Good practice principles
The department is:
- promoting culturally competent environments that are respectful, inclusive and free from bias, discrimination and racism, and have processes in place to address any incidents
- setting clear expectations on cultural competency for staff and funded services in service guidelines, commissioning practices, service agreements, quality standards and accreditation
- building knowledge, skills and capabilities of staff on cultural competency, language services and fostering a human rights culture through:
- information and resources to support inclusive service and policy design and delivery
- targeted workforce training and professional development programs
- commissioning advice, education and resource development by multicultural services
- improving recruitment, retention and progression of a culturally diverse workforce that reflects the diversity of the Victorian community at all levels of the organisation, including through targeted recruitment practices and specialised roles that draw on people’s lived experience and connection to community
- embedding clear expectations on workforce diversity to funded services into procurement processes, grants and service agreements.
Practical resources and supports
- The department’s Inclusion team in People and Culture and internal diversity and inclusion training programs
- CareerSeekers refugee and asylum seeker internship
- Victorian Public Service (VPS) networks such as the VPS Women of Colour and theVPS African-Australian
- Victorian Public Sector Commission resources on workforce diversity
- Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health cultural competency resources
- Multicultural health sector training providers detailed in Appendix 4.
Actions we will take
| Flagship initiatives | Timeframe | Lead division |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1 Establish a capability uplift program for Victorian mental health workers to better respond to the needs of consumers from multicultural communities. This includes funding of $538,200 from 2022–23 to 2023–24, with design and rollout in 2022–23 and implementation until 2024–25. | 2023–25 | Hospitals and Health Services |
| 5.2 Establish a new multicultural health community of practice for department staff to share ideas, learn and promote good practice. This includes commissioning the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health to run quarterly workshops on key topics such as data, language services, best practice translations and cultural competency. | 2023–24 | Hospitals and Health Services |
| Other new and continuing actions | Timeframe | Lead division |
|---|---|---|
5.3 Progress key actions across the department’s inclusion strategies including:
| Ongoing | People, Operations, Legal and Regulation |
5.4 Continue to deliver:
| Ongoing | People, Operations, Legal and Regulation |
5.5 Continue to provide training and professional development to departmental staff to enhance cultural competency through:
| Ongoing | People, Operations, Legal and Regulation |
| 5.6 Continue to deliver the Safer Care Victoria partnering and co-design training programs for staff and consumers from the department, Safer Care Victoria and health services. | Ongoing | Safer Care Victoria |
| 5.7 Continue to promote maternal and child health scholarship and bursaries to multicultural communities to enhance maternal and child health workforce diversity. | Ongoing | Community and Public Health |
| 5.8 Build departmental staff awareness through online and face-to-face events and education to help recognise and celebrate significant diversity dates (such as Cultural Diversity Week, Harmony Day and Refugee Week) and give voice to diverse lived experiences. | Ongoing | Action shared by:
|
| 2023–24 | Community and Public Health |
Good practice example: Workforce inclusion programs in the department
Since implementing the CareerSeekers program in 2016, the department has provided opportunities to help address underemployment of refugees and people seeking asylum. CareerSeekers is a non-profit social enterprise that partners with employers to create paid, professional internships for refugees and people seeking asylum to help their transition to working in Australia while also enabling the workforce to become more diverse and inclusive. The paid 12-week internship at the department has helped participants build confidence and experience through gaining local work experience, building connections and gaining references. Mentoring also builds staff leadership capabilities, helps share skills and allows deeper insight into diverse experiences. The program’s success has seen it expand to a whole-of-government initiative.
Staff-led networks such as the VPS Women of Colour and VPS African-Australian also champion inclusion and personal and professional development of multicultural staff across the Victorian Government.
The department also offers a range of workforce strategies to foster an inclusive workplace such as:
- mandatory workforce diversity, equity and inclusion online e-learning training for all staff
- unconscious bias training to encourage reflection about individual and workplace biases
- a mandatory Executive performance development goal on ‘improving our workplace culture’, as well as goal library performance goal options related to improving diversity and inclusion.
Good practice example: Support for multicultural healthcare workers
Respiratory protective equipment, including face masks like N95 and P2 respirators, help provide a safe environment for healthcare workers. Under current respiratory protection standards, anyone required to wear a respirator must complete a fit test to determine which mask model and size can form a safe seal on their face. The clinical requirement to undertake a fit test is to be clean shaven because stubble can interfere with the seal against the wearer’s face.
The department partnered with the Royal Melbourne Hospital to undertake the Singh Thattha Trial to provide more healthcare workers who cannot shave for medical, cultural or religious reasons with the opportunity to learn the technique and be fit-tested.
The Singh Thattha technique involves using an elastic band to cover the beard to create a smooth surface, which is then tied on top of the wearer’s head. The respirator mask is worn with the seal formed on the band. This trial helps to build evidence on the safety and effectiveness of the Singh Thattha technique. The department also funded an implementation study to further develop and assess the feasibility, acceptance and ongoing responsibilities of implementing this technique.
All 121 participants from 36 health services have so far successfully fit-tested to one of the two N95 respirators used in the trial. The department will continue consultation with stakeholders to review the evidence from the trial and to identify next steps.
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The department’s Inclusion team in People and Culture and internal diversity and inclusion training programs.
CareerSeekers refugee and asylum seeker internship .
Victorian Public Services (VPS) staff networks such as:
Victorian Public Sector resources on workforce diversity.
Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and cultural competency resources.
Multicultural health sector training providers detailed in Appendix 4.
Reviewed 22 April 2024