Today is International Equal Pay Day

Sunday, September 18th, 2022

South Gippsland Water is strongly committed to an equitable and diverse workplace. As part of this commitment, in recognising International Equal Pay Day, we’re releasing our Gender Equality Action Plan 2022-25.

Managing Director Robert Murphy said the plan sets out 17 clear actions for South Gippsland Water to meet its equality targets in line with the Victorian Gender Equality Act 2020.

“We believe all Victorians should live in a safe and equal society, with access to equal power, resources and opportunities and be treated with dignity, respect and fairness. We believe gender should not be a barrier to any of our staff developing their personal abilities, professional careers and life choices,” he said.

“We want to ensure gender balance in senior leadership roles, greater gender balance in roles that have historically been predominantly male or female, and ensure where there is any gender pay gap, we’re closing it”.

Mr Murphy said the plan complements South Gippsland Water’s overarching Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Strategic Plan 2021-24.

“Our vision is to see diversity celebrated and respected as important for our staff’s wellbeing and success, and to reflect the communities we serve.  Beyond gender balance we have established further targets to ensure we can draw on the strengths of our staff’s diverse thinking, skills, perspectives and experiences to deliver better outcomes for our growing communities,” he said.

Aimed broadly at reducing barriers to employment for people that have historically experienced them, our goals are as a minimum to enable:

• 6% of our workforce identifying as a person with a disability
• 5% of our workforce speaking a language other than English at home
• 1% at least of our workforce identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• 50% of our workforce identifying as having caring responsibilities
• 4% of our workforce identifying as belonging to LGBTQI+ communities.

“By proactively seeking to address systemic disadvantage to women and others who have experienced discrimination, we want to ensure equal access to roles and opportunities for all in our workplace. We want to make South Gippsland Water a safe environment for all to work and succeed in.”

“We’re actively recruiting for a number of roles at the moment. In keeping with our commitment to diversity, we encourage those who may be interested in working with us to apply regardless of barriers you may think make it too difficult and let us find ways to overcome them with you. Just go to the South Gippsland Water website and access our vacancies section under “About Us/Careers/Vacancies”.”

Mr Murphy said South Gippsland Water staff had significantly assisted to develop the actions in these plans.

“I’d like thank all of our staff members who contributed to these important plans, particularly the nearly 50 staff who gave us detailed feedback and input. Your contribution has been invaluable.”

To find out more about South Gippsland Water’s commitment to diversity, visit Publications – South Gippsland Water (sgwater.com.au)

For more on International Equal Pay Day visit International Equal Pay Day | United Nations