Fostering Flexibility, Inclusion and Diversity

Suncorp believes our people will be at their best when our workforce is as diverse, talented and passionate as the communities we serve. That means a workforce that feels included, valued and connected regardless of gender, marital or family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disabilities, ethnicity, religious beliefs, cultural background, socio-economic background, perspective and experience.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in lasting changes to Suncorp’s workforce. As many faced ongoing disruption throughout FY21, our people embraced innovative and more agile ways of working. Suncorp’s transition to a hybrid model of working maximises productivity and enables continued flexibility through a combination of remote and office-based work. 

In FY21, Suncorp improved our technology infrastructure to better support our people in the transition to work-from-home. New work arrangements have also been introduced to improve Suncorp’s ability to respond to events and we have improved our capability of leading a distributed workforce.

In FY21, Suncorp announced the first phase of enhancements to its parental leave policy to strengthen the support and flexibility available to working and prospective parents.

These changes are a key element of the Suncorp's diversity and inclusion strategy and focus on improving gender equality. As a larger employer, we need to support parents to transition back to work when they’re ready. This not only helps our people to enjoy each stage of their life, but will also build a more diverse and inclusive culture for our business. Further enhancements to the policy are planned for FY22. 

In FY21, Suncorp became the first national organisation in Australia to achieve the ‘Carers + Employers’ carer friendly workplace accreditation.

Our Diversity and Inclusion Policy fosters inclusion by providing an environment where everyone can be themselves and feel valued, involved and respected for their perspectives and contribution.

Suncorp's Diversity and Inclusion Plan has five focus areas:

Suncorp continues to take great pride in being an industry leader for workplace gender equality, with a focus not just on leadership roles but all levels across our organisation. In FY21, Suncorp was recognised as an Employer of Choice for Gender Equality by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency for the eighth consecutive year.

We educate our leaders to ensure gender bias is removed from recruitment and people practices, including performance reviews, promotions and access to policies such as parental leave or flexible working arrangements.

Suncorp also provides learning and coaching for women to develop and strengthen their career resilience skills through the Accelerate Women in Leadership program. This helps Suncorp grow our pipeline of female leadership talent.

Gender pay equity

Following ongoing role pay equity and gender pay equity gap analysis conducted across the organisation, in FY21 Suncorp introduced a target to reduce the gender pay gap by five percentage points over five years. Suncorp actively reviews role pay equity throughout the year and actions any issues identified through our remuneration review process.

In FY21, Suncorp reduced our gender pay gap by one percentage point, in line with our five year target. 

Suncorp supports our people aged 50 years and over through the Envisage program, which helps them make positive choices about planning the next phase of their lives and careers. Participants are encouraged to take a holistic view in planning for the future by focusing on career, identity, wellbeing, finances and relationships.

Suncorp also supports leaders through the Navigate program, which is designed to help leaders build capability so they can inclusively lead an age diverse workforce. This is through understanding the risks, challenges and opportunities of an ageing workforce and explores practical skills for supporting work-life balance, tailored development, knowledge transfer, wellbeing, mentoring and recognition.

In FY21, Suncorp provided six internships to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through our partnership with CareerTrackers and recruited 59 people who identify as First Nations. 

Suncorp New Zealand provided summer internships to seven Maori and Pasifika students in partnership with TupuToa. In FY22, we have committed to becoming a Principal Partner with TupuToa and increasing the number of internships we offer to 10 per year.

Learn more about Suncorp's First Nations commitment in our Reconciliation Action Plan. 

Suncorp is enhancing the cultural diversity and capability of our people to better serve customers and the broader community. Suncorp continues to build the cultural capability of our people and create employment pathways for refugees and migrants, through partnerships with Multicultural Australia and Settlement Services International. 

Multicultural Australia 

Through Suncorp’s partnership with Multicultural Australia, employees participate in cultural awareness training, cultural immersion, career mentoring and volunteering opportunities which all help our people to better serve our diverse customers and work within diverse teams. We also supported employment pathways for Multicultural Australia’s clients through job readiness and career mentoring sessions.

Settlement Services International 

Due to international border closures in FY21, we expanded our refugee employment program with Settlement Services International to include sponsoring vulnerable refugee small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Suncorp’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are networks created by our people, for our people. They foster a diverse and inclusive workplace and bring employees together around a common purpose, interest or background.