Media Release
November 27 2006
Diversity distinction
UniSA
has been recognised for its outstanding commitment to championing
diversity by winning the inaugural diversity@work Employment and
Inclusion Award for Work/Life Balance (large organisation).
The award was presented at the 2006 diversity@work Awards for Leadership and Excellence in Diversity in Melbourne last week.
Director: Human Resources Shard Lorenzo said the awards recognise and reward the efforts of individuals, teams, and organisations that are working to encourage diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
“Our application described all of the family friendly entitlements in collective agreements, such as maternity leave, flexible working arrangements and extra recreation leave scheme,” Lorenzo said.
“It also included initiatives such as the multi-access suite, cultural leave, partner leave and our consultation and communication mechanism with staff.”
Employing 2,500 staff across four metropolitan campuses and two regional centres, the University has retained over 50 per cent of its staff for more than seven years and staff surveys have shown employees rate the University highly on work/life balance.
Announcing the winners, diversity@work chief executive Stuart King said, “Australian workplaces are making great strides in implementing practical diversity initiatives - the judges were extremely impressed with the calibre of entries this year and the commitment by companies of varying sizes to embracing a more diverse workforce.
“In their nominations, entrants cited enhanced creativity, better utilisation of talent, improved productivity and increased market standing as a result of their initiatives.”
In total, 17 organisations were awarded for diversity initiatives in six categories, including Indigenous, disability, work/life balance, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), mature age and grey matters.
UniSA and the Maitland Hospital were the only SA winners.
Further information is available at
http://www.diversityatwork.com.au/awards
Contact for interview
-
Shard Lorenzo office (08) 8302 1848 email shard.lorenzo@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Vincent Ciccarello office (08) 8302 0578 mobile 0434 603 457 email vincent.ciccarello@unisa.edu.au