Company Announces Reconciliation Action Plan; Aboriginal Employee Still Waiting for Promotion She Was Promised 18 Months Ago

NATIONAL – A large Australian company this week launched its third Reconciliation Action Plan, advancing from “Innovate” to “Stretch” level, with commitments to increase Indigenous employment to 3 per cent of the workforce by 2027, establish a Cultural Learning calendar, conduct a review of procurement practices to support Indigenous suppliers and develop a First Nations employee network. The launch was attended by the CEO, the Head of People and Culture, and the company’s two Aboriginal employees. One of the two has been waiting for a promotion she was told she would receive eighteen months ago. She was not mentioned in the press release. The press release mentioned the company’s “deep commitment to reconciliation.”

Reconciliation Action Plans, developed with Reconciliation Australia, are voluntary commitments by organisations to advance reconciliation through relationships, respect and opportunities. The RAP framework has been adopted by thousands of Australian organisations. Reconciliation Australia research has found that the RAP program has contributed to increased Indigenous employment, cultural awareness and supplier diversity in participating organisations. Research has also found that Aboriginal employees in non-ACCO workplaces consistently report higher rates of racism, exclusion and career stagnation than their non-Indigenous colleagues. These findings are not mutually exclusive. The company has an Innovate RAP. The employee has been waiting eighteen months.

The Stretch RAP commits the company to embedding reconciliation into its core business practices and creating “systemic change.” The employee who has been waiting for her promotion is a Wiradjuri woman with a postgraduate degree and twelve years of industry experience. Her manager described her as “not quite ready” for the role in a performance review in which she received high marks in every assessed category. The company’s RAP includes a commitment to addressing unconscious bias through training. The training is scheduled for Q3. The promotion decision was made in Q1 of the year before last.