EQUALITY ON THEIR MIND
Gender equity attracts Millennial workers. Melanie Burgess reports
AS Millennials make up increasingly large portions of the workforce, their values – such as gender equality – are coming to the fore. Not only are Millennials making these changes themselves but employers who wish to attract top talent from this demographic realise they must also get on board.
Data from SEEK’s Laws of Attraction research reveals 41 per cent of Australian Millennials say organisations must support diversity in the workplace for them to consider working there, compared to 24.7 per cent of Baby Boomers.
Another 15.9 per cent of Millennials say the organisation must have senior females in the organisation, compared to 9 per cent of Baby Boomers.
Libby Lyons, director of the Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), says employers are increasingly aware of the business case for improving gender equality and looking for ways to create lasting change. “Sometimes it is hard for employers to know where to start,” Lyons says.
“We know that employers are very interested in effective strategies to address key challenges like pay equity, workforce segregation and women’s leadership representation.”
SA Water is one example of an organisation which has successfully implemented a diversity and inclusion strategy.
It achieved a zero per cent gender pay gap for its 1500 employees – much lower than WGEA’s national figure of 15.3 per cent.
SA Water chief executive Roch Cheroux says the organisation pays fairly and gender does not enter the equation.
“The gender pay gap hurts us all – men, women and their families who depend on them – and its socio-economic impacts are long-term and significant,” he says. “We’ve used a simple solution: making it personal. Every member of staff has a role to play in promoting greater diversity of thought and inclusion.
“We’re accountable to our 1.6 million customers across the state and it’s important we reflect the diversity of the community we serve.”
At SA Water, four in five board directors and two in five general managers are female.