Bunnings - Diversity and inclusion

At Bunnings, team members are the heart and soul of the business. Bunnings are committed to creating a welcoming and supportive workplace for all.

Reflecting the diverse communities in which they operate, Bunnings provides opportunities for all people regardless of their age, gender, cultural heritage, sexual orientation, or abilities. 

Bunnings believes that when diverse and inclusive teams work well, they make everyone feel valued, respected, and connected at work. Bunnings are proud to employ team members that speak more than 70 languages and represent over 50 diverse cultural backgrounds across Australia and New Zealand. Bunnings are also proud to employ a team with a wide range of ages. At the end of the financial year, 27 per cent of team members were over the age of 50 and 48 per cent were under 30 years of age.

Gender 

Bunnings are proud that over 26,000 women have chosen to further their careers at Bunnings. At the end of the financial year, the gender balance was 51 per cent women and 49 per cent men.  Gender balance is integrated across the organisation as they continue to grow and work towards a 40/40/20 gender balance, inclusive of non-binary team members.  

Bunnings are proud to have a partnership with Code Like a Girl, which provides girls and women with the confidence and skills to grow their careers in technology. Bunnings female technology leaders share their knowledge with the Code Like a Girl community to inspire emerging talent. Bunnings also offers six fully funded places for the She Codes program for Bunnings female team members to participate in the She Codes Plus program. This course provides the foundational training to develop skills for team members pursuing a career in technology. 

Parental leave

Bunnings provides 12 weeks of paid parental leave for both parents, regardless of gender, as well as paid superannuation on unpaid parental leave. Bunnings has seen a pleasing increase in men taking extended paid parental leave in the last five years and believes that by supporting men, the whole family is supported. During the year, Bunnings continued to provide perinatal wellbeing programs aimed to support the team and further educate leaders to support their teams’ parenting journey. 

Retirement support

Older workers who have valuable life skills and share experience with the team and customers are highly regarded throughout the business. To ensure team members who decide to transition to retirement are supported, Bunnings offers a Retiring Well Program, which provides information on wellbeing in the planning and retirement phase. 

LGBTIQA+ 

Bunnings are committed to creating a safe and supportive work environment for all team members, with gender neutral policies as well as a LGBTIQA+ support network in place. Bunnings acknowledge days of significance through a calendar of events and provides badge stickers for team members who identify and support the LGBTIQA+ community. Team members can also choose to wear pronoun stickers on their name badges and add pronouns to their email signatures to support an inclusive work environment.   

Māori and Pasifika 

To create employment opportunities across New Zealand, during the year Bunnings partnered with TupuToa to provide a cadetship for Māori youth aged between 18 and 25 who are currently not studying or employed. The cadetship aims to help participants achieve their professional goals while highlighting the importance of connection to their identity; their whānau (family), hapū (sub-tribe) and iwi (tribe). Other employment initiatives during the year included an internship for Māori and Pasifika university students over the summer holidays, working on a specific business project and on-the-job learning to provide work experience.

Bunnings has introduced several resources and initiatives to support Māori team education and inclusion. This included introducing a Te Reo Māori e-learning course for team members so they can communicate with customers and each other. A Māori tiki symbol for team name badges was also created, promoting and encouraging the use of Te Reo. Bunnings is also an active participant in Te Wiki o te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week), with signage and in-store activities conducted to acknowledge the importance of Te Reo.  

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Encouraging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to obtain fulfilling jobs with leadership development and career progression is a priority for Bunnings. In Australia, 2.7 per cent of team members self-identify as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.  

During the year, Bunnings continued to offer Indigenous employment programs to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates with the recruitment and onboarding process. The Transition to Work Program aims to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from highly disadvantaged backgrounds to transition into permanent and rewarding work at Bunnings.  

Bunnings also aims to support Indigenous businesses and communities in three key areas: direct and indirect procurement of goods and services, supporting Indigenous customers, and supporting all customers and suppliers with their commitment to reconciliation initiatives. 

Bunnings continued to facilitate cultural awareness training for team members, which during the year was completed by 250 leaders.

In August 2021, Bunnings was proud to launch its Warlukurlangu Indigenous pots range in collaboration with supplier My Homewares and the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation. All royalties from the sales go directly to the Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation and the Indigenous artists who designed the pots. 

Abilities 

To support Bunnings leaders to recruit and onboard team members with a disability, during the year Bunnings launched a recruitment and onboarding leader guide. The guide provides leaders with the confidence and support they need to recruit and build a fully inclusive team. 

To better provide an in-store accessible experience for customers, Bunnings engaged Amaze to complete in-store audits to identify opportunities to support customers experiencing sensory restrictions. Bunnings also added instore accessibility information to the Bunnings website, aimed to help customers plan their trip prior to arriving at a store.

The focus for the coming year is to continue to implement initiatives for customers and team members that support a diverse and inclusive environment for all.