The City of Sydney has been recognised as a diverse and inclusive workplace and an employer of choice for women, winning a major national human resources award.
The City received the 2019 Australian HR Award for Best Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Program. The award recognises its ongoing efforts to build an inclusive workplace that provides opportunity and equity for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the LGBTIQ community, people with disability and refugees.
“It’s fantastic to see the City recognised for being an inclusive and diverse workplace, and also an employer of choice for women,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
“This award recognises our long term commitment to diversity and inclusion as well as our recent achievements in addressing the City’s gender pay gap.
“Creating a diverse workforce is not just the right thing to do, it helps improve productivity, encourages innovation and supports economic growth.”
The City competed for the award in a highly competitive field of finalists, including Virgin Australia, SBS, Griffith University, International Convention Centre (ICC Sydney) and National Rugby League.
In 2015 the City was the first local government organisation to monitor and publicly report on gender pay equity. In 2018, it began paying superannuation for up to 52 weeks for staff on parental leave, helping close the long-term wealth gap between men and women.
“Our latest review revealed an overall gender pay gap of 7.5 per cent in favour of women, demonstrating that we have more women employed in higher paying jobs across the organisation,” City of Sydney Director of People, Performance & Technology, Susan Pettifer said.
“We know there is more work to do, because when we compare men and women in equivalent roles we have found a gender pay gap of 1.7 per cent in favour of men. This is significantly lower than the national average of 14 per cent but we are continuing to work on closing this gap.”
The City has a sustained commitment to gender equity. Since 2004, the City’s female workforce has grown by 45.5 per cent. Women now make up over 40 per cent of the City’s workforce and occupy 49.7 per cent of leadership positions, including several leadership roles in male-dominated sectors.
“This award is wonderful because it recognises what we value at the City – inclusion, fairness and equity,” Ms Pettifer said.
The City also recently created a new Indigenous leadership and engagement unit to help shape the City’s work in supporting local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The unit provides cultural and strategic leadership to support and implement the City’s Reconciliation Action Plan and its Eora Journey project, coordinate the City’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel, and oversee cultural protocols.
