Flexibility of the Indigenous - Case Study Paper Sample

This paper aims at looking into the flexibility of Indigenous Australians. The study will lay focus on explaining the employment of the Indigenous people and why it is essential to the Indigenous community as well as to the Australian government at large. Additionally, this paper will include the advice to the Queensland University of Technology regarding the employment of the Indigenous people. The first section of the article is the introduction part, including a summary of what is expected to be discussed. The second section is on explaining why the issue presented is of great importance. The final third section focuses on the advice to the Queensland University of Technology on Indigenous employment.

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Introduction

For a long time, Indigenous Australians have faced some significant barriers when it comes to job security. When compared to all other critical social indicators that are available such as education, health as well as housing, the indigenous Australians are worse off than all other groups of Australians (Burgess & Dyer, 2009) Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is devoted to making a significant contribution in closing the existing gap that lies between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the rest of the Australians. This will be via increasing employment and development opportunities for the Indigenous Australians.

Additionally, the drive to enrolling Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is empowered by the University's vision of being a leading institution in Indigenous people employment. This not only does it benefit the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples but also help the University at large by enhancing diversity in its working environment. Notably, the Institution puts it clear that the commitment is not based explicitly on providing solutions to the disadvantages faced by the majority of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but rather on the basis that these Indigenous people are to help the institution by bringing them knowledge, vast experience, expertise as well as skills all that hopefully will benefit the University (Benjamin, 2010).

Why the Issue is Important

Historical Factors

A couple of historical factors are the primary causes for the devastated lives of many Indigenous Australians. It is thus very reasonable to look into some of these historical factors for the Queensland University of Technology to achieve their goals in employment provision to the indigenous Australians. Some of these historical factors include the Institutional racist policy. Aboriginal Protection boards were created in the twentieth century in the efforts to see the rights, including employment rights of the indigenous people, are put into place. However, these boards failed to safeguard the rights of these indigenous Australians. These created boards had influence necessary to change the lifestyle of the Indigenous Australians. This is to mean that these boards were much involved in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples discrimination acts (Gray, Hunter, & Lohoar, 2012).

Entrenched High Unemployment Rates

The Indigenous employment issue is of great importance as currently, sixteen percent of Indigenous people are unemployed compared to five percent for non-Indigenous Australians. These high unemployment rates to the Indigenous communities are alarming causing a need to look into this unemployment issue (Benjamin, 2010).

Inequality in Economic Development and Participation

The fact remains that Indigenous Australians and communities are low-income earners and contribute very little towards the economic growth. This is attributed to the high levels of unemployment as well as the lack of opportunities for these people. This is the fundamental reason as to why the Indigenous Australians may not take part in economic building in equal capacity to the non-indigenous. According to Benjamin (2010), the weekly gross income for the Indigenous households' was averaged to $445 while that of the nonindigenous was averaged of $612. This is a clear explanation as to why the indigenous employment is essential.

Lower Education Participation Rates

The educational qualification levels are the significant barriers to the Indigenous Australians acquiring jobs. Gray, Hunter, & Lohoar (2012), notices that only a few Indigenous students had achieved the required national reading and writing standards when compared to the non-Indigenous students. Additionally, Indigenous communities have been found to have low participation rates in both education qualification and participation than the non-Indigenous Australians. These facts being in place it is essential to monitor the education levels for the Indigenous Australians. Thus, regarding the job recruitment, it would be fair if the education aspect is put into consideration

Higher Rates of Poor Health

Indeed, in many indigenous communities, there are high levels of poor health still existing. This means that the capabilities of these people to participate in employment as well as in education are significantly reduced. Biddle, Hunter, Yap, & Gray (2016) point out that the life expectancy of the indigenous people at birth for men is 67, which is 12 years less than that of non-indigenous men.

Advice to the Queensland University of Technology on Indigenous Employment

Substantive Equity

For Indigenous Australian employment, the interview process is mandatory once specific individuals have been shortlisted. In this scenario, I advise that substantive equity to be put to consider regarding the earlier mentioned poor education disadvantage experienced by the indigenous people. For instance, in the case where both the indigenous and the non-indigenous appear before the recruitment panel, the following questions should be put into practice:

1. Does the Indigenous applicant possess skills as well as experience to the post advertised?
2. Does the applicant have the capability to acquire the required skills in order to carry out the expected roles?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then the panel ought to consider for appointment to the specific position over the nonindigenous candidate as he or she has not experienced the high level of disadvantage (Burgess & Dyer, 2009).

Indigenous Australian Employment Exemption Process

The University needs to come up with an Indigenous Australian Employment Exemption Process. This process will be aiming at allowing the University to legally exempt a few specific positions for only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to apply and contest for. By doing this, the University will significantly increase the odds of recruiting more indigenous Australians (Thomson & Kapuscinski, 2017).

Indigenous Jobs Australia website

The University could come up with a site that is suitable for the job posting, targeting Indigenous Australians.

Print Media

The University needs to focus on the advertisement of the targeted advertisement vacancies. This could be in a widely read newspaper, readily accessible to the indigenous community.

Pre-employment Support

One strategy that the University can undertake is the provision of support to Indigenous Australians in writing a job application. Additionally, the University could help these individuals in preparation for the interviews. The University could also set a help support unit for the Indigenous Australians seeking support to contact them CITATION Hun17 \l 1033 (Hunter & Gra, 2017).

Conclusion

I believe in workplace diversity as it brings joy and color that enriches the experience of workers. With the expertise present in any organization, then maximum achievement is expected to lead to the economic growth of a country. This is accomplished when barriers to employment are not in place. This is what the Queensland University of Technology tries to achieve by ensuring equity and equality of employees.

References

Benjamin, S. (2010). The Determinants of Labour Force Status among Indigenous Australians. Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 13(3), 287-312. Retrieved from <https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=727842104436168;res=IELBUS

Biddle, N., Hunter, B., Yap, M., & Gray, M. (2016, June 5). Eight ways we can improve Indigenous employment. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/eight-ways-we-can-improve-indigenous-employment-60377

Burgess, J., & Dyer, S. (2009). Workplace mentoring for indigenous Australians: a case study. Equal Opportunities International, 28(6), 465-485. doi: 10.1108/02610150910980774

Gray, M., Hunter, B., & Lohoar, S. (2012, May). Increasing Indigenous employment rates. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/increasing-indigenous-employment-rates/contents/table-of-contents

Hunter, B., & Gra, M. (2017). Dynamics of Indigenous and non-indigenous Labour Markets. Australian Journal OF Labour Economics, 20(1), 207-226.

Thomson, K., & Kapuscinski, C. (2017). Experimental Estimates of Indigenous Employment from Administrative Data*. Australian Journal of Labour Economics, 17(2), 139-169. Retrieved from <https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=746073985318532;res=IELBU>