Download Businesses with men and women represented equally at all levels of

A Practical Guide to Achieve Gender Equity in Your Workplace and
Improve Your Company’s Performance
Businesses with men and women represented equally at all levels of the organisation
perform better. That’s a fact.
The economic imperative
Growth in the South Australian economy relies in particular on
certain key industry sectors – resources, defence and advanced
manufacturing – where women continue to be under-represented,
particularly in senior leadership roles.
If South Australia is to position itself as a dynamic economy and
global leader in business, we need to move beyond talking about
gender and the workforce and start taking action.
Words into Action: A Practical Guide was developed by the South
Australian Premier’s Council for Women1 in partnership with local
industry and the Office for Women. The Guide sets out Five Key
Principles (with supporting actions) for businesses to achieve equal
representation of women and men in senior leadership roles in the
workplace.
The Guide is aimed at boards and executive managers who realise
the need for gender equity in their business but seek guidance on
how to take practical steps to achieve a more dynamic and
progressive workplace.
The Five Principles:
Principle 1: Commitment
Principle 2: Audit and Evaluation
Principle 3: Leadership
Principle 4: Workplace Culture, Diversity and
Equity Policies
Principle 5: Recruitment and Retention
If your business is looking to embed policies and strategies to
promote women to leadership roles, refer to this Guide when
reviewing your existing practices and identify at least one action
under each Principle as the start of your change process.
 Closing the gap between male and
female employment rates would
boost Australia’s GDP by 11%.
 Closing the gap between male and
female productivity rates has the
potential to boost the level of
economic activity by as much as
20%.
 Companies with three or more
women in senior management
roles or on boards deliver better
financial performance than
companies with no women at the
top.
 There is growing evidence that the
companies with the highest
representation of women in top
management perform better
financially than companies with
fewer female senior executives.
An international Catalyst study of
353 companies noted those with
senior women produced better
returns on equity (35% higher) and
total returns to shareholders were
up 36%.
 A longitudinal study of 800
Australian companies (Kulik 2011)
has found senior managers in
diversity conscious organisations
reported higher financial
performance, productivity and
employee retention.
 The world's biggest companies,
worth more than $10 billion, with
women and men on their boards,
outperformed by 26% comparable
businesses with all-male boards
over the past six years.
Ref: www.wicl.com.au
1
The Premier’s Council for Women is an advisory body to the Premier of South Australia and the Minister for the Status of Women.
Established in December 2002, the Council provides independent advice on issues relating to women and assists in facilitating a
whole of government approach to meeting the needs of all South Australian women. The Council comprises leaders across a range
of areas such as health, law, education, industrial relations, defence, business, government, sport and arts. Members are all
committed to improving the opportunities, well-being and services for South Australian women.
We are committed to improve workplace diversity and equity.
We will:
 Show genuine leadership to create and support change everyone has a role to play in ensuring behaviours enable a
supportive culture for women to participate and achieve at all
levels.
 Identify the advantages of a diversified workforce within the
business (particularly women in senior roles) and ensure the
message is understood throughout all levels of the organisation.
 Develop workplace diversity and equity policies and programs.
We will identify diversity and equity issues within our business
and establish proactive strategies and targets to address those
issues.
We will:
 Undertake a participatory gender audit to identify issues within
the business including:
o Numbers and proportion of women staff at all levels and
across all areas.
o Male and female remuneration levels.
o Attitudes of staff and senior managers towards women
employees in different areas of the organisation.
o Analysis of programs/initiatives so far undertaken (if any)
aimed at improving diversity and gender equity in our
organisation.
 Examine the performance of comparable organisations in the
same or similar industries with respect to employment of women
at all levels and identify policies and programs that have
contributed to better representation of women.
 Set targets for the number of women at all levels including senior
leadership positions, and assign responsibility for achieving these
targets to the CEO and senior managers.
 Measure the performance of our strategies and programs aimed
at increasing female participation in the workforce, the number
of women in senior leadership positions and gender pay equity.
Analyse what measures were successful and why.
Our executive management team will take a leadership role to
ensure true cultural change.
We will:
 Identify the advantages of a diversified workforce within the
business (particularly having women in senior roles) and ensure
the message is understood throughout the business.
 Adopt best practice to influence cultural change.
 Champion and acknowledge female role models and leaders in
the organisation.
 Shift the focus from the ‘pipeline’, ie attracting women at low
levels of employment or areas of traditional female participation
eg marketing and human resources, to the “trickle-down effect”
of appointing and retaining women in senior roles where the
impact is far greater to the organisation.
 Encourage all leaders, men or women, to take an active role to
create sustainable solutions. We expect to create legacy that
demonstrates how men in senior roles lead by example to
support opportunities for women.
 Educate senior managers of the benefits to business in
embracing gender equality and ensure staff engaged and those
leading gender equity strategies are rewarded.
We will design workforce policies and conditions that
recognize the particular needs of women and other underrepresented groups in our workplace.
We will:
 Develop and promote flexible work arrangements to support
men and women, ensuring primary caregivers are afforded
opportunities whilst maintaining a life balance.
 Encourage flexible employments which could include:
o Paid or unpaid parental leave.
o Graduated return to work.
o Breastfeeding breaks and facilities.
o Carers’ leave.
o Purchased leave.
o Tailored work hours or compressed weeks or annualised
work hours.
o Flexi-time or part-time.
o Job-share.
o Tele-work or work from home.
 Encourage innovate approaches to supporting equity and
diversity across the workplace.
 Recognise and celebrate progress as it is made through internal
and external marketing.
 Consider nominations for formal Awards or registering as an
Employer of Choice for Women such as Workplace Gender
Equality Agency www.wgea.gov.au.
We will increase the number of women who apply for and are
appointed into positions across our organisation.
We will provide career development opportunities to our
female staff.
We will:
 Ensure that job advertisements are inclusive of all potential
applicants and avoid stereotyping.
 Specifically engage and target qualified female candidates to
apply for roles.
 Ensure interview panels are comprised of at least 33% women.
 Adopt mechanisms to ensure gender pay equity for all employed
staff.
 Identify, mentor and promote talented women.
 Consider shadowing and other leadership programs for women,
and offer women the opportunity to work on cross-functional
teams inside and outside the parent organisation.
 Encourage and support professional networks amongst
employees, including female focused networks.
 Ensure rigorous exit interviews are undertaken, to seek
understanding of how women may be further supported and
encouraged to participate and progress in the business.