Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples
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Attracting and retaining Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples to the Queensland public sector is critical to delivering improved health, housing and education services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.
Progress towards target
Data completeness and quality is of the upmost importance. When asked, only 74% of First Nations respondents in the 2024 Working for Queensland (WfQ) survey had shared they were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander in their organisation's payroll system.
The primary reason given was they did not see any reasons or benefit in sharing this information and that it is not relevant to their employment.
The proportion of people who responded to the 2024 WfQ survey who identified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander is 3.95%, while 6.73% of respondents preferred not to say. The higher proportion of respondents selecting Prefer not to say, indicates there is further work to do to build First Nations employees’ trust in their organisation, the survey and the sector more broadly.
Employee engagement
Employee engagement for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander employees in the WfQ survey was 60%, which is equal to the whole-of-sector engagement score. This is an improvement of two percentage points from the previous year.
In the 2024 WfQ survey, employee engagement for First Nations employees is similar to that of non-First Nations employees.
- Overall engagement is 60% for First Nations employees compared with 62% for non-First Nations employees
- First Nations employee sense of pride is 64%, compared with 70% for non-First Nations employees
- First Nations employee positivity to recommend is 61%, compared with 66% for non-First Nations employees.
| First Nations employees | Non First Nations employees | |
|---|---|---|
| Employee engagement | 60% | 62% |
| I am proud to tell others I work for my organisation | 64% | 70% |
| I would recommend my organisation as a great place to work | 61% | 66% |
| My organisation inspires me to do the best in my job | 60% | 60% |
| My organisation motivates me to help it achieve its objectives | 60% | 59% |
| I feel strong personal attachment to my organisation | 56% | 56% |
Source: WfQ 2024.
Safe, respected and included
Feeling safe, respected and included 106.8 KB) as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person in any workplace is critical to being able to thrive at work.
The safe, respected and included index score for First Nations employees is 69%, compared with the score of 78% for non-First Nations employees.
| % positive First Nations | % positive non-First Nations | |
|---|---|---|
| As an employee of this organisation, I feel safe at work | 72% | 83% |
| As an employee of this organisation, I feel respected at work | 67% | 76% |
| As an employee of this organisation, I feel included at work | 67% | 76% |
| Safe, respected, included | 69% | 78% |
Source: WfQ 2024.
The impact of feeling safe, respected and included for First Nations employees
When First Nations employees agree or strongly agree that they feel safe, respected and included at work, employee engagement increases from 60% to 79%.
- Recommendation: increases from 61% to 83%.
- Pride: increases from 64% to 83%.
- Personal attachment: increases from 56% to 71%.
- Motivation: increases from 60% to 79%.
- Inspiration: increases from 60% to 81%.
Source: WfQ 2024.
Cultural safety is highly correlated to feeling safe, respected and included.
Cultural safety
Perceptions of cultural safety have remained relatively stable for Aboriginal employees.
After an increase in perceptions of cultural safety for Torres Strait Islander people between 2022 and 2023, it has decreased again between 2023 and 2024.
The sense of cultural safety for employees who are both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees increased from 58% to 70% between 2022 and 2023, then decreased to 68% in 2024.
In considering these shifts in data it should be noted that the number of Torres Strait Islander employees and those who identify as both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees that responded to the 2024 WfQ was small with 201 and 289 respectively. These small numbers make the data more volatile.
In its simplest form, a culturally safe environment is one in which people feel spiritually, socially, emotionally and physically safe. It is important that all members of an organisation take responsibility for creating a culturally safe workplace. For this reason, results from First Nations respondents on questions about how team members, leaders and managers care and create safety form an indicative set on this issue.
Perceptions of all elements of cultural safety, for the First Nations employee population, have improved over the past three years.
There is a notable difference in the 2024 perceptions of cultural safety when comparisons are made between perceptions of First Nations employees and non-First Nations employees. Non-First Nations employees are generally more positive, except for the item relating to managers or supervisors taking responsibility for the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees where the scores are equal.
| First Nations employees | Non-First Nations employees | |
|---|---|---|
| Workgroup cares about the cultural safety of First Nations colleagues. | 72% | 81% |
| Organisation provides a culturally safe work environment for First Nations employees. | 61% | 71% |
| Cultural practices and significant dates of First Nations peoples are acknowledged and celebrated. | 78% | 82% |
| Leaders across my organisation take responsibility for building cultural capability of employees. | 59% | 69% |
| Manager or supervisor takes responsibility for ensuring the cultural safety of First Nations employees. | 67% | 67% |
Source: WfQ 2022–2024.
Diversity as a barrier to success
As per the trend in cultural safety data, whether being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is perceived as a barrier to success is more positive for non-First Nations people than First Nations people.
While formal training builds cultural capability, work-based discussion and First Nations people sharing their unique perspectives and experiences (where they feel safe and comfortable to do so) is known to be an extremely effective way of building cultural capability and in ensuring First Nations employees feel culturally safe.
Perceptions of these themes have increased in positivity since 2022. First Nations employees have indicated that they are increasingly invited to share their unique perspectives with an increase from 46% to 50% between 2022 and 2024.
Perceptions that colleagues actively embed the perspectives of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people in their work has increased from 44% in 2022 to 52% in 2024.
For non-First Nations people, asking questions is a critical way of understanding the experience and perspectives of First Nations people. Consideration of the impact of work on First Nations peoples and confidence in asking First Nations people for their perspectives have each increased.
A range of programs across the sector are not only focused on attracting First Nations employees to the Queensland public sector but to also help them thrive in their careers.