Equal Opportunity & Diversity Policy
1. Summary
1.1. Caring for You Nursing Agency is committed to a culture that embraces and fosters diversity and inclusion. Diversity may result from a range of factors; origin, age, gender, race, cultural heritage, lifestyle, education, physical ability, appearance, language or other factors. We value the differences between all individuals and the contribution these differences make to our business.
1.2. We will actively manage diversity by finding ways of utilising the differences that exist in order to improve our business. This requires that we actively and flexibly seek to accommodate the unique needs of many different employees. Above all, we are committed to ensuring that all employees are treated with respect and dignity.
2. Scope
2.1. This Diversity policy applies to all employees of Caring for You Nursing Agency. For the purpose of the Policy “employee” means persons working Caring for You including ongoing and temporary employees, contractors, consultants and advisory board members. The responsibility to behave in a respectful way towards others extends not only to employees but also to all people with whom Caring for You deals with members, visitors and third parties.
3. Policy Details
It is the responsibility of all employees to create an environment where:
3.1. There is tolerance of difference. All employees have the right to be treated fairly and with respect and dignity.
3.2. The ability to contribute and access opportunities is based on merit. Caring for You Nursing Agency will adopt and actively encourage practices and procedures that enable all employees to contribute to the best of their ability.
3.3. Inappropriate attitudes or behaviours are confronted. Caring for You will treat seriously any instance of inappropriate behaviour and confront attitudes based on inappropriate stereotypes. All employees must take responsibility for reporting breaches of this policy and should themselves act in accordance with its spirit.
3.4. Caring for You will provide equal opportunity in respect to all aspects of employment and employment conditions, including:
3.4.1. Recruitment and selection
3.4.2. Training
3.4.3. Career Advancement, and
3.4.4. Support
3.5. Diversity benefits individuals, work teams and our organisation as a whole, including our external stakeholders. We recognise that each individual employee brings their own unique capabilities, experiences and characteristics to their work.
3.6. Caring for You are committed to supporting employees across all positions in the achievement of a diverse workplace.
4. How we promote Diversity & Inclusion
In order to create an inclusive workplace that fosters diversity in all its forms, Caring for You is focused on:
4.1. Delivering on our Reconciliation Strategy Plan – Caring for You is committed to working towards building a society where there is equity in health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and we will formalised this commitment through our Reconciliation Action Plan in the near future.
4.2. Support for parents and carers – Caring for You is committed to ensuring equal access to parental leave for employees of all gender identities and sexual orientations, so that everyone can fully participate at home and at work. Our approach to parental leave provides a flexible suite of leave and support options for employees to support them to support their families. Similarly, we are committed to ensuring carers of all types are able to balance caring commitments alongside work.
4.3. Delivering on gender equality – Caring for You is committed to ensuring that gender is not a barrier to career opportunities and advancement. We ensure representation of all gender identities throughout all recruitment processes, and are committed to pay equity. We believe that through gender balanced diverse leadership and talent pipelines, we can better represent the needs of our customers.
4.4. Inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people – Caring for You is committed to working with the LGBTI community to address health inequalities and ensure our policies, processes and practices are inclusive of every Australian.
4.5. Representing the changing demographics of our customers - As the Australian population ages and becomes more culturally diverse, we are committed to ensuring our workforce is representative of our customers so we can better anticipate their needs.
4.6. These are supported by strong recruitment and selection practices, which ensure bias (real or perceived) is eliminated at all levels of the organisation (including external vacancies, restructures and promotion) regardless of employment type (fulltime, part time, causal, or contractor). Recruitment and selection practices are also designed to consider a balance of gender and other forms of diversity in the range of candidates.
4.7. This is further supported by talent and development practices which ensure that, where possible, the pool of potential available talent is nurtured and developed effectively. Early identification and development of a diverse pool of talent ensures that there are appropriately qualified and experienced candidates from all backgrounds for consideration when positions including potential Senior Management or Board positions become available.
4.8. Robust and regular measurement of engagement and employee experience provide the checks in place which allow us to ensure a consistent experience for employees, regardless of their background.
5. Responsibilities
5.1. The responsibility of this policy is borne by all internal and external staff and stakeholders across our organisation.
6. Policy Review
6.1. This policy will be reviewed on a biennial or as required basis by the General Manager of People and Culture. Any proposed changes to this policy must be approved by the Co-CEOs.
6.2. This policy is saved and stored in the “Policy Review Schedule” in the Quality Management System board on Monday.com for Caring for You staff, to enable efficient document control and access.
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Grace Thomson Co-CEO | Belle Thomson Co-CEO |
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Approval Date: 29/08/2022 |