Community
Pro Bono
Our pro-bono program supports organisations who assist low income, disadvantaged or marginalised members of the Australian community.
We provide pro bono work for the community, including to the following organisations:
Banyule Community Health
Marnin Studio
is a therapeutic healing space where Indigenous women come to create, learn and relax based in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia. The space is an incubator for developing products that reflect the artist’s deep knowledge of the local environment, culture and community.
Eastern Community Legal Centre
offers free legal assistance from offices in Box Hill, Boronia and Healesville during the day, at night and at outreach locations across Melbourne’s east. It serves the local government areas of Boroondara, Knox, Manningham, Maroondah, Whitehorse and the Yarra Ranges.
WomenCAN Australia
is a social enterprise dedicated to empowering woman to create financial autonomy. They operate a facilities maintenance business that offers an all women qualified trades team to undertake work on facilities where vulnerable women are accommodated.
Charity and
Giving
Our people are different, and they have a diverse range of charities in which they support. To recognise and encourage their individuality, we have a diverse list of charities in which we support and ‘gift-match’ monetary donations made by our people.
Awareness initiatives and charities we support include NAIDOC Week, International Women’s Day, Harmony Day, Movember, Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea – Cancer Council, RU OK? Day, Loud Shirt Day, RSPCA Cupcake Day, Minus 18 and IDAHOBIT.
In addition, we offer volunteering days for all employees in support of firm approved community engagement activities and initiatives.
Diversity and inclusion
Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick is committed to building an inclusive workplace culture where diversity is embraced and all people feel that they are respected, connected, contributing, and progressing. We aim to create an environment where everyone can be themselves at
work every day.
We aim to create a diverse and inclusive workplace where our people can thrive and experience a genuine sense of belonging. All of our governance and organisational frameworks, policies and practices are approved by the firm’s management committee and designed to support inclusion.
Throughout the year, we run regular events and educational sessions with external speakers to reinforce and promote inclusion and diversity amongst our team. Our learning and development program includes topics on DEI Awareness, unconscious bias, inclusive leadership, cultural awareness, LGBTIQA+ inclusion, First Nations awareness, disability confidence, self-directed learning resources and dedicated D&I Resource.
Our pillars for creating an inclusive workplace are:
Cultures and Communities
Recognise the wide range of cultures, faiths and communities across our team and support cultural diversity including engagement with First Nations People. For example, our public holiday substitution provides employees the option to work on a public holiday, and take a different day as leave to observe any cultural or religious days that are important to them.
Gender Balance
Reflect the gender representation in our communities in our Board, Management Committee and Leadership roles. We do this by applying a gender lens to our leadership pipeline, conducting annual gender pay gap analysis, focusing on inclusive leadership behaviours and developing leadership skills through our talent pipeline.
Disability and Accessibility
Remove barriers to meaningful employment, tap into neuro-diverse talent and provide dignified access for all people who access our buildings.
LGBTIQA+ and Allies
Provide safe and inclusive workplaces where people can bring their whole selves to work every day – regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Life Ages and Stages
Support all life stages, share knowledge across generations, facilitate flexibility and care when people need it most including parental, elder, family and domestic violence support.
To assist in the strategic guidance of these initiatives, we partnered with Diversity & Inclusion consultant Kathleen Gaynor (OD Consulting) to strengthen our efforts and guide our strategies and actions across the firm.
Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick was named an Inclusive Employer for 2024-25 as part of the Diversity Council of Australia Inclusion@Work Index. This is now the second time we have been recognised as an Inclusive Employer. Additionally, we exceeded the national benchmark for all the nine key inclusion measures. Kathleen has provided strategic guidance to help the firm retain team members, attract diverse talent, maximise employee potential, and foster a deeply embedded culture of diversity and inclusion.
Reconciliation
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of Australia.
- The customs and traditions of Indigenous Australians and their spiritual relationship with the land.
- The need for a partnership approach with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as part of addressing the needs of communities.
- Using First Nations’ suppliers for event catering, firm celebrations, stationery and corporate gift procurement.
- The loss and grief held by Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders caused by alienation from traditional lands, loss of lives and freedom, and the forced removal of children.
- The right of Indigenous Australians to live according to their own beliefs, values and customs, and the vital importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s contribution to strengthening and enriching the heritage of all Australians.
- Systemically building inclusion into everyday communication including pronouns and First Nations land details in our emails and Acknowledgement of Country protocols for events.
Health & Wellbeing
Health and wellbeing embodies the physical, mental and social health of our people which – when combined with a balanced lifestyle – enables us to be at our best.
We have made it one of our core principles to provide all of our people with access to services, programs and activities that promote a culture of physical and mental health and well-being.
Our Health & Wellbeing Program has been designed to increase our people’s awareness of their own health and physical wellbeing, including its relationship to and impact on their careers and personal lives. Our program promotes and facilitates voluntary access to a range of diverse strategies, activities, services and resources that enable increased opportunities to improve health and wellbeing.
Complementary initiatives POF offer include:
We foster a culture that balances collegiality with comradery by hosting unique social events and activities such as escape rooms, quizzes and game shows. We encourage our people to engage with each other in common areas in each of our offices – providing fresh fruit, drinks, snacks and reading materials.
We also have policies including a Reasonable Workplace Adjustment Policy, Family Violence and Domestic Leave Policy, Flexible Working Arrangements Policy and a gender-neutral Parental Leave Policy with 20 weeks of paid parental leave for all carers.