This university is now paying Blak staff for cultural load

The Western Australian university has established an allowance that provides up to a $8,944 per year to Indigenous employees who are contributing cultural knowledge and perspectives beyond the scope of their role.

Binjareb woman and Pro Vice Chancellor of First Nations Chanelle van den Berg at the University says that the Indigenous staff are often having to go above and beyond in their roles within the workplace.

“Our First Nations staff are often sought out for cultural guidance and consultation in the course of their work, so it’s only fair that they get recognised and compensated for the important contribution they make.”

van den Berg says that the process began a number of years ago with educating the university and broader community about what cultural load is.

People really didn’t understand it who were not Indigenous or understood how much load Aboriginal people were carrying.

“Talking to mob and talking to people that aren’t in education, we know these things happen quite a lot. The bigger goal here to be able to eradicate cultural load.”

A key part of the policy’s introduction is to acknowledge that cultural load exists and is an experience of many in the workforce.

“It’s a really important first step… it’s a statement to say we recognise Aboriginal people are already undertaking this load. And then where do we move beyond this going forward?”

“In terms of where do we see it in the big picture, where people are educated people and understand what cultural load is, making sure that people are educating themselves in the broader community,” says van den Berg.

What is cultural load?

Cultural load is the (often invisible) additional workload borne by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the workplace, where they are either the only Indigenous person or one of a small number of Indigenous people.

It can look like being asked to contribute or take lead on work relating to workplace NAIDOC or Reconciliation Week events, being asked for input on workplace policy that relate to Indigenous staff, to even those ad hoc questions about mob asked in the workplace.

Tahlia Johnson, Wurramunga woman and Lecturer and Community Researcher at Flinders University who has advocated for employers needing ease the burden of cultural load, says the move is a step in the right direction.

“As First Nations Peoples we have been expected to give cultural knowledge, education, and support for years without recognition so having a system such as a university acknowledge this load is progress in the right direction.”

The first of it’s kind

Murdoch University has set a precedent as being the first institution within it’s sector to introduce a policy of this kind.

van den Berg says that across different sectors and industries is something that should be investigated by workplaces to adopt.

“Being able to understand and unpack if these are real experiences for Aboriginal staff and to be able to create that dialogue around that, I think that more organisations should really look at, working out if this is a need for their organisation.”

Johnson agrees that organisations across the board should be looking at adopting a similar approach saying that a standard for cultural load allowance along side management framework and on-going consultation with First Nations staff needs to be adopted by all workplaces.

“We know if workplaces are not going to be doing this then First Nations staff are at much higher risk of cultural burnout or ‘compassion fatigue’ as spoken about in the conversation piece on cultural load.”

I think it would be great if wider Australia recognises that Aboriginal people work above and beyond because they care about making changes.

Chanelle van den Berg
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