Our diverse workforce

At Australia Post we are justly proud of the diversity of our workforce. Our 35,256 staff members are aged between 16 and 79 – and they represent over 135 different nationalities.

The diversity of our workforce means that we look and sound like the community weserve. Valuing and utilising the individual skills, talents and abilities of our diverse workforce provides significant business benefits and contributes to the corporation being an employer of choice.

The Workforce Diversity Business Strategy 2005–2008 concluded at the end of this reporting period. This strategy has seen diversity awareness move from compliance-based Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) knowledge to a broader understanding of the business value of productive diversity. The cornerstone of this approach has been the Diversity@Post Kit, which is available to all AustraliaPost managers. It is designed to help reinforce diversity in day-to-day management practice and encourage creative responses to new challenges.

The Workforce Diversity Business Strategy 2005–2008 maintained our strong commitment to EEO, anti-discrimination and harassment principles, and this approach will continue under an ongoing strategy spanning 2008–2011.

Equal employment opportunity

The representation of women in our workforce increased from 39.8 per cent to 40.3 per cent of the total workforce. The promotion of women to executive roles also increased, with women now filling 19.9 per cent of executive positions (19.4 per cent in 2006/07) – thus maintaining a trend over the past five years. The representation of women in management roles also continued to increase: women now fill 31.1 per cent of all management positions (30.2 per cent in 2006/07).

The representation of employees from non–English-speaking backgrounds increased to 22.1 per cent (up from 21.1 per cent last year), while the representation of people with disabilities remained constant at 8.5 per cent.

We have a long-standing commitmentto providing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with real jobs and opportunities, having had dedicated strategies in place since 1988. During this reporting period, the representation of Indigenous Australians increased to 1.7 per cent of our workforce (1.6 per cent in 2006/07).

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