John Holland acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands and waters within Australia and recognises the important connection to Country that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have. We offer and pay our respects to Elders of the many nations and lands both past and present and to all knowledge holders. We recognise that the land on which we work always was and always is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
We extend that acknowledgement and respect to other lands on which we work including to Aotearoa New Zealand and to all Māori people.
CEO message
People have always been at the heart of our success at John Holland. It’s part of the reason our customers choose us, again and again.
As we look to the future, we know success means continuing to build a company that meets the expectations of our customers, and where our people reflect the diversity of the communities we work in.
Diversity is good for our people –we want everyone to feel welcome and grow at John Holland - but it is also good for business. Research consistently shows that the most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability [McKinsey, 2020].
We’ve already established some great foundations and made improvements that are transforming lives for our people, but we need to do more.
This new Inclusion Strategic Plan is more comprehensive than we’ve had before and focuses on removing barriers in the business so we can reach our bold goal of being an industry leader: It sets the focus for all of John Holland with clear accountabilities to help us reach our goal of becoming more inclusive, diverse and equitable. There will be agreed actions and goals rolling out, because we know what gets measured gets done.
Every John Holland employee has a role to play, every day – in how we support our teammates, call out bias, the decisions we make on recruitment and the support for flexibility.
Employees can also get involved in our Employee Resource Groups that help drive action and engagement on inclusion, diversity and equity.
It’s up to us – both as individuals and collectively – to make sure John Holland is a company where everyone truly feels they belong.
Glenn Palin Chief Executive Officer
Executive summary
We know our people perform at their best when they feel they belong, and can learn and grow. We also know that to deliver on our purpose to transform lives , we constantly need new skills and solutions to respond to changing markets and customer expectations. That’s why we’re committed to building a more diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation
We’ve made good progress so far but there’s more we need to do. We want to be an industry leader
This Inclusion Strategic Plan 2023— 2025 sets out what John Holland will do to achieve this. We will know we are successful when we have: Empowered our people to be inclusive in everything we do Built and retained a diverse John Holland that delivers for our customers
Moved definitively to deliver organisation-wide equity through our practices and processes
Used our voice and influence to elevate and resolve cultural issues impacting our industry.
We’ll continue to support the committed people and teams already working towards our inclusion, diversity and equity goals, including our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). The ERGs have an influential role in supporting many aspects of this strategic plan and as champions of change.
We will continue to create equal opportunities for all our people, with a particular focus on representation and inclusion across these key diversity areas: gender, First Nations Peoples, LGBTI+, age, disability and neurodiversity, and cultural and linguistic diversity.
New to this strategic plan is a focus on embedding inclusion, diversity and equity practices in all our ways of working, particularly in attraction and recruitment, psychological and physical safety and respect, employee experience and manager capability, and flexibility.
Why diversity, equity and inclusion matter at John Holland
It’s important that our people are as diverse as the communities in which we work. Our customers expect that of us, but research shows it achieves better business outcomes too.
It’s not a new idea. Our company’s founder, Sir John Holland, always understood that “a construction company…is a group of very special people, people of drive and initiative, integrity and intelligence, people brimming with ideas.”
The construction industry has a huge opportunity to meet an expanding and changing pipeline. To do this, we need people – a wide range of people.
Key measures of success by 2025
We need to broaden the spectrum of people we attract, make sure they feel welcome and offer them a strong career path. It’s what a competitive and sustainable industry is built on.
We want John Holland to be a company where everyone feels they belong, and so inclusion, diversity and equity are a responsibility for each of us.
Our journey so far
We’ve made solid progress since our last strategic plan kicked off in 2019.
2020
⚫ Acheived AWEI Bronze status
⚫ Breaking Bias training launched for all employees
⚫ Career Seekers partnership signed
⚫ Return to work from parental leave toolkits and program launched
⚫ Launched Flex working, including new policy and toolkits
2019
⚫ Pride Network established
⚫ Commenced AWEI benchmarking
⚫ Celebrate Women Network established
⚫ 2nd Innovate RAP launched
2021
⚫ Multicultural Leave Exchange launched
2022
⚫ Launched Gender Equality Strategic Plan
⚫ New Parental Leave policy and return to work process launched offering 18 weeks primary carers leave
⚫ AFLW Partnership commenced
⚫ 5 day work week trials on select John Holland projects
⚫ Gender Affirmation Leave and policy launched
⚫ Career Seekers MOU signed
⚫ GROW Network established
2023
⚫ Enhanced employee supports through refreshed policies including FDV, miscarriage and infant loss
⚫ Achieved WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality
⚫ Participant in World Pride celebrations including sponsor to BuildingPride event and Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras involvement
⚫ Placed our 100th Career Seeker and signed further three-year partnership
⚫ Ability@John Holland established
Who is John Holland
John Holland’s purpose is transforming lives, and it drives what we do and how.
From humble beginnings 75 years ago, we are one of Australia’s leading building, infrastructure, rail and transport companies. We’re incredibly proud of our history in Australia – but it’s what we’re delivering for the future that drives our teams each and every day.
Our diverse experience and expertise enable us to create innovative and enduring solutions for our customers across multiple industry sectors.
At John Holland
5788 employees.
1348 women overall. 30.8% of staff roles are women.
In 2022, 20 people utilised Multicultural Leave Exchange increasing to 31 in November 2023.
Our employees have diverse faiths. In a recent survey, respondents told us they had a Christian based faith (40.1%) or had no religion (40.5%), followed by Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.
We’re currently delivering many of Australia’s major infrastructure projects – from the Melbourne Metro Tunnel and Sydney Metro to the Australian-first Kidston Pumped Storage Hydro Project in Queensland – as well as significant water, property, health and urban renewal projects. You’ll even see us operating buses, trains and trams.
Our people-first philosophy puts us at the front of the industry and continues to attract the best and brightest talent. And our customers trust us to deliver complex, nationbuilding projects because we push boundaries and innovate.
In 2022, 35 men took Primary Parental Leave up from 6 in 2021 (an increase of 480% thanks to policy change in 2021).
Our youngest employee is 17 and oldest is 78. On average our employees are 40 years old.
In our AWEI 2023 survey (293 respondents) 87% indicated they personally supported the work that John Holland does for Inclusion for LGBTI+ people and 18% identified as being part of the LGBTI+ community.
Our people come from all over the world. The majority identify with the following cultural backgrounds:
• Oceanian (Australian, New Zealand, Melanesian, Papuan, Micronesia, Polynesian)
• N orth-West European
• Southeast Asian
Southern and Eastern European
• N orth African
• M iddle Eastern
1.8% of our employee base have voluntarily identified as being First Nations.
15 employees have openly disclosed they have an impairment or disability. In 2023 employees formed our fourth ERG Ability@John Holland to provide support to team members and advise the business on disability and caring requirements.
Data as at 1 July 2023. A full list of our partnerships, awards and
In 2022 calendar year we spent over $155M with First Nation businesses and $13M with social enterprises.
Other than English, the top 10 languages spoken are:
• Chinese
• French
• Italian
• S panish
• German
• Vietnamese
• M alay
• G reek
• Arabic
• H indi
Achieving our goal
Outcomes
Inclusion embedded into everything we do
A diverse John Holland delivering for our customers
Organisation-wide equity through our practices and processes
Resolved cultural barriers impacting our industry
Industry leader in inclusion, diversity and equity.
Our purpose is transforming lives, and a key part of that is creating a workplace where all our people feel they belong, can learn and grow with us, be at their best. We’ll achieve our inclusion, diversity and equity outcomes by removing barriers in our ways of working.
Enabling our ways of working
Attraction and recruitment
Psychological and physical safety and respect
Employee experience/manager capability
Flexibility
Key diversity focus areas:
Success measures
Inclusion index (internal measure)
Australian Constructors Association flexibility index
Overall organisational wide gender pay gap
Growing diverse representation External citations
Gender equality, First Nations peoples, LGBTI+, age, cultural and linguistic diversity and disability and neurodiversity
What success looks like
In a people-centred business, inclusion, diversity and equity are key to a sustainable and healthy culture that drives our success.
This strategic plan will help us reach our goal as an industry leader, allowing us to use our voice to influence and resolve the cultural issues impacting our industry. What success looks like: We embrace the diversity of our people and attract and retain the best talent
Our people reflect the communities and customers with which we work
Our people have no barriers to being inclusive in their decisions every day, supported by practices and processes
Our people feel respected and can bring their true self to work Ultimately, everyone feels they belong at John Holland
We will track our success through specific measures and action plans aligned to business strategies.
The way we all show up matters
We each have a critical role in bringing our Inclusion Strategic Plan to life and making sure all team members feel they belong at John Holland.
Within our sphere of influence, we can create a safe and caring culture that supports people to perform at their best, delivering positive outcomes for our customers and community.
The things we do and say can have a positive impact on the experience of people around us. What can you do every day to make your colleagues feel welcomed, to be themselves, and contribute openly without fear of discrimination or bias? How are you thinking about diversity when you’re making hiring decisions, forming teams or procuring goods and services?
What I do
Recognise behaviours supporting inclusion in the moment – when you see it, recognise it – you can even use the Thank You Program
Encourage and support team members to share their stories – their background, experiences, and what makes them unique
Use Workplace to “name and fame” those who are role modelling inclusion
When someone speaks up, challenges you, or makes you think about alternative actions, and the result is a better outcome, let them know the difference it made
Be an upstander not a bystander – feel confident and safe to speak up about negative behaviours
Seek out and participate in development opportunities that support inclusion, diversity and equity
Seek out differences…learn more about our diverse community
Think about your expressions and practices each day to promote and embrace an inclusive workplace.
To learn more about our expectations, please refer to the John Holland Essentials and specifically Cultural Awareness (as part of our Shared Capabilities) in Career Builder.
What I say
‘How can I look at this differently?’
‘Tell me more about yourself’
‘How could we achieve this?’
‘What do you think?’
‘What help do you need?’
‘Can you please help me with this?’
‘We all make mistakes. Tell me what you learned from this.’
‘You have a real strength for…’
‘You’re making a difference through…’
‘Help me understand your perspective…’
‘Welcome to John Holland – are you finding everything ok?’
Bringing our Inclusion Strategic Plan to life
1. When engaging suppliers and corporate partners, we ensure that they are active in their efforts to create inclusive, diverse and equitable workplaces.
2. We incorporate an inclusion, diversity and equity plan in our bids, and we build teams for our projects with diversity in mind, starting at the bid phase.
3. We raise our public image as an organisation that is genuinely inclusive and engages with diverse communities across our sphere of influence.
Attraction and recruitment
Objectives
Embrace the skills and capabilities of people from communities in which we work.
Embed progressive and fair recruitment practices and role design to attract the widest pool of people from diverse backgrounds.
Increase representation of people from diverse backgrounds in trade and technical roles.
Strategies
Advertise roles in a broad range of ways and make sure a diverse range of candidates are represented at shortlist stage.
Engage with primary and secondary schools and tertiary education institutions to promote careers in our industry.
Recruitment and onboarding processes are welcoming, inclusive, accessible and culturally safe.
How our people will contribute
All
Promote vacant roles through our networks.
Share stories of inclusion, diversity and equity through community connections and social media.
Leaders
Work collaboratively with talent and social inclusion teams to increase. underrepresented groups through targeted approaches to recruitment.
Think differently about how roles are designed.
Psychological and physical safety and respect
Objectives
Build a respectful work environment.
Remove barriers to inclusion through a supportive culture and psychologically safe work environment. Make sure everyone knows their role in building an inclusive environment where they can safely speak up.
Strategies
Our working environments support our employees to work safely and respectfully i.e physical spaces on projects, visual cues and practices.
Celebrate days of significance for diverse groups to promote understanding and acceptance of diversity.
Promote the appropriate channels to speak up on inappropriate behaviours and practices, actively support those who do and educate everyone on expected standards.
Project mobilisation procedures provide guidance/ tools on creating a safe and respectful workplace and environment.
How our people will contribute
All
Role model positive and inclusive behaviour. Speak up about negative behaviours.
Actively celebrate inclusion, diversity and equity in the workplace.
Leaders
Lead with positive and inclusive behaviour. Promote use of key internal resources that support safety and wellbeing and encourage participation on our days of significance.
Support supervisors to provide a positive workforce culture given their crucial role on our projects’ frontline.
Employee experience and manager capability
Objectives
Provide a market-leading employee experience, including equitable access to employment opportunities.
Develop and support our leaders to lead inclusively. Change any structural inequities and barriers in our employment practices.
Strategies
Promote and ensure development opportunities are accessible and available to all.
Target organisation-wide leader performance goals that maintain and drive an inclusive culture.
Enable employee resource groups to thrive by providing connection and safe spaces through visible organisational support.
Develop and implement processes that enable career opportunities for diverse talent.
Respect people’s contribution to the company through fair and equitable remuneration and reward.
How our people will contribute
All
Seek out and participate in development opportunities that support equity and understanding of our diverse communities.
Leaders
Lead regular development 1:1’s that help improve inclusion, diversity and equity in the team.
Implement at least one action a year to address team feedback on inclusion, diversity and equity.
Consciously consider impacts on inclusion, diversity and equity when designing organisation/project structures.
Objectives
Flexibility
Flexible Work Plans on every project.
Provide a market-leading flexibility experience for job and life stages.
Actively promote flexibility and time for life as accepted ways of working through our policies and practices.
Design roles to work flexibly based on the Flex Wheel.
Strategies
Project-specific flexibility plans included in all bids from 1 July 2023.
Participate in the Australian Constructors Association (ACA) member sponsored annual Flexible Work Survey and measure progress.
Embed flexibility discussions into annual performance reviews, development planning, and goal setting.
Develop toolkits that enable projects to design more flexible roles.
Support our industry work in normalising flexibility across the construction industry.
Advocate for the benefits of flexibility with our customers at tender phase.
How our people will contribute
All
Participate in annual flexibility discussions through performance and development goal setting and review.
Share lessons learnt on successes and other learnings.
Leaders
Use the Flex Wheel to enable roles to be flexible in a range of ways.
Role model flexible practices and call out unsupportive behaviours (especially on projects).
Clear accountabilities to reach our goals
We have established a partnering and accountability model to make sure decisions are made and supported at the appropriate levels and will help drive us towards our inclusion, diversity and equity goals.
Our Executive Leadership Team (ELT) hold collective accountability for inclusion, diversity and equity outcomes across the business and ensure the deliberate implementation of the strategy. Each quarter they have a dedicated discussion on strategic alignment, resourcing of our Inclusion Strategic Plan to drive change, and our tracking to targets. Members of our ELT also sponsor our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).
Inclusion Advisory Group brings together a coalition of representatives from our ELT, projects, ERGs, and People and Culture to collaborate, accelerate our progress and help deliver on our aspiration. The Advisory Group meets bi-monthly to discuss the key themes of embedding inclusion, building greater workforce diversity, delivering equitable processes, and elevating and influencing change within our industry. Reports of their discussions, recommendations and actions are provided to the ELT.
Employee Resource Groups play a critical role in helping our employees feel heard and included in the workplace and supporting the priorities in our inclusion strategy. ERGs will help to understand employee concerns and advocate for change.
Reconciliation Advisory and Action Committee (RAAC) drives specific First Nations initiatives and is an important representative group that supports the Inclusion Strategic Plan while monitoring our Reconciliation Action Plan progress.
Social Impact Community of Practice – driving, enabling, and supporting our social impact journey and outcomes for our communities and clients, supported by our Social Impact Strategic Plan (2023-2025) (which is guided by and supports the Inclusion Strategic Plan).
All employees will be actively encouraged to engage with diversity and inclusion initiatives in support of the goals in this document and to initiate local inclusive practices and actions.
Leader-led strategy with grassroots input via Employee Resource Groups
Role of Employee Resource Groups
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are employee-led volunteer groups that bring together our people with shared identities and lived experience. They are dedicated to fostering a more diverse and inclusive work environment related to John Holland’s inclusion strategy. ERGs are an asset to John Holland and our people – their work includes supporting employee connection and networking, attracting people to John Holland, providing development opportunities, providing insight and feedback to inform company strategies and policies, and enhancing the brand both internally and externally as an inclusive, diverse and equitable workplace. ERGs have an Executive Sponsor and annual budget to support their approved business plan. They have agreed operating rhythms and goals.
Line managers play a key role in supporting their team members to fully participate in their respective ERG’s activities and committees if they join.
Key benefits of ERGs
Providing safe spaces for likeminded and diverse groups to connect, collaborate and feel supported/seen
Supporting inclusion, diversity and equity strategies and programs of work
Developing leaders and nurturing talent
Engaging employees and developing a culture of ‘allies’ Connecting to the community and deepening business impact. With support from all leaders
Our awards, memberships and key partnerships
Our memberships and engagement today
Awards
Pride in Diversity member – AWEI Bronze employer (2023-2026)
Diversity Council Australia member
WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (2022-2024)
NAWIC – corporate member and sponsor of statebased awards
Australian Network on Disability member – Bronze member
Reconciliation Australia
Awarded Victorian Multicultural Awards for Excellence (2022)
Awarded Social Traders’ Business and Government Member of the Year (2019, 2020)
Awarded Social Traders’ national number one in social procurement spend in the category of infrastructure, construction, and property (2021, 2022)
Finalist NAWIC National Business Awards (2023) Finalist Wurreker Awards (2022)
Key partnerships Corporate Business Unit specific partners
AFLW CareerSeekers
Kinaway Chamber of Commerce
Noongar Chamber of Commerce (WA)
NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce
Social Traders
Supply Nation
Clontarf Foundation
Community Shelters for Women
Corrections Victoria Fathering Project
Fitzroy Stars
McAuley Community
S ervices for Women Foundation
NSW Aboriginal Education C onsultative Group
NSW Justice
SA Aboriginal Education Consultative Group
Victorian Aboriginal Education Association
For more information about this strategic plan please contact learning@jhg.com.au
