Employer of choice citation recognises a continuing story of improvement

For the 14th year running UTS has been named an employer of choice for gender equality.

This year UTS was one of only 15 Australian universities and 106 organisations to make the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's (WGEA) Employers of Choice for Gender Equality list.

Among the leading practices recognised by WGEA are UTS's policies and initiatives supporting flexible working and support for family responsibilities, support for women to progress into leadership positions and targets for improving gender equality outcomes.

UTS Vice-Chancellor Professor Attila Brungs said achieving the citation each year involved an ever more rigorous process demanding continuous improvement from the organisations that received it.

"Despite the longstanding leadership that UTS and other universities can claim in regard to gender equality, there is still much more to achieve," Professor Brungs said.

"Women are still significantly underrepresented in leadership positions across academia, including at UTS. To address this we have ensured that there is a reasonable percentage of female applicants on shortlists and for this to translate into female appointments. As a result, UTS now has five female deans out of eight positions, with four appointments made this year."

Professor Brungs said the availability of flexible working arrangements for men and women to support carers roles had been another clear priority.

"As a father of young children I am determined to lead by example in encouraging my male colleagues to do their share in caring for their kids and other family members.

"I want to make clear that I do not want, or expect, people to put their work at UTS above their family responsibilities.  I expect my managers and front line supervisors to ensure that the fantastic staff that work here at UTS – men and women – are given the flexibility they need to support their families."

Professor Brungs said UTS's commitment to an inclusive and equitable environment for its staff and students was always a work in progress.

"UTS has begun a significant academic growth strategy, which will see a substantial expansion of our academic staff numbers over the next two to four years," he said. "We need to ensure that equity objectives are embedded in this recruitment.

"We are now in the process of piloting and rolling out an unconscious bias training program specifically focused on avoiding bias in the recruitment process, particularly in areas where there has been historic underrepresentation of women, such as the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines."

The Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (EOCGE) citation commenced in 2014, replacing the predecessor citation, the EOWA Employer of Choice for Women which commenced in 2002. UTS has received the citation in every year it has been assessed.