Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment Project
What is a Corporate Leader for Indigenous Employment?
Many of Australia’s major companies have demonstrated their commitment to finding more work and training opportunities for Indigenous people since signing the Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment statement.
The Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment Project encourages private sector companies to generate job opportunities. It allows them to use elements of the Australian Government’s Indigenous Employment Programme to develop and tailor their Indigenous employment strategies to meet their business needs.
By becoming part of the Corporate Leaders project you can enhance your talent pool by tapping into a growing Indigenous workforce. It can help build your reputation as a good corporate citizen, enhance workplace diversity and improve your customer base. You will also be increasing your access to a growing labour supply.
If you join other companies you will become part of a team of innovative private sector organisations who have access to the best Indigenous employment strategies and practices.
You will also be able to share ideas at networking forums and get access to targeted resources.
A flexible package of funding is available to all Corporate Leader organisations. The funding can be tailored to your business needs and may assist you develop and implement a strategy that could, for example, include assistance for pre-employment training, mentoring or cross-cultural awareness training.
- many major Australian companies have become Corporate Leaders
- flexible packages of funding are available to develop Indigenous employment strategies and practices
- it’s an opportunity to expand your talent pool by tapping into a growing Indigenous workforce
- you will enhance your reputation as a good corporate citizen
- opportunities to develop a workforce which better reflects your customer base
- access to networking forums
- opportunities for public recognition in the annual Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment Awards.
These are the organisations currently signed up to the Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment Projects.
A number of companies are creating viable job opportunities for Indigenous Australians. Each year best practice initiatives in Indigenous employment are recognised by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations through the annual Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment Awards.
Accor
ACCOR Asia Pacific won the Outstanding Organisation category at the Corporate Leaders for Indigenous Employment Awards for two consecutive years.
In the past year ACCOR has become more committed to Indigenous employment and increased its recruitment of Indigenous employees to more than 100—it is expanding that target to achieve over 135 more places.
ACCOR has also extended its internal marketing and maintained its commitment to employ an Indigenous Employment Coordinator. It provides cross-cultural awareness training and ensures that culturally appropriate staff support services are available to Indigenous staff.
ACCOR has developed a number of hospitality Job Start programmes with DEWR and Job Network for Indigenous job seekers registered with Job Network. The one-week programme gives a first-hand view of the hospitality industry and employer expectations, and is delivered with the support of HR managers who can recruit applicants directly from the course. Four applicants have been selected to work in Cairns and seven in Sydney—more courses are scheduled nationally.
ACCOR’s corporate citizen reputation has been boosted through its recruitment programme. It attends Indigenous careers and jobs expos in each state and advertises its programme through the Indigenous media.
ACCOR is also helping new Corporate Leader companies to develop and implement their own Indigenous employment.
Newmont Australia
Newmont is focused on recruiting people from Indigenous communities near each of its remote mining operations.
The company has made a strong commitment to significantly increase the number of Indigenous people it employs and makes available a range of pre-employment, vocational and on-the-job training courses.
Courses include forklift training, health and nutrition, haul truck operation, mine safety, first aid and computer courses.
Almost 100 Indigenous people have been placed in many different jobs including mechanic, service technician, supply trainee, gold room technician and cultural heritage officer. Excellent retention rates in the order of 80% are being achieved.
To find out about this programme, visit your local Job Network member or call 1802 102.
Download the Corporate Leaders fact sheet (PDF 427KB)