Learn @ Work case studies (2003): Australia Post
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Employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians
Australia Post has a long history in employing Indigenous Australians. Currently, 592 Indigenous Australians work across all areas of the business.
Central to the success of Australia Post's Indigenous Employment Strategy is the commitment of the managing director and the dedicated support of the state-based Indigenous Employment Coordinators (IEC).
Brian Walker, age 30
Indigenous Employment Coordinator for Victoria and Tasmania
Brian Walker is from the Yorta Yorta/Wemba Wemba people came to Australia Post on a three-month indigenous work experience program. Brian said he was not sure what he wanted to do, "At that time I had little confidence and self-esteem. But being taken in and trusted by people I had never met allowed me to see that there were people and companies willing to take a chance on a young Koori person and allow me to prove myself."
Brian started at Post in 1995 after leaving university where he studied primary schools teaching and Aboriginal studies. At Post he got is motorbike licence and became a postie in Dandenong.
Two years ago he was invited to participate in a career development program where, for three months, he shadowed the Indigenous Employment Coordinator (IEC) for Vic/Tas learning on-the-job. At the end of that period, Brian returned to being a postie, but not for long.
When the IEC took maternity leave, Brian was invited to take on the role completely, providing the ideal opportunity to demonstrate his ability. Today Brian is doing the job full-time and is one of the state's harassment contact officers.
Brian's preparation for the job included:
- on-the-job training
- a four day in-house harassment training course
- improving computer skills and learning new programs, such as HRMS and People Map, and
- media skills training.
He shortly plans to undertake a four-day mediation course at La Trobe Law Centre.
Brian believes the development program made a big difference to his life. "Since I got out of my comfort zone and took on extra work two years ago, I'm a completely different person. It was scary when I first saw what the career development program was, but looking at myself now I have changed completely - not just with skills and knowledge, but in confidence. It has been fantastic to be able to do these things and not get stuck in my original job.
With Australia Post's Indigenous Employment Program, I have seen that giving Indigenous people an opportunity to work in a non-indigenous environment is practical reconciliation at its best. There is an untapped resource of Indigenous people out there who are just waiting to show they can offer business a lot, if only they're given chance," Brian said.
Shane Wynne, age 36
Indigenous traineeship program
Acting Postal Manager, Claremont, Perth WA, Australia Post
Shane Wynne is a classic Australia Post success story. He started out as a labourer, an education worker and then as a youth worker he helped young people at risk before starting at Australia Post on the indigenous traineeship program.
The traineeship provided 12 months on-the-job training in Post's retail outlets. Shane trained at Collie, a country Post Office about two hours from Perth where he learned everything from how to process a passport application, perform banking transactions, stream mail and run a Post Office.
Two years ago, Shane's manager nominated him for the one-year Certificate III in Management course run by the Australian Institute of Management (AIM). The course was developed specifically for Indigenous employees who demonstrated leadership potential. Shane's manager was his mentor for the duration of the course.
The classroom-based AIM course focused on six key development areas:
- customer service
- organising personal work
- maintaining workplace safety
- working in teams
- contribution to effective workplace relationships, and
- leadership in the workplace.
Shane says achieving the certificate made a big difference to his confidence. "Completing the course and knowing that I had the ability to do it has really boosted my self belief," he said. Since completing the program, Shane has acted in several supervisory and management positions and is currently the Acting Postal Manager at Post's busy Claremont Post Shop.
Tania Matthews, age 41
National Manager Post Logistics, Australia Post
Straight out of high school, Tania Matthews started her career with Australia Post in Hobart as a Postal Clerk in training. She worked at the front line, behind the counter in various Post Offices and as postie before being selected in 1992 to participate in the Postal Manager Training Program. Never one to miss an opportunity, she upped and moved the family to Melbourne to take up the offer and hasn't looked back.
To develop her talents, Post sponsored Tania's postgraduate study at Monash University, where she achieved a Graduate Diploma in Logistics Management and later was the first student to graduate from Monash with a Masters in Logistics Management.
In 1999, Australia Post nominated Tania to join the year-long prestigious Williamson Community Leadership Program. On completing the program she joined the network of Williamson Fellows who assist the community through the Williamson SkillsBank projects.
Tania is now on Post's executive succession management program which provides formal, informal and on-the-job development for people with general management potential.
Tania is one of the few Australia Post employees to have worked upward through the organisation-form selling stamps at the counter, delivering mail and parcels as a postie, to the working at several senior management positions to her present job in the male-dominate industry of logistics. Tania is the first and so far the only female executive in Post Logistics.
"I've always been a very curious person and I like to be constantly learning new things. I enjoy being presented with challenges and the harder a task is the more I enjoy it. I've been given some wonderful opportunities by Australia Post so I'm really looking forward to being able to give something back both to the people I work with and to the community in general," she said.
Last year Tania Matthews was named a Victorian finalist in the 2002 Telstra Business Woman of the Year Awards.
Australia Post and workplace diversity
English language program for NESB employees
The English language program for staff at the Dandenong Letters Centre (DLC) is typical of Post's commitment to workplace diversity and the promotion of literacy in the Australian community. In an arrangement with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Post offers English language and computer tuition for all DLC staff, especially those from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Teacher, Jeannette Dodd, works at DLC from 11am until 7pm on Tuesdays assisting staff one-on-one with their word processing skills, English pronunciation, reading, writing and listening skills.
Over 50 staff received a Certificate of Participation at the end of last year. The change in people is remarkable. Some, who lacked confidence in their ability to communicate, are now volunteering to do presentations or even run team meetings. Others are writing poems and articles for the staff magazine - something that they would never have done before.