As a diverse, multicultural country, Australia comprises of people from all different backgrounds. But do our workplaces reflect this?
As a government-funded entity, the public service must reflect the Australian community. The Public Service Act (1999) requires that the public service reflects the diversity of the Australian population. Therefore, the Australian Public Service constantly tries to improve its cultural diversity, especially in leadership positions.
But how does it plan to do this, and why does it matter?
Thanks to The Mandarin and Indeed, we explore the Australian Public Service’s plan to increase diversity and explain why this is so important.
What is the public service’s diversity target?
The Australian Public Service Commission recently announced plans to increase cultural diversity in its leadership positions. Within four years, it aims to fill 15% of leadership positions with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people. In the longer term, it aims to fill 24% of leadership roles with CALD people
Currently, 25% of Australian Public Service (APS) staff are CALD, a similar figure to the general population. However, most are in technical and specialist jobs, such as IT, accounting, finance, and compliance. As a result, CALD people are underrepresented in leadership and decision-making roles.
How does it plan to meet this target?
To achieve its diversity targets, the Australian Public Service plans to sponsor promising CALD candidates to help them fulfil their leadership potential. It also intends to raise awareness of the benefits of different leadership styles. It plans to modernise its recruitment process, broadening merit assessments to include emotional intelligence, cross-cultural understanding, and cultural intelligence.
What is a culturally diverse workplace?
A culturally diverse workplace is made up of people of different backgrounds, beliefs, values, customs, behaviours and experiences. A true culturally diverse workplace will have people of different backgrounds stationed throughout the company, from entry-level to executive roles. It will recognise and be sensitive to the differences of its employees. For example, people of different religious backgrounds will be encouraged to mark culturally significant holidays and occasions where possible.
A culturally diverse workplace will hire and promote employees based entirely on their skills and capabilities. It will recognise the unique perspectives people of different backgrounds can bring to the workplace.
Why does the public service need to be diverse?
There are many reasons why cultural diversity is crucial in any workplace.
Diversity provides new perspectives in debates and decision-making. Being around people with different backgrounds can expose you to new ways of thinking and increase your creativity. It can also provide an opportunity to understand different worldviews, ideas, and methods.
A culturally diverse workplace can also have broader social benefits. For example, it may encourage other employees to be more culturally aware in their everyday lives.
Seeing CALD people in leadership can help people from different backgrounds feel accepted and valued, improving their mental and physical health. Cultural diversity can also help enhance workplace culture by making people feel included.
Cultural diversity is especially important in the public sector workforce.
The public service is employed on behalf of the entire country. Therefore, it should represent the needs and concerns of the whole country. Cultural diversity allows the public service to represent the community it serves and understand their concerns.
It also ensures that the public service has access to the best talent available and that talent is selected on merit, regardless of their background.
Given that modern Australia comprises people from all different backgrounds, it is only natural that our workplaces should reflect this.
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