Equity and diversity progress

The Recruitment and selection (Directive 07/23) is a relatively new directive.  Under the directive and echoing the Act, principles like equity, diversity, respect, inclusion and cultural safety need to be promoted in recruitment and selection processes.

Primarily, applicants must be eligible to apply—they must have the required licences or permission to work in Australia. An applicant’s ‘suitability’ for a role is based on an assessment of ability and attributes relevant to the position and organisation. There are attributes panels must consider, such as someone’s ability to perform the requirements of the role (for example, their aptitude, skills, qualifications, knowledge, experience and personal qualities).

There are also additional attributes panels may consider, such as how someone may contribute to the organisation’s equity and diversity goals. While the directive includes some attributes that a panel may consider, it is best practice for these to be considered in every process. This is so the sector attracts and secures the best talent, who also reflects the Queensland community.

In reviewing Queensland public sector employment conditions with an inclusion lens, the Public Sector Commission worked with the Office of Industrial Relations, Queensland Treasury, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Office for Women to develop a new Reproductive Health Leave policy.

In May 2024, Government announced the new directive with a new entitlement for Queensland public servants to access 10 days non-cumulative reproductive health leave per year.

The leave can be accessed for a range of reasons:

• IVF and fertility-related treatments
• managing chronic conditions, such as those relating to endometriosis, dysmenorrhea, adenomyosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and menopause
• reproductive health treatments and procedures such as a hysterectomy or vasectomy
• early prevention screening for reproductive health related issues such as prostrate, cervical and breast cancer screening.

Available from 30 September 2024, the leave aims to improve the lives and working conditions of the sector’s predominantly female workforce and affirm the Queensland Government as an employer of choice. Between 30 September and 31 December 2024:

• 8,542 public sector employees have accessed reproductive health leave.
• 19,590 days have been taken as reproductive health leave.

This workplace entitlement positioned Queensland’s public sector as a global leader in addressing workforce gender-based disparities and reducing the stigma associated with managing the impacts of reproductive health issues in the workplace.

The Public Sector Act 2022 requires all Queensland Government departments, and public sector entities with more than 100 employees (including government owned corporations), to complete an equity and diversity audit. The audit allows organisations to interrogate their data to identify issues and progress relating to equity, diversity, respect and inclusion, enabling a process of annual monitoring and year-on-year comparison.

An organisation's audit reports provide evidence to develop local equity and diversity action plans. These action plans are then published or incorporated within their strategic workforce plans.

The findings and actions also inform workforce planning processes. Selection panels are encouraged to review and refer to local workforce plans during recruitment and selection processes to make data-driven selection decisions that actively improve diversity outcomes in their workplaces.

The Queensland public sector inclusion and diversity community of practice is led from the Public Sector Commission. This community of practice has over 350 members, an active Teams channel and growing online resource hub.

This community of practice connects public sector employees with universities, peak bodies and consultancies to foster constructive and practical discussion on topics related to building safe, respectful and inclusive sector workplaces. From time to time, members collaborate to address cross-sector issues.

Membership includes sector workforce inclusion and diversity practitioners, other human resources practitioners, safety personnel, and social policy, communications and change professionals interested in or working on issues related to workforce diversity, equity, respect and inclusion.

The Queensland Fire Department (QFD) developed the Everyday Respect Framework: Driving respect and inclusion across the entire QFD, to create a safe, capable and inclusive workforce every day.

The Framework is supported by two main components: the Everyday Respect Council, which provides strategic direction to QFD on inclusion policies and programs and is supported by four initial Communities of Inclusion groups: Gender; First Nations peoples; People with a Disability; and Regional and Remote. Other Communities of Inclusion may follow once these four communities are well established.

The Communities of Inclusion are comprised of employees with shared lived experiences, who support the Council to promote and deliver respect and inclusion across the QFD.

The second key component of the Framework is the Courageous Respect Everyday leadership program, which emphasises the importance of leadership in fostering an inclusive culture and aims to embed a mindset that supports behaviour and culture change in leadership at all levels.

While it can be a challenge to coordinate the voices and efforts of the workforce into actionable initiatives that meaningfully impact workplace culture, the Framework has been designed to support, monitor, and empower inclusion efforts, providing the opportunity for cultural reform that is not simply symbolic, but that will deliver systemic and sustainable change for the entire QFD.