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RAA will take part in a UniSA study looking at how organisations are making progress towards greater inclusivity, having been identified as a potential leader in gender equality.
Within the state’s largest membership organisation, 50 per cent of leadership positions are held by women, including almost half of its Executive team.
It’s led to RAA partnering with the University of South Australia’s Centre for Workplace Excellence (CWeX) on its Breaking Free from the Herd project to analyse the progress it’s made towards supporting people of all genders.
Chief Executive Officer Nick Reade said RAA jumped at the opportunity to share its learnings with the University’s project team.
“As such a recognisable and trusted South Australian organisation, we believe we have a responsibility to set a strong example when it comes to equality, inclusion and diversity in our 1,300-strong workforce,” Mr Reade said.
“Over the past several years we have introduced initiatives with the aim of reaching the agreed gender target of 45-55% in leadership roles.
“These have included gender representation for leadership roles on longlists and shortlists, as well as annual gender pay gap reviews and a gender-neutral parental leave policy.
“We’re proud to say that now 50 per cent of leadership positions at RAA are held by women, including five of our 11 Executive team members.
“We look forward to partnering with UniSA to discuss our knowledge and learnings in the gender equality space, so these can be shared with other companies who may not have access to the resources that we do.
“Ultimately, we hope it benefits gender equality across the entire South Australian workforce.”
CWeX’s Breaking Free from the Herd research project investigates why a few exceptional organisations have made substantive progress towards gender equality, while others have not.
As part of the study, members of RAA’s senior management and executive teams, including Mr Reade, will be interviewed by CWeX to ascertain how gender initiatives are enacted in RAA’s day-to-day activities.
Professor Carol Kulik from UniSA CWeX said she and colleagues Associate Professor Sukhbir Sandhu and Dr Sanjee Perera were conducting case studies of several organisations to examine how they are making substantive progress towards gender equality.
“Often organisations develop policies and programs but fail to embed them, making it harder to achieve sustainable progress” she said.
“Our project collects data both within and outside our case organisations to identify dynamic processes that can support long term progress.”