Gender equality
Everything we achieve is the result of teamwork. We rely on each other’s different contributions to move our projects forward safely and improve how we operate.
Our Group is committed to women’s greater participation and equity in our business and the industry. Our participation initiatives are addressing cultural factors. Men have been more likely to seek employment in many of the construction, services and resources related roles and trades that the Group uses to deliver projects. This has historically skewed the workforce composition towards men rather than women.
We have visible targets and regular tracking of gender data, and our progress is driven by our Diversity and Inclusion forum which involves Executive leaders and all our Managing Directors who report on their programs to increase women’s participation.
Our progress, as at the end of 2022, includes:
- achieving participation of women in our workforce at 14.5% in total and 18.2% in Australia
- in total management roles, women’s participation reached 15.0%, up from 14.2% in 2021, and 15.8% in Australia, up from 15% in 2021
- our number of women promoted increased by 30%, demonstrating our commitment to promote from within and support the careers of female employees
- women are also strongly represented in our Graduate Program intakes, at 33% in 2021 and 39% in 2022.
Some of the practical ways we are supporting women in their careers include our:
- a decentralised approach to flexible working, providing managers with the flexibility to put in place alternate work arrangements when they most help our people
- training and development with programs such as the Emerging Female Leaders Program at both UGL and CPB Contractors
- creating new entrant pathways such as CPB Contractors’ Women in Trades paid training and employment program, providing successful participants with permanent employment and a path to accreditation. In 2022, 20 successful program graduates commenced full-time employment with the Group, they are continuing training and will complete certification to operate heavy machinery
- creating internal networks which provide support and opportunities for women to share experiences, challenges and solutions, and access mentoring. These include Leighton Asia’s WOICE (Women in Construction and Engineering), Sedgman’s Lean In Circles, and Women@UGL
- ongoing training in Code of Conduct; Equal Employment Opportunity Anti-bullying and Harassment and Unconscious Bias, and Indigenous cultural awareness
- partnerships with industry bodies such as GradAustralia, Engineers Australia, and the National Association of Women in Construction
- supporting STEM initiatives with schools and universities, providing scholarships, learning events, and mentoring – such as the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Program with the University of Western Sydney.
CIMIC and each of its Operating Companies have a reporting obligation to provide certain gender related information to the Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) each year. These submissions are comprehensive, providing detailed gender related data, segmented by occupational types, graduates and apprentices, full-time and part-time, and parental leave accessed.
The submissions also include details of, and policies for, employer action on pay equity; gender equality strategies and consultation; flexible working arrangements; support for carers and paid parental leave; sex-based harassment; and domestic and family violence.
The publicly available 2021/22 WGEA submissions show that, for the Group’s contracting entities of CPB Contractors, Sedgman and UGL, which have substantial employee numbers, women accounted for between 12.9% and 20.3% of management positions and 13.9% and 26.1% of non-management positions.
To view CIMIC Group’s public data reports, visit the Agency Data Explorer here and enter the name of the organisation you are interested in.