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Building an Indigenous Employment Strategy kit

Planning your Indigenous employment strategy (IES)

Before designing your IES, it's important to be clear about the rationale for it and what it aims to achieve. A good start would be to draw up a business case for developing and implementing an IES, which would include an analysis, for example, of your agency's staffing profile and employee survey data, as well as information from the State of the Service Report.

You could include a reference to the fact that your agency, like all other APS agencies as well as private sector organisations, is operating in a tight labour market, and that it is in your agency's interest to market itself as an employer of choice by adopting innovative recruitment and retention strategies. It makes good business sense to attract employees from non-traditional labour pools, including Indigenous people.

You could also stress that Indigenous employees' varying perspectives, experience and knowledge can add substantial value to your agency's business outcomes.

Part of any successful planning lies in identifying key stakeholders and working out with them how they can best contribute to the development of the plan. In this case, existing Indigenous employees within an agency will provide an important source if ideas and feedback as your strategy is being developed and implemented. As people with direct experience of what it's like to be an Indigenous employee in your agency they may have a uniquely valuable perspective on what issues need to be addressed and how to go about that.

You might consider making the links between the IES and your agency's existing:

• business plans
• workplace diversity plan
• Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)

You could also include a statement that the APS, including your agency, has an important role to play in employing Indigenous people, modelling better practice to the broader community, and strengthening community capacity.

These elements help map where you are and where you want to go, and they communicate that position and direction clearly to management and employees. And a reminder here about the difference between an IES and a RAP: an IES focuses on workplace environment, recruitment and retention issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in your agency. A RAP, on the other hand, is a tool to help organisations build positive relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, to identify specific actions that will contribute to the improvement of the lives of Indigenous Australians in a wider sense, not solely focussed on agency business.

As part of your associated project plan, you could include:

• an assessment of the agency's business needs
• a list of the agency's stakeholders
• an evaluation of the costs for developing and implementing an IES, as well as what the cost could be for your agency if it did not do so
• timelines for both the development of the IES and its implementation

A solid and extensive plan will help keep you on track and others in your agency informed. You may evaluate the success of your IES by adding in questions to your agency staff survey around staff knowledge of the IES and it's relevancy to your agency's needs.

Agency champion

A strong commitment at executive and management level is essential to the success of an Indigenous employment strategy (IES). Many agencies include a message from their agency head in their IES as a visible demonstration of their personal commitment to their strategy and their expectation that that commitment will be mirrored by senior managers through out the agency, but this is only a starting point.

Employees take behavioural cues from what managers do, more than what they say. Managers seen to be actively supporting Indigenous employment can significantly improve outcomes of an IES.

An agency champion is the human face of your Indigenous employment strategy, someone who reinforces the agency's commitment to support and develop its Indigenous employees.

This role is typically filled by an agency Senior Executive Service employee or by the agency head. Agency champions:

• promote Indigenous employment both within the agency and externally
• provide strategic direction, support and encouragement for initiatives under the IES
• ensure that Indigenous employment issues are on the agenda in high level planning
• work closely with the agency's Indigenous Employment Coordinator, the person responsible for the day to day coordination of the strategy

Indigenous Employment Coordinator (IEC)

An agency that appoints a dedicated Indigenous Employment Coordinator (IEC) (sometimes referred to by other titles, such as Indigenous Liaison Officer or Indigenous Development Coordinator) signals to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that it is serious about its commitment to the employment and development of its Indigenous employees.

In smaller agencies, the IEC's function may be a part of other responsibilities; in larger agencies, it may be a single purpose role.

The IEC's main job is keeping the IES on track— helping an agency to 'walk the talk'.

A key role of the IEC is to support the Agency Champion. While the Agency Champion provides strategic direction and support for the IES, the IEC ensures that initiatives are undertaken in the agency to give practical daily effect to the strategy on the ground.

IECs' activities may include:

• contributing to the development of the agency's IES
• evaluating the effectiveness of the IES
• working with HR staff to develop and implement effective, targeted recruitment and retention strategies
• working closely with other agencies, including the Commission's Indigenous Employment Team, to ensure that the agency's strategy and programmes draw on best practice from across the Australian Public Service
• contributing to the induction process of new Indigenous employees, including introducing them to other Indigenous staff and advising them about relevant networks
• advising employees of their rights and obligations, and the relevant policies
• helping identify Indigenous employees' learning and development needs
• supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in times of need
• raising issues of concern when needed, through appropriate channels
• networking with other agencies' IECs.

IECs are usually located with the Human Resources (HR) areas of agencies to ensure that the IES is an integrated component of corporate and workforce planning.

Supporting Indigenous employees

Most new starters tend to experience some sort of culture shock when they begin working in the APS, and even when they move from one APS agency to another. Indigenous employees who may have moved from familiar communities to urban centres may undergo an even greater shock.

It is important for agencies to acknowledge that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's backgrounds and life experiences often differ from those of non-Indigenous employees.

For example, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander APS Employee Survey (2005) found that Indigenous employees often face significant work-life balance challenges due to family and community responsibilities that are unique to their cultural heritage. Lack of understanding for and support in managing these commitments can lower job satisfaction, raise frustration and anxiety levels, and contribute to employees deciding to leave their agency.

Your agency can demonstrate its commitment to supporting Indigenous employees in a number of ways, and making sure that all members of the agency understand the importance of Indigenous employees' needs and expectations is a good start. Providing empathetic and ongoing support to Indigenous employees will play a key role in increasing their confidence, competence and retention. This is not a case of creating unfair advantage for Indigenous employees. Rather, it is an example of working with each employee's individual needs.

It may also provide an opportunity to talk clearly and openly about the expectations that your agency has of the performance, conduct and responsibilities of each of its employees.

Like all staff members, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees need professional support, especially at the beginning of their careers, or when they join an agency. It's important for your agency to include in its IES initiatives the provision of a safe and appropriate environment for Indigenous employees to communicate and share information. This may include encouraging Indigenous employees to network with other Indigenous employees in the agency, and to participate in external Indigenous APS Employee Network (IAPSEN) activities.

Harassment, bullying and discrimination

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander APS Employees Census Survey (2005) found that 23% of Indigenous employees reported having experienced bullying or harassment in the workplace compared with 17% of non-Indigenous employees. Some 18% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees reported discrimination (mostly on the basis of race or ethnicity), three times that of APS employees overall (6%).

The State of the Service Report 2006-07 stated that APS employees who reported that they had been subjected to harassment or bullying also reported much lower levels of job satisfaction (38% compared with 72% for those not subjected to harassment or bullying).

The APS Values and Code of Conduct, set out in the Public Service Act 1999, emphasise the responsibility of agencies to provide a fair, flexible and safe workplace free from discrimination for all employees and, for employees, to treat everyone with respect and courtesy, and without harassment. However, familiarity with the Values and the Code does not necessarily mean that employees always fully understand and apply them in practice.

An overt, clear statement about what behaviour is, and is not, acceptable is essential for everyone.

Everyone needs a sound understanding of legislation relating to workplace harassment. In-house seminars that reiterate the need for professionalism in the workplace may be one way to promote appropriate behaviour to staff.

For more information on this issue, check out the Commission's publication Respect: Promoting a Culture Free from Harassment and Bullying in the APS.

Respecting culture

By demonstrating a respect for Indigenous culture, your agency can raise its profile in Indigenous communities and enhance its reputation as an employer of choice for Indigenous Australians.

Here are some ways in which your agency can demonstrate respect for Indigenous culture:

• Observe cultural protocols that recognise the position of Indigenous Australians as the traditional owners of the land. This might include acknowledging the traditional owners of the land at the opening of key meetings, including at staff meetings.
• Invite a traditional elder to do a welcome to country at the beginning of a major function, such as a conference.
• Recognise cultural days of significance, such as National Reconciliation and NAIDOC Weeks, and celebrate these in the workplace. In regional areas, there may be other days of cultural significance that employees can recognise and observe.
• Use inclusive language and avoid terms that are offensive to Indigenous people.
• Encourage respectful, voluntary, two-way discussions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees about their cultural backgrounds and expectations.

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This page can be found at www.apsc.gov.au/indigenous/ieskit2.htm