Creating lasting and fulfilling careers for Indigenous Australians

Abstract

Recruiting Indigenous Australians is part of the oil and gas industry’s social responsibility. Indigenous recruits need to be ensured that they have lasting and fulfilling careers.

In Transfield Services’ experience, retention is often the greatest challenge and significant time and resources is spent to identify strategies to help Indigenous employees progress in their careers positively.

The first and, arguably, the most important element is to engage early with Indigenous communities to identify key local Indigenous stakeholders and establish strong and trusting relationships. This provides a contextual platform and understanding that guides not only the recruitment process and role fit but also the support required for individuals through their employment.

Indigenous employees then are assigned a mentor to assist in developing their occupational skills. Mentors can be volunteers from across the company but they must work closely with Indigenous development managers to ensure full cultural awareness.

Cultural awareness training should also be carried out extensively across an organisation and be backed up by day-to-day application of human resource polices that accommodate cultural elements specific to Indigenous Australians.

Critically, organisations must also hold themselves accountable. Publicly available Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) must set transparent targets for recruitment and retention, and progress must be continually monitored by informed and independent advisory boards.

In 2007, Transfield Services launched its first Indigenous participation strategy. It then became the first service provider to implement a RAP in 2009. Since then, it has launched an updated RAP, which earlier this year was endorsed by Reconciliation Australia—one of only a handful in the country to have this accreditation.