The Australian Women in Resources Alliance Award recognises an organisation that has developed innovative or highly effective strategies to increase women’s participation in the resource industry workforce and directly enhance the success of the organisation.
As part of an organisational transformation program, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) aimed to improve a female workforce participation rate that had stagnated at 17% in 2015. As part of this strategy, the company gained permission from the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board to allocate 14 entry level positions to females. Whereas past recruitment efforts had failed to attract female candidates, a new comprehensive recruitment campaign involving print, online media and social media led to 200 women attending an information session and over 900 job applications.
In just over a year, the ARTC has increased female workforce participation to 19%. Furthermore, women’s participation in non-traditional roles based in the Hunter Valley have increased from just over 1% to almost 10%. The company’s culture now also supports diversity, with the introduction of unconscious bias training, female uniforms and flexible work options. The ARTC is now working towards 25% female participation by 2019.
