Friday 8th March, 2024
Hear from Group CEO, Lara Paholski, on how Galilee is leading the charge in workplace equality and how we can all help break down the barriers to inclusivity in Australia.
Lara Paholski, Group CEO
Australian workplace gender diversity, inclusion and equality has become an increasingly significant topic in recent years, and especially this week as we mark International Women’s Day for 2024.
While the lens is very much on workplace gender diversity, the focus is equally on the inclusion of diverse gender identities and the implementation of policies that support a balanced and inclusive workplace.
While there is momentum for change in Australian workplaces, the journey is far from over. It still requires a concerted effort from individuals, businesses, government, and society if we are to dismantle existing barriers in the pursuit of better equality and inclusivity.
The benefits to companies are too great to ignore. Research tells us that workplaces who embrace and promote women in leadership roles, have diverse teams, flexible work arrangements, and work-life balance, perform better financially, are more innovative, and retain and attract top talent more successfully.
There’s no doubt that there’s increased discussion and debate around workplace gender equality, but we’ve been somewhat fortunate that a tight labour market and evolving legislative reform have helped drive action on this front over the last year. But at the end of the day, workplaces must take intentional and sustained action to defy the trends and keep improving the statistics within their own organisations, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing at Galilee.
We still have a way to go, but I’m proud to say that we’re defying national workplace trends that tip the scales in favour of reaching equality, closing our own gender pay gap to 13% – compared to the average in the financial services sector of 26.1% or 21.7% as the broader national average. And we will continue to improve that statistic.
A total of 70% of our workforce is made up of women, which is well above the national average of just over half of the national workforce composition being made of females at 51.1%.
I am also in the small cohort of females in Australia who hold a CEO position in Australia. In fact, that cohort is getting even smaller, as according to federal data in the past year, the proportion of women CEOs actually decreased by 0.4% to 22%.
Additionally, we’re providing our workforce with flexible working arrangements, as we’ve identified flexibility as a key enabler for promoting diversity and inclusion across the business, as well as a driver of better business outcomes including higher productivity and increased employee satisfaction.
We’re also well underway into the trial of an initiative that promotes work-life balance, which we’re hoping to make a permanent fixture for our employees over the coming months, which we’ll be sharing more details about soon.
We have a pool of exceptional talent at Galilee including both males and females, and we’ll continue purposefully focusing on our own workplace practices to improve our own performance indicators in these areas, as we know that’s what our people value most.
Come International Women’s Day this week, and for every week beyond, I implore all leaders and workplaces to celebrate their female employees, and champion them this week, and every week.
Lara Paholski – Group CEO, Galilee