APS Integrated Unconscious Bias Training Program

By Dr Craig LEON, APS First Nations Employment Reform with the National Indigenous Australians Agency

Unconscious bias affects all APS employees and impacts the APS’s ability to design, develop, and deliver services for all Australian citizens. By establishing a shared understanding of unconscious bias, employees will gain confidence in identifying and addressing unconscious bias in the APS. 

 

Graphical illustration of 4 hexagons inside of which show the word, ‘Bias’, and a set of scales with ‘implicit bias’; a speech bubble cut in half with word ‘microaggressions’; 3 illustrative people with a thought bubble above them with the word ‘stereotypes’

Research shows unconscious bias adversely impacts the employment experience of First Nations employees in the APS. First Nations employees remain overrepresented in lower APS classifications and underrepresented in higher APS classifications, though the SES100 initiative endeavours to change this landscape with increased First Nations representations at SES levels 

The NIAA is developing a program which will pilot an innovative APS Unconscious Bias training program (the Program). An Advisory group drawing members from the Department of Education and Workplace Relations, Indigenous Business Australia, the Department of Social Services, the Australian Public Service Commission, and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, and the Arts, is assisting the development of materials. 

Responding directly to Closing the Gap Priority Reform 3 to transform government operations, the Program aims to enhance the culturally safety of the APS workplace, and in turn strengthen the APS as a model employer for First Nations employees. 

Going beyond conventional approaches to unconscious bias training, the Program addresses the impact of unconscious bias on First Nations employees in the APS. The Program has three elements: 

  1. Two short, animated films that introduce APS employees to the concept of unconscious bias, and the context in which it impacts First Nations employees. 
  2. Resources to support a series of small group discussions about unconscious bias in a culturally safe and supported environment. The discussions will seek to build empathy, break stereotypes, and establish relationships to reduce the impact of bias. 
  3. Upskilling SES leaders as diversity and inclusion advocates to support organisational change required to address the impact of unconscious bias on the employment experience of First Nations employees. 

The Program is due to commence in February 2025. Resources will be available to employees via APS Academy’s APSLearn. 

For further enquiries, email the secretariat team.

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