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Tools to help you meet your obligations

The Commission has a range of tools to help businesses, employers and organisations meet their responsibilities under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010.

 

We can also provide tailored education sessions, carry out an organisational review to help you identify gaps and opportunities for improvement, and support you to develop an action plan to meet your obligations.

 

The Commission is committed to partnering with organisations to achieve enduring change.

Equal opportunity practice guidelines

The Equal Opportunity Act allows the Commission to issue practice guidelines on any matter relating to the Act. To date, we have published guidelines on:

These guidelines help organisations make sure they are meeting their legal obligations under the Equal Opportunity Act.

The Act requires us to consult widely to ensure that the practice guidelines are relevant and useful for organisations.

A court or tribunal may consider whether a person has complied with our guidelines when hearing a complaint of discrimination or any other unlawful conduct under the Equal Opportunity Act.

Action plans

The Commission works in partnership with organisations to develop action plans.

Creating an action plan is a voluntary process. It is a planning document that outlines the things your organisation will do to prevent discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation. An action plan can also help you improve diversity and inclusion.

Like business plans, they aim to ensure that obligations are embedded into your internal and external operations.

The Commission can:

  • help you identify the gap between where you are now and where you would like your business to be, in relation to your diversity and inclusion vision
  • conduct a simple organisational diagnosis. This might include looking at the make-up of your staff, assessing pay structures and other workforce data, reviewing policies and processes, observing the culture of the workplace and how leaders and employers interact with each other, and considering how flexible your business is
  • suggest possible approaches to embed diversity and inclusion into your business – what do you need to make your vision a reality? What’s feasible for you?
  • develop an action plan, made up of short, medium and long-term goals to achieve success and maximise the business benefits of diversity and inclusion.

Reviews

Upon request, the Commission can conduct confidential organisational reviews to better understand the current experience of employees and identify systemic barriers to equity and diversity.

We can also provide policy, process and procedure reviews to ensure organisations have leading practice systems and structures in place.

We conduct reviews for organisations of all sizes and across all industries. We always tailor the size and scope of the work to meet an organisation’s needs and budget.

For an example of a major organisational review that reflects our expertise, see our Independent Review into sex discrimination and sexual harassment, including predatory behaviour, in Victoria Police

Education

We provide education and consultancy services including:

    • tailored organisational reviews
    • compliance and best practice reviews of equal opportunity and human rights education programs
    • working in partnership with organisations to encourage and support good practice
    • reviewing policies and practices to give guidance.

We can conduct executive briefings and senior manager workshops to equip our clients with the leadership skills required to cultivate healthy organisations.

We also run an ongoing calendar of general programs and offer online training modules.

Find out more about our education services.

Contact us

We welcome calls from organisations and employers who would like more information about how we can help them meet their obligations under the Equal Opportunity Act.

Contact our Enquiry Line on 1300 292 153 (10am–2pm, weekdays), or email enquiries@veohrc.vic.gov.au

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Address
Level 3, 204 Lygon Street Carlton Victoria 3053

General enquiries
enquiries@veohrc.vic.gov.au

Reception
1300 891 848

Enquiry line
1300 292 153 or (03) 9032 3583

Interpreters
1300 152 494

NRS Voice Relay
1300 555 727 then use 1300 292 153

Media enquiries
0447 526 642

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission acknowledges that we work on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We also work remotely and serve communities on the lands of other Traditional Custodians.

We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.