Many workplaces have Indigenous employment policies and some, including the public service, have Indigenous employment targets. ANU research supported by the National Indigenous Australians Agency shows that mainstream workplaces can learn from Indigenous-led organisations about how to best employ Indigenous people and support them in the workplace.
Read time: 4 mins
Based on “It’s Self‐Determination. Blackfullas Making Right Decisions for Blackfullas”: Why Indigenous‐owned businesses create better Indigenous employment outcomes by Christian Eva, Jessica Harris, Kerry Bodle, Dennis Foley, Boyd Hunter, and Nina Nichols. Published October 2023.
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Businesses that are Indigenous-owned are far more likely to employ Indigenous people than non-Indigenous-owned businesses.
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Indigenous-led businesses are supporting Indigenous employees by sharing leadership, embracing differing perspectives, and providing a culturally competent work environment, ANU evidence shows.
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All employers could harness these insights to create workplaces that allow Indigenous and non-Indigenous employees to thrive.
Indigenous-led businesses could provide lessons for workplaces looking to improve Indigenous employment, including the public service.
Rather than looking at barriers to Indigenous employment at non-Indigenous organisations, ANU researchers flipped this approach on its head, instead examining how Indigenous-owned businesses are creating workplaces without barriers to Indigenous employment. In other words, they looked at what is working well, rather than what isn’t.
The research, supported by the National Indigenous Australians Agency, Supply Nation, and Indigenous Business Australia, details the specific practices Indigenous business leaders use to support their employees.
The first component of the Indigenous-led approach was collective leadership, which leaders of Indigenous businesses identified as being a characteristically Aboriginal approach.
While acknowledging hierarchies in decision-making that respect knowledge and experience, they saw leadership itself as non-hierarchical.
“… it’s not all about the big boss sitting in the office, calling the shots … I guess what’s different is that everyone gets a piece of everything, and everyone gets to know how everything works.”
Cultural competence was also critical. The findings highlighted a perceived gap in cultural competence: where non-Indigenous workplaces were seen as treating cultural competence as education, those in Indigenous-led businesses said it was present as a daily, institutional practice.
“Our competency is not a one-off session. It’s ongoing. We celebrate it not at NAIDOC, not at special events. Every day. And we’re building a cultural education and awareness through some informed practices.”
Making social impact central to the business also helps. Leaders observed that Indigenous employees work best when they can meet their own social obligations and give back to the community through their work.
Workplace flexibility was also a consistent theme. Indigenous employees may have unique cultural obligations, like attending to Sorry Business – which covers a range of cultural practices surrounding a person’s death. These must be understood and accommodated, Indigenous employers understand the need to make jobs that work for Indigenous people.
Flexibility also applied to recruitment. Employing Indigenous people with a criminal record or a limited education opens the door to more candidates. It also demonstrates an organisational understanding of the positive impact a job could have for that person.
Throughout the interviews, Indigenous business leaders cautioned against implementing strategies that aren’t grounded in a strong Indigenous knowledge base. They stressed that these practices aim to support all their employees, Indigenous and non-Indigenous.
Finally, the findings noted that Indigenous-led organisations usually have access to institutional expertise and commitment that other businesses don’t. As such, non-Indigenous organisations will likely struggle to progress without strong Indigenous representation in roles of direct influence.
“You trust me to be on your Indigenous advisory board, but you don’t trust me to be on your board. What is the difference?”
“Where non-Indigenous workplaces treat cultural competence as an education, to Indigenous-led organisations it’s a daily, institutional practice.”
