Stockland continues to make ground on gender equality

Stockland has been named as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (EOCGE) for 2021-23 by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). Stockland has held its citation for 13 years. 

Stockland Managing Director and CEO, Tarun Gupta said: “Stockland had once again stepped up to the elevated standards of WGEA to become an EOCGE. 

“We are incredibly proud of our leadership in our sector on gender diversity and that we continue to meet WGEA’s rigorous standards for an EOCGE citation this year in a peer group of 120 companies,” Mr Gupta said.  

“Achieving gender equality builds more inclusive workplaces that support greater diversity of thought, more informed decision making and, ultimately, better business outcomes. It is through sustained action that we can deliver tangible change. 

“Stockland is one of the few companies to target a gender-balanced workforce across all levels of management with 40 per cent identifying men, 40 per cent identifying women and 20 per cent any gender. At FY21, women held 47.4 per cent of management roles, up from 46.7 per cent for the previous reporting period. 

“Today, I’m joined by five women on our Leadership Team of eight members. We have a gender pay gap of less than 1.5% and continue to focus on eliminating the gap as quickly and sustainably as possible.  

“Since the last assessment, we have launched an Everyday Respect campaign to address everyday sexism and raise awareness of our standalone Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy, revised Anti-Discrimination & Harassment Policy and zero-tolerance stance. With top-down leadership and ground-up involvement from employees, the campaign brought about formal and informal discussions at a level not previously experienced,” said Mr Gupta.  

In October 2021, Stockland launched a new parental leave policy that offers up to 24 months’ leave that can be taken flexibly and increased paid parental leave to 20 weeks. The same parental leave benefit is available to all employees, regardless of gender identity (including those who are part of LGBTQ+ families)​, whether they are the primary or secondary carer, biological, adoptive, surrogate, or long-term foster parent. 

WGEA Director, Mary Wooldridge, said: “Each year, we accept applications for our WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (EOCGE) citation from those employers who are raising the bar when it comes to driving change, creating the circumstances that allow all people, regardless of their gender, to thrive. 

“After passing through our evidence-based benchmarking evaluations, our EOCGE citation holders are officially recognised as some of the best employers in Australia who are committed and dedicated to action in achieving gender equality.  

“Critically, these organisations are delivering on a formula that sees better support structures in place for working families; stronger actions to address pay inequalities; and strategic recruitment and promotion practices that help to encourage the full participation of women at work,” said Ms Wooldridge.