Staff diversity and inclusion policy

Purpose

Rest has a large and diverse membership. Rest members come from a broad range of backgrounds, cultures, gender, age, language, culture, sexual orientation, religious belief, family responsibilities, marital status, life experience, education, socio-economic background, disabilities, personalities, values, perceptions and attitudes.

Rest recognises that people from diﬀerent backgrounds bring diﬀerent skills, knowledge and experiences that assist in acting in the best interests of our members. Accordingly, Rest is committed to promoting a culture that actively values those diﬀerences and believes that diversity is an important part of promoting that culture.

Scope

This policy applies to all employees of Rest.

Policy

Rest is committed to diversity and inclusion and the ongoing development of a work culture that is built on respect and encourages and enforces:

Maintaining a safe and inclusive working environment that is respectful of individual diﬀerences and attributes
Recruiting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce that is free of discrimination and eliminating artiﬁcial barriers to career progression
Developing and oﬀering ﬂexible work practices to meet the diﬀering needs of employees in the context of business requirements
Providing a fair and equal employment process that appoints individuals based on relative ability, performance and potential, as well as actively ensuring gender equity in remuneration
Fostering a culture, including through education and training, that promotes diversity and rewards people for furthering the objectives of this policy.

Supporting policies

Our diversity initiatives apply, but are not limited, to our practices and policies on recruitment and selection; remuneration and beneﬁts; learning and development; promotions, transfers and terminations. Rest’s approach to diversity and inclusion is supported by a range of policies and guidelines, including:

Code of Conduct - Rest is committed to integrity and ethical actions in all of its business dealings and relationships. Our Code of Conduct sets out the minimum standards of behaviour and conduct expected of all Rest employees, contractors and consultants
Flexible workplace arrangements - to ensure that we meet the needs of our employees and customers, Rest offers flexibility in working arrangements for all employees, across all levels, that recognise and accommodate individual needs whilst still meeting business needs
Leave - a range of leave options are available to Rest employees to ensure they have appropriate options for time off work. This includes annual leave, carers' leave, personal leave, parental leave, community service leave, domestic violence leave and long service leave
Discrimination and harassment – Rest recognises the value of, and strongly supports the principles of, equal opportunity in the workplace. Employees are, therefore, expected to treat every other employee with respect, fairness and dignity, to collaborate with each other in a climate in which every employee can feel entirely comfortable and conﬁdent that they are being dealt with solely on the basis of merit in an environment that is free from
Learning and development - Rest is committed to developing a more highly skilled and flexible workforce by providing employees with growth opportunities and material support in order to acquire requisite skills, knowledge and experience and achieve and maintain competency in current and future roles
Remuneration and reward - Rest is committed to providing remuneration and rewards that are commensurate with performance and responsibilities in the market and maintaining remuneration equity
Recruitment and resourcing - Rest is committed to ensuring that for each position, the best person is selected, having regard to a range of criteria, including capabilities, potential and qualifications and eliminating a conscious or unconscious biases in decision making. In instances where there are multiple suitable candidates for the role, decision makers are encouraged to make appointments that will help achieve or maintain gender equity

Responsibilities and Authorities

The Chief Strategy, People and Corporate Aﬀairs Oﬃcer is responsible for the application of this policy and for ensuring that the promotion and improvement of gender equality, as determined by the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, is implemented within Rest.

Employees are accountable for treating others with dignity and respect always. All employees are expected to exhibit conduct that reﬂects inclusion during work, at work functions on or oﬀ the work site, and at all other company-sponsored and participative events. All employees are also required to attend and complete scheduled diversity awareness training to enhance their knowledge to fulﬁl this responsibility.

Procedures

We aim to leverage the competitive edge that diversity provides us by:

Striving to create an inclusive environment respectful of all cultural backgrounds and beliefs
Fostering a culture which supports and respects the values and needs of all individuals, regardless of their age
Considering ability and not disability when we employ and promote people and aiming to create a physical and cultural environment which supports participation and reasonably accommodates special needs
Ensuring recruitment and selection processes across Rest are structured so that a diverse range of candidates are considered
Actively reviewing Rest’s recruiting practices, policies and procedures to reduce bias, both conscious and unconscious, on a regular basis
Actively reviewing and benchmarking remuneration relativities to ensure that there is no gender pay diﬀerence for the same work
Implementing programs that:

are provided in a way that maximises fair and equitable access to all employees and seeks to ensure that employees are aware of their responsibilities in relation to equal opportunity and diversity and
assist in the development of a broader and more diverse pool of skilled and experienced employees that, over time, will prepare them for senior management and board positions and
set targets for the number of women in management and senior leadership positions to ensure accurate and fair representation.

Measurable objectives for achieving gender diversity will be set and the progress towards achieving these, will be assessed annually by the Chief Executive Oﬃcer. Objectives and progress will be reported annually to the People, Culture and Remuneration Committee and to Rest staﬀ.

Deﬁnitions

Diversity:

Diversity encompasses age, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender, cultural background, physical and mental ability, religious belief and sexual orientation.

References

Applicable Award(s)/Standards

Banking, Finance and Insurance Award 2020

National Employment Standards

State and Federal Anti-Discrimination Acts

Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012

Amendment to Policy

Rest may discontinue or amend any part or the whole of this policy from time to time in its absolute discretion.

Review of Policy

Rest undertakes to review this policy and related procedures regularly for eﬀectiveness. As a minimum, they will be reviewed every two years. Policy is currently in review.