also created a number of Indigenous identified positions including a graduate position.
• TSRA maintained a high representation of Indigenous employees (76% of employees) many of whom are locally recruited within the region.
• At AHL, all positions are identified and 80% of employees identify as Indigenous Australians. All vacancies are advertised in the Indigenous press. AHL employed 32 full-time and 15 part-time ongoing employees under the Structured Training and Employment Project.
• The Federal Court continued its Indigenous research associate programme, employing three Indigenous associates this year.
• Customs recruited three trainees under the Indigenous entry-level recruitment initiative, which provides accredited training qualifications. It also participated in the National Indigenous Cadetship Programme (NICP) and assisted 10 cadets in 2004–05.
• The ATO released an Indigenous Recruitment and Career Development Programme and engaged an Indigenous Liaison Officer (ILO). The ILO will look at raising the profile of the ATO as a possible employer of Indigenous Australians. The ATO is also participating in the Commission’s school to work programme and will sponsor five Indigenous students in 2006 and five each year between 2007 and 2011.
• BoM supported two Indigenous cadets to complete their tertiary courses, although neither ultimately took up a position with BoM, which also took on an Indigenous trainee.
• CSA developed an Indigenous support network in one of its regions.
• CRS participated in the NICP and has committed to the Indigenous graduate programme for 2006.
• DAFF continued to offer Indigenous cultural awareness training to central office employees and also participated in the NICP, taking on four cadets in 2005.
• DEST maintained its high level of Indigenous representation (10%). DEST also appointed an Indigenous leader to report to the Secretary on issues related to Indigenous leadership. Three Indigenous graduates were recruited in 2005, and seven cadets under the NICP.
• Finance recruited two cadets under the NICP. One cadet has completed their studies and is now a Finance employee, the other is expected to join Finance in 2006. Finance is also participating in the Indigenous graduate programme and is expecting to take on five graduates.
• In DIMIA, the certified agreement negotiated for OIPC employees includes Indigenous-specific provisions in recognition of the particular circumstances of Indigenous employees.
• DEH developed improved and flexible recruitment practices for Parks Australia North (Kakadu and Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Parks).
• Health will be contracting the services of a professional coach to work directly with Indigenous employees who feel that their careers have stalled. Team leaders will also be consulted to maximise support for participating employees. Health has also developed and implemented the ‘Growing our Own’ programme for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.

Employee perceptions

The employee survey asked respondents to rate their level of agreement with the statement ‘my agency actively supports the employment, development and promotion of Indigenous employees’. Overall, 58% of respondents across the APS agreed with the statement, with results for the 21 large agencies ranging from 20% to a high of 81% at DEST. The APS result was much lower than for similar questions in relation to women and people from all cultural backgrounds, but similar to the level of agreement about agency support for people with a disability. Not surprisingly, the level of agreement, especially in those agencies with the highest responses, is correlated with the proportion of Indigenous employees in the agency.

This result may explain the higher level of agreement among Indigenous employees concentrated in a small number of agencies with above average Indigenous employment, that their agency supported the employment, development and promotion of Indigenous employees (63% compared to 58% of non-Indigenous employees). Non-Indigenous employees who did not agree with the statement were more likely to have chosen ‘don’t know’ (12% compared to 2%).

At least a third of respondents (ranging from 33% to 63%) from 14 of the 21 large agencies included in the survey chose ‘neither agree nor disagree’ or ‘don’t know’ in relation to their agency’s support for Indigenous employees. This suggests that some agencies need to better develop, or more clearly articulate, their commitment to employees about agency support for the employment, development and promotion of Indigenous Australians.

This year the survey also asked whether employees thought that their agency needed to do more or less to support Indigenous employees. Only 29% of employees felt that their agency needed to do more (22% nominated more and 7% much more) to support the employment, development and promotion of Indigenous employees. The majority of employees (60%) were satisfied with the level of support provided to Indigenous employees. However, 81% of Indigenous employees feel that their agency needed to do more to support them, compared with 28% of non-Indigenous respondents.

Following are some employee comments about their agency’s support for Indigenous Australians.

Job satisfaction and other employee indicators— Indigenous employees

As was the case last year, this year there was no significant difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees’ level of overall job satisfaction based on the job satisfaction index.²³ This year 73% of Indigenous employees were, on average, satisfied with the factors they nominated as important, compared to 71% of non-Indigenous employees.²⁴ Table 9.11 shows the differences in the most important job satisfaction factors for Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees. ‘Duties/expectations made clear’, ‘chance to make a useful contribution to society’, ‘seeing tangible results from my work’ and ‘opportunities for career development’ were all more likely to be included in the top five most important job satisfaction for Indigenous employees.

Table 9.11: Most important job satisfaction factors, by Indigenous status, 2004–05

Indigenous employees			Non-Indigenous employees
Rank	Factor	% rating in top 5	Rank	Factor	% rating in top 5
1	Duties/expectations made clear	58	1	Good working relationships	52
2	Salary	53	2	Salary	46
3	Regular feedback/ recognition for effort	45	=3	Regular feedback/ recognition for effort	45
4	Chance to make a useful contribution to society	37	=3	Flexible working arrangements	45
=5	Seeing tangible results from my work	36	5	Good manager	44
=5	Opportunities for career development	36

Source: Employee survey

Unfortunately, there was insufficient data to accurately assess satisfaction levels with individual factors.

In response to a series of questions exploring employee identity and levels of pride, some differences were evident between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees. When asked to choose between whether they considered themselves to be primarily an APS employee or an employee of their agency, Indigenous employees were more likely than non-Indigenous employees to consider themselves an APS employee (70% and 39%, respectively). In response to a separate question, Indigenous employees were more likely than non-Indigenous employees to regard themselves as ‘someone who is satisfied with their current job and does not envisage moving to another job in the foreseeable future’ (41% and 25%, respectively), but less likely to regard themselves as ‘a career public servant’ (12% and 23%, respectively). Indigenous employees also reported higher levels of pride—they were more likely than non-Indigenous employees to agree that they were proud to work in their current agency (81% and 65%, respectively) and in the APS (84% and 71%, respectively).

When employees’ perceptions of their immediate supervisors’ leadership and management capability were examined, the views of Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees differed markedly in terms of leadership capability. Based on the supervisor capability index, Indigenous employees rated their immediate supervisor’s leadership capability lower than non-Indigenous employees did. Only half of Indigenous employees rated their immediate supervisor’s overall leadership capability above average, compared to 68% of non-Indigenous employees. However, a similar proportion of Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees (about 50%) rated their immediate supervisor as highly effective at managing people.

In addition to the different views held by Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees highlighted above, other noteworthy differences included:

• Indigenous employees were less likely to agree that senior managers in their organisation led by example in ethical behaviour (33% compared to 52% of non-Indigenous employees)
• Indigenous employees were more likely to disagree that they were confident in the processes used by their agency to resolve employee grievances (42% compared to 26% of non-Indigenous employees)
• Indigenous employees were more likely to disagree that recruitment and promotion decisions in their organisation were fair (46% compared to 30% of non-Indigenous employees).

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13 Last year we reported that 2.3% of ongoing employees at June 2004 were Indigenous. The proportion for last year has been revised upwards, due to an improvement in the quality of historical data on Indigenous status.

14 ABS 2002, Census of Population and Housing 2001, ABS, Canberra.

15 This data is not directly comparable with that published in last year’s State of the Service report.

16 The method used to calculate the proportion of employees with graduate or tertiary qualifications includes those with qualifications at bachelor degree and above. It excludes from the denominator those for whom no data was provided by agencies, and those who chose not to provide details of their highest educational qualification.

17 This data is not directly comparable with that published in last year’s State of the Service report.

18 The ‘Ministerial Conversations’ seminar series is being conducted for the SES by the Commission, <http://www.apsc.gov.au/seslearn>

19 Hon John Howard MP, ‘Ministerial Conversations’ seminar, 12 August 2005, <http://www.pm.gov.au/news/speeches/speech1505.html>

20 See the Commission’s website <http://www.apsc.gov.au/indigenousemployment/index.html>

21 An identified position is one in which part or all of the duties involve the development of policy or programmes relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and/or interaction with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, including service delivery. In order to perform these duties efficiently and effectively, applicants need to demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies and cultures, and an ability to communicate sensitively and effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

22 Management Advisory Committee 2005, Managing and Sustaining the APS Workforce, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra

23 Background information on the job satisfaction and other employee indicator questions in the employee survey is found above at the section ‘Job satisfaction and other employee indicators—women’.

24 In this context the results were not statistically significant at the 95% Confidence Interval (see Appendix 2 for more information on confidence intervals).

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