Indigenous Employment Research Articles

Closing the employment gap: Estimations of Indigenous employment in Indigenous- and non-Indigenous-owned businesses in Australia

Abstract Indigenous-owned businesses in Australia are strong employers of Indigenous people, maintaining rates of Indigenous employment that are not seen across the breadth of the Australian economy. Despite an increasing focus from governments and private organisations to improve rates of Indigenous employment, there is limited evidence to suggest that substantial improvements are being made. Despite acknowledgement from government of the crucial role played by Indigenous employers in creating Indigenous employment, there has been little focus on what may be learned from the Indigenous business sector in informing public and private Indigenous workplace and recruitment policies. Given the significantly strong levels of Indigenous employment in Indigenous-owned businesses, it is important to interrogate the extent to which this employment differs from that in non-Indigenous businesses and the potential explanations for such divergence. Using data from Supply Nation (2,291 Indigenous-owned businesses) and a survey of 680 non-Indigenous businesses, this paper finds that Indigenous businesses employ Indigenous people at a rate 12 times higher than non-Indigenous businesses. Regression analyses and Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions reveal that these divergent employment outcomes cannot be explained by the broad characteristics of the two sectors (such as industry, location, or profit status). These findings help confirm that the unique workplace practices of Indigenous businesses may explain their strong Indigenous employment and, therefore, provide the template for all Australian businesses to be better employers of Indigenous people.

Indigenous workplace policies: the crucial role of Indigenous management

Indigenous employment is a critical policy area in Australia, with businesses adopting targeted workplace and recruitment practices to increase their levels of Indigenous employment. However, non-Indigenous-owned Australian businesses are still struggling to meet their Indigenous employment targets, and the national gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employment rates remains wide. Despite the increased popularity of Indigenous-specific workplace and recruitment policies, there is a lack of research that aims to determine their associations with Indigenous employment. This paper addresses this gap by surveying 680 non-Indigenous-owned Australian businesses, detailing the uptake of various Indigenous-focused workplace and recruitment practices and their associations with Indigenous employment. The study finds that there is limited uptake of policies and practices such as Reconciliation Action Plans, cultural competency training, and Indigenous employment strategies, and some scepticism from respondents about their efficacy. OLS and negative binomial estimations could not demonstrate consistent associations between the implementation of these policies and Indigenous employment. However, the paper finds a significant association between the presence of Indigenous people in management positions within non-Indigenous-owned businesses and higher rates of Indigenous employment. This finding is consistent with previous research, which suggests that Indigenous-led approaches lead to improved Indigenous employment outcomes.

Employee Assistance Programs for Indigenous People in the Workplace

According to a survey regarding indigenous employment, in Taiwan, a high proportion of indigenous people are engaged in construction work compared with the overall population. However, among indigenous construction workers, 56.15% have received no occupational safety or health training, and 9.39% have encountered occupational accidents in their workplaces. Therefore, this study aimed to develop employee assistance programs (EAPs) for indigenous workers in Taiwan by focusing on three dimensions—namely work, life, and health—and by establishing corresponding implementation paths for these EAPs. A modified Delphi method was adopted to screen EAP measures for the workplaces of indigenous workers, and a formal evaluation followed. Subsequently, the analytic hierarchy process was employed to calculate the overall weights among the factors in order to discern the relative importance of each factor in achieving the target goal or to resolve target problems and establish an order of priority. The results indicated that health was the most important of the three dimensions of indigenous EAPs, followed by the life dimension and then the work dimension. Compared with previous studies regarding Han Taiwanese workers, mental health services in the health dimension were particularly important in the present study. Finally, regarding the health dimension, this study suggests developing mental health services that respect indigenous culture and therefore are appropriate for indigenous people, such as the establishment of drug and alcohol addiction support groups and mental health service systems. In addition, corresponding welfare measures can be offered to enhance people’s motivation to change.

“It's Self‐Determination. Blackfullas Making Right Decisions for Blackfullas”: Why Indigenous‐owned businesses create better Indigenous employment outcomes

AbstractPrevious research demonstrates that businesses that are Indigenous‐owned are far more likely to employ Indigenous people than non‐Indigenous‐owned businesses (Hunter, 2015). The majority of the literature on Indigenous employment uses a deficit discourse, describing factors that prevent or exclude Indigenous people from non‐Indigenous‐owned organisations. There is markedly less literature using a strength‐based approach, detailing how Indigenous‐owned businesses create workplaces without barriers to Indigenous employment. Through 32 semistructured interviews with Indigenous business owners, managers, and Indigenous employees of Indigenous‐owned businesses, this paper provides insights into how participants' businesses create workplaces that are more supportive of, and conducive to, Indigenous employment. This paper finds that Indigenous approaches to governance inform an organisational level of cultural competence, which creates tailored and specific practices that support better Indigenous employment outcomes. This resonates with the concept of Indigenous ways of “knowing, being, and doing,” and how this framework encompasses participants' approaches to business operations. In the light of increasing public and private policy commitments to improve Indigenous employment outcomes, it is imperative that the Indigenous business sector's best practice inform said policies, given its successes. However, inherent in these findings are broader discussions into more systemic and societal issues that go beyond workplace policy.

The importance of understanding Indigenous employment in the Indigenous business sector

AbstractIndigenous employment has been the subject of numerous policies in Australia, with governments aiming to increase the workforce participation rate amongst Indigenous people in recent years. Indigenous‐owned businesses, formally defined as businesses that are at least 50% Indigenous‐owned, have been demonstrated in previous research to maintain substantially higher levels of proportional Indigenous employment than non‐Indigenous businesses. This suggests that Indigenous‐owned businesses maintain work environments that are more supportive of and conducive to Indigenous employment, meriting the influence of Indigenous‐owned businesses' workplace practices in future Indigenous employment policy design. Using administrative data from two Indigenous business registries (Black Business Finder and Supply Nation), this paper provides an updated empirical analysis of the Indigenous business sector. This paper demonstrates that Indigenous‐owned businesses of all sizes, industries, locations and profit statuses consistently average proportional Indigenous employment rates higher than the Indigenous proportional population. Of all the people employed in Supply Nation‐listed businesses, over 35% are Indigenous. The potential impact of the Indigenous Procurement Policy is illustrated by differentials in the size of businesses and their capacity to employ Indigenous staff. This paper provides analysis of the Indigenous business sector that can inform future policy direction for both Indigenous employment and Indigenous business policies.

Creating culturally responsive and safe workplaces for the advancement of First Nations people

Attempting to close the gap with respect to employment of First Nations people is, rightly, a key goal of most Australian businesses. Many companies are developing Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP) or other specific strategies and policies, aimed at engaging, supporting and increasing Indigenous employees within their workforce. However, First Nations people continue to be vastly under-represented in Australia’s workforce; and of those who do obtain work, a much smaller percentage remain in sustainable employment compared to their non-Indigenous colleagues. To achieve meaningful and sustainable change in employment – and therefore the lives – of First Nations people, we must create culturally responsive and safe workplaces. A dedicated Indigenous employment, development and support team at Ventia is doing just that – helping to create an organisational culture that is trauma informed, supports truth-telling conversations, values First Nations people’s unique ways of working, and provides individual and systemic interventions to break down barriers. Using a three-pronged approach – being trauma informed, prioritising personal welfare, and shifting the broader company’s mindset – the TRECCA team is achieving notable results and sustainable advancement for Ventia’s First Nations employees’ and their communities.

Workers' compensation experience in some Indigenous Northern Ontario communities.

There is a dearth of research about occupational health and safety experience in Indigenous communities and compensation applications from Indigenous workers appear limited. This qualitative descriptive study was designed to explore workers' compensation experiences in some Canadian Indigenous communities. A community-based participatory research approach was used to conduct focus groups (n = 25 participants) in three Northeastern Ontario (NEO) Indigenous communities and at one NEO Indigenous employment centre. Semi-structured focus group questions addressed community experience with workers' compensation, the compensation process, and discussion of a training session about the process. Reflexive thematic analysis followed Braun and Clarke procedures. Discussion with study participants resulted in these themes: 1) both lack of knowledge, and knowledge, about compensation demonstrated, 2) impact of lack of compensation coverage and need for universal coverage on reserve, 3) need for community training sessions about workers' compensation, 4) workload and financial impact of workers' compensation on reserve, and 5) requirement for cultural competence training in the compensation board. This qualitative descriptive study revealed the: need for more information about applying for workers' compensation and navigating the process, need for universal workplace insurance coverage in Indigenous communities, demand for community-based compensation process training, community costs of compensation, and the requirement for cultural safety and competence training for compensation organization employees. More education about the workers' compensation process would be of benefit to leadership, health care providers, administrative personnel, employers, and employees on reserves. Nurses in community health centres are well situated to provide further guidance.

Insights for Indigenous employment into a case study of unconscious bias in the Australian Public Service

AbstractDrawing on a case study of unconscious bias levels in the Australian Public Service (APS), findings suggest gender equality remains a concern for career prospects for women, particularly for Indigenous women when two‐thirds of Indigenous employees in the APS are women. Additionally, age and length of service provide further insights into the implications for a workplace free of discrimination and prejudice. For example, male respondents across each successive age category show higher preference levels for Caucasian Australians than do female respondents. In this paper, I compare findings with results found in an Australian study reported by Shirodkar, (2019). Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, 22, 3. The basis of both studies was the Australian Aboriginal Implicit Association Test (IAT) administered by Project Implicit. Arguably most importantly for the APS will be the need to convince senior managers to accept and act on the discriminatory effects of unconscious bias in Indigenous employment. Any policy response will need an enhanced understanding of unconscious bias, including a broader knowledge of Indigenous culture and gender equity in the APS. The framework presented at the end of this paper offers an opportunity to revisit the effectiveness of unconscious bias training for the APS.

Healing Toward Interdependency: Building Skills and Resistance Through Immigrant and Indigenous Employment

Healing Toward Interdependency: Building Skills and Resistance Through Immigrant and Indigenous Employment

Occupied labour: dispossession through incorporation among Palestinian workers in Israel

ABSTRACT Promoting the employment of indigenous peoples has been a key strategy of economic development in settler colonial states. Israel’s framing of occupied Palestinian labour in its economy has mirrored this approach, with an implicit claim that it contributes prosperity to the Palestinians. What this false promise hides is how employment and the economic incorporation of indigenous people can become a source of ongoing dispossession in and of itself: a kind of dispossession that is driven by workers’ economic inclusion rather than being remedied through it. Based on ethnographic research among Palestinians from the occupied West Bank who work in Israel, this article explores the multiple dispossessions that result from such labour. The article explains how a neoliberal settler economy utilizes a meritocratic regime of indigenous employment to execute a colonial logic of domination. As access to jobs in the settler economy is made conditional on workers’ political docility and their continued absence from communal life, the labour regime aims to turn Palestinian livelihood and Palestinian nationhood into mutually exclusive aspirations: it strives to undermine the Palestinians’ capacity for social reproduction and anticolonial resistance.

The Effect of HRM Practices on Employment Outcomes in Indigenous Social Enterprises

Indigenous economic development is a critical area of focus for many communities globally. Indigenous social enterprises play an important role in enhancing economic development by providing employment opportunities for Indigenous community members. Thus, understanding the factors that impact employment of Indigenous staff by Indigenous enterprises has important social and economic implications. This study examines the relationship between high commitment human resource management (HC-HRM) practices of Australian Indigenous social enterprises and their employment of Indigenous staff. Specifically, the paper contends with the research question how does the utilisation of HC-HRM by Indigenous enterprises shape the Indigenous employment outcomes of enterprises? Working with research partner Supply Nation, Australia’s Indigenous Minority Supplier Diversity Council, a survey of Indigenous social enterprises was conducted about their HRM practices in relationship to leader risk propensity and business strategy pertaining to cultural product/services. A key result of the study is that the use of HC-HRM practices helps increase Indigenous employment outcomes. In addition, the relationship between HC-HRM and Indigenous employment outcomes is moderated by both the enterprise’s business strategy and the leaders’ risk propensity. These findings provide important insight into how Indigenous social enterprises can be best managed to create social and economic benefits in Indigenous communities.

Mapping open knowledge institutions: an exploratory analysis of Australian universities.

While the movement for open research has gained momentum in recent years, there remain concerns about the broader commitment to openness in knowledge production and dissemination. Increasingly, universities are under pressure to transform themselves to engage with the wider community and to be more inclusive. Open knowledge institutions (OKIs) provide a framework that encourages universities to act with the principles of openness at their centre; not only should universities embrace digital open access (OA), but also lead actions in cultivating diversity, equity, transparency and positive changes in society. This leads to questions of whether we can evaluate the progress of OKIs and what are potential indicators for OKIs. As an exploratory study, this article reports on the collection and analysis of a list of potential OKI indicators. Data for these indicators are gathered for 43 Australian universities. The indicators provide high-dimensional and complex signals about university performances. They show evidence of large disparities in characteristics such as Indigenous employment and gender equity, and a preference for repository-mediated OA across Australian universities. We demonstrate use of the OKI evaluation framework to categorise these indicators into three platforms of diversity, communication and coordination. The analysis provides new insights into the Australian open knowledge landscape and ways of mapping different paths of OKIs.

Racism and oral health inequities among Indigenous Australians.

Racial discrimination, which can be structural, interpersonal and intrapersonal, has causal links with oral health morbidity (dental caries, periodontal disease) and mortality (tooth loss). Racism impacts on oral health in three main ways: (1) institutional racism creates differential access to oral health services; (2) cultural racism, which is structurally pervasive, results in poorer psychological and physiological wellbeing of those discriminated against and; (3) interpersonal racism undermines important dental health service provider-patient relationships. Indigenous Australians have experienced sustained racial discrimination since European colonisation in the 1780s. This includes Government policies of land and custom theft, assimilation, child removal and restrictions on Indigenous people's civil rights, residence, mobility and employment. Australia failed to enumerate Indigenous people in the Census until 1967, with the 'White Australia' policy only ending in 1973. In our paper we posit that all minority groups experience racial discrimination that impacts oral health, but that this is amplified among Indigenous groups in Australia because of ongoing legacies of colonialism, institutional racism and intergenerational trauma.

Factors supporting indigenous employee retention in the Australian mining industry: A case study of the Pilbara region

Indigenous employment is a key point of engagement between Indigenous people and mining companies. Over the past two decades, research shows that the Australian mining industry has increased the numbers of Indigenous employees within the mining workforce. However, less is known about how well the industry is retaining Indigenous employees and what factors support retention. This article begins to fill this gap by presenting outcomes of qualitative research undertaken with both former and current Indigenous employees of a major employer of Indigenous people in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. We elucidate the main reasons for turnover intention as articulated by Indigenous employees and examine the strategies available to mining companies to address voluntary turnover within this cohort. The findings suggest that a culturally competent non-Indigenous workforce, culturally appropriate support mechanisms and access to professional development opportunities are key retention factors. The paper concludes by arguing that the mining industry will need to focus both on ensuring a culturally safe workplace for its Indigenous employees, and on increasing the regional Indigenous labour pool, if it is to contribute to more sustainable outcomes.

Inter‐cultural contexts: Exploring the experience of indigenous employees in mainstream Australian organisations

Objective: This study aimed to understand more about the experiences of Indigenous employees within mainstream Australian workplaces. Employment and retention rates for Indigenous employees continue to be disproportionately lower than the mainstream Australian population. The potential impact of the inter‐cultural workplace context has featured little in the current research and public discourse on employment and retention rates. This study contributes further research and practice implications within the inter‐cultural and organisational psychology literature.MethodThis qualitative study investigated the experiences of 10 Indigenous participants in a metropolitan area who are, or have been, employed in mainstream Australian workplaces. In‐depth interviews were conducted using grounded theory methodology and participants' responses coded to identify themes.ResultsResults suggested that some Indigenous employees experience mainstream workplaces as inter‐culturally complex environments. This setting is also found to present an increased range of psychosocial barriers to successful employment and retention. A working theory of inter‐cultural code‐switching between mainstream and minority groups is proposed.ConclusionThe inter‐cultural environment of mainstream Australian workplaces may be requiring Indigenous employees to display high levels of cultural agility to achieve successful employment and retention outcomes. The implications of this study suggest that widespread government initiatives to increase Indigenous employment are unlikely to result in sustained increases in employment and retention unless inter‐cultural considerations are given due attention.

Indigenous employees’ perceptions of the strategies used by mining employers to promote their recruitment, integration and retention

Members of Indigenous communities want to improve their socio-economic status. While many are willing to participate in the mining industry, they face multiple barriers to employment. The purpose of this research was to study Indigenous employees’ perceptions of the strategies used by Canadian mining employers to promote their recruitment, integration and retention. Semi-structured interviews with 43 Anishnaabeg, Crees and Inuit from communities near mining projects in Quebec and Nunavut showed that to be effective, employability programs required close collaboration between governments, Indigenous communities and industry. Liaison, work readiness, site readiness, mentorship, career progression and language training programs were said to promote the recruitment, integration and retention of Indigenous workers. Facilities and activities valuing Indigenous cultures, a critical mass of Indigenous employees, and quality work relationships were also considered to favor Indigenous employment within mining companies. Cree and Inuit perceptions of the factors promoting their recruitment, integration and retention in the mining industry were similar to those of their employers, while Anishnaabeg rather considered that employers were not making enough efforts. The difference might be explained by the fact that Anishnaabeg have yet to conclude a land claim agreement which would put a legal incentive on companies to implement employability programs.

The risks of and barriers to social procurement in construction: a supply chain perspective

Social procurement policies place new requirements on subcontractors to create employment opportunities for people suffering disadvantage. However, the subcontractor’s voice is largely absent from the social procurement debate, despite employing the majority of people in the construction industry. Addressing this gap in social procurement research, a survey of seventy Australian subcontractors was undertaken to explore perceived barriers to integrating six disadvantaged groups targeted by social procurement policies into the construction workforce (Indigenous people, people suffering disability, women, disengaged youth, migrants and refugees, ex-offenders). Results indicate that rather than reducing disadvantage for the most marginalised groups in society, satisficing behaviour in complying with emerging social procurement policies could have the opposite effect. Subcontractors see significant business risks associated with safety, productivity and costs with disengaged youth being perceived as the highest risk cohort, followed by migrants and refugees, people suffering disability, ex-offenders, women and Indigenous workers and employment priorities reflect these perceptions. Perceived barriers to employment vary significantly across these groups with smaller and younger firms perceiving the greatest barriers – particularly for women and Indigenous workers. Practically, the results highlight the potential risks which social procurement policies present to vulnerable people if they are introduced without sufficient support and regard for an industry’s culture, structure and capacity to deliver. Conceptually, taking this research forward, the results highlight the potential value of cross-sector collaboration and intersectionality as theoretical frameworks to better understand how these groups experience working in the construction sector.

Indigenous peoples and mine automation: An issues paper

The global mining sector, like other sectors of industrialised economies, is undergoing a technological transformation as part of what some commentators refer to as the ‘fourth industrial revolution’. New technologies, such as automation and robotics, are transforming the nature of mining and the nature of work. This paper discusses the implications of this shift for Indigenous peoples and the Indigenous mining workforce. In the past two decades the number of Indigenous employees in the sector has grown to unprecedented levels, most notably in Australia and Canada. The emergence of local level agreements, state regulatory requirements, and mining company policies and commitments are examined as drivers for this rise in Indigenous employment. Yet, the predicted acceleration in mine automation could disrupt this positive trend, as automation targets routine jobs which are disproportionately where Indigenous peoples are employed in manual and semi-skilled roles. There is little indication that the industry is considering the potential downside effects of mine automation on these same peoples. A careful and critical examination of mine automation and its effects on Indigenous peoples is urgently required.

Indigenous Employment Policy and Foreign-Owned Corporation Employee’s Well-Being in Liberia

Every country institutes policy to take a course of action in favour of its citizens’ welfare. The view of indigenization policy in alignment with employment and workers treatment in Liberia takes different dimension. Liberia problem of unemployment cannot be compared to its underemployment and bad working conditions. The Liberian Indigenous policy has not reaped its fruit with marginalization, exploitation dispossession and poverty in commonplace. This study addresses the ineffectiveness of the indigenous employment policy and the state of workers’ well-being in foreign corporations in Liberia. This study adopts cross sectional method, and employs primary data. Information from 400 employees working with foreign-owned corporation was extracted from survey conducted in 2018 by the authors on the state of welfare of foreign-owned corporations’ employees in Liberia. The key explanatory variables are healthcare, social insurance, safety measures, stable job assignment, stable work hour, promotion on the job, and job security. The binary logistic regression was applied using version 22 of SPSS to examine association between the response and explanatory variables. The outcomes of this study showed that indigenous environmental policy was significant with worker’s well-being (p<0.05). The study concluded that indigenous employment policy has significant influence on the foreign-owned corporation workers’ well-being in Liberia.

Diversity and inclusion – moving the needle in Indigenous employment and engagement

With global exposure, a combined revenue of over AU$60 billion and total employees in excess of 250000, it could be construed that supporting the maintenance services to the newly commissioned Ichthys LNG plant in Darwin, Northern Territory, would be ‘business as usual’. However, committing to diversity and inclusion targets, which include indigenous employment of 15% within 3 years, dictate a rethink and a breakaway from tried and tested approaches. Despite advancement in technology and the ability to reach large audiences through social and other media sources, it was apparent that a different approach would be required in order to successfully attain such targets and to create sustainable relationships within the community. The powerful effect of direct communication, together with the recognised need to apply a positive bias has seen the initial targets exceeded within the first year of operation: the indigenous engagement level being in excess of 20% and, more importantly, trust and strong ties being established within the community. Not so much an accomplishment in itself, but a work in progress, the benefits of adopting such an approach are being felt not only in the NT but across the whole of Australia, Europe and the world.