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Recommendation 36: Strengthening workplace equality education and training
The recommendation
Ambulance Victoria should:
- work in partnership with an external training provider with expertise in leading practice approaches to workplace equality and leadership development, to re-develop and deliver live (in-person or virtually) and as part of induction and otherwise annually:
- a workplace equality training program for all employees and first responders
- an advanced, tailored training program for leaders and managers that reinforces their key responsibilities under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) and build core workplace equality competencies, including managing challenging conversations and addressing conflict, engaging the workforce in safe discussions about workplace equality, monitoring and mitigating risks of unlawful and harmful workplace conduct, taking a victim-centric and trauma-informed approach to reports and complaints of unlawful and harmful workplace conduct, which includes understanding intersectionality and the particular needs of different staff cohorts, and anticipating and addressing backlash
- develop practical tools and resources to support the workforce and leaders and managers to apply key learnings from these programs
- ensure its systems allow training completion rates to be adequately monitored and reported on
The training should be rolled out sequentially, with the advanced management training program delivered by December 2022, followed by universal workplace equality training for all employees and first responders to be delivered by July 2023.
What we are doing
- Seek to create a consensus view about what good leadership looks like at Ambulance Victoria
- Re-develop and deliver in induction and annually a workplace equality training program for employees and first responders
- Re-develop and deliver in induction and annually an advanced, tailored workplace equality training program for leaders and managers (as detailed by the Commission and picking up other related training recommendations) and develop supporting tools and resources
- Undertake any system improvements to enable accurate recording and reporting on training completion rates
Where we are up to
16/02/2024
The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) training program designed to increase understanding among the workforce of unlawful conduct and workplace harm, and AV standards of behaviours has commenced with the release of two e-learning modules. The ‘Anti-Bullying and Anti-Harassment’ module was released to all employees on 24 January 2024 and the ‘EEO for Managers’ module was released to all people leaders on 21 February 2024.
The modules cover topics including understanding the different types of unlawful conduct and appropriate responses for all staff, employer responsibilities and consequences for breaches, and complaints handling for managers.
Training completion rates are being monitored and reported on monthly to ensure our workforce is educated: Of 8,951 enrolments, 41% of all staff have completed the Anti-Bullying and Anti-Harassment module and 26% of leaders (797 leader enrolments) have completed the EEO for Managers module, as of 17 April 2024.
Both modules are automatically assigned to new employees and managers for completion in their induction period.
25/05/2023
The Equal Employment Opportunity program will be delivered with the Upstander program (Recommendation 8) at the end of 2023. These programs will support our workforce to understand their rights and responsibilities under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act and provide managers will the tools and resources to support a safe, inclusive workplace.
31/01/2023
- AV is updating the design of the ‘Upstander’ and ‘Equal Employee Opportunity (EEO)’ programs, which aim to encourage and support our workforce to raise concerns about unlawful and harmful workplace conduct and equip leaders and managers to create safe, fair and inclusive workplace cultures. The programs are due to rollout to our operational workforce from late 2023 and into 2024.
29/07/2022
- AV continues to deliver its equal employment opportunity training to new starters via our induction program, pending a review and the re-development of the training program.
- In October 2020, AV introduced a new Learning Management System. In February 2022, AV included a function on the LMS to enable real time and in the field tracking of training attendance and competency assessment outcomes.
Timeframe
Q3 FY24