The local business community gathered this week for the launch of a toolkit for small and medium businesses to gauge and improve equality within their organisation.
A collaboration between Geelong Chamber of Commerce (GCC), Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) and the state government, the Equal Pay Matters – Pay Equality Toolkit for SMEs launched on Wednesday night (March 6) at Truffleduck.
The toolkit involves a self-evaluation tool, where businesses can generate an “equality compass” highlighting areas for improvement where pay gaps may exist and providing tools and strategies for businesses to address those areas.
Around 100 attendees at the launch event heard from a range of speakers including VEOHRC commissioner Ro Allen, Geelong Mums chief executive Ruth Holdaway and Geelong United Basketball chief executive Mark Neeld.
GCC chief executive Jeremy Crawford said the launch had been a fantastic event.
“First of all we launched the toolkit, which is a very practical and immediately useful tool for businesses,” Mr Crawford said.
“But secondly, we wanted to start that ‘change agent’ conversation with some of our business leaders.
“It was really good to bring some of the key stakeholders, especially government stakeholders, into Geelong to engage with our local business owners and leaders.
“Seeing these representatives in person and having a really good chat about why they’ve done things, it just adds another level of engagement for our community.”
Mr Crawford said GCC would make the Pay Equality Toolkit resources on its website available to all businesses, not just its members.
“The Chamber will be really involved in providing more resources that businesses can access to get into this toolkit,” he said.
“We think this information is important for all, so it won’t just be available for members in this instance.”
Visit humanrights.vic.gov.au/education/equal-pay-matters to learn more about the Pay Equality Toolkit.
