Broking group Austbrokers has put a diversity policy in place to retain and promote female employees.

Austbrokers Business Centre CFO Julie Gemmell says the concept was initiated in 2010 and has involved a “softly, softly approach”, with an emphasis on the inclusion of women in management and leadership roles.

“It has been very positive and the board has now endorsed it, so it will go from the top down,” Ms Gemmell told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

The policy will be promoted in-house through a series of conferences.

“We’ve put a segment on gender policy into our mid-term conferences – around what it is, how it benefits the organisation and to instill confidence,” Ms Gemmell said.

She says Austbrokers has held three annual surveys on the makeup of its workforce to monitor gender diversity in leadership, management and support roles.

The latest study shows females make up 55% of employees and are well represented in management roles at 35%, but this falls to 14% in leadership roles. There are currently no females on the Austbrokers board or in the executive team.

As a result, policy objectives include the appointment of a female board member by 2015 and 10% increases in the number of women in management roles by next year and leadership positions by 2014.

Ms Gemmell says the group’s diversified structure means there is potential to “consider and create flexibility in the workplace for women”.