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The diversity of who we are and what we do
from I&D Report - Australia 2022
by GHD
Our people are as unique as the communities we serve across five continents. Embracing diversity helps us develop imaginative and responsive solutions for our clients that create lasting community benefit.
We aim to achieve our I&D commitment through our ‘ABC’ pillars: – Attract: Hire and retain talent with diverse perspectives, identities, experiences, and backgrounds, representing the communities we serve. – Build: Build inclusive teams, communities, and an overall culture of belonging where all our people can be their authentic self and thrive. – Commit: Accountability individually and collectively for I&D. We commit to routinely evaluate and adjust systems, processes, and policies to provide more equitable opportunities for our people.
Progressing I&D
Our I&D strategy is led by Sadaf Parvaiz, Global Enterprise I&D Leader and Coralee Fitzgibbon, I&D Leader for APAC. They are backed by a Global I&D Council, as well as an Australian I&D Committee, chaired by Dean McIntyre, EGM – Australia. Both groups are made up of a diverse mix of people across GHD who meet monthly or bi-monthly to drive an ongoing discussion about ways to improve our inclusive culture.
As well as strategic leadership, our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have been key to fostering an inclusive workplace, and resulted in a growing network of mentors, champions and allies across GHD globally. We have five active ERGS in Australia as demonstrated in this report.
Inaugural I&D Summit
In 2022, we held our first I&D summit, which brought together leaders, ERG executive sponsors, human resources, ERG members, and a host of others involved in various I&D initiatives at GHD. This summit served as the initial launch and release of our three-year enterprise I&D strategy. The summit featured two dynamic sessions focused on how we can maximise the impact of our ERGs and how power influences inclusive leadership.
LGBTQIA+ inclusion
Our LGBTQIA+ Action Plan outlines specific actions we have committed to, to achieve our aspirations for the LGBTQIA+ pillar of inclusion. One commitment made in our LGBTQIA+ Action Plan saw the introduction of a new e-learning module that focuses on LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace. The module is designed for all of our Australian employees.
Progressing gender
We have continued to make progress against gender targets, introduced new measures to achieve pay equity, received the Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Accreditation and renewed our annual Career Relaunch Program to welcome people back into the workforce following a career break.
Reconciliation
Since the launch of our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in October 2021 we’ve learned the importance of creating a culturally safe workplace for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees. We have also continued to partner with key organisations for change.
Flexible and remote working
As we moved to a hybrid way of working post-pandemic, we’ve developed a Hybrid/Remote Work Policy. Our policy helps foster a work environment focused on wellbeing, flexibility and productivity, where all of our people can thrive. It recognises the benefits of remote working, whilst also acknowledging the value of faceto-face interaction, and it complements our support of flexible working practices such as working particular times or days.
Generational diversity
We embrace and celebrate people from a wide range of ages and life stages, and our Young Professionals Network continues to provide a platform to help early career professionals build strong working relationships with peers and clients.
Embracing neurodiversity
Through our partnership with Neurodiversity Hub, we support and provide employment opportunities for neurodiverse people.
Diverse abilities/disabilities
As a next step in our I&D journey, a global accessibility working group made up of our people was formed in 2022 to help create a more accessible environment within GHD.
Women comprise: 40% 45%
of our Australian Leadership Team
of our Board
4K+ people from approx. 85
different countries 35% female 65% male
0.2% have identified themselves as trans, non-binary, intersex or other
People taking primary carer parental leave
Instances
Male 70%
Female 30%
Proportion of hours
Male 57%
Female 43%
There are more instances of males taking primary carer parental leave - largely due to the higher number of male employees at GHD, but with shorter average leave durations.
