We believe that our age, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, religious and spiritual beliefs, ethnicity, family responsibilities, cultural background, experiences, perspectives and all the things that make each of us uniquely who we are adds positively to the richness of our workplace. The wealth of skills, perspectives and experience that our employees possess promotes greater creativity and innovation, ensures we can better reflect and serve the needs of our diverse customer base and ultimately drives improved business performance and employee engagement.
We recognise that a strong focus on workplace diversity and inclusion is not just the socially responsible course of action but is also important in attracting and retaining the best employees. We are committed to providing equal opportunity in all aspects of employment, including recruitment, learning and talent development, promotion and remuneration and ensuring we are fully compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012.
Highlighting the importance of this to the business we have a standalone Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Strategy, closely aligned to our broader Environment, Social Sustainability and Governance (ESG) and People strategies. Our D&I Strategy is overseen by the Board of GPT.
We have four areas of focus in terms of demographic diversity under our strategy, as articulated below:
- Gender Equality
- Parents and Carers
- First Nations People
- LGBTQ+ Inclusion
Gender Equality
We are proud of our credentials and achievements in respect of promoting gender diversity within GPT and the Property industry more broadly.
In 2024 GPT was delighted to be ranked in the top five organisations globally in the annual Gender Equality Global Report & Ranking report released by Equileap. The research examined 3,795 companies, representing 103 million employees globally, that are listed on a major index or in one of 27 developed markets.
The GPT Group was named an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality for the fourth consecutive time by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).
In February 2024 WGEA published gender pay gap data for all reporting organisations in Australia on their website. Please find GPT’s Gender Pay Gap Statement here to provide additional context for The GPT Group’s data.
Now in its eighth year, GPT has sponsored the Property Council of Australia’s 500 Women in Property Program since its inception. The program is designed to champion women in the property industry and provide networking and professional development opportunities.
GPT’s workforce is 56 per cent female, with females occupying 46 per cent of roles in the top quartile by base pay and making up 44 per cent of the Executive Leadership Team and 50 per cent of the GPT Board.
We have set a further target to achieve female representation in the top 10% (based on fixed remuneration) of 38% at the end of 2023.
Our Gender Diversity Strategy consists of a range of measures designed to:
- Attract and recruit female talent;
- Support property sector level initiatives to increase gender diversity;
- Identify and build a pipeline of talented female employees,; and
- Retain and successfully deploy female candidates in an environment where they can do their best work.
GPT actively participates in The Property Champions of Change (PCC). Founded in 2015 by the Property Council of Australia, the PCC aims to drive greater gender equality in the property industry and increase the number of women in leadership roles. GPT has been a foundation member of the PCC and our Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Bob Johnston, is chair of this group.
Supporting families and carers
We recognise that many in our workforce have significant caring or parenting responsibilities and priorities outside the workplace. We seek to support our working carers in ways that help them navigate both work and caring.
The GPT Group was officially certified as a Family Inclusive Workplace™ in February 2022, one of the first in the Property industry to achieve this.
GPT has excellent support in place for those with family and caring responsibilities, or those looking to grow their family. GPT recognises that the journey to parenthood can vary greatly and as such our Parental Support Policy aims to support employees with every aspect of the experience of becoming a parent, including navigating fertility treatment, surrogacy, fostering and kinship care, adoption or pregnancy loss. Some of the key aspects of our Parental Support Policy include:
- Paid parental leave of 22 weeks
- Recognition of the importance of shared care with paid leave provisions available to all new parents irrespective of gender, gender identity or sexual orientation
- Flexibility on how and when the paid parental leave is taken
- Inclusion of additional support provisions for adoption, surrogacy, foster/kinship care, fertility treatment and pregnancy loss
- Continuation of compulsory superannuation guarantee contributions while on unpaid leave
- Contribution to childcare costs to assist with the affordability of childcare, and
- Parental leave coaching to support our people through the transition out of and back into the workforce.
GPT also recognises that caring takes different forms and is not limited to parenting. Many people will become carers in the course of their lives for loved ones who require extra support due to chronic illness, addiction, injury or age. We offer flexibility and support for those in a range of caring circumstances.
Australia’s First Nations People
GPT is committed to creating positive change within the First Nations communities in which we operate and in the broader Australian society.
Reconciliation is about building better relationships between the wider Australian community and First Nations Peoples for the benefit of all Australians. At GPT we are focused on creating innovative programs that deliver impactful and sustainable change. As a part of our Stretch RAP focus areas, GPT’s First Nations People Inclusion Plan aims to increase the participation of First Nations people in our workforce through offering employment opportunities, sponsored internships and graduate scholarships.
We seek to develop and retain First Nations employees by offering them access to opportunities within the organisation for mentorship and sponsorship and to broaden their skills and experience. GPT has a cultural leave policy, available to all staff, and a structured learning and development program specifically designed to support our people’s understanding of First Nations’ history and culture. First Nations employees currently represent 1% of the permanent GPT workforce.
GPT is also asking more of our contractors, our suppliers and our peers. These stakeholders are encouraged to join the reconciliation movement and we seek to leverage our external partnerships and relationships to support positive indigenous employment outcomes more broadly. GPT are proud to be a 10x10 Program partner with the CareerTrackers Program which provides internships, work experience and employment opportunities for First Nations Australians. We have supported over 25 students to undertake internships with the organisation and actively seek to appoint our interns into suitable permanent opportunities.
In 2014 we began the process to develop a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and following our first Innovate RAP were extremely proud to be able to launch our first Stretch RAP in February 2018. Having achieved 97% against this we are currently developing a second Stretch RAP to be launched in 2023.
Our RAP shares our commitments and targets to make an important contribution to the journey towards Reconciliation and to improving the lives of Australia’s First Nations People.
Click here to read more about GPT's approach to Reconciliation.
LGBTQIA+ Inclusion
GPT is proud to actively support the LGBTQIA+ community and to offer an environment where everyone can feel safe, valued, a sense of belonging and the ability to be authentically who they are.
To progress our commitment and efforts in supporting an inclusive environment for our LGBTQIA+ colleagues GPT has partnered with Pride in Diversity – the national not-for-profit employer support program for LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion. In recognition of our significant and genuine commitment to LGBTQIA+ inclusion GPT was awarded Gold in the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) in 2022, and is currently awaiting our result for 2023 to be announced.
Our LGBTQIA+ Awareness & Diversity Network (GLAD), whose tagline is ‘Bring your whole self to work’, aims to foster a culture of inclusion at GPT where LGBTQIA+ employees can feel safe and comfortable in being themselves at work.
The purpose of the network is to:
- Support delivery of GPT's diversity and inclusion strategy,
- Promote workplace inclusion and allyship for the LGBTQIA+ community,
- Ensure our assets are LGBTQIA+ inclusive and
- Provide education, support and network events with the aim that everyone feels safe and a sense of belonging at GPT.
Further information about our workforce can be found in GPT's 2022 Sustainability Report and in our most recent WGEA Report.