EQUITY & DIVERSITY ANNUAL REPORT – 2007

Section 2.1: Diversity Profile

The current number of total staff is 896. This is a slight increase on last year’s figure of 872 and reflects an upward trend over the past four years. This increase in overall staff numbers has not had any significant impact on the designated diversity groups as shown in the graph below.

The Bank’s diversity profile has remained relatively stable over the past four years. Indigenous Australians continue to account for a very small proportion of staff, 0.8 per cent; 22 per cent of staff identified themselves as NESB1 (staff who were born overseas and whose first language is not English) and the number of staff who have identified as having a disability in 2007 totalled 80, representing nine per cent of total staff. This latter figure does not capture staff who may have acquired a disability since commencing employment, particularly an age onset disability. It also does not include temporary disabilities experienced from various injuries but which are duly accommodated under the principles of reasonable adjustment in the workplace.

The representation of women in employment has also remained stable over the past four years at around 42 per cent, while women continue to be under-represented at the management levels of the Bank, in particular at the senior executive level.

Since 2003, the representation of women in management positions as a proportion of total female staff has increased incrementally from 24 per cent to 26 per cent. However, only five per cent of all women at the Bank are employed in management positions, similar to last year, compared with 14 per cent of men. Over the past five years the number of women at Manager Level 5 and above has increased by 25 per cent; the total number of staff in management positions has increased by 16 per cent over the same period. To ensure that progress continues, the Equity & Diversity Policy Committee identified a new approach for investigating strategies to increase the proportion of women in management positions. This involves analysing more deeply the career experience of women in the Bank to assess whether there are obstacles that inhibit their progression to management roles.