This will enable us to deliver an integrated transport system that supports Victorians from all walks of life to have simple, safe, connected journeys.
To support this focus and commitment, the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) has developed and launched an integrated DTP Inclusion and Diversity Strategy 2020-2023.
Our approach
DTP adopts an ethical, evidence-based and intersectional approach to inclusion and diversity that focuses on equity rather than equality.
There are many diverse groups in Australia and the world. Consistent with the DTP Strategic Plan 2023-2027(opens in a new window), our Inclusion & Diversity Strategy prioritises the additional challenges faced by five groups traditionally marginalised in the workplace. These are:
Aboriginalnand/or Torres Strait Islander Australians
Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people
We also have an industry-wide Women in Transport program.
Highlights of the Inclusion & Diversity Strategy
Inclusion: We understand that people are not numbers. Our efforts focus on creating an inclusive workplace culture where everyone feels safe, engaged and respected. We believe that this will be the biggest driver to attract the diversity of thought we need to tackle the challenges of our time.
Equity: We believe in equal opportunities rather than equal treatment because we know that in a world full of diverse people, one size does not fit all.
Intersectionality: We recognise that we have multifaceted and multidimensional identities and that we need to apply an intersectional lens to all our work at DTP.
Evidence-based: We base what we do on global research and available data. We analyse staff engagement and satisfaction and feedback from our suite of inclusion and diversity training offerings to inform our decision-making and priorities.
Accountability: We don’t want this strategy to be another document to end up in the archive. We want to hold ourselves accountable by tracking our progress against targets and success measures and reporting regularly on achievements. We also aim to benchmark our inclusion and diversity work against national indexes to see how we are performing in comparison to other organisations.
Key actions under the Inclusion & Diversity Strategy
The DTP Inclusion & Diversity Strategy outlines a number of high-level actions the department will take over the next few years to improve our organisational maturity level in relation to inclusion and diversity.
This includes actions like:
- establishing an inclusion and diversity data baseline and tracking a variety of human resources metrics
- building organisational capability by developing and delivering a tailored suite of inclusion and diversity training
- establishing an inclusion and diversity council to track the implementation of the strategy
- creating an all-inclusive employee resource group, identity, to engage and mobilise inclusion and diversity advocates across the department and provide a forum for staff belonging to one or more of our priority diversity groups and our allies to connect
- developing specific action plans for each of the priority diversity groups which touch on internal and external actions
- inserting inclusion and diversity goals into the performance plans of our executive officers and managers.
How will we measure our success?
- Demographic representation of our workforce – our workforce reflects the diversity of the Victorian community
- People leader awareness/participation in inclusion and diversity training and our inclusion events
- Increased engagement in taking effective bystander action by employees at all levels
- Employees belonging to one or more of our priority diversity groups are equally engaged as the overall workforce at DTP
- A variety of human resources metrics demonstrate that employees belonging to one or more of our priority diversity groups are equally engaged as the overall workforce
- A decrease in the number of discrimination complaints (formal and informal)
- Benchmarking results improve over time
- Community perception data improves over time
- Employee understanding of the importance of applying an intersectional lens to all our work at DTP increases over time.
Want to find out more?
Please read our DTP Inclusion & Diversity Strategy 2020-2023 or contact the DTP Inclusion & Diversity Team by emailing diversity@transport.vic.gov.au.
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