Diversity and Inclusion

Within the State Service it is important to
attract, celebrate and retain talented people to
achieve a diverse and inclusive workforce.

ABORIGINAL EMPLOYMENT STRATEGY

Following on from the launch of the Tasmanian State Service Aboriginal Employment Strategy to 2022⁴ (the Strategy) in June 2019, work has continued to progress initiatives aimed at attracting and retaining Aboriginal people in the State Service, and supporting Aboriginal employees through building culturally respectful and inclusive workplaces.

Activities in 2020-21 included:

• the recruitment of an Aboriginal Graduate through the Tasmanian State Service Graduate Development Program (TasGraD) in 2020, with a further two targeted for recruitment as part of the 2021 Program;
• the scheduling of an additional five Aboriginal Cultural Respect training sessions across the State, with 85 employees across a range of roles attending. This brings the number of sessions to date to 14 and a total of 325 attendees;
• promoting significant local and national Aboriginal events across agencies;
• finalising the review of the whole-of-government Aboriginal Employment Register, and replacing it with two registers for roles within TasTAFE and the Department of Education;
• continuing to publish and distribute the Aboriginal Employment Network Newsletter⁵; and
• the appointment of an Aboriginal Project Officer to support the ongoing work of the Strategy.

The Tasmanian State Service Aboriginal Employee Network is made up of over 100 members from across the State Service and continues to hold regular state wide workshops and an annual Gathering. The annual Gathering continues to grow and in addition to providing support to all State Service Aboriginal employees, is committed to supporting the Tasmanian Closing the Gap Implementation Plan and building Aboriginal Community controlled partnerships. The Network also contributes to the delivery of the Aboriginal Cultural Respect training sessions and to the progress of additional actions under the Strategy.

NATIONAL AGREEMENT ON CLOSING THE GAP

The Tasmanian Government is committed to work in partnership with Tasmanian Aboriginal People across the four priority reform areas identified under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and the Tasmanian Closing the Gap Implementation Plan. This work is being coordinated by the Department of Communities Tasmania.

Representatives from the State Service Management Office (SSMO), consulted on the reform areas of Education (Early Childhood, School and Tertiary), Employment and Training, Heritage, Culture and Language, and Data Sovereignty as part of a roundtable session in January 2021, providing advice on the Aboriginal Employment Strategy, the Tasmanian State Service School-based Traineeship Program, and the TasGraD Program.

In support of the Tasmanian Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, SSMO will reframe priorities in the Aboriginal Employment Strategy to reflect a greater commitment to work in partnership with Aboriginal people and determine how support can be provided across the State Service to implement the actions that are prioritised under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The Tasmanian State Service Aboriginal Employment Strategy to 2022 actions, and the Aboriginal Employee Network provides unique avenues to explore and support a range of initiatives to progress actions and priorities under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

As at June 2021, there were 113 Aboriginal Identified positions within the Tasmanian
State Service that could only be filled by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People.

SCHOOL-BASED TRAINEESHIP PROGRAM

The School-based Traineeship Program (the Program) provides opportunities for Tasmanian students to combine work, training and education. Through the Program, students are able to gain a nationally recognised qualification by working within the State Service while staying at school to complete their Tasmanian Certificate of Education in Years 11 and 12.

Due to the impact of COVID-19 there was no centralised recruitment of school-based trainees in 2020-21.  Trainees that commenced in early 2020, were supported in employment through the COVID-19 response, including when required to work from home.

Work commenced in May 2021 to prepare for the 2022 Program. This included the development of a promotional package for State Service agencies that included a recruitment guide and promotional presentation, and aimed to assist agencies to make informed decisions about hiring a trainee. SSMO also engaged earlier with schools to help raise awareness of the Program, and commence the conversation between schools and students who may be interested in undertaking a traineeship.

GRADUATE RECRUITMENT

The Tasmanian State Service Graduate Development Program (TasGraD) was created to provide a link between high-quality graduates and the State Service through a centrally co-ordinated recruitment process and a development program that supports foundational skills and knowledge for graduates commencing their careers.

TasGraD continued to focus on diversity and inclusion, with additional targeted promotion to increase interest from Aboriginal applicants. In response to the 2020 recruitment process, TasGraD received a total of 438 applications from which a TasGraD Pool of 67 successful applicants was created, enabling seven agencies to select 19 candidates. Of those successful candidates, three identified as Aboriginal. The TasGraD Pool is managed by the State Service Management Office (SSMO), and remains available until the next graduate recruitment process commences, so that any agency can recruit for other graduate vacancies as they arise. During the 2020-21 year, a further four graduates were recruited from the TasGraD Pool..

In 2020-21 the State Service hosted a total of seven interns as part of our ongoing
partnership  with the University of Tasmania. Interns worked on projects in the
Departments of Communities Tasmania, Education,
Health, Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, and Premier and Cabinet.

GENDER DIVERSITY

Equity in Leadership

In August 2016, Heads of Departments set a goal towards achieving gender equity in our leadership with a target of at least 40% of the Senior Executive Service (SES) to be women by 2020. This target was achieved well ahead of that timeframe, and women now make up 46.39%⁶ of the SES as at June 2021.

The Heads of Departments Commitment to Gender Diversity continues to provide impetus to identify the barriers to women working in the senior levels of the State Service, to combat unconscious bias, and to support flexible working options.

Our Watch

In October 2020, the Premier committed all Tasmanian Government departments to implementing the Our Watch Workplace Equality and Respect Standards⁷ (the Standards). The Standards are designed to guide workplaces through a comprehensive organisational change process, and highlight what needs to be done to create change in the three key areas of leadership, strategy, and norms and practices. Implementing the Our Watch Standards continues the Government’s commitment to gender equality across State Service workplaces.

International Women’s Day Awards for Excellence

In March 2021, the State Service partnered with TasCOSS, and the Local Government Authority of Tasmania to present the Tasplan International Women’s Day Awards for Excellence.  With a shared commitment to achieving gender equality across our organisations, these Awards provided the opportunity to recognise the exceptional women working in local and State Government and in the Community Sector in the roles they play as inspirational or aspiring leaders.

AGENCY ACTIVITIES

Agencies have continued to work to improve inclusion and diversity, remove barriers to employment and increase employment opportunities within the State Service for all members of the community.

Targeted Recruitment

In 2020-21, agencies reported using targeted recruitment to add greater diversity to their team or to provide employment opportunities to candidates that were disadvantaged due to a prescribed attribute. This included recruitment targeted at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, people with disability, and people from non-English speaking backgrounds. In total 44 targeted roles were advertised, leading to 35 appointments.

In addition to these targeted roles, a further 22 fixed-term and five casual appointments were made from approved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Registers managed through the Department of Education and TasTAFE. Twelve vacancies were referred to Disability Employment Service providers through the Disability Fixed-term Employment Register, leading to seven appointments.

Agency activities in 2020-21 also included:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

• promoting the Aboriginal Cultural Respect training sessions to employees and executives;
• increasing the number of permanent positions in Aboriginal Education Services, and cultural and professional collaboration between museums, Aboriginal Learning Facilitators and Aboriginal Education Services;
• commissioning four short videos featuring 13 Tasmanian Aboriginal people talking about identity, stereotypes, Aboriginal health services, and history;
• promoting NAIDOC Week and activities, and supporting employees to attend the State Service-hosted, live-streamed NAIDOC week event;
• targeted recruitment of an Aboriginal Graduate and the development of a targeted Cadetship position;
• promoting the Aboriginal Employee Network and monthly newsletter; and
• increasing adoption of Welcome/Acknowledgement of Country for meetings, workshops and events and in plaques, displaying the Aboriginal flag and local Aboriginal artwork.

Gender Equity

• as part of the Our Watch commitment, conducting the agency self-assessment against Our Watch Workplace Equality and Respect Standards;
• internal promotion and support for the 16 Days of Activism Campaign – Doing Nothing Does Harm, helping to end violence against women and their children;
• promoting International Women’s Day, and the International Women’s Day Awards for Excellence;
• providing a range of information through agency intranets on recognising and responding to disrespect towards women;
• promoting the Women in Leadership Scholarship Program 2020-21; and
• participating in the whole-of-government Women Supporting Women inter-agency working group.

Age

• participating in the State Service Internship Program;
• supporting youth recruitment through participation in the TasGraD and School-based Traineeship Programs, and providing cadetships;
• coordinating events to celebrate and thank long serving employees;
• promoting the EveryAGE Counts campaign;
• promotion of Seniors Week;
• working with educational institutions to provide student placements; and
• promoting the Phased-in Retirement Scheme.

LGBTIQ

• supporting staff to attend Working it Out workshops and training sessions;
• participating in the whole-of-government LGBTIQ+ working group;
• promoting Pride Month and TasPride;
• promoting and supporting employees to participate in Wear Purple Day; and
• establishing a working group to develop LGBTIQ+ principles for the Diversity Framework.

People with Disability

• establishing partnerships with JobAccess – Driving Disability Employment, providing training to build manager confidence in recruitment of people with disabilities, undertaking a comprehensive Disability Recruitment Review and developing a JobAccess Action Plan;
• creating an Accessible Events Checklist;
• developing a plan to automate the reasonable adjustment process for employees with disability;
• providing access to Unconscious Bias training, and the Human Library;
• release of Australian Disability Confident Workforces e-module;
• providing input into the review of the whole-of-government Disability Employment Register;
• including mandatory Disability Confident Workplaces training as part of induction; and
• implementing activities under agency-specific Diversity and Inclusion Plans.

General Diversity and Inclusion Activities

• releasing a Respectful Workplaces Behaviours Statement of Commitment and Policy;
• reviewing the role and functions of the Inclusion and Culture Committee and Values Champion Network;
• promoting multi-cultural events, including the Multi-cultural Festival at Long Beach, and the Random Acts of Kindness Awards during Human Rights Week;
• implementing chatbot technology to allow employees to record inappropriate behaviours anonymously;
• promoting Zero Discrimination Day;
• reviewing correspondence and information templates to ensure accessibility;
• targeted recruitment of a Graduate from a culturally and linguistically diverse background;
• developing Respectful Behaviours training workshops for managers and employees, in partnership with Swinburne University;
• reviewing and updating information and resources, including eLearning, available to employees across a number of diversity areas, including support for employees experiencing family violence; and
• continuing to support all employees through access to flexible working arrangements.

In 2020-21 the Tasmanian Government jobs website⁸ advertised over 4,580 vacant positions⁹
across the state, and attracted 4,309,044 unique page views from over one million visitors.

^{4. http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/463087/DPAC4456_Aboriginal_Employment_Strat_210_x_210_WEB.pdf}

^{5.  http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/ssmo/aboriginal_employment_strategy/aboriginal_employment_newsletter}

^{6. Based on paid headcount.}

^{7. https://workplace.ourwatch.org.au/what-is-workplace-equality-respect/}

^{8. www.jobs.ts.gov.au}

^{9. This total represents the number of advertisements appearing on the www.jobs.tas.gov.au website and does not account for advertisements that offered multiple vacancies.}

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