Central Australian Aboriginal Congress has been named winner of the Stan Grant Indigenous Employment Award in 2017 from a competitive field of four finalists at the Australian HR Institute Awards.
“It’s an honour for an Aboriginal Community Controlled organisation to receive this award as recognition for the priority we place on developing our own mob and the direction and action by so many people to recruit and develop Aboriginal people across our health workforce. No matter your background Congress is a great place to work – it is somewhere you can be part of positive social change for our clients and community.” said Congress CEO Donna Ah Chee.
The Stan Grant Indigenous Employment Award recognises excellence in Indigenous employment initiatives and programs in the workplace.
A provider of primary health care and an advocate on action on social determinants of health for over 44 years, Congress recognised there was more work that could be done to address social inequities by leveraging our ability to provide unique employment and development opportunities to Aboriginal people. The benefits from this are extensive, including high quality client service, increased levels of education, more career opportunities and better income for Aboriginal families. This in turn can contribute significantly to addressing the social determinants of health for employees and their families, including improving access to education which needs to start at the very early stage in a person’s life.
The Workforce Engagement and Development Plan committed Congress to increase number of Aboriginal staff at across all parts of Congress, develop all staff and managers professionally with focus on Aboriginal staff, find out why people join, stay and leave Congress, and match recruitment, development and retention action.
Since 2014 significant progress against goals includes:
- Aboriginal workforce has increased by 5.2 to 51 per cent of total workforce
- There are eleven more Aboriginal people holding leadership roles, an increase from 17.8 to 29 per cent
- 29 Aboriginal people are employed in professional roles or training to be professionals, an increase from ten.
- Today, Congress employs an additional 67 Aboriginal people compared to numbers in 2014
- Local staff have designed and deliver cultural safety training to all new staff
- The Aboriginal Staff Advisory Committee has led the development cultural safety framework and local protocols.
The AHRI Awards is Australia’s most prestigious HR awards program that rewards and celebrates HR excellence. The awards categories are independently judged by an advisory panel of global leaders from HR and business.
For the full list of winners, please see www.ahri.com.au
Media Contact: Kate Buckland | 0408 741 691
