Sydney recognised for workplace diversity and inclusion excellence

The City of Sydney, which operates four early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, has been recognised as a diverse and inclusive workplace and an employer of choice for women, winning a major national human resources award.

The 2019 Australian HR Award for Best Workplace Diversity and Inclusion Program recognises the City for its ongoing efforts to build an inclusive workplace that provides opportunity and equity for women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the LGBTIQ community, people with disability and refugees.

In speaking about the award, Lord Mayor Clover Moore said it was fantastic to see the City recognised for being an inclusive and diverse workplace, and also an employer of choice for women. 

“This award recognises our long term commitment to diversity and inclusion as well as our recent achievements in addressing the City’s gender pay gap.”

“Creating a diverse workforce is not just the right thing to do, it helps improve productivity, encourages innovation and supports economic growth.”

The City competed for the award in a highly competitive field of finalists, including Virgin Australia, SBS, Griffith University, International Convention Centre (ICC Sydney) and National Rugby League.

In 2015 the City was the first local government organisation to monitor and publicly report on gender pay equity. In 2018, it began paying superannuation for up to 52 weeks for staff on parental leave, helping close the long-term wealth gap between men and women.

City of Sydney Director of People, Performance & Technology, Susan Pettifer said “we know there is more work to do, because when we compare men and women in equivalent roles we have found a gender pay gap of 1.7 per cent in favour of men. This is significantly lower than the national average of 14 per cent but we are continuing to work on closing this gap.”

The City has a sustained commitment to gender equity. Since 2004, the City’s female workforce has grown by 45.5 per cent. Women now make up over 40 per cent of the City’s workforce and occupy 49.7 per cent of leadership positions, including several leadership roles in male-dominated sectors.

“This award is wonderful because it recognises what we value at the City – inclusion, fairness and equity,” Ms Pettifer said.

The City also recently created a new Indigenous leadership and engagement unit to help shape the City’s work in supporting local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The unit provides cultural and strategic leadership to support and implement the City’s Reconciliation Action Plan and its Eora Journey project, coordinate the City’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Panel, and oversee cultural protocols.

The City of Sydney operates 4 childcare services:

• Alexandria Child Care Centre  
• Broughton Street Kindergarten (Glebe)
• Hilda Booler Kindergarten (Glebe)
• Redfern Occasional Child Care

Alexandria offers long day care while Redfern offers full and half-day care on occasion.

The Broughton Street and Hilda Booler kindergartens offer pre-school programs with extended hours.

For more information about the City of Sydney as an employer, please see here.