The benefits and entitlements provided to your employees form the basis of their working conditions. Having competitive conditions of service that reflect the diverse needs of your workforce are a good way to attract the best people to work for you and help you to retain and develop the best talent.

Reviewing your conditions of service on an ongoing basis could help your organisation:

• Be responsive to the existing environment.
• Maintain a competitive edge in attracting and retaining valuable staff.

Keep in mind when reviewing your conditions of service, there are minimum conditions of service for employees, dependent upon legislative and award standards. These vary from state to state in Australia. If you are unsure of how these might apply to your organisation, a good starting point is the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

The information provided here aims to assist you to start thinking about:

• How you could analyse your workplace to identify any conditions of service issues for women.
• Suggested actions you could take to address the conditions of service issues for women you have identified.

Also keep in mind that women are not a homogenous group, and differences such as age, religion, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, disability, sexual orientation, etc. warrant consideration in shaping your workplace practices, including conditions of service.

Organisations that recognise and value the different backgrounds of Australian women stand to benefit from a range of experiences and skills. These skills are a resource for doing business in a diverse society.

Conditions of service which are beneficial to your female employees and to you as an employer, need not be costly or resource intensive in their implementation. Often existing conditions of service can be managed in a slightly different way to better meet your female employee needs and the needs of your business.

For example, allowing employees to take small blocks of annual leave over the course of the year, rather than prescribing that the leave be taken all at once, can be very attractive to employees without imposing onerous costs on the employer.

Not all issues, actions and examples suggested here are relevant to your organisation. It is up to you to decide what is appropriate and relevant for your organisation to consider when analysing your workplace to identify issues for women, and taking actions to address these.

Analysing your workplace
Suggested Actions to Take to Address
- Reviewing Current Conditions of Service
- Reviewing Remuneration, Allowances and Benefits
- Communicating Conditions of Service
Predominantly Male Workplace Issues
Predominantly Female Workplace Issues
Case Studies
Related Links and Resources

Analysing Your Workplace

The Workplace Relations Act 1996 may be a good starting point to review your conditions of service. You may like to refer to the DEWR’s publication Women and Workplace Agreements to assist you to further identify the issues and ideas so that you can align your conditions of service to the needs of your female, as well as your male workforce.

To assist you analyse your workplace to identify conditions of service issues for women, we suggest you:

• Revisit your workforce profile to find where your female employees are.
• Consult with your employees.
• Examine your current conditions of service

Questions to Identify Recruitment and Selection Issues for Women

Remember, your organisation is unique and may have unique issues. However, the following questions may be helpful when analysing your workplace.

	Do your employment practices/conditions of service restrict the ability for females to be employed by your organisation?		Has your organisation considered opening up workplace flexibility for employees when agreement making?
	Are conditions of service tailored to meet the needs of both female and male staff (eg. maternity/parental leave, and flexible work options that accommodate work/life needs of women from different cultural or religious backgrounds?)		Are women employed mainly in casual and temporary positions? If so, is there a higher representation of women from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds?
	Do work hours enable both men and women to fully contribute?		If so, do casual and temporary employees have comparable conditions of service to full-time permanent employees? If conditions are not comparable, are these employees remunerated sufficiently to make up for reduced benefits?

Leave Arrangements

	Do leave provisions enable employees to balance their work and family needs, and other responsibilities (eg religious or cultural practices?)		Do leave usage rates differ between men and women? Or vary across the organisation? If so, you may wish to explore why this is so (eg practices not suitable for particular organisation areas, lack of management support for practices, lack of employee awareness of policies etc)
	Has your organisation reviewed usage rates, for both men and women, of different types of leave?

Remuneration, Allowances and Benefits

	Are people remunerated equally for comparable work in your organisation?		Are technical and line roles paid equitably compared with professional and support roles, considering the skills, competencies, qualifications and experience required for the different jobs?
	Do female and male employees receive equal pay, and equal benefits, for work of equal value?		Are bonuses allocated equitably? Are they distributed among females and males in similar roles, on the basis of performance and the requirements of the job?
	Is remuneration linked to objective performance measures?		Are objective criteria or processes used to allocate allowances and benefits (eg seniority or length of service may disadvantage women)? Examples of allowances and benefits could include: car and mileage allowances, company cars and car parks, discounted goods and services, share options, profit dividends, and reward schemes.
	Are staff trained in how to use these performance measures?		Are allowances and benefits distributed among females and males in similar roles, on the basis of performance and the requirements of the job?
	Do female and male employees generally receive comparable pay for equivalent performance in similar roles?		Is everyone in your organisation in the same superannuation scheme? - If not, do different schemes confer benefits that recognise female employees may have broken periods of employment compared with their male peers? - Are superannuation contributions portable?
	In general, do female and male employees receive comparable performance pay?		Do employees working flexibly have access to similar benefits to your full-time, worksite-based employees?
	Are both men and women employed in job types where performance pay or large bonuses are paid?		Do men and women in similar roles receive, on average, a similar level of assistance to support external study?
	Are pregnant women, and women on maternity leave, included in the pay review process?		Is company provided clothing inclusive of the needs of both female and male employees (eg safety footwear, maternity uniforms)?

Communicating your Conditions of Service

	Are changes to conditions of service communicated effectively to all staff, both men and women?		Do both female and male staff have easy access to the latest policies and other relevant information? Does this include when they are on maternity/parental leave, working part-time or working from home?
	Are managers and staff aware of how new employment practices can be implemented equitably (eg performance appraisals, flexible working arrangements etc)?		When your organisation reviews new working conditions (eg through surveys or the agreement making process), is input sought from both female and male employees at all levels affected?

back to top

Suggested Actions to Take to Address

To comply with the Act, you need to take actions to address the conditions of service issues for women you identified. You do not need to do everything all at once and you can aim to achieve equal opportunity over time.

To be waived from reporting in following years, you must demonstrate that you have taken all reasonably practicable measures to address conditions of service issues for women you have identified. For example, your issue may be a large pool of ongoing female casual staff who would prefer to have access to regular part-time work arrangements.

The following suggestions will help you start thinking about actions you could take to address any conditions of service issues you have identified.

Keep in mind that:

• Not all of these actions may be relevant to your organisation. You will need to decide whether you choose to do all, some, or none of the suggested actions, and whether you wish to tailor suggested actions to suit the needs of your workplace.
• If your workplace analysis demonstrates your organisation has no issues for women in this employment matter, you would not need to take any actions.

Reviewing Current Conditions of Service
Reviewing Remuneration, Allowances and Benefits
Communicating Conditions of Service

back to top

Predominantly Male Workplace Issues

An equal opportunity program must deal with the specific needs and issues of your organisation. Such a program identifies and outlines the issues you are addressing and the initiatives you will put in place to achieve results. The most significant issues facing organisations with a majority of male employees may be:

• A lack of applications from female employees
• A low proportion of women in management
• A low proportion of women in non-traditional occupational categories eg. trades, labouring, plant and machinery operators
• Problems retaining female employees

Do you ensure that men and women are paid equitably?

Do women have equal opportunity to overtime and other additional earnings?

back to top

Predominantly Female Workplace Issues

EOWA is aware that some organisations have been implementing very good Human Resources policies for a number of years but have under reported on this information because they don’t see it as relevant to equal opportunity for women. All HR policies and practices, whether formal or informal, affect all the people in your organisation and, therefore, are relevant to equal opportunity for women.

	Are there particular occupations where the majority of staff are women and they are employed on a casual basis?		Does the pay structure reflect the nature of the work and the skills required to perform the job(s)?
	Is the average length of service similar for women and men?		Does the length of service for women and men differ between occupations?

back to top

Case Studies

Mixed Gender

• John Wiley and Sons, an educational textbook publishing and distribution company, designed and implemented a staff survey, which resulted in improvements in conditions of service for men and women. In addition, job security for casual employees rated high on the results and staff returning from parental leave also revealed issues.
  
  Find out what they did ...

• Its no wonder that Sara Lee Household and Body Care Australia are an EOWA Employer of Choice for Women – to keep great staff from leaving and support working parents, Sara Lee has adopted groundbreaking initiatives enabling work/life balance and fantastic conditions of service.
  
  Find out what you too can offer your employees ...

• The Friend’s School has achieved a 100% return to service after maternity leave. Yes, 100%! Why? Because six weeks of paid maternity leave is provided to staff.
  
  Find out how they achieved this ...

Predominantly Female

• The Australian National Credit Union (ANCU) quickly discovered that some staff was dissatisfied with rates of pay. In order to keep the best talent, ANCU established a rewards and recognition programme incorporating evenly distributed bonuses to all staff and management. Now ANCU staff couldn’t be happier.
  
  Read on ...
  
  
• Autoliv Australia prides itself on its low staff turnover and high staff moral. In order to keep this trend alive, Autoliv has adopted initiatives such as income protection, paid carers leave, medical assistance and 12 ROD’s per year.
  
  The results are amazing. More here ...
  
  
• Retaining great staff through good conditions of service is a priority of Blake Dawson Waldron. Through an extensive work/life program, Blake Dawson and Waldron has been able to not only keep its pool of great talent, it also keep moral high and build and excellent corporate culture.
  
  Find out more ...
  
  
• Through exit interviews, Country Road was able to determine that pay equity was an issue that required action. Now there is an increase of 13% of women in management and there is now pay equity between males and females.
  
  What were their actions and initiatives? Find out here ...
  
  
• To reduce staff turnover at Hollywood Hospital, initiatives were implemented such as childcare referral systems, paid maternity leave and career break schemes, which resulted in a dramatic decrease in staff turnover, from 27% to 12.6% in only three years.
  
  Find out what other conditions of service Hollywood have implemented.

Predominantly Male

• In the competitive world of Information Technology, SAP realised through surveys and analysis that in order to keep great staff they must offer outstanding conditions of service. Childcare referral systems, study allowance and other flexible work arrangements are now part and parcel of SAP’s commitment to retaining great staff.
  
  Find out what else SAP has done…

• A winner of the 2001 ACCI National Work and Family Awards, Alcoa World Alumina Australia is the world’s biggest producer of alumina and operates two mines and three refineries in Western Australia, and is a major producer of aluminium from its two Victorian smelters

back to top

Related Links and Resources

• Australian Workplace
  www.workplace.gov.au
  
  The Australian Workplace produces a series of fact sheets and guides dealing with a wide range of work and family issues. (AUST)
  
  
• Work and Family Makes Cents (PDF)
  
  Ideas on how to introduce flexible work options to help make your workplace more family-friendly. (AUST)
  
  
• Paid Work and Parenting: Charting a new course for Australian families
  www.econ.usyd.edu.au/acirrt
  
  A key finding of this working paper is that the tension between competing demands of work and family is not well managed and that new support structures are needed to expand the choices available to individuals and households. (AUST)
  
  
• A Tool for Improving The Work and Family Balance (PDF)
  
  Profiles a cross-section of Australian workplaces and their experiences in implementing family-friendly work practices as part of their workplace agreements. (AUST)
  
  
• Work-Life Balance in Canadian Workplaces
  labour-travail.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/worklife
  
  A Canadian source of information, resources and support on work-life balance. Includes practical tools and best practices to assist employers, organisations, etc. (CANADA)
  
  
• Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia Inc (PDF)
  
  A submission in respect to Australian workplace relations and their impact on workers from a non-English speaking background. (AUST)
  
  
• Diversity Australia
  www.diversityaustralia.gov.au
  
  Diversity Australia is a newly developed portal for diversity management, directed mainly to business, including business educators. The site is provided by the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs and complements another new portal that has a government and community focus. Both sites will be available in April 2002.
  
  
• Diversity Policy Template (PDF)
  
  A sample policy with broad commitments related to recruitment, career development and promotion, as well as and flexible work practices. Made available by the Programme for the Practice of Diversity Management of the Australian Centre for International Business.