Diversity
Goodman’s Diversity Strategy aims to create an inclusive and transparent work environment that is free of harassment and discrimination, where all employees can contribute equally to our commercial goals. We operate in geographically and culturally diverse markets and we recognise and celebrate the differences that exist in them. We also take the Goodman Corporate Values seriously and strive to blend these behaviours into the way we interact every day with each other, our customers and investors.
Gender representation
Our Diversity Strategy not only recognises the differences in people but also considers the career development of all employees. However, an important long-term objective is to increase the representation of female employees at senior management levels in all regions.
As an important step towards this, in 2013 we set aspirational targets for women in senior executive roles. In contrast with previous years, the number of women in senior executive roles at Goodman slightly decreased in the 2016 financial year.
We consider employees one level below the executive category to be the future leaders of the business and the female representation of this group remained constant in 2016.
We see the path to increased female representation at executive levels within Goodman as being a combination of targeted recruitment, developing the skills of managers to coach and mentor, and creating a work culture that encourages people to fully develop their skills.
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS
Relaunched the Goodman Values
Over the past twelve months we have relaunched our Corporate Values through an internal communications programme, entitled “Success is in our GNA”. The purpose of the programme is to generate greater awareness and understanding of our Values with the view to driving continuous improvement by ensuring greater alignment between our Values and behaviours, both internally and externally. The programme has been rolled out globally to all employees via an integrated communications programme which will continue to evolve through various phases. We recently conducted Global Brand Research among our key internal and external stakeholders, the results of which were very good and demonstrated a good understanding of the Values among staff. We are now using the findings of this report to help shape the future direction of the programme.
Goodman’s Values centre around respect, appreciating each other’s contribution, recognising differences between people, working as a team, demonstrating drive and determination, being customer focused and innovative, but all against a context of being honest, fair and clear with one another. How an employee demonstrates these behaviours is now part of the performance review process and we have made sure that our expectations are clearly displayed and referred to in actions and words.
Improved performance management
The effectiveness of our performance management system to assess employees’ performance against their objectives was also upgraded and improved during the year. Employees were strongly encouraged to outline their career aspirations and create plans to achieve them. The usage of the performance management platform has been greater than before, as a better process means better outcomes for employees. In 2017, we plan to link a wider talent management platform to the performance management platform. The Values represent a portion of the overall review to reinforce their importance.
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
Reviewed our career progression programme
We consulted with participants to review our Future+Women programme in Australia to help it better address barriers to women’s career progression. We made changes to allow women to more effectively drive their own career development and to access one-on-one coaching. We stress the importance of employees managing their own career development and proactively seeking assistance.
Boosted management skills
Following its successful introduction in Australia in 2015, Maximise, a structured management development programme, was launched in China during the year. Among other skills, Maximise encourages senior managers to consider geographical and cultural diversities in relation to how they manage teams, while also focusing on mentoring and conducting effective performance reviews. Our Continental Europe business is well advanced in delivering structured management development, through both internal and external training.
Implemented online learning
We implemented more online learning through Lynda.com, where employees can access a diverse range of work related training, including presentation skills, technical skills and other critical elements of the way we work here at Goodman. We now define learning by it being technical, skills based or compliance related so that we are clear about what is required. This will continue to evolve over the coming years.
Our employment policies were reviewed to ensure barriers to participation are minimised through policies such as parental leave and flexible work. Flexible work arrangements are growing more common at Goodman and are reinforced by our ‘Space To Work’ office model. This includes providing employees with the appropriate technology and tools to allow them to work efficiently and seamlessly outside the office.
Strengthened alignment between performance and reward
We also continued to align performance and reward, and have a long-term scheme that all employees around the world participate in. We strive to ensure that no fixed remuneration disparity exists for male and female employees doing the same job, and use incentive compensation to drive people to succeed.
