Chapter 5: Equity and diversity

Abbreviations

A list of the abbreviations used in this report is available in the Glossary

Key chapter findings

Commitment to workplace diversity and equal employment opportunity is an area of relative strength for the APS. A wide range of agencies are investing considerable time and effort in promoting workplacediversity within their workplaces and employees agree that their agencies take these issues seriously.

The APS has had some major successes. This has been most notable in the area of women’s employment. The proportion of women in senior positions in the APS has improved substantially in recent times, and there are strong signs that this will continue in the future. The growth in representation at the highest SES level, SES Band 3, reported in Chapter 2, is particularly positive, with women achieving a critical mass in this feeder group for Departmental Secretary positions.

The general increase in women’s employment in the APS has also continued. Although this is pleasing, agencies need to ensure that they make themselves attractive to a wide range of employees so that the APS can continue to be representative of the community it serves. In time this may mean that the APS may need to recruit more young men.

The APS also continues to show very positive results in the area of work-life balance. The sustained levels of high satisfaction in work-life balance reflect the wide access that APS employees enjoy to a range of flexible working arrangements, which appear to allow many APS employees to balance their non-work lives around long working hours. The APS can build on its success in this area as it markets itself as an ‘employer of choice’ in an increasingly tight labour market.

Understandably, satisfaction with work-life balance tends to decrease as classification level increases. This is, at least in part, an inevitable impact of the increased responsibilities at the EL 2 and SES levels. It is important too, to interpret this finding in light of the fact that SES generally report very high levels of job satisfaction. Nevertheless, as agencies compete to attract staff, they may need to look at how they can assist their EL 2 and SES employees to find a better balance, and to sustain their energy and all round effectiveness, or risk higher turnover among this group. To date this does not appear to be an area of focus for agencies.

The APS also appears to be doing better at retaining its mature-aged workers, including through greater use of flexible working arrangements.The representation of employees from non-English speaking backgrounds has improved this year, after being relatively stable for the last decade. The increase in the employment of young people and their relatively high levels of satisfaction is pleasing, but the APS clearly has to work harder at supporting this group, encouraging them to build long-term careers in theAPS, or to consider returning to the APS at a later stage if they do decide to leave.

The employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people with disability continue to be areas of major challenge for the APS. Agencies are putting a range of strategies in place to supportthese groups, although there is potential to improve levels of support, and for more agencies to make support a priority. There has also been a wide range of initiatives implemented this year under the APS Employment and Capability Strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employees.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees there have been some successes. In particular, increasing representation at the EL classification levels and among graduate trainees bodes well for the future. Nevertheless, the structural issues that are affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment, particularly the reduction in the use of APS 1–2 levels, the increasing reliance on tertiary graduates, and reductions in the representation of service delivery employees, are not easy to overcome. If Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment is to be put on a more sustainable footing, agenciesneed to make concerted efforts to encourage Indigenous employment in a more diverse range of roles. It is unlikely, however, that we will see a quick turnaround of the current trends.

In the case of people with disability, declining representation is accompanied by lower satisfaction against a range of factors relevant to employee engagement. These results reinforce the importance of all agencies taking action on the eight objectives identified by MAC to support the employment of people with disability. The Commission is conducting further evaluation work in 2006–07 with the aim of producing a tool-kit that will provide further support for agencies in this task.

Another area of concern for the APS is in the ongoing perceptions by a minority of APS employees that they have experienced bullying and harassment. The level of perceived bullying and harassment has remained fairly constant over the last few years. Although lower than in some other jurisdictions, the variation in agency performance suggests that some agencies need to focus on improving their culture in this regard. Management attention, clear expectations about behaviour, the development of formal policies, and early intervention when things go wrong can all assist in promoting a respectful workplace culture.

Variable results have been achieved against the occupational health and safety targets set for Australian Government employers. There continues to be a need for substantial improvement, particularly in the area of return to work performance. Agencies’ senior managers need to display commitment to a strong safety and injury management culture and to monitor and report on their performance.

More broadly, the onus is on APS leaders to demonstrate, and to expect from their staff, a clear commitment to equity and workplace diversity. Building on our successes and addressing our weaknessesin these areas is likely to have large pay-offs for the APS. Through its link to employee engagement such a focus will increase the level of commitment of our employees and increase levels of retention. Ensuring that we draw on the full breadth and diversity of the labour market to meet our demands for skilled employees, and that our work benefits from a broad range of perspectives and ideas, will also provide direct benefits in terms of improved performance.

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