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Department of State Growth

State Growth Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan 2023

State Growth is committed to achieving a safe, inclusive, equal, respectful, and representative workplace.

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-25 outlines our plan for achieving this vision, focusing on three action areas.

  1. A diverse and inclusive workplace.
  2. A safe and respectful workplace.
  3. An inclusive workplace culture.

To achieve these action areas we will focus on:

Attraction, recruitment and retention

Incr­­­easing and retaining talent representative of a wide range of diverse backgrounds within our workplace.

Providing guidance and support

Supporting our managers and employees by providing the underlying information, structures, strategies and support mechanisms needed to be inclusive and equitable.

Raising awareness

Growing our understanding of, communicating, promoting and celebrating diversity, equity and inclusion.

Building partnerships and engagement

Connecting with our people, experts and our clients to learn and support, as well as shape our approach and actions.

Building skills and capabilities

Providing the underlying tools for our managers and employees to develop their knowledge, skills and practice so that diversity, equity and inclusion becomes second nature.

Ensuring good governance and building evidence and accountability

Building a strong foundation of leadership, resources and evidence to support and inform our work in this area

Our journey

State Growth is committed to building an inclusive workplace that reflects the diversity of the community we serve. In 2022 we identified and started work on some activities which are now becoming business as usual in State Growth.

In 2023 we will continue to:

  • Contribute and identify new actions for the following Tasmanian State Service action plans and others as identified:
    • Accessible Island
    • Multicultural Island
    • Active Ageing Plan and
    • Gender Equality Action Plan.
  • Implement actions to build a safe, respectful and gender equal workplace in line with the Our Watch Workplace Equality and Respect Standards.

Look for opportunities to learn from each other, considering how different business areas promote diversity and inclusion.

  • Participate in and promote targeted employment initiatives, such as the Tasmanian State Service Aboriginal Employment portal, youth employment programs, and the Disability Employment Portal.

Provide and promote flexible working arrangements, workplace adjustments and inclusive employment policies for our employees, particularly in identified groups that are under-represented.

  • Ensure State Growth managers and employees are aware of the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion through the provision of regular updates on various related matters.

Contribute to the State Growth Disability Action Plan.

  • Support initiatives and activities across the Tasmanian State Service, focused on supporting women in work.

Continue to focus on using gender-neutral language and diverse and inclusive imagery that avoids stereotypes.

  • Show State Growth’s commitment to supporting identified groups through promoting and highlighting the importance of certain days and /events of significance.

Share information and learnings from Inter-Agency groups, such as the Whole of Government LGBTIQA+ Reference Group and Gender Reform Steering Committee and Workplace Respect Equality Standards Steering Committee to increase our understanding of key issues and shape our approach and actions.

2023 Action Plan

*note actions are listed by due date and not in order of importance

*a number of actions below link to the broader People and Culture program

Actions

Due Date

1

Create a calendar of diversity related events which will be promoted within State Growth during 2023.

April 2023

2

Develop an education/communication approach about use of pronouns in email signatures to support employees’ understanding of gender diversity and how to show support to others.

April 2023

3

Implement and communicate any changes to flexible work arrangements resulting from the Public Sector Union Wages Agreement 2022 negotiation.

June 2023

4

Support women’s participation in the workplace including:

  • attain breast-feeding friendly workplace accreditation,
  • become a menopause ready workplace,
  • trial the placement of period products in bathrooms in one location in State Growth and evaluate the response to the trial.

June 2023

June 2023

Sept 2023

5

Develop practical day to day resources for managers, teams and employees on how to visibly model respectful and inclusive behaviours, practices and decision making and other aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion.

June 2023

6

Review the Tasmanian Women’s Strategy 2022-2027 and consider if there are any actions which need to be taken.

June 2023

7

People and Culture to work with State Growth members on the TSS Women Supporting Women Steering Committee and Working Group to identify opportunities to support specific initiatives and programs in the department.

June 2023

8

Analyse available information to help inform the broader review of the department’s Working Flexible Framework, particularly in relation to identified groups that are under-represented.

June 2023

9

Review and improve our Workplace Adjustment Passports by reviewing the Workplace Adjustments Policy and procedure, considering feedback from the JobAccess Recruitment Review.

June 2023

10

Explore what actions could be undertaken to better support the various religious and cultural practices of employees.

June 2023

11

Establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employee Reference Group.

June 2023

12

Integrate discussions about diversity, equity, inclusion, and respectful behaviours into performance management discussions, together with a review of current supporting resources to assist with this.

July 2023

13

Deliver the Cultural Competency Training Framework in conjunction with Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania and Kind Enterprises as part of the focus on unconscious bias training for leaders and decision makers.

September 2023

14

Analyse and use the data from the TSS Survey to inform and explore ways to increase employee retention, particularly for identified groups that are under-represented, and to identify any actions to help shape future policies and practices.

September 2023

15

Finalise the Inclusive Language Project including Exploring Introduction to Inclusive Language training delivered by Working It Out and promoting the recently compiled respectful language resources and the e-learning module ‘Creating Accessible Documents.’

September 2023

16

Review the content of all current diversity, equity and inclusion related on-line training and resources to ensure what is available meets State Growth needs and to identify any gaps.

September 2023

17

Review the exit interview process to increase take-up in response rates to provide data collection to enable further trend analysis on under-represented groups, as part of a broader review of exit interviews and analysis of information.

September 2023

18

Implement key actions, as appropriate, from the JobAccess Recruitment Review, prioritising and identifying linkages to broader People and Culture initiatives.

September 2023

(March to September 2023)

19

Provide unpaid internship placements in State Growth including the Study Tasmania International Alumni Ambassador Program - led by Study Tasmania, UTAS undergraduate placement and any other internships which may become available.

December 2023

20

Ensure diversity, equity and inclusion are central to our recruitment framework and practices through the current Recruitment Review Project.

December 2023

21

Scope a Reconciliation Action Plan, or similar, to support the employment, retention, and advancement of Aboriginal employees.

December 2023

22

Continue to provide workforce profile reports incorporating available data through the development of a quarterly report for the Leadership Group.

December 2023

23

Contribute to and participate in proposed diversity data collection changes as a result of agreed Whole-of-Government approach, and review within State Growth workforce profile as a result of this.

December 2023

(April to December 2023)

24

In response to the amendment to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Act 1999, develop a project plan for implementation in line with Whole-of-Government approach and establish a working group to undertake a review of all services, systems, programs, practices and forms to identify changes required to ensure gender other than male or female can be recorded.

December 2023

(April to December 2023)

25

Review our employment structures, policies, processes and training programs to ensure they are visibly inclusive to all employees.

  • Consider from a survivor’s   lens in relation to family violence.
  • Include recommendations from   the Mental Health Survey.
  • Include insights from the   2023 TSS Employee Survey responses.
  • Ensure accessibility of   web-based documents.

December 2023

26

Continue to build partnerships with organisations identified in the 2022 Action Plan to ensure we provide respectful and inclusive recruitment and workplace practices for all diversity areas, including Reconciliation Tasmania, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Working it Out, Lifeline and Disability Services Providers.

Continue to identify other relevant organisations, especially in under-represented areas.

December 2023

(March to December 2023)

27

Continue to implement Disability Awareness Training in conjunction with JobAccess.

December 2023

(April to December 2023)