print this page

related pages

on our site

news

Home page
> State of the Service reports
> State of the Service Report 2005-06 > Equity and diversity > Indigenous employment > Next: People with disability
‹ Previous page

Last updated: 30 November 2006

Chapter 5: Equity and diversity

Indigenous employment

The employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the APS continues to be a challenge for agencies. In 2005–06, the number of ongoing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees fell from 2775 to 2750—a fall of 0.9%. The fall was small (25 people), but the decline in proportional terms was large, considering the overall increase in ongoing staff numbers of 9.1%.

Despite this decline, the 2% representation of Indigenous Australians in the APS still compares favourably with that in the broader Australian workforce, in which 1.4% of the Australian labour force identified themselves as Indigenous.¹⁰

Indigenous representation varies widely between agencies. Those that predominantly deliver services to, or work with, Indigenous communities generally have the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees. As Table 5.4 shows, the agencies with the highest proportion of Indigenous employees in their workforce (i.e. more than 10% of total ongoing employees) at 30 June 2006 were AHL, TSRA, AIATSIS, NNTT and FaCSIA. These are all agencies with significant Indigenous core functions.

Table 5.4: Agencies with the highest proportion of ongoing Indigenous employees, June 2006

	Indigenous ongoing staff	Total ongoing staff	Indigenous (%)
Aboriginal Hostels Limited	269	334	80.5
Torres Strait Regional Authority	25	33	75.8
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies	10	57	17.5
National Native Title Tribunal	24	195	12.3
Family, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs	238	2271	10.5
Source: APSED

FaCSIA is the only one of these agencies that is large. Figure 5.4 shows representation of Indigenous employees in large agencies at June 2006. Large agencies with above average Indigenous representation are DEST (9.4%), DEWR (4.5%), Centrelink (3.6%), DEH (3.0%) and Health (2.7%).

Figure 5.4: Representation of Indigenous employees in agencies with more than 1000 ongoing staff , June 2006

Source: APSED

Overall, three agencies employed over half of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees at June 2006 (51.3%). These agencies were Centrelink (905 or 32.9%), AHL (269 or 9.8%) and FaCSIA (238 or 8.7%). Indigenous employees make up 3.6% of Centrelink’s total ongoing employees.

Thirty agencies reported that none of their ongoing employees had identified as Indigenous. These agencies were mostly small except for one large (ASIC) and three medium agencies—Defence Housing Authority, ACC and ComSuper.

Excluding those agencies involved in machinery of government changes during the year, the largest increases in ongoing Indigenous employment were in DHS (14 employees), DEH (7 employees), ABS (6 employees) and Customs (5 employees). The largest decrease was in Centrelink (63 employees) and ATO (9 employees).

Despite overall falls, Table 5.5 shows that the number of Indigenous employees rose at EL, SES and Graduate trainee classifications this year. The growth was strongest among ELs. The number of Indigenous SES increased from 17 to 19.¹¹ The proportion of all Indigenous employees who are in EL and SES classifications rose from 9.8% at June 2005 to 11.3% at June 2006. In addition to the Indigenous Australians employed under the Public Service Act 1999, there are also two agency heads who are Indigenous.

The proportion of Indigenous employees in the Graduate trainee classification increased from 0.5% to 0.9%. The number in this classification increased from 15 to 26. Indigenous representation fell for APS 1–6s (from 2443 to 2382) and trainees (from 46 to 30).

Table 5.5: Ongoing representation of Indigenous employees by classification, 1997, 2005 and 2006

	1997			2005			2006
	No.	% of class'n who are Indigenous	% of Indigenous employees	No.	% of class'n who are Indigenous	% of Indigenous employees	No.	% of class'n who are Indigenous	% of Indigenous employees
APS 1-2	874	4.1	28.1	288	4.6	10.4	287	4.8	10.4
APS 3-4	1405	3.3	45.2	1336	3.0	48.1	1278	2.6	46.5
APS 5-6	540	1.6	17.4	819	1.9	29.5	817	1.8	29.7
EL	130	0.7	4.2	254	0.9	9.2	293	0.9	10.7
SES	19	1.2	0.6	17	0.8	0.6	19	0.8	0.7
Trainee	118	15.5	3.8	46	12.3	1.7	30	6.7	1.1
Grad APS	17	2.8	0.5	15	1.9	0.5	26	2.7	0.9
Other	2	1.1	0.1	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	3105	2.6	100.0	2775	2.2	100.0	2750	2.0	100.0
Source: APSED

Looking at longer-term trends, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees have become less concentrated at APS 1–2 classifications with the largest proportional increase being at APS 5–6 classifications. As a proportion of all employees in that classification group, Indigenous representation has risen in APS 1–2 (although actual numbers have declined), APS 5–6 and EL classifications, remained steady for Graduate trainees and fallen for APS 3–4. The number of Indigenous SES has remained steady, but proportional representation has decreased as the size of the SES overall has risen.

The total number of Indigenous employees has declined over the past 10 years, although actual numbers rose between 2001 and 2003, before falling for the past three years. While the concentration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees at the APS 1–2 has decreased, their continuing over-representation at these levels and the dramatic decline in employment in the APS 1–2 level in the APS is likely to be a key factor in the decline in Indigenous employment.

The decline has also been exacerbated by the growing emphasis on tertiary qualifications in the APS— at June 2006, 26.1% of Indigenous employees had graduate qualifications, compared to 51.9% of the APS overall.¹² As discussed further in Chapter 11, some of the decline may also relate to the concentration of Indigenous employees in service delivery positions, which have declined as a proportion of total APS employment.

Engagements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees have fluctuated over the last ten years, but as a proportion of total engagements, have generally fallen. These trends are shown in Table 5.6. Although Indigenous engagements actually increased from 295 in 2004–05 to 372 in 2005–06, the proportional increase was lower than for overall engagements. During 2005–06 Indigenous employees accounted for only 1.8% of all engagements—the lowest proportion for the whole decade.

Trainee programmes have historically represented an important source of engagements for Indigenous employees. Figure 5.5 shows that the use of traineeships and graduate trainee programmes to recruit Indigenous Australians has varied widely over the past 10 years. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees have been more highly represented in traineeships than in graduate trainee programmes— at June 2006, 6.7% of trainees were Indigenous compared with 2.7% of graduate trainees.

Indigenous representation rose among graduate trainees during 2005–06, but fell for other trainees. The rise in the number of graduate trainees is consistent with the success of the Commission’s Indigenous graduate recruitment initiative (see Figure 5.5). The fall in trainees is somewhat of a surprise, given the 32 cadets recruited through the Commission for 12 agencies on behalf of DEWR (and who are classed as trainees, for the purpose of the Classification Rules). The trainee numbers may not reflect all cadets recruited because:

• some cadets have been recruited on a non-ongoing basis (because of data quality issues, analysis of APSED data in this chapter is restricted to ongoing employees)
• there are generally high levels of ‘no-data’, and other data quality issues, in the data supplied by agencies on recently engaged employees
• in some cases Indigenous trainees and cadets were put into classifications other than the trainee classification, for example APS 1–2.

If cadets currently employed on a non-ongoing basis are successful in obtaining ongoing employment, their numbers are likely to feed into Indigenous representation in the future.

Figure 5.5: Representation of ongoing Indigenous employees in trainee classifications, 1997 to 2006

Source: APSED

Indigenous separations have been relatively high for most of the last ten years. Indigenous separations can be looked at in two ways—either as a proportion of Indigenous employees, or as a proportion of total separations. Using the first method, 14.4% of all ongoing Indigenous employees separated during 2005–06. This was lower than the previous financial year (15.9%) but higher than the four years prior to that. The comparable separation rate for the APS overall during 2005–06 was 7.4%.

Table 5.6 looks at Indigenous separations using the second method described above. As a proportion of all ongoing separations, Indigenous separations fell this year, from 4.3% to 4.2% of all separations, but Indigenous employees continued to be over-represented. The number of Indigenous separations also fell, from 454 to 397.

Table 5.6: Indigenous representation in engagements and separations of ongoing employees, 1996–97 to 2005–06

	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Engagements No.	265	263	268	300	409	420	446	302	295	372
(% of engagements)	4.7	4.3	3.4	2.5	3.0	3.5	2.9	3.2	2.6	1.8
Separations No.	501	448	474	412	277	289	305	373	454	397
(% of separations)	3.3	2.7	3.3	3.8	3.4	3.4	4.3	5.1	4.3	4.2
Source: APSED

Indigenous employees are also much more likely to have considerably shorter service before leaving the APS. During 2005–06, 41.8% of Indigenous employees who separated had less than five years service, compared with 34.5% of non-Indigenous employees.

Indigenous employment challenges

In line with the general trends, a substantial proportion of agencies identified they were experiencing challenges in relation to Indigenous employment. Around half of all agencies faced at least one of a number of specified challenges (see Table 5.7). Eighty-seven per cent of large agencies reported facing one or more challenges compared to 29% of small agencies and 50% of medium agencies. For each challenge, a relatively high proportion of agencies, between 35% and 46%, indicated that it was not applicable to them.

The most common challenges related to recruitment, with the two most frequently identified challengesbeing the difficulty in recruiting Indigenous graduates and recruiting Indigenous Australians with the required skills. The loss of valued Indigenous employees was also relatively common (see Table 5.7 below, for the frequency of challenges faced by agencies in the employment of Indigenous Australians). None of the other challenges were identified by more than 10 agencies. Only a small number of agencies identified that they had a challenge in dealing with negative perceptions held by non-Indigenous employees, or providing mentors.

Table 5.7: Agency challenges in relation to Indigenous employment, 2005–06

Challenges faced by agencies	Number of agencies (N = 84)
	Yes	No	Not applicable
Loss of valued Indigenous employees	20	35	29
Difficulty recruiting Indigenous graduates with required skills as part of a formal graduate programme	31	14	39
Difficulty recruiting Indigenous Australians (other than for a formal graduate programme) with required skills	30	24	30
Difficulty in managing underperforming Indigenous employees	10	43	31
Difficulty providing mentors with appropriate experience for Indigenous employees	7	38	39
Ensuring that Indigenous employees’ skills and/or knowledge meet the agency’s requirements	10	43	31
Dealing with negative perceptions held by non-Indigenous employees of Indigenous employees	4	50	30
Other	2	24	29
Source: Agency survey

APS Employment and Capability Strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employees

To respond to the trends in Indigenous employment and the challenges identified by agencies, the Commission’s APS Employment and Capability Strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employees was announced by the Government in August 2005. The strategy was outlined in detail in the State of the Service Report 2004–05. A range of initiatives under the strategy were implemented during the year. These include:

• an inaugural service-wide Indigenous graduate recruitment initiative; as a result, 25 Indigenous graduates were recruited to 19 agencies
• the bulk recruitment of Indigenous cadets on behalf of DEWR, which saw 32 cadets recruited to 12 different agencies
• an inaugural school-to-work programme implemented in Queensland with five sponsorships finalisedfor Year 10 students
• the release of two publications to attract Indigenous people to apply for jobs in the APS, distributed to Job Network agencies, Indigenous community organisations, universities and other educational institutions
• twenty-seven Career Trek workshops attended by 330 APS 1–4 and APS 5–6 Indigenous employees in 14 locations around the country
• the establishment of the APS Indigenous Capability Fund to support Indigenous employees in developing relevant skills and building successful careers in the APS
• the Indigenous Australian Public Service Employees Network (IAPSEN)
• the Indigenous Employer’s Human Resources Forum.

The Commission is also using strategic partnerships to develop collaborative and innovative employmentsolutions to improve employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. A partnership has been established with Quest Employment and Training Solutions to deliver Certificate III in Government to Indigenous Job Network participants.

To support the strategy the Commission undertook an evaluation of agency approaches to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment, which incorporated a census survey of all employees identifyingas Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in the APS.¹³ The report outlining the census results identified four key challenges for the APS:

• increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander capability
• encouraging a greater diversity of roles for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees
• encouraging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to remain within the APS
• improving the quality of workplace support.

A number of the initiatives under the strategy are focusing on these challenges including:

• continuing the national Indigenous graduate and cadetship recruitment programmes
• running a national service-wide Indigenous traineeship recruitment campaign in 2006–07 in associationwith the Ngunnawal Aboriginal Corporation
• continuing the sponsorship of participants in the school-to-work programme for years 11 and 12
• implementing the Indigenous Capability Fund through provision of $0.5 million per annum to support the training and development of Indigenous employees
• implementing Horizons, a national secondment programme for staff at the APS 4 to APS 6 level, and developing a secondment strategy for senior managers working in Indigenous-related areas to move between partner agencies
• considering the development of a post-graduate scholarship programme
• developing evidence-based better practice guides for APS managers on better recruitment and bettermanagement of Indigenous employees including revision of the Get it Right recruitment kit
• promoting the APS as an employer of choice to Indigenous Australians through various national Indigenous media and events.

Agency support for the employment of Indigenous Australians

A number of agencies have implemented strategies to address Indigenous employment in their agency. Some of these were the subject of an evaluation this year to determine the effectiveness of agency approaches.

Indigenous employment strategies

There has been a growth in the use by agencies of formal Indigenous Employment Strategies (IES). A quarter of all agencies now have an IES (21, compared to 13 in 2004). The majority of agencies without an IES were small and medium agencies.

There is potential, however, for a more rigorous approach to assessing strategies. Of agencies with an IES only 57% had a formal framework in place to evaluate its effectiveness. Nevertheless, 43% of agencies with an IES had performed an evaluation of their strategy in the last two years, a relatively high rate given that many agencies have only recently adopted a formal strategy.

Where agencies had performed an evaluation, results were generally positive. Results reported included that the IES had helped identify areas for concentrated activity, enabled engagement with Indigenous issues, given a focus to new initiatives and helped in gaining cross-agency support. Some agencies reportedthat their IES had contributed to increased recruitment of Indigenous graduates, high retention rates and improved the status of the contribution of Indigenous employees.

Recruitment strategies

Although only a minority of agencies have formal Indigenous Employment Strategies in place, most (58%) use at least one specific Indigenous recruitment strategy. However, 35 agencies did not have any recruitment strategies in place.The frequency results for individual strategies are outlined at Table 5.8.

The most common strategy was advertising employment opportunities in the Indigenous media (43% of all agencies). Of these, most agencies were most likely to use the Koori Mail followed by the National Indigenous Times.

Agencies were also relatively likely to use special employment measures, which limit employment opportunities to Indigenous applicants (42%).The most frequent measures used were the National Indigenous Cadetship Project and the Commission-run APS Indigenous Graduate programme. Other special employment measures included DEWR’s contract management traineeship, Indigenous specific apprenticeship or traineeship programmes, agency specific Indigenous graduate or cadetship programmes and Indigenous specific vacancies as part of broader recruitment processes.

Table 5.8: Agency strategies to recruit Indigenous Australians, 2005–06

Recruitment strategies	Number of agencies (N = 84)
	In place	Being developed	Not in place
Special employment measures15	35	0	49
Identified positions16	28	0	56
Providing other opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to gain skills and experience under an agency based Indigenous employment scheme.17	18	2	64
Advertising employment opportunities in Indigenous media	36	2	46
Other recruitment strategies specifically aimed at recruiting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.	22	6	51
Note: Agencies that did not respond to the question relating to a particular strategy are not included in the table. Source: Agency survey

Identified positions are positions which have specific selection criteria that require agencies to demonstrateknowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander societies and cultures, and an ability to communicate sensitively and effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Traditionally, these have been expressed in two core selection criteria. Identified positions are open to all Australians and have to be won on merit.

A third of agencies reported that they had used identified positions during 2005–06 to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Most (68%) had used the traditional two criteria giving them prominence in the vacancy and 36% had used a single criterion combining the two criteria.

To gain a better understanding of the use of identified positions and special employment measures, the Commission conducted a desk-based evaluation in 2005–06, drawing on a range of existing data sources.

Twenty-one per cent of agencies had used an agency based Indigenous employment scheme to provide other opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to gain skills and experience. The most common types of schemes were work experience used by 44% of relevant agencies, and certificate I, II, and III programmes, used by a third of relevant agencies. Agencies also used a range of other schemes, including traineeships, school to work programmes, placements under the Indigenous Leadership programme, a Certificate IV programme and a job-ready programme.

Twenty-six per cent of agencies identified that they had used recruitment strategies other than those specified in the agency survey. These included intern placements, scholarships developed in collaboration with universities, work experience, providing advice of vacancies to Indigenous employment agencies or Job Network providers, running seminars and information groups in Indigenous communities about job vacancies, participating in Indigenous job markets, and participation in a cross agency Indigenous recruitment strategy.

Only a minority (36%) of agencies were collecting data on Indigenous applicants, increasing to 42% if those agencies that indicated that this strategy was not applicable are excluded. This is, however, a slight increase on last year.

Retention strategies

Measures to retain Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees continue to be more common than measures to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees. Sixty-nine per cent of agencies used one or more measures to retain their Indigenous employees, which is similar to 2005. However, 26 agencies had no measures in place. Of these 19 indicated that these measures were not applicable as they had no Indigenous staff .

This year the agency survey asked agencies about a much larger selection of retention measures. Table 5.9 sets out the overall frequency of strategies used by agencies to retain Indigenous Australians in 2006.

The most common retention strategy was provision of special leave (for example, ceremonial leave), followed by encouragement to participate in the Indigenous APS Employees’ Network (IAPSEN). The use of both had increased slightly since last year.

Sixty-one per cent of applicable agencies also reported that they provide study options to their Indigenousemployees. Of these, the majority provided additional study hours, with some agencies providing undergraduate scholarships, pre-tertiary or bridging scholarships and post graduate scholarships.

Table 5.9: Agency strategies to retain Indigenous employees, 2005–06

Retention strategies	Number of agencies (N = 84)
	In place	Being developed	Not in place	Not applicable (no Indigenous employees)
Special employment measures	16	3	42	22
Identified positions	20	1	40	22
Encourage participation in the Indigenous APS Employees’ Network	39	2	21	22
Operate an internal agency-based Indigenous employees’ network	20	2	38	22
Provide study options	37	2	22	22
Provide culturally specific training programmes for Indigenous employees	11	4	46	22
Provide Indigenous cultural awareness training for all employees	21	8	32	22
Provide special leave provisions (e.g. ceremonial leave)	50	1	12	21
Provide targeted leadership development opportunities	22	1	38	22
Provide mentoring and/or coaching to Indigenous employees	27	4	30	21
Provide mobility and/or secondment opportunities into mainstream positions	18	6	37	22
Other retention strategies	10	2	38	19
Note: Agencies that did not respond to the question relating to the particular strategy are not included in the table. Source: Agency survey

Only a minority of agencies provided Indigenous cultural awareness training for all employees. Of theseagencies the majority provide training run by outsourced providers. Agencies providing targeted leadershipdevelopment opportunities mostly used Commission run courses.

Twenty-nine per cent of agencies undertook exit interviews with Indigenous employees when they left the organisation. This was a slight increase on last year.

Employee perceptions of agency support

Employees were generally positive about the support provided by their agency to Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander people, although results were not as strong as results for the support of women.

Almost two-thirds of employees (64%) agreed that their agency actively encourages the recruitment and employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The level of agreement in large agencies ranged from 32% to 87%. Of the large agencies, those with agreement rates significantly above the APS average were Centrelink, DEST, FaCSIA, DFAT and Medicare Australia.

Just over half of employees (55%) agreed that their agency encouraged the retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.The level of agreement in large agencies ranged from 30% to 77%. Of the large agencies, those with agreement rates significantly above the APS average were Centrelink, DEST and Medicare Australia.

The majority of employees (65%) agreed that being an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander was not a barrier to success in their workplace. SES employees were more likely to agree than APS and EL employees. The level of agreement varied across large agencies, ranging from 43% to 84%.

There were no significant differences between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees and other employees on any of these statements.

Employee engagement and job satisfaction

As reported in Chapter 3, Indigenous employees had higher rates of overall job satisfaction than other employees. However, their satisfaction against a range of employee engagement factors was more mixed (see Figure 5.6).¹⁸ In particular, Indigenous employees tended to be less satisfied than other employees on some factors, particularly those relating to an understanding of their current role, the effectiveness of their work group, satisfaction with immediate supervisor and governance. On other factors, diff erences were relatively small.

Figure 5.6: Employee satisfaction with factors identified through factor analysis—Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees, 2005–06

Source: Employee survey

The lack of satisfaction against the ‘Understanding current role’ factor is of particular concern given the importance, reported in Chapter 3, that many of this group place on having their duties and expectations made clear.

 

10. ABS 2002, Census of Population and Housing 2001, ABS, Canberra
11. The number of Indigenous SES reported last year for 2005 was 20. Due to improvements in data quality, this has been revised to 17.
12. The method used to calculate the proportion of employees with graduate or tertiary qualifications includes those with qualifications at bachelor degree and above. It excludes from the denominator those for whom no data was provided by agencies, and those who chose not to provide details for their highest educational qualification.
13. Census Report—Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander APS Employees, 2006, Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra
14. Identified positions have specific selection criteria that require applicants to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and an ability to communicate sensitively and effectively with them. Traditionally, these have been based on two core selection criteria specifically addressing these issues.
15. Public Service Commissioner’s Directions 4.2, 4.3 and 4.6A allows agency heads to limit specified employment opportunities to Indigenous applicants within the framework provided by Commonwealth discrimination legislation.
16. Agency heads can create positions that require an understanding of Indigenous culture and issues faced by Indigenous Australians, and the ability deal effectively and sensitively with these issues. While it is likely that these positions will be occupied by Indigenous Australians, recruitment is on the basis of merit and not confined to Indigenous Australians.
17. Public Service Regulation 3.3 provides that agency heads may approve schemes enabling non-ongoing APS employees to gain skills and experience for the purpose of assisting them to participate in the workforce.
18. For further information on factor analysis see Appendix 4.

Next page: People with disability

• Australian Public Service Commission • A-Z index • Privacy, legal & copyright • Contact us This page can be found at www.apsc.gov.au/stateoftheservice/0506/fiveindigenous.htm