Simon says: diversity is crucial

Most importantly, says Group Manager Human Resources Simon Willshire, it's the right thing to do.

"We're aiming to be an organisation in which anyone who works for us, or is considering doing so, knows they're welcome, that they'll be treated fairly and have the same opportunities as everyone else, regardless of age, race, background or gender," says Simon.

Inclusion was formally placed on Caltex's agenda with the August launch of a diversity policy that expands on the existing equal opportunity policy. Strategies to support the new guidelines will be rolled out across the company in 2008 together with training programs to give employees the skills they need to put the principles into everyday practice.

The business case for diversity in the workplace is compelling, says Simon. Many studies show that diverse organisations with flexible work arrangements consistently outperform their more homogenous competitors. They're more creative and they're better equipped to understand the full range of customers' needs.

"If your entire organisation is like me, a white guy in his 40s, you won't be capable of understanding all your consumers," says Simon.

Critically the program will help attract and retain talent in an ageing labour market. Over the next 40 years the proportion of Australia's population aged 65 and over will double. Twenty per cent of Caltex employees will reach retirement age in the next five years."

The job market is incredibly tight," says Simon. "We'll need to do a better job of developing our existing talent to cover the knowledge and experience we'll lose when people retire. We'll also have to look outside traditional avenues for talent and offer employees greater flexibility in the way they work."

How will the new approach work in practice? It's already happening in many parts of the company.

‘Grey power': retaining knowledge

Caltex's Lubelink hotline, which provides specialised lubes advice to employees, customers and resellers, is manned by a team of seven with a combined 260 years' experience in the industry. All are aged between 60 and 70 and no longer want full-time employment.

The team is free to devise its own weekly roster so long as personnel are on duty each day for five days a week. On average that means a two day working week for each manager, leaving plenty of room for outside interests.

"It's a terrific arrangement," says Lubelink Engineer Graham Palmer who has 36 years' experience working with lubes. "This way we can all travel regularly."

Graham enjoys the work because it keeps his mind alert and allows him to put the knowledge he's developed over a long career to good use. He and his colleagues have had offers from other companies but declined them because of the flexibility their current roles afford them.

The system works for customers too. The Lubelink team are consistently among the best performers in Caltex's customer satisfaction surveys.

"To have these guys stay on and continue to work for us is invaluable," says Andrew Sitaramayya, National Customer Service Manager. "These aren't positions we can just advertise and expect to fill. These guys all possess specialised knowledge that's in short supply."

Job sharing

In recent years Zoe Devos and Francis Nelson covered each other's roles as refinery schedulers while each took maternity leave. In July this year, when Francis returned from having her second child, the women approached their manager and proposed a job sharing arrangement that would allow them to work part time.

Zoe and Francis now share responsibility for scheduling the arrival of crude shipments at Kurnell wharf and ensuring optimum crude diets are sent to the refinery's processing units. The role can be complex and demanding, but the nature of the work and the complementary skills of Zoe and Francis make it suitable for job sharing, says Zoe.

"You're always working two weeks ahead and that makes it easier to deal with the changeover," she says. "Everything's been running smoothly and our manager and coworkers have been supportive."

Without the arrangement Zoe says it's unlikely she would have returned to work. "We're close friends so the only downside is we never get to see each other!".

Balancing passions

Mabelle Reyes is successfully balancing her lifelong passion for film production and theatre with her work for Caltex. The Marketing Change Leader switched to a less traditional working arrangement in 2005 after she found full-time employment was sapping her creative energies.

"I was burning out," says Mabelle. "When it came to the weekend I just didn't have the energy to make films. You can't be creative when you're tired."

So she went to her manager and together they came up with a solution: a four-day working week that would allow her time to pursue her love of film production.

A University of Technology Sydney film school graduate, Mabelle has been writing, directing and editing her own films for decades. She's entered many of them in the popular short-film festival Tropfest. Two were selected from thousands of entries for the Tropfest shortlists in 2001 and in 2005. "I feel lucky to have such a flexible arrangement; it's a great incentive to stay with Caltex," she says.

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