Despite the fact that more than 76 per cent of private sector employees are covered by written employment opportunity policies, a Washington-based report shows more than half of Australia’s top companies have no females in their boardrooms and the top 10 Australian companies have no women directors.

Ms Krautil’s comments were made at today’s launch of the new Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Board designed to lift Australia’s global productivity and competitiveness by making their workplaces both family friendly and supportive of women’s careers. The Advisory Board was established in response to Unfinished Business, an Independent Review of the Affirmative Action legislation.

According to the report, the majority of employers saw the Act as a ‘nuisance and anti-competitive and only paid lip service to taking any action’. A recent study by the Australian Centre for Industrial Research and Training confirmed the report’s findings. A study of more than 4000 enterprise agreements showed 90 per cent did not include paid maternity leave, family leave or any other family friendly measure. 

“A number of employers still regard equal opportunity policies as special treatment for women that add no value to the business bottom line,” Ms Krautil said.

“Equal opportunity is not ‘special women’s business’. It is about effective utilisation of your people to achieve business results. The reality is that it works. Businesses are starting to recognise that their drive for profits are intrinsically linked to the goals of improving the position of women in the workplace. Equal opportunity is good management and essential if an employer wishes to remain efficient and competitive in today’s global marketplace. Employers ignoring the skills of women do so at their peril.”

Companies that have adopted equal opportunity principles are at a distinct competitive advantage in attracting and retaining staff and have realised improvements in their bottom line. In recent years, NRMA and Westpac have implemented family oriented policies to ensure they do not lose good staff and spend money re-training their replacements. NRMA saved $1.7 million in the first year of the policy’s introduction (and now $2 million annually) and doubled the number of skilled staff returning to work after parental leave to 60 per cent. Westpac has saved $6 million since setting up its paid maternity leave scheme, flexible work practices and work-based child care in 1995.

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