Diversity at Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA)

While I don't think the organisation has fully reached its diversity potential there are a lot of initiatives in place to increase this. we also receive regular reports from execs about how this is tracking and the numbers really are only getting better and better.

There are internal networks for many diverse groups, and staff are encouraged to engage where they feel comfortable to do so.

For an incredibly diverse state... I have no idea why so much of the public service is so white!

we are quite diverse. However i think that retention can tend to be a bit of an issue here - there is quite high turnover, both voluntarily and structurally (eg via restructures). There seems to be an emerging pattern of my favourite people turning over, which is a bit sad.

Very good - lots of supportive networks and initiatives

There is a bit of difference between different areas of the department but overall I would rate this quite high. I see plenty of woman in senior roles as well as operational and other more traditionally male roles. I see a large amount of ethnic and LGBT diversity in my direct team as well but I have noticed less in some other teams. I think the policies and commitment are there but it is still taking time to implement.

There is plenty of talk about diversity in a general sense, but not specifically as it applies to my area of work. I cannot comment from personal experience as I do not belong to any of these groups. I will say that issues like child care and parental leave are well handled.

Recruitment of women has been a focus and has been increasing, but more work needs to be done in retention of women and representation in senior roles. Parental leave and job security are excellent, and the ability to work flexibly in terms of hours and location are really beneficial for caring duties.

Government does a number of these better than than private companies. There is a fair amount of cultural diversity within the department/branch. Maternity/parental leave is offered.

Equal opportunity employer, Designated Aboriginal Positions (DAP)

There is a large focus on cultural and gender diversity. Things that I personally have noticed are having very clear position description that don't list a lot of unnecessary 'requirements'. Interview panels are usually formed with an eye to gender and cultural diversity, the same is true for advertisements for roles.

I'm unaware of specific recruitment programs, but my gut sense is there could always be more done in this space. For my intake, recruitment did not do a good job of advertising the Aboriginal identified roles - t least not in the communication I was receiving - and it was not clear until later stages in the process that these were available and those applicants would be prioritised. I feel this was a wasted opportunity.

Honesty, I don't think that they do much at all. The recruitment/assessment/interview is constructed in a way that makes it very difficult for people of low socio-economic backgrounds to navigate and excel at. It seems that most of the successful candidates attended prestigious universities and are firmly 'middle class'.