Seven West Media and ThoughtWorks have both been announced in the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) cohort of WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (EOCGE) citation holders.
WGEA’s EOCGE citation is a voluntary citation that recognises employers’ efforts to combat key drivers of workplace gender inequality. These drivers include but are not limited to, gender bias in recruitment and promotions, inequalities in pay, access to flexible work and parental leave, and sexual discrimination and harassment.
The list of 115 EOCGE citation holders covers nearly 505,000 employees. The cohort includes 8 employers that have secured the citation for the first time, 81 employers that successfully renewed their citation for 2023-25 and 26 that are mid-way through their two-year citation.
Seven West Media has held its citation for 2 years now after being named the first Australian media company to hold the citation back in 2022.
“Seven West Media recognises the benefits of an inclusive and respectful workplace culture that draws on the experiences, diversity and perspectives of our people to ensure that our business remains innovative and sustainable and continues to meet the needs of our stakeholders and audiences,” a spokesperson for Seven West Media told B&T.
“We view diversity through a broad lens of difference in people across gender, nationality, ethnicity, physical abilities, sexual orientation, body type, gender identity, generation/age, disability, socio-economic status, religious belief, parental status, professional and educational background as well as global and cultural experiences”.
“In March 2022, Seven West Media became the first media company in Australia to be awarded a citation as Employer of Choice for gender equality by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). The criteria for the citation are rigorous and we were one of just 12 companies across Australia to be added as an employer having achieved gender equality in the workplace in that year. Seven’s commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion will continue,” the spokesperson said.
ThoughtWorks was also a standout on the list, having held the citation for 12 years now.
The citation criteria cover leadership, learning and development, gender pay gaps, flexible working, and other initiatives to support family responsibilities. The criteria also ask employers about employee consultation, policies and strategies to prevent sex-based harassment and discrimination, and targets for improving gender equality outcomes.
Employers must demonstrate their efforts to close the gender pay gap by conducting an annual analysis of what’s driving it, following up by setting targets and identifying actions to reduce it, and accounting for their progress every two years.
The Agency’s certification process also requires employee confirmation that there is a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based and sexual harassment and that managers genuinely create environments within their teams that support equality for all employees.
WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge congratulated this year’s EOCGE citation holders for their dedicated work to prioritise actions that address deep-rooted causes of gender inequality. “The actions of EOCGE employers provide an example to others about how they can start improving gender equality in their workplace,” she said.
“One new citation-holder increased men’s uptake of parental leave by 400% by removing the labels of ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ carer, expanding the leave to 20 weeks, and actively promoting the stories of men and women taking parental leave to create a workplace culture that encourages and supports all employees to share caring responsibilities at home”.
“Others have prioritised strategies and actions that improve the balance of women and men in key leadership positions or have found innovative ways to address pay, recruitment or promotion inequities,” Wooldrigde said. “What they all have in common is a desire to take action to improve workplaces so that all employees can achieve their full potential”.
“Where they hit roadblocks, they take note and plan new strategies to address them. In taking action to improve gender equality, EOCGE employers unlock enormous benefits for their business. Employees are more likely to join and to stay in organisations that prioritise a culture of equality and inclusion. Research also shows that businesses with greater gender balance in leadership roles are more profitable and productive”.
