Media Release
March 4 2008
UniSA meets the challenge for working women
The University of South Australia has again been named an employer of
choice for women in the Equal
Opportunity in the Workplace for Women citations for 2008.
UniSA has been a consistent performer in supporting women in the
workplace, this being the seventh year it has won a citation in the
national awards scheme.
Pro Vice Chancellor for Strategy and Planning at UniSA,
Professor Hilary Winchester says the challenge for all organisations
today is to retain quality staff both professional and academic in a
very tight labour market.
“There will be increasing demand for quality employees for many years to
come as the skills shortage bites and the population ages,” Prof
Winchester says.
“For the University that means we have to value our employees and try to
model sustainable work practices with a goal for developing work-life
balance for all of our staff.
“It is not always an easy thing to do as the pressure increases for
universities to deliver quality outcomes in a range of areas from
teaching and learning through to research.
“Universities have undergone an enormous transition in the past 16 years
from an era where academics were tenured, through years of decline in
funding from the Federal Government for wages and infrastructure. “These
have been challenging times but we have understood that our people are
the heart of the institution and 57 per cent of them are women who are
often juggling demanding job and family commitments.”
Prof Winchester said the citation as Employer of Choice for Women
acknowledges the excellent conditions for women in place at UniSA
including:
• one day paid pre-natal leave per month for six months before the birth
• 22 weeks paid maternity leave (with an option for 44 weeks at half
pay)
• 10 days partner leave at the time of the birth
• a phased in return to work for mothers
• up to nine days leave a year for carer responsibilities, compassionate
or bereavement reasons
• three to six weeks paid foster parent leave
• up to 10 days accrued sick leave to provide care and support for
immediate family.
“Beyond those family policies we also provide career development
opportunities for our professional and academic staff including support
for early career researchers, our Women in Leadership program and
participation in the Women
Executive Development (WEXDEV) network,” Prof Winchester says.
“Our commitment to developing a supportive and encouraging workplace for
women is strong and we see this as something we need to keep working at
every year.”
Media contact
- Michèle Nardelli office (08) 8302 0966 mobile 0418 823 673 email michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au