Cultural ethnicity

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Our approach

Building a culturally diverse workforce

We consider an inclusive and culturally diverse workforce a key driver of business performance and central to delivering our super regional strategy. In particular, it helps us to understand and meet the needs of our growing customer base in new and international markets.

ANZ operates in over 32 countries and our workforce represents 123 cultural backgrounds, speaks 91 languages and follows 84 religions.

Developing a culturally diverse workforce

Our approach is to embed diversity, including cultural diversity, into our people strategy, systems and processes rather than running it as a separate program of work. We believe this will drive greater ownership and accountability by the business and deliver longer-term sustainable improvements and a competitive advantage for ANZ.

Specific goals include:

• Recruiting and developing leaders who have well-rounded experiences and balanced capabilities, make decisions in line with ANZ values, and lead with a ‘wide-angle lens’. This means: challenging conventional thinking, seeking diverse perspectives and applying an international mindset in everyday business.
• Building a more culturally diverse leadership team and increasing international experience amongst our senior leaders to ensure that our leaders understand our local markets, in particular understand the needs and expectations of local customers, regulators and the broader community, and attract and nurture local talent who can manage our business in the region in future.
• Improving cultural awareness and building relationships with our customers, in particular, educating our employees about cultural festivals and celebrating them with our customers, and providing our people with mentoring programs and affinity networks to build relationships and networks amongst employees from specific or under-represented cultural backgrounds.
• Providing new employment opportunities to help improve economic and social inclusion amongst people disadvantaged and diverse backgrounds, such as Indigenous Australians, refugees and Maori people. For example, the Given the Chance program, delivered in partnership with the Brotherhood of St Laurence, offers a fresh start for refugees in Australia, who in addition to adapting to a new way of life, face significant barriers to obtaining full-time employment despite the professional qualifications and high levels of education that many refugees hold.
• Improving awareness and support for cultural diversity amongst senior business leaders in Australia. For example, ANZ is a foundation sponsor of Diversity Council of Australia’s pilot research into the cultural diversity of senior leaders in the business sector. The research will be completed and launched by the end of 2011, providing the first benchmark study into cultural diversity in the Australian workforce and the benefits this brings to business and society.

Monitoring our progress

Cultural diversity issues and opportunities are monitored by our Board Human Resources Committee, chaired by our Independent Non-Executive Director, Alison Watkins.

The ANZ executive level Diversity Council, chaired by our CEO, Mike Smith, sets and publishes (internally and externally) a scorecard that outlines priorities and targets with measurable outcomes. We also set specific public targets such as our target around our Given the Chance employment program which are monitored and reported against twice-yearly.

Harnessing cultural diversity

We have established a Cultural Diversity Network to help us harness culturally diverse contributions and ensure our people thrive. Our New Zealand business already has a number of ethnic employee networks: Asia Pacific, Maori and Pacific Islander and Indian. In Australia, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Diversity Network has been established for our people.

2011 results

This year, we continued our work to improve the information that we capture about our employees’ cultures and backgrounds. To date, around 10% of employees in our Australia, New Zealand and Bangalore businesses have registered their cultural identity via our people management systems. Additionally, our research has shown that:

• 45% of our management board have significant Asian experience
• 51% of our 2011 graduates have Asian language skills
• 55% of participants in our Generalist Banker accelerated development program have Asian language skills
• 71% of our top 120 executives have significant international experience (3-5 years experience working in countries other than Australia or New Zealand)
• 13% of leaders in business critical roles come from non-Caucasian backgrounds
• 79% of employees believe that ANZ is creating an organisation that is open and accepting of individual differences according to our 2011 Employee Engagement Survey.

Indigenous traineeships results

A further 111 Indigenous young people have been offered career building traineeships with us, bringing the total number of traineeships offered since the launch of the program in 2003 to 588.

Given the Chance refugee employment program

Sixteen refugees have been recruited for the Given the Chance Refugee Employment program in 2011, including three placements in our branch network and our first participant joining in a non-entry level role. All participants are currently on track to complete the program. Of the 51 people who have participated in Given the Chance since its inception in 2007, 70% remain employed at ANZ.

Maori graduate internships results

Maori graduates were specifically targeted by facilitating an induction day and liaising with MITE (Maori Into Tertiary Education). This activity achieved a 1% increase on the 2011 intake, below the target of a 2% increase. To make further improvements for future graduate intakes, we will review our recruitment and assessment processes to ensure no unconscious cultural bias exists.

Other initiatives

We also celebrated ‘Taste of Harmony’ week, coinciding with National Harmony Day on 21 March 2011. During the week, staff were encouraged to share foods and experiences from different cultural backgrounds to learn more about the diversity within our workforce.

The future

We have a goal to achieve gender balance and greater cultural diversity in our key recruitment, talent development and learning programs, particularly at the most senior levels of our organisation. In the coming years, we will put in place programs and initiatives to support the achievement of this goal.

2010 results

Indigenous traineeships

We recruited 215 new trainees in 2010, and over 500 Indigenous young people have taken up our school-based traineeship since the program’s inception in 2003.

Enhancements to our recruitment process have helped to improve retention rates and provided a better focus on managing expectations, selecting the right candidates and supporting trainees throughout the program.

Interview and screening processes have been improved to include a voluntary week of work experience before the traineeship commences, helping prospective trainees to decide if the program is right for them.

These enhancements are paying off with retention rates for those in our 2009 and 2010 trainee intake at 75%, a figure well in excess of the non-trade-sector average of one in three, and  average one in two completion rates for non-Indigenous workers.

Given the Chance

From 2007 to 2010, 36 refugees from diverse cultures and backgrounds have participated in the program and 25 of these are still working for us.

Maori graduate internships

In 2010, we exceeded expectations by providing 8% of roles to Maori graduates against a target of 7%. In 2011, we aim to increase this figure by a further 2%.

The future

We will continue to improve the information that we capture about our employees’ cultures and backgrounds. Around 15% of ANZ employees have voluntarily shared their details with us, and we hope to increase this to 20% in 2011.

2009 results

We recruited 102 indigenous trainees in 2009 as part of our indigenous employment strategy, one of the practical steps we are taking to improve the social and economic inclusion of Indigenous Australians.

Under the Given the Chance program, 26 refugees have received valuable experience to help them transition to a new working life in Australia, with 20 of these people being offered full time employment with the bank.

The future

Our 2010 Corporate Responsibility goals include a target to recruit a further 180 Indigenous trainees in our branch network. We continue to also work towards our broader indigenous employment targets as part of our Indigenous Action Plan.

2008 results

We recruited 106 indigenous trainees in 2008 as part of our indigenous employment strategy, one of the practical steps we are taking to improve the social and economic inclusion of Indigenous Australians.

Thirteen refugees participated in the Given the Chance traineeship program, with eleven offered full-time employment with the bank.

The future

Our 2009 Corporate Responsibility goals include a target to recruit a further 100 Indigenous trainees in our branch network. We continue to also work towards our broader indigenous employment targets as part of our Indigenous Action Plan, which was revised in late 2008.