WHETHER a matter of corporate social responsibility or a condition for an operating licence, a tactical stop-gap measure or just the right thing to do – the adoption of measures to improve indigenous employment is trending upwards in Western Australia.
Among the public displays of corporate alignment to the issue is the Andrew Forrest-led Australian Employment Covenant, which has 319 employers committed to generating 63,000 jobs for indigenous people.
And while it has been around for a while, the Reconciliation Action Plan, or RAP, is another way for companies to work towards ending employment disparity.
Principally this is done through broad cultural awareness and specific strategic plans for indigenous engagement on a case-by-case basis.
Mining giant Rio Tinto, construction company Georgiou Group, and ANZ are among 17 companies to have signed on since April, taking the total number of commercial RAPs across Australia to 47.
In addition, 48 government departments have developed an action plan, including the Water Corporation and the Department of Treasury.
Rio Tinto has 1,210 indigenous employees across its Argyle Diamonds, Dampier Salt and Iron Ore businesses, making up 10 per cent of its workforce.
Rio’s RAP has set some ambitious targets. Argyle Diamonds’ indigenous employees represented just 5 per cent of its workforce in 2000 and 25 per cent last year (or 90 of the 350-person workforce), but the company aims to have that figure at 29 per cent by the end of this year and 33 per cent by 2013.
For its iron ore operations, Rio plans to double net growth in indigenous employment figures year-on-year, with a long-term goal of 20 per cent indigenous representation in its workforce by 2015 in WA overall and 14 per cent in its Pilbara iron ore residential workforce by the same year.
Horizon Power, with a workforce just short of 400, has had a RAP in place since 2008 and recently adopted an ‘Aboriginal employment and engagement strategy’, which has a target of achieving 8 per cent Aboriginal employment by 2012-13 and 20 per cent by 2015-16.
Given that the participation rate for indigenous people is 49.3 per cent compared to 62.3 per cent for the state’s entire workforce, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2006, the numbers are in Rio’s and Horizon’s favour.
According to the ABS, 15,600 indigenous people were employed in WA in 2006, representing 1.7 per cent of the state’s workforce; the unemployment rate was 14.3 per cent (2,600 people) compared to an average of 3.8 per cent across the state’s workforce.
That census information compares to the 2010 state labour market survey, which estimated that 21,300 indigenous people made up 1.8 per cent of the state’s workforce, while the unemployment rate had increased to 22 per cent compared to the average unemployment rate across the state of 4.6 per cent.
According to Australian Employment Covenant chief executive Rhonda Parker, indigenous employment engagement initiatives within businesses play an important role in driving momentum.
“The AEC isn’t the only driving mechanism there but it is one of them that have put the challenge out to Australian businesses, and it has always been about driving change from the top of the organisation, the CEO or the chairman would sign the covenant,” Ms Parker said.
“The company commits itself to a leadership position and then it has to work out how it is going to meet those targets.”
With that in mind, the latest results from the Business Council of Australia’s annual survey into businesses’ indigenous engagement initiatives could signal hope for improving the level of disparity in employment.
According to the BCA, 81 per cent of respondents to the survey had implemented indigenous engagement initiatives, 63 per cent of those had employment and traineeship or education and skills programs in place, and 43 per cent had career development and mentoring programs available.
The survey also found that 22 BCA companies have launched RAPs and identified enhanced accountability to commitments and actions through regular reporting, improved staff awareness of initiatives, and better articulation of the business case for indigenous engagement as outcomes of the process.
As the biggest private sector employer in WA and Australia, Wesfarmers employs 1,060 indigenous people nationally. It also has written a RAP, with group chief executive Richard Goyder saying the plan is a way of creating accountability and sticking to the company’s end game of sustainable employment.
Wesfarmers’ RAP is an overarching plan to guide direct strategies designed within the eight businesses under the auspices of the parent brand.
“It is amazing how a corporation, even as big and diverse as Wesfarmers, will get behind something that is patently the right thing to do and something where you can make a difference,” Mr Goyder said.
“Within our RAP, one of the goals is that our workforce eventually reflects the Aboriginal population within the communities in which we work.
“The end game in Wesfarmers is not just employment; it is making sure employment is sustainable.”
While Mr Goyder’s statement reflects the socially minded business case for Wesfarmers to increase its indigenous employment rates, for Rio Tinto the case is driven primarily by the need for a licence-to-operate in its predominantly remote operations in WA.
“The business case for Rio to engage is strong, having said that, I think over the 15 years we’ve been on this journey our own empathy with the issues and challenges has evolved,” Rio Tinto Australia managing director David Peever said in the BCA report.
“While the business imperative is the primary driver, improving the situation of indigenous Australians represents the country’s biggest social issue.
“The fact that a company like Rio can be at the forefront of positive change in this area also fits very well with our values.”
Also in the BCA survey, Lend Lease chief executive Steve McCann said the business case for indigenous employment was difficult to quantify for the property multi-national, but that support generated from investors, clients and government departments was an obvious benefit.
“Anything we do as a business requires a convincing case and measurable milestones against which we can go back and check our performance,” Mr McCann told WA Business News.
‘‘The same is required here. If the task is defined well, business people ought to be able to find the solution. In indigenous engagement often it is that first stage that presents the problem.
‘‘If we spread our efforts too widely, we can’t be effective. It’s better to narrow down areas and deliver some outcomes rather than try to boil the ocean.”
