Australia’s outstanding organisations for supporting women at work have been shortlisted in the lead-up to the 2009 Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) Annual Business Achievement Awards (BAAs).

The EOWA’s Business Achievement Awards recognises those organisations that provide excellent workplace initiatives and conditions, as well as individual leaders who are setting the scene for diversity and the advancement of women in their workplaces.

Initiatives from the organisations shortlisted for a 2009 BAA include the following:

AstraZeneca provides a school vacation care program that is run for two weeks during each school holiday period. The program provides a solution for parents in the shortfall between 12 weeks school holidays each year and the four weeks of staff annual leave.

PepsiCo has successfully implemented a Work Life Quality program. The linking of key performance indicators to managers’ pay and performance evaluations ensures work life quality is a way of life at PepsiCo, and has resulted in a 50% reduction in voluntary employee turnover.

INENCO has initiated a series of Women’s Forums at its operations around Australia to promote consultation, individual development, and support career growth. These forums have fostered a mentoring program for women and have led to an acceleration in career paths for women.

Johnson & Johnson Medical provides three months paid parental leave and offers employees the opportunity to retain their company mobile and laptop so they can remain connected with the business. Employees on parental leave are invited to attend company events and meetings with their child and the company subsidises travel costs for the employee, their child and a carer.

Michael Luscombe, CEO of Woolworths has continued his support of targeted and specific initiatives focused on increasing the levels of women in management and which has resulted in a significant improvement in the proportion of women executives from 16.7% in 2004 to 27.0% 2009.

Professor Mandy Thomas, Australian National University supports the Academic Women’s Advancement Fund, which finances a gender issues group, a quality time fund, a mentoring program for women and a women’s writing workshop. She has also developed an Equity Project Office and a Carer’s Career Development Assistance Fund which assists staff with caring responsibilities to attend major national and overseas conferences and seminars.

The BAA awards ceremony will be held at Dockside in Sydney on November 11th. The Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek will address the 400 attendees and Giam Swiegers CEO of Deloitte will deliver the keynote address.

The winners are selected by an independent judging panel comprising Barbara Pocock – Director of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia, Sally Moyle from the Australian Government Office for Women, and Mark Goodsell – Director NSW Branch of the Australian Industry Group.

EOWA’s 2009 Business Achievement Awards are sponsored by Australian Industry Group, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Exxon Mobil Australia Pty Ltd, Freehills, IBM, the Australian Government Office for Women, and are supported by Suited for Work.

EOWA is a Federal Government statutory authority which administers the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act (1999). Employers of 100 people or more are required to report to the Agency on the initiatives they take within their organisations to advance women in the workplace. EOWA works with employers to improve equal opportunity outcomes for women in Australian workplaces.

For more information visit the website www.eowa.gov.au

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