Closing the gender gap€¦ · - is undertaken by women. Women spend at least twice as much time as men on unpaid domestic work such as caring and housework. • The gender gap in

Closing the gender gapAustralia Post’s Gender Action Plan (GAP)

July 2015 auspost.com.au

In January 2010, on my first day as Managing Director & Group CEO of Australia Post, I spoke to a gathering of the 250 most senior managers in the business. When I looked around, it struck me that my audience was overwhelmingly male. Right there and then, in front of that group, I made a commitment to promote more women into Australia Post’s leadership team.

I believe that encouraging gender equality, and more generally embracing diversity, is first and foremost the right thing to do. Clearly, gender equality is a real challenge for our nation. Australian women are among the most educated in the world, but workforce participation rates have not increased since the mid-2000s. The gender pay-gap in Australia is getting worse – not better – and reached a record high last year. These damning facts are reason enough for us to invest in improving gender equality.

The evidence is in, and it’s beyond doubt, that building gender equality also makes good business sense. Studies consistently show that companies with a healthy representation of women on their boards and in senior leadership roles have a better ROI than male-dominated companies.

I am very proud to note that over the past five years we have made significant progress at Australia Post in increasing the representation of women across all levels of leadership. We

have also committed to supporting women in the communities that we serve, including our partnership with Netball Australia through the One Netball program and our sponsorship of the women’s Stawell Gift to ensure equal prize money with the men’s race. We also continue to support The Big Issue Women’s Subscription Enterprise, which provides job opportunities for homeless, marginalised and disadvantaged women. These are just a few examples of our commitment.

This year, I have committed to join the Male Champions of Change group in Victoria. This group will involve me and my male CEO peers who are Victorian-based, getting together at least four times a year to discuss, agree and commit to how we can step up beside women and build a gender equal world.

I am extremely proud of the progress we have made at Australia Post, but we still have work to do. The moment we stop focusing on improving gender equality is the moment that we go backwards. To this end, I am delighted to launch our first Gender Action Plan (GAP), which outlines Australia Post’s commitment to making positive and sustainable change – not just to better our business, but to the benefit of our nation as a whole.

1 | Gender Action Plan

Gender diversity and Australia PostAhmed Fahour, Managing Director & Group CEO

Welcome

Australian Human Rights Commission

Women’s increased participation in the workforce can make a significant difference to economic growth: The Grattan Institute has identified that a 6% increase in women’s workforce participation could generate an increase in Australia’s gross domestic product by

$25 billionGender Action Plan | 2

It is the right thing to do…• Globally, women are only half as likely as men

to have full-time wage jobs with an employer. Trends suggest women’s labour force participation worldwide has stagnated over the past 30 years, dropping from 57 to 55% globally.

• Participation rates of women in Australia have not increased since mid-2000’s equivalent to a loss of 11% of GDP.

• The majority of unpaid caring work, whether that’s caring for children, or a family member or friend with a disability, chronic illness or frailty due to older age - is undertaken by women. Women spend at least twice as much time as men on unpaid domestic work such as caring and housework.

• The gender gap in retirement incomes and savings as a result of women moving in and out of the paid workforce due to their caring responsibilities and the inequalities – in Australia women have approximately half the retirement income and savings of men.

• Women are under-represented in leadership positions, in the community, in business, in the board rooms and in parliaments.

• More than 50% of graduates in Australia are women, however they earn on average 9% less than their male counterparts.

• 49% of women experienced discrimination at work either before, during or after maternity leave.

It makes good business senseCredit Suisse: Gender diversity and corporate performance

“In testing the performance of 2,360 companies globally over the last six years, our analysis shows that it would on average have been better to have invested in corporates with women on their management boards than in those without.”

Gender equity The case for change

Source: https://www.credit-suisse.com/newsletter/doc/gender_diversity.pdf

According to studies conducted by employee engagement experts, Gallup, female managers are more engaged than male managers and their higher engagement levels likely result in more engaged, higher-performing workgroups.

Studying 15 years of data on the management teams of S&P 1500 firms, researchers found that more women in top management improved the performance of firms that were heavily focused on innovation

Financial performance at companies with three or more women board directors (WBD)

Stronger than average results prevail at companies where at least three women serve

Source: Catalyst Bottom Line Research

Source: Australian Human Rights Commission

Return on Equity Return on Sales Return on Invested Capital

16.7% 16.8%

10.0%Average

11.5%Average

11.5%

Average

6.2%

Male ManagerMale Employee

25%

29%31%

35%

Female ManagerMale Employee

Male ManagerFemale Employee

Female ManagerFemale Employee

Percentage of employees engaged

Source: Cristian L. Dezsö and David Gaddis Ross, “Does Female Representation in Top Management Improve Firm Performance? A Panel Data Investigation,” Strategic Management Journal, vol. 33, no. 9 September 2012Source: www.gallup.com/businessjournal/183026/female-bosses-engaging-male-bosses.aspx


Developing our female talent pipeline

Executive Level 3 / Band 3

Executive Level 4 / Band 4

ManagementLevel 5 / Band 5

Facility, Delivery and Area Managers

Award-level Employees

Future General Managers

Future executive leaders

Future leaders

Future managers

Core enterprise programs

Australia Post

% of Women

June 2010

June 2015

Postal Manager 42 51

Delivery Manager 14 16

Facility Manager 16 31

Managers 32 36

Executives (Band 1 to 4)

21 33

Executive Committee

0 38

Total Australia Post employees

40 39

Total StarTrackemployees

n/a 17

This progress is largely due to:

1) Senior level sponsorship and support.

2) Investment in a suite of female talent development programs.

Over the past five years we have made significant progress in increasing the percentage of women in leadership roles.

Australia Post’s gender journey

ProjectMEMentoring program

[replacing my mentor from 2015]

NAWO National

Association of Women in Operations

Horizon Program Build General

Manager pipeline

tenprogramMentoring for 10 talented

female leaders

Xplore Leadership and career

management program

Parental Leave Executive Coaching

Since 2010, Australia Post has invested in a range of female development programs and events. Over this period, more than 1600 of our women, across all levels of our organisation, have benefited from participating in these initiatives.

mymentor and ProjectMeFrom 2010 to 2014, over 1200 of our award-level female workforce have completed mymentor. This is a 12-week self-paced personal, career development program that includes a series of mentoring circles where participants network and share their learnings with fellow participants. This year ProjectMe will replace mymentor as a similar program that will be specifically tailored to Australia Post.

NAWOThe National Association of Women in Operations (NAWO) is a not-for-profit organisation, established to champion women in operations and grow the level of representation of talented women in operational roles. As a Corporate Partner of NAWO many of our aspiring female operational leaders have benefited from attending and participating NAWO networking and leadership development events and programs.

XploreXplore is a talent program offered to our high-potential female managers who are keen to progress to more senior management levels within our organisation. The Xplore workshops encourage participants to develop and refine their leadership brand and to take responsibility for their personal and professional development.

TenProgramThe TenProgram commenced in 2013 and is an annual mentoring program that matches 10 of our high potential senior female managers with 10 of our Management Committee members. The purpose of the TenProgram is to assist our talented female employees to develop networks with senior executives across our business, and improve their business knowledge and create new opportunities for career progression.

HorizonHorizon is a 12-month leadership development program established to accelerate our talented senior females into general manager positions. The program involves detailed individual assessments, four full day learning workshops, one-on-one executive coaching sessions, taking on a mentoring role and a series of round table discussions with each of the Executive General Managers.

Celebrating International Women’s Day Over the past five years we have formally celebrated International Women’s Day, March 8th, across the nation. We recognise this is a wonderful opportunity to stop and celebrate our progress so far and plan for continued progress towards gender equality.

Embracing gender equityat Australia Post

“Being a part of the inaugural tenprogram filled me with the confidence that I had the support of the business to prosper and grow myself as a professional. My network has expanded considerably and the opportunities availed to me were career changing – literally! I am a huge advocate of the tenprogram and encourage future participants to revel in the opportunity.”

Nikki Duerden, State Manager Business Hubs Vic/Tas pictured with Aimee Dixon, Manager Commercial Projects, Corporate & Commercial Services

Pictured 2014 mymentor Rising Star award winner Angela Wraight with mentor Wendy Fauvel.

Gender Action Plan | 4


The Parcels business has traditionally been very male dominated, however we do have many inspiring examples of talented women who have built, and will continue to build successful and rewarding careers. We are committed to recruiting more women into this part of our business through a range of positive initiatives, assisting us as we continue to develop a culture of inclusion and respect where everyone can thrive, regardless of gender.

Bob Black, EGM Parcel Services

“

Women in Parcelsbuilding careers

Pamela Jackson, Parcel Contractor, Lonsdale Parcel Centre, South AustraliaWhat’s your Australia Post story?

I have worked for Australia Post for almost five years as a sub-contractor. My husband Pete and I are always happy to share our knowledge with new drivers and offer our experience on processes. Over the years I have assisted in mail runs to LPO’s. Currently as a contractor I deliver depot bags for the Posties before I head out and deliver parcels in our area.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

There are many aspects about working with Australia Post delivering parcels, but meeting people is the one I enjoy the most. There are many older people like myself and sometimes all they want is a quick chat

and to know that someone is looking out for them. The people I work with are friendly and respectful. The freedom of spending time on the road delivering parcels at my pace and at my age is extremely enjoyable and satisfying. The Australia Post staff here value my opinion and allow me to have my say in the running of the facility. I am respected amongst my peers regardless of my age or gender.

As a female driver, do you face any challenges on the job?

As a female driver I feel that I do as good a job as the men I work around, I don’t believe that being a woman makes any difference in my work environment

What do you bring to the industry, as a woman, in what was traditionally a man’s world?

As a woman I feel that customers trust me more in some cases; I have delivered to women who were feeding a young one and knowing that it was me they seem more comfortable coming to the door. I am treated equally in my work environment and receive the same respect my male colleagues do. I think customers can relate to women delivering their parcels with great trust and understanding of the service we bring to their households.

“


The Australia Post Women’s Stawell GiftIn 2015, Australia Post announced its sponsorship of the Women’s Stawell Gift. The cornerstone of this partnership with the Stawell Athletic Club was the introduction of equal prize money across the men’s and women’s event. Up until this year, the women’s race included a prize pool of $6000 whilst the men’s race prize pool is $60,000. Now, thanks to Australia Post’s sponsorship, they are both $60,000.

OneNetball In 2014, Australia Post launched a partnership with Netball Australia known as the One Netball program. Netball is the most popular sport for women in Australia and the One Netball initiative aims to address the barriers of participation in netball. In particular, the program aims to encourage multicultural and Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, socio-economically disadvantaged communities and regional and remote communities to get involved in the game.

Big Issue Women’s Subscription EnterpriseAustralia Post continues to support The Big Issue Women’s Subscription Enterprise, which provides job opportunities for homeless, marginalised and disadvantaged women. Since 2013, Australia Post has engaged the women’s enterprise to sort and collate thousands of Santa mail letters that come through before Christmas.

Our Neighbourhood Community Grants Through Our Neighbourhood Community Grants we have provided grants to numerous community organisations focused on supporting and empowering women. For example, in 2014 we provided a $10,000 grant to The Kimberley Young Women’s Leadership Camp, part of the Garnduwa Amboorny Wirnan organisation in Broome, WA. This program identifies local girls who show leadership potential and also fosters young leaders. The camp topics cover health education, alcohol, drugs and mental illness, employment opportunities, nutrition, team building and cultural initiatives.

Charity PartnersThe McGrath Foundation is one of Australia Post’s 10 Matched Charity Partners, meaning Australia Post matches dollar-for-dollar donations made by employees (up to $200 per employee per year). The McGrath Foundation raises money to place McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities right across Australia, as well as increasing breast awareness in young Australian women.

Our StarTrack business has recently formed a partnership with the White Ribbon Foundation to assist in the campaign to end men’s violence against women.

Supporting women in our community

“The Australia Post One Netball program is really about engaging and empowering communities. It’s a great way to feel part of a bigger thing, part of the community.” Geva Mentor, Netball Australia Ambassador

Pictured is a young leader participating in The Kimberley Young Women’s Leadership Camp

Pictured from left to right: Geva Mentor, OneNetball Ambassador; Catherine Walsh, Australia Post GM HR Group & Postal Services; Melissa Breen, Australian track and field athlete; Robert Irvine, Stawell Athletics Club Official and Cate Campbell, Australian swimmer.


Our Gender Action Plan (GAP)In the words of our Managing Director & Group CEO Ahmed Fahour, “The moment we stop focusing on improving gender equality is the moment we go backwards.” Although we have made considerable progress over the past five years we know that we must continue and increase our efforts to improve gender equality both within Australia Post and across the communities in which we operate.

Our GAP is aligned to our new shared values and is a positive example of our commitment to ‘Respecting Everyone – We care about people and value diversity’

Our GAP provides a clear set of goals and actions focused on closing the gender gap. We have segmented these actions into three key focus areas:

1. Opportunities – we must continue to create career development opportunities for current and future female talent at Australia Post, as well as ensure that our people processes enable gender equality. We also know that improving gender equality within Australia Post will enhance our customer focus.

2. Awareness and capability – we know that to achieve long-term sustainable change both men and women must understand the importance of gender equality and be equipped with the skills to drive positive change. To this end, we have set a number of goals focused on educating our people and our communities about women’s equality.

3. Accountability – we plan to hold our leaders accountable for positive change through implementing mandatory leadership KPIs.

Improved reporting and governance processes will underpin all of the goals and actions that sit within these three key focus areas.

Australia Post’s approach to closing the gender gap

Customer focus aImproving gender

balance within Australia Post will allow us to better reflect, connect and serve our customers.

• Women make 85% of purchasing decisions.

• Women are responsible for 93% of all online purchases – they are our largest customer segment .

Talent aWomen represent

an under-utilised talent pool that we can more effectively leverage.

• Australian women are among the most educated in the world, but are amongst the most under-utilised in the workforce .

• Participation rates of Australian women in the workforce have not increased since the mid-2000’s, equivalent to a loss of 11% of GDP .

Being safeeverywhere There’s nothing more important than our safety, health and wellbeing

Respectingeveryone We care about people and value diversity

Improving everyday A better tomorrow starts with the changes we make today

Delighting our customers A great customer experience creates a better future

Helping each other We’re at our best when we work together


OpportunitiesCreating employment

and career development opportunities for women

Awareness and capabilityBuilding greater awareness of the need for gender equality within our business and our communities as well as improving capability

to address gender inequalities

AccountabilityHolding our leaders

accountable for positive change

Closing the gender gap

1. OpportunitiesCreating employment and career development opportunities for women at Post


Goal Action Stakeholders (in addition to Diversity & Inclusion)

Time

1.1 Attraction and recruitment

1.1.1 Attract more women into award level operational roles

• Conduct a review of the attraction, recruitment and on-boarding experience of women to identify any opportunities for improvement

Recruitment

Postal – Mail and Delivery

Parcels / StarTrack

June 2016

1.1.2 Attract and recruit more women at management and executive levels (A06 and above)

• Conduct a review of the attraction, recruitment and on-boarding experience of women to identify any opportunities for improvement

• Ensure all recruitment panels comprise of both men and women

Recruitment October 2015

1.2 Development opportunities

1.2.1 Award level women • Build and deliver ProjectMe

• Develop the mymentor and Project Me Alumni network

• Build Project Me Advanced (for women who have completed Project Me and are ready to take on their next development challenge)

Learning and Development

July 2015

July 2015

July 2016

1.2.2 Women in management

• Launch the Women@Post Seminar Series. These seminars will be available to all management level staff (men included) and will focus on topics of interest to women in management. The sessions will be held at major offices (eg. HQ or StarTrack House) with a teleconference dial in and video option for interstate staff. The Female Talent program alumni will facilitate the sessions

• Continue to leverage our National Association of Women in Operations (NAWO) membership and encourage our female operational managers to attend these events

Female Talent Program Alumni

Operations

Commence September 2015 – run every 2 months

Ongoing

1.2.3 Executive women • Conduct a series of interviews with GM level women to determine if additional development and support is required

Female GMs October 2015


1.3 Talent development opportunities for women

1.3.1 Identify and develop future female leaders in operations

• NAWO Executive Program (10 month external leadership development program) – continue to fund 2 places

• Conduct a diagnostic of what the challenges are for women in operations. Develop an action plan

• Integrate Operational secondments and experience into existing female talent programs – 1 week min

Postal – Mail and Delivery

Parcels / StarTrack

Consumer Sales and Service

Annually

December 2015

February 2016

1.3.2 Identify and develop future female leadership

• Continue to offer the Xplore leader-ship development program aimed at Band 5 female talent (four full-day workshops over four months)

Talent and HR

GM/BPs

Annually

1.3.3 Identify and develop future female senior leaders

• Continue to offer the TenProgram mentoring opportunity aimed at Band 4 female talent (involves pairing of female talent to MC mentors over a six-month period)

• Explore involving male participants in the program

Talent and HR

GM/BPs

Annually

1.3.4 Identify and develop future female GMs

• Continue to offer the Horizon Leadership Program to Band 3/4 HIPO women aimed at accelerating them into (multi-faceted leadership development program extending over 12 months)

• Explore involving male participants in the program

• Xplore Executive Women’s Program – external program (four month duration) focused on networking and C-suite skill development – one place available

Talent and HR

GM/BPs

Leadership

Talent

Annually

Opportunities

1.4 Retention & Engagement

1.4.1 Retain our female talent

• Flag early to relevant EGM and GM if any female talent are identified as a medium or high flight risk (including women on maternity leave)

• EGM or GM to take action to maximise retention prospect, with a target of 80%+ retention of talent

Talent

HR GMs and BPs

EGMs

Ongoing

1.4.2 Female retention analysis

• Conduct an analysis to understand if female retention is different to male retention across any areas of the business

• Monitoring our female representation through downsizing and restructuring and highlighting any risks and concerns

Workforce Metrics

Transition

ROLS

HR Leaders

October 2015

Ongoing

1.4.3 Retain and engage women on maternity leave

(In 2013/14, 558 Australia Post women took maternity leave)

• Conduct an analysis to understand the current retention and engagement levels of women at Post who have undertaken maternity leave

• Continue to offer parental leave coaching to women who are Band 4 and above who are taking maternity leave

• Develop and implement a consistent ‘keep connected’ approach

• Notify the HR GM of the relevant business area of any female intending to leave the organisation whilst on maternity leave

HR GMs BPs and Line Managers

HR GMs

August 2015

Ongoing

1.4.4 Understand gender engagement differences

• Conduct an analysis to understand the reasons why women are 10% more engaged than men at Post and how this compares with other organisations (as per 2014 Say2action results)

Culture and Engagement

September 2015

1.4.5 Improve senior female engagement

• Maintain female net engagement score of no less than 65%

Culture and Engagement

October 2015

1.4.6 Establish how best to mainstream flexibility to benefit our people (women and men) and our business

• Understand the existing application and approval rates of flexible working requests

• Define our approach to mainstreaming flexibility

• Implement a job share register

• Review our existing flexibility policies including parental leave for men and women

GM HR

Recruitment

Workplace Relations

June 2016

October 2016

June 2016

December 2016

1.5 Systems & Processes

1.5.1 Ensure gender equity across performance, talent, reward and remuneration

• All performance and talent calibration sessions to include a gender analysis to ensure no gender bias exists

• Conduct a gender pay analysis to determine if gender pay equity exists at Post – target that no difference in pay for same work between men and women

• Work with the Applaud team to ensure we encourage gender diversity (and broader diversity) in nominations to increase the chances of Applaud award winners being representative of our diverse workforce

HR GMs & BPs

Talent and Performance

Remuneration

Culture & Engagement

July 2015

November 2015

December 2015


Opportunities

2. AwarenessBuilding greater awareness of the need for gender equality within our business and our communities


Time

2.1 Educating our leaders

• Pilot inclusive leadership program with key stakeholders

• Integrating inclusive leadership principles and gender equality case studies into our enterprise leadership and talent programs

• Conduct one GAP information and education session with the MC per year

Enterprise Capability, Culture & Talent

July 2015

December 2016

Yearly

2.2 Engaging men in the gender discussion more effectively

• Increase male attendance at female-focused events – eg. IWD, program launches and graduations

• Increase the number of male mentors in our female development programs

• Encourage external female leadership forums to involve more men

Ongoing

2.3 Sharing our success stories internally

• Continue to utilise our key communication channels to share our female success stories (eg. POGO, Post Journal etc.)

CorporateCommunications

Ongoing

2.4 Sharing and learning about gender equality externally

• Share updates and progress from the Male Champions of Change (MCC) forums with the broader workforce

• Strive to gain accreditation as an employer of choice for women through Women’s Gender Equality Agency (WGEA)

• Promote and utilise our Catalyst membership – a leading global organisation providing research, events and consulting services to drive gender equality within organisations (http://www.catalyst.org/)

• Host and participate in relevant gender equality seminars and workshops (eg. Diversity Council Australia, NAWO)

• Ensure our brand, sponsorship and community engagements support women’s equality

MCC Implementation Lead

WGEA

Catalyst

Community Relations

Ongoing

June 2016

Ongoing

Ongoing

Ongoing

2.5 Support our e-Commerce female customers

• Conduct one event per annum focused on supporting our e-Commerce female customers

GM e-Commerce Annually

2.6 Increase our commitment to eliminating domestic violence

• Develop a plan to work towards Australia Post Group accreditation as a White Ribbon Workplace. This involves taking active steps to prevent and respond to violence against women.

• Commence roll out with Star Track business

GM HR

Parcels HR GM

July 2017

June 2016


3. Accountability Holding our leaders accountable for positive change


Time

3.1 Improve female representation across all levels of our business

• Continue to increase female representation across all levels of the Australia Post Group above 2015 results

EGMs

All People Leaders

Ongoing

3.2 Improve leadership accountability

• All people leaders (Band 5 and above) to include ‘improving gender equality’ as a KPI in Performance Ready. All such leaders must provide evidence of how they have supported our GAP to improve gender equality within our organisation

• Mandatory ‘improving gender equality’ KPI in place by July 2016

MD & CEO

EGMs

All people leaders

July 2015

July 2016

4. Reporting & Governance

4.1 Quarterly gender reporting

• All EGMs and Level 2 leaders to be provided with a quarterly gender diversity report containing BU progress against the GAP

HR GMs and BPs Commence July 2015

4.2 External reporting • Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report - Tabled in Parliament

October (annually)

4.3 GAP Steering Committee

• Hold quarterly GAP Steering Committee forums to track overall GAP progress

• Steering Committee members will rotate annually

• Steering Committee will always include representatives from across the business and a 50/50 male/ female split

Steering Committee members

Commence July 2015 then every 3 months


For more information on the Gender Action Plan

Please contact [email protected]


Over the past 25 years I have enjoyed a diverse and inspiring career at Australia Post. I am delighted to work for an organisation that is so committed and passionate about developing our female talent as well as supporting women in our community. Together, with the rest of the Executive Committee, I look forward to leading and driving this Gender Action Plan so that we can continue to make positive change in improving the gender gap.

Christine Corbett, EGM Postal Services

““

auspost.com.au

Documents

Closing the gender gap€¦ · - is undertaken by women. Women spend at least twice as much time as men on unpaid domestic work such as caring and housework. • The gender gap in