A landmark report on Indigenous employment by Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation has found racism is rife and representation in senior leadership low.
Indigenous Australians hold less than 1 per cent of senior leadership roles across corporate Australia, and more than half have endured racism at work, according to landmark research involving organisations employing more than 700,000 people.
Based on surveys and interviews with employees at 42 organisations including Rio Tinto, ANZ Bank, Australia Post, Atlassian, PwC, Linfox, Wesfarmers, Woolworths and Domino’s, the report found the mean Indigenous employment rate at the companies surveyed was 2.2 per cent, ranging from 0.17 per cent to 10.9 per cent.
“To only have 0.7 per cent Indigenous representations on those teams – employers and industry are missing out,” she said. Businessman and former politician Warren Mundine said the business sector had made it clear it was committed to achieving employment parity. However, it had more to do in terms of updating practices, with retention and training also key to increasing representation in senior ranks.