Airservices abandons plan for ‘inclusive’ changerooms after employees express concern

Airservices Australia has dumped its plan to supply so-called ‘inclusive’ changerooms after a culture survey found little support and will instead focus on workplace culture.

Air traffic controllers at work in the Brisbane Airport tower. Picture: Tara Croser.

Airservices Australia has halted the rollout of “inclusive” changerooms in its workplaces after a survey of employees revealed most were uncomfortable with the all-gender facilities.

The survey by Elizabeth Broderick and Co was commissioned by Airservices as a follow-up to an initial assessment of workplace culture undertaken in 2019.

A report released in 2020 revealed a toxic culture, with significant problems around trust, leadership, bullying and harassment – which Airservices vowed to address.

After implementing a strategy to address those issues, a progress review was undertaken which showed that according to respondents, there was still much work to be done.

Of the 1441 employees who responded, representing 44 per cent of staff, 27 per cent said they had experienced bullying in the past 12 months That figure was up from 23 per cent in 2020.

The proportion of workers who said they had been sexually harassed was relatively unchanged at 9 per cent compared with 11 per cent three years ago.

Less than 20 per cent of air traffic controllers, and airport fire and rescue officers felt they belonged or were valued by their employers, and about 30 per cent did not feel safe in the workplace.

“The review noted a major reduction in overall statistics relating to employees enjoying Airservices as a place to work and being able to promote it to others as a place to work,” said the air traffic controllers’ union, Civil Air.

“There was a bleak quote included in the review which said that after the release of the first Broderick report ‘there was a lot of hope for change – this was short lived’.”

Employees also delivered a blunt message about the rollout of “inclusive facilities” telling the survey they were not wanted.

“We are told that inclusive facilities will go ahead at every station, joint male and female toilets and change rooms,” one respondent told the survey.

“This is concerning to the majority of airport rescue and firefighting service crew. This is not increasing safety.”

Fatigue and understaffing have caused disruption for air traffic at Sydney Airport. Picture: AAP

In his response to the review, Airservices chief executive Jason Harfield said he was “concerned, disappointed and sorry to see that harmful behaviours continue to be experienced by some of our people”.

“This experience is unacceptable and as such we are renewing and extending our efforts to tackle this as an immediate priority, to ensure a safe and inclusive workplace for all our people, every single day, without exception,” Mr Harfield said.

In the first instance, Airservices had compiled a “response plan” to the progress report in an effort to address the ongoing issues.

The plan included a “pause” on inclusive changerooms and prioritising effective consultation with users of facilities.

“As a priority, separate male, female and a changing/bathroom facility that is inclusive for people of diverse genders be established across all worksites,” the plan said.

Airservices also undertook to embed “zero tolerance for harmful behaviour in leaders’ KPIs” (key performance indicators) and provide ongoing training and education to all employees about the nature and prevalence of sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination.