Australia Post is proud of the diversity of its workforce. We are 34,842 men and women of more than 130 nationalities. In short, we look very much like the communities that we serve across the length and breadth of our nation. Valuing and making use of the individual skills, talents and abilities of our workforce brings significant business benefits to the corporation and has contributed to Australia Post being an employer of choice.

Australia Post continued its long-term commitment to placing women in leadership positions. In 2005/06, the representation of women in executive positions was 20.1 per cent (17.1 per cent last year). Some 30.2 per cent of all senior management positions were held by women (28 per cent last year), while the representation of women in Australia Post’s workforce also increased to 39.1 per cent (38.7 per cent last year).

Australia Post remains a leader in Indigenous employment. We have retained a high number of Indigenous employees (594, or 1.7 per cent, of our workforce) and our commitment to providing real jobs and real opportunities for Indigenous Australians is stronger than ever.

We are pleased that some of our Indigenous employees, building on the skills and development they received at Australia Post, have been able to take up exciting career opportunities in the wider business community.

The representation of people from non-English speaking backgrounds and those with a disability remained relatively stable, at 20.9 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively (20.8 per cent and 9.0 per cent last year).

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Almost half of our workforce is aged 45 and over. To better understand the impact of workforce ageing on our business, how our people are currently planning their work and retirement, and the experiences of those who have retired, we conducted two surveys in 2005/06: Work and Ageing (for all current employees aged 45 and over) and Life After Post (for all mature-age employees who retired within the last five years).

The major goals of these surveys were to provide information on which we can base policy decisions, to lift workforce participation rates beyond the traditional retirement age of 55 and to ensure that we have an adequate supply of skilled labour over the next decade.

We received the Federal Government’s Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) Mature Age Employer Champion Award for this work on ageing workforce issues. We also received a commendation from the Australian Human Resources Institute for innovation in HR management for our work on our ageing strategy.

A key diversity initiative for this reporting period was the launch of the Diversity@Post kit in September 2005. The kit provides tips and tools to help managers integrate diversity into day-to-day management practices, including a series of “diversity success stories” that is continually being expanded. Over time, the kit will create a useful reference library that will help to raise management and staff awareness of the business benefits of proactive diversity strategy.

The principal goal in our current workforce diversity strategy (2005–2008) is a continued emphasis on the business value of productive diversity while maintaining our strong commitment to equal employment opportunity and anti-discrimination principles. For more information about Australia Post’s diversity and equal employment opportunity initiatives, see our Equal Employment Opportunity Report 2005–2006.