Minute by the Lord Mayor
To Council:
The City of Sydney was recently included in the
Diversity Council Australia’s list of “Inclusive Australian Employers for
2023-2024”. This recognition followed analysis of the City’s performance as an
employer across various diversity demographics, and the workplace inclusion and
exclusion experiences of our employees.
The City was also awarded the “Diversity and
Inclusion Leadership Award for Excellence 2023”, by Urban Development Institute
of Australia and MYBOS management systems. Nominees for this award were
required to demonstrate that diversity and inclusion is embedded in their
organisation and show its impact.
This recognition follows considerable work
over many years to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.
We were the first local government
organisation to monitor and publicly report on gender pay equity. For seven
years in a row, we have defied Australian trends with a pay gap in favour of
women. Our 2023 gender pay gap was 5.3 per cent in favour of women. The main
reason for this is the leadership profile of our organisation. In 2023, 55 per
cent of our Executive team were female and 53 per cent of our senior managers
were female.
Other work has focused on removing barriers
from recruitment processes and partnering with disability recruitment agencies
and better measuring cultural diversity in the workplace and increasing
cultural awareness and the cultural competency of our staff and managers,
including by introducing diversity and inclusion training for all new
employees.
This year, the City introduced Care and
Culture Leave that allows employees to participate in culturally important or
religious days, ceremonies or activities and is helping ensure our workplaces
are culturally inclusive. We are starting to implement our Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Workforce Strategy, which recognises the critical role
that meaningful employment plays in the lives of individuals and communities.
This work has led to the increases in the
percentage of City employees who identify as part of all diversity groups,
including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people with disability,
people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and people with
diverse sexualities and genders.
The City has established an internal
Anti-Racism Working Group. The Working Group is using the Diversity Council of
Australia’s Racism at Work framework as a guide for organisational action.
Engagement with the Multicultural Advisory Panel, the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Advisory Panel and the Inclusion (Disability) Advisory Panel
will commence in early 2024.
It is important that we maintain our focus on
this work. The shameful result of the Voice referendum and the impact of global
conflicts within our community this year have shown how important it is to
promote harmony and diversity in every way we can – across both our
organisation and community.
COUNCILLOR CLOVER MOORE AO
Lord Mayor
Moved by the Lord Mayor –
It is resolved that Council:
(A)
note
the City was awarded the Urban Development Institute
of Australia's Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Award for Excellence 2023 and
was recently included in the Diversity Council Australia's list of Inclusive
Australian Employers for 2023-2024; and
(B)
congratulate
the Chief Executive Officer and Executive and City staff for their ongoing
commitment and hard work to create a diverse, inclusive
and culturally safe workplace.
Carried unanimously.
S051491
Note – the Lord Mayor and Councillors congratulated the
Chief Executive Officer, Executive and City staff by round of applause.