Improving Indigenous Participation Rates in Nontraditional Occupations in the Public Sector

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Improving Indigenous Participation RatesIRS of
WA 2008 Annual Convention
How does this affect me?
John Kirwan CEO, Launceston General
Hospital Commissioner for Public Employment, NT,
2002-06

• The main information goes here and the dot points
  follow on
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Is Aboriginal employment an IR issue? Is it a hot
topic?
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Employment is the cornerstone of participation
in modern Canadian society. It is not only a
source of income it is also the basis for
self-respect and autonomy. Michael Mendelson.
Aboriginal People in Canadas Labour Market Work
and Unemployment, Today and Tomorrow. Ottawa.
Caledon Institute of Social Policy. March 2004.
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• Acknowledge the traditional owners
• Acknowledge the work of Wendy Ah Chin
• Principal of JKC
• CEO LGH, DHHS, Tasmania
• Formerly CPE NT
• EGM PHP, HDWA
• GM Workforce Reform, HDWA
• Union Official, HSUA WA

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Work is central to peoples well-being. In
addition to providing income, work can pave the
way for broader social and economic advancement,
strengthening individuals, their families and
communities. Such progress, however, hinges on
work that is decent. Decent work sums up the
aspirations of people in their working lives.
ILOs vision of decent work.
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Is Aboriginal employment an IR issue? Is it a hot
topic?
So given the cultural and spiritual needs of the
oldest living culture on this planet, who has
responsibility for work design, cultural leave
provisions, flexible work arrangements, housing
conditions, training provisions and allowances,
family leave, the definition of a family.and
how are we going?
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Unemployment is associated with a variety of
problems and pathologies, from higher divorce
rates to higher incidences of alcoholism. And
the relationship is not just a correlation there
is a causal connection. Some individuals can
keep themselves happy and gainfully employed
without a job. But for many, employment the
fact that someone else recognizes their
contribution by paying them is
important.Joseph E Stiglitz. Employment,
social justice and social well-being.
International Labour Review. Vol 141. 2002.
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Why is having a job important?

• social justice/social inclusion
• the responsibility to treat staff as an asset not
  a cost of production
• The impact work has for an individual, their
  family and the community
• Work/employment, education, health, social
  cohesion are all interrelated
• current and emerging shortages in staff and
  skills
• Economic benefit to the community.

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Why is having a job important?

• demographic changes
• supporting culturally secure services and
  workplaces
• provision of quality services to the community
• the positive advantage of cultural diversity
  within the workforce
• a workforce that reflects the population it
  serves and
• many Governments have a policy to improve
  Indigenous participation rates

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Peoples health suffers because of the social
conditions in which they live and work.
Interview with Professor Sir Michael Marmot,
Chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of
Health. WHO. 2008.
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What does the research tell us we should be doing
now?

• Ensuring partnerships with universities and
  tertiary institutions, and offering supported
  placements for Indigenous students in professions
  such as nursing, medicine, teaching and business
  management.
• Identification of a career paths across the full
  range of government and community activities
  through which an employee can progress through
  their working life from entry level to senior
  roles.

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What does the research tell us we should be doing
now?

• Commitment to the identification of and support
  for the development required for staff to
  progress from role to role.
• Placing an emphasis on pathways between
  education, training and skills development
• Ensuring that job descriptions evolve as staff
  members develop and additional skills are
  identified.

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What does the research tell us we should be doing
now?

• - Provision of early advice to new employees
  about available opportunities, and how those
  opportunities can be realised.
• Implementation of a strategy to identify
  potential recruits, together with a retention
  program. The recruitment strategy should include
  the design of positions to match the skills and
  experiences of individuals, while the retention
  program should include the recognition of those
  cultural imperatives that affect retention.

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What does the research tell us we should be doing
now?

• Support for the individual choices of Indigenous
  staff who wish to move from identified positions
  to mainstream positions.
• Provision of full-time study leave to assist
  professional development and career progression.
• Development of a job rotation program so that
  after a specified period (say, 3 years) staff are
  provided with the opportunity to act in another
  position to gain experience.

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What does the research tell us we should be doing
now?

• Creation, for Indigenous and non-Indigenous
  employees, of secondment opportunities between
  employers and community-controlled organisations.
• Promoting employers as good workplaces and
  industries as desirable place to work.
• Provision to students at year 9 and above of
  generic job information to alert them to the wide
  range of opportunities that exist.
• Employment of Indigenous human resource
  management practitioners.

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People in poverty go through each day with the
will to survive, but without the support and
possibilities to move up the ladder of
opportunity. Imagine where their efforts could
take them if that ladder were in place. Our
common responsibility is to help put it
there.Remarks by Juan Somavia, Director-General
of the International Labour Office at the Council
of Ministers of the African Union. Maputo,
Mozambique. 8 July 2003.
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What is working?

• Mining industry
• NTPS
• Alice Springs Desert Park
• NICP
• Norforce/ADF
• NT DEET
• Centerlink
• CDU Unit on Indigenous Employment
• NT Parliament/Cabinet

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Common mistakes, problems and challenges

• Glossy policies with a limited number of
  evaluations
• Repetition of past programs, limited innovation
• Failure to link health, education and employment
  at the levels it is needed
• Use of outmoded approaches such as quotas/ and
  add on programs rather than making Indigenous
  employment a mainstream issue
• Failure to provide culturally secure workplaces

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Common mistakes, problems and challenges

• Lack of leadership, where it is provided it is
  individually based or one organisation only and
  lost once they move on
• Seen as a HR issue not a management issue
• Limited or no accountability
• Limited or no focus on the data/evidence or
  follow up failures or successes

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Common mistakes, problems and challenges

• Limited understanding of the lead times required,
  in some professions, 10 years or more and the
  level of support required
• Focus on lower level/entry level and Aboriginal
  specific jobs
• Work design still based on 19/20th century
  division of work, pre and post industrial UK,
  with a one size fits all and protection of the
  guilds flavour
• No focus on the needs of the potential workforce,
  even the customers, clients, patents we serve!
• Climatic, cultural and geographic needs ignored

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CDU Indigenous Employment (HRM301)
http//eagle.ntu.edu.au/NTU/Apps/unitre.nsf/w41/
7261A1DB6C025BFE692571DE0031B574?openDocument
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• Of greatest concern is the contribution
  unemployment makes to the general malaise and
  hopelessness experienced by Indigenous people in
  some communities.
• Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle Little Children
  are Sacred. Report of the Northern Territory
  Board of Inquiry into the Protection of
  Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse. Northern
  Territory Government. 2007.

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Eleven dot points that can be used as a self
assessment test for your organisation from the NT
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Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle findings

• There was a lack of opportunity for employment
  providing real wages.
• High rates of unemployment affected individuals
  self-esteem, disposable income and personal
  relationships, and led to feelings of boredom and
  hopelessness.
• The lack of real employment destroyed the link
  between education and employment and, as a
  result, had a negative impact on commitment to
  education.
• There was a history of lost employment.
• The majority of current employees had white
  faces.

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Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle findings

• There is workforce segmentation, with the higher
  paid and more prestigious jobs being undertaken
  by non-aboriginal staff.
• Aboriginal employees were seen only in
  Aboriginal-specific positions which,
  predominantly, were lower paid, skilled,
  qualified and paid.
• Many employees were part time, and were engaged
  on CDEP.
• There was reliance for a range of essential
  services on staff employed on CDEP.
• There were too many short term/pilot programs,
  rather than sustainable long-term employment
  generating initiatives.
• The NTGs IECDS had had only limited success.

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Is there a new way forward? Skills development
and career pathways
The increasing pace of economic, social and
technological change, coupled with the growing
need to seize opportunities opening up in a
rapidly-integrating world economy requires
continuous policy and institutional adaptation.
It has been increasingly recognised that peoples
skills and capabilities, and investment in
education and training, constitute the key to
economic and social development. Skills and
training increase productivity and incomes, and
facilitates everybodys participation in economic
and social life. International Labour
Organisation. Website Training and vocational
guidance. http//www.ilo.org/global/Themes/Skills
__Knowledge_and_Employability/Training/lang--en/in
dex.htm.
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Is there a new way forward? Grow-your-own
Grow-your-own workforce strategies are
characterised by two important features. First,
they look to local labour markets as a key
source of workforce supply. Second, they
encourage organisations to use the skills and
talents of their existing unregistered or not
formally qualified workforce more effectively.
Grow Your Own, Creating the conditions for
sustainable workforce development, Gita Malhotra,
Kings Fund, UK, August 2006
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Is there a new way forward?

• Identify where gains can be made and develop
  strategies
• Consult with the Aboriginal staff and
  communities, eg IPAA NT IEF
• Redesign the jobs from the bottom up
• Use the both ways model to develop jobs and
  career paths that merger the needs of Aboriginal
  staff and employers

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Is there a new way forward?

• Grow your own
• Do not create black job ghettoes
• Create, map and promote career pathways
• Develop workplace arrangements that address
  cultural, regional and climatic conditions
• Evaluate, document, share, celebrate

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Is Aboriginal employment an IR issue? Is it a hot
topic?

• Who is responsible for
• job design, classifications and selection
  criteria?
• developing your skills matrix and career
  pathways?
• the rates of pay and the work value assessment
  tools?
• ensuring a culturally secure workplace?
• the unemployed and under employed in our society?
• your current and future human capital?
• Indigenous economic development?
• Whowill make a difference..or is it too hot?