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Why Creating an Inclusive Workplace is Crucial

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Why Creating an Inclusive Workplace is Crucial

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This article is another article about Harmony Day, although it is written by the manager of an organisation that celebrates Harmony Day in their business. I enjoyed this article because the author discusses how he doesn’t go over the top with his celebration of Harmony Day because he believes that diversity is so important it should be celebrated every day and by now should just be part of who we are and workplace diversity and acceptance of diversity should just happen naturally. I like this part of the article because I agree with the author on this point.

I also like this article because it is written as advice to other businesses, and so outlines how other businesses can reach their workplace diversity targets. It backs up this advice with facts and figures and seems to be well written and academically styled. This was my favourite article out of the ones I discovered.
References

Butterworth, M., Langham, P., Hogben, U., Harkness, J., Mukherjee, R., & Swan, D. et al. (2018). Why creating an inclusive workplace is crucial. Dynamic Business. Retrieved 21 March 2018, from http://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/small-business-resources/hot-tips/why-creating-an-inclusive-workplace-is-crucial.html

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Conservative case against quotas loses merit argument

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Conservative case against quotas loses merit argument

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One would be forgiven for assuming this writer sits squarely on one side of politics and wants to sling mud at the other – because that is clearly what happens in this piece which is largely rhetorical.

The author argues that diversity quotas, particularly relating to gender, but not exclusively, are necessary to achieve workplace equality, using the two largest political parties in the country as evidence of quotas succeeding or failing.

I disagree with the authors’ position on quotas because every person has a different starting point of reference when it comes to diversity and inclusion - where his was in a privileged white male community that needed quotas to demonstrate any level of gender inclusion – mine was in a multicultural and gender diverse family unit.

Despite my own experiences however, I have to concede that the wider Australian experience is different from my own and therefore quotas will and do have their place to begin our journeys toward true workplace diversity.

Reference

Onselen, P. V. (2018, March 24). Conservative case against quotas loses merit argument. The Weekend Australian. Retrieved March 25, 2018, from Conservative case against quotas loses merit argument

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1. Open the Internet Browser

2. Click Tools (or "gear" icon at top right hand corner) > Internet Options > Privacy > Advanced

3. Check Override automatic cookie handling

4. For First-party Cookies and Third-party Cookies click Accept

5. Click OK and OK

Enabling Cookies in Internet Explorer 10, 11

1. Open the Internet Browser

2. Click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.

3. Click the Privacy tab, and then, under Settings, move the slider to the bottom to allow all cookies, and then click OK.

Enabling Cookies in Google Chrome

1. Open the Google Chrome browser

2. Click Tools icon Or type in Go to chrome://settings/ to the URL window, hit enter

3. Click 'Advanced settings' > Select Privacy > Content settings

4. Check 'Allow local data to be set (recommended)'

5. Click 'Done'

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Open the Internet Browser Click Tools (or "gear" icon at top right hand corner) > Internet Options > Privacy > Advanced Check Override automatic cookie handling For First-party Cookies and Third-party Cookies click Accept Click OK and OK Enabling Cookies in Internet Explorer 10, 11 Open the Internet Browser Click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.

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It's Time To Prioritize Diversity Across Tech

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It's Time To Prioritize Diversity Across Tech

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Lisa Winning calls out the huge lack of diversity in the United States tech industry (spoiler; the industry is mostly male and white) and calls for increased diversity for both moral and profitability reasons.

The piece is largely based in statistics – where it is evident that the tech industry does not represent its community, then calls for the industry to recognise the value in hiring diversely.

I strongly agree with the argument that people outside the majority may be harbouring great skills and ideas that will be missed without active inclusion – however I feel the responsibility for active inclusion falls way back at primary schools, parents, teachers, and universities before it falls to industry.

Changing unconscious bias and stereotypes takes more than asking CEOs to consider diversity in hiring; it requires sustained inclusive narrative from that CEOs early education right through to present. True workplace diversity is not going to happen overnight.

Reference

Winning, L. (2018, March 13). It's Time To Prioritize Diversity Across Tech. Forbes. Retrieved March 25, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com

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There have been calls for more diversity across numerous industries lately: movies, TV, sports, publishing, and more. Discriminatory hiring practices are not a thing of the past, as many of us would like to believe. Although movements like to rectify discriminatory behavior and hiring practices, leaders across every industry must still spearhead new solutions to make their fields equal, accessible, and safe.

One industry where the need for diverse representation and hiring is apparent is technology. Technology impacts and is used by us every almost hour of every day. Currently, men hold 76% of technical jobs, and 95% of the tech workforce is white. There are so many new ideas and developments living in the brains of people who have not been given a chance to act on them, so why let technology be created by limited points of view? We need to add depth to the pool from which tech is born, for everyone's benefit.

Tech companies control almost every facet of daily life, from how we communicate to the ways in which we travel and, even, how we buy our groceries. Their power is seemingly infinite, which is all the reason more why they must make a concerted effort to champion diverse voices from within. As pointed out in a recent Forbes piece, "The people creating this technology have the power to influence how it works, and that's too big a responsibility for any single demographic to have full control. A lack of diverse ideas and representation could lead to further disparities between gender, race, and class."

Diversity isn't just important for the tech itself-it's important for the people who make and use technology. According to Information is Beautiful, the population of the United States is roughly split evenly between genders (51% women to 49% men). However, when you look at the top tech companies, their employee gender ratios do not reflect this.

The same Information is Beautiful study expounded on some of the foremost tech companies' gender gaps: Facebook, for example, consisted of 33% women in 2016. Some of the companies that were closer to 50/50 include LinkedIn (42% women) and Pinterest (44% women). In addition, only 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs were women.

Ethnic diversity is another story. Asian people were represented well amongst these companies despite only comprising 4% of the overall US population, but not many businesses had Latino, Black, or other racial identities beyond 4% of their total employees. The data makes it difficult to account for intersectionality, though.

Why is this so? Some folks want to say it's simply because fewer women or people of color apply to tech jobs. If so, we need to consider why less diverse groups of people apply to these positions, as it is likely they are deterred from even trying or discouraged along the way.

Not only is diversity morally important, it's also useful. The National Center for Women & Information Technology conducted a study of 2,360 communities in multiple industries and found that "companies with women on their executive boards outperformed companies with all-male executive boards. Gender-diverse management teams showed superior returns on equity, debt/equity ratios, price/equity ratios, and average growth." Women improved both productivity and team dynamics.

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It's Time To Prioritize Diversity Across Tech

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Tech companies control almost every facet of daily life, from how we communicate to the ways in which we travel and, even, how we buy our groceries. Their power is seemingly infinite, which is all the reason more why they must make a concerted effort to champion diverse voices from within.

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Can we all just stop banging on about diversity in films?

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Can we all just stop banging on about diversity in films?

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Whilst the tone and angle of this piece is firmly planted in film critique, the content and observations speak to broader diversity issues in the modern workplace.

Where the author argues that works of film that are tagged as diverse attract criticism from anti-diversity audiences – similar risk exists in industry that publicly states it is looking to fill diversity quotas.

I agree that there is extra pressure for the trailblazers of any minority group, where the obvious criticism is that their appointment is due to their belonging to a minority rather than based on their merit – these individuals suddenly have more to prove than their non-minority colleagues.

The author asks that society continues to strive for diversity, but does so stealthily, so as not to encourage damaging premature scrutiny.

Whilst I agree that waking up one morning to realise that industry, arts, and government were suddenly representative of community would be satisfying – trailblazers will always attract extra attention, and the call to do diversity without talking about doing diversity feels more like conflict avoidance or social justice fatigue than leadership.

References

Ranganathan, R. (2018, March 24). Can we all just stop banging on about diversity in films? The Guardian. Retrieved March 25, 20108, from https://www.theguardian.com

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Ava DuVernay, director of A Wrinkle In Time, spoke on the red carpet at the London premiere about how important the film was because of the diversity of the cast and crew, because the main protagonist is female and because it is part of the desire to bring a more diverse range of storytellers to the fore. Mindy Kaling, who is in the film, described DuVernay as a "movement", and Time magazine wrote about how the movie will change Hollywood.

Reviews suggest the film is dreadful. It has a 40% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The Guardian's Amy Nicholson gave it two stars, and one of those stars was purely for what Oprah did to her eyebrows. I can feel you getting annoyed with me. "What's the matter, Romesh, are you against diversity? Are you delighted that the patriarchy has been reinforced by the failure of a film with a female protagonist?" Well, no.

Before A Wrinkle In Time came out, you would be hard pushed to find anybody to describe at length what it was about. All the press centred on how great it was to have a female director of colour, to have a female protagonist of colour and how DuVernay "wasn't just casting actresses" but "leaders - icons". I'm not suggesting any of this is bad, by the way. This is obviously long overdue. But why does everyone have to bang on about it so much?

Trumpeting diversity undermines what you are trying to achieve in the first place. It should happen without fanfare. There are people who are opposed to this sort of thing, and so when a film wears diversity on its sleeve, and then falls short, they throw up their hands and say things like: "This is what happens when you don't do things based on merit" and, "Do you remember the good old days when black characters were played by white blokes?" Nobody wants these people to be happy. These people should be presented with diverse films and not told this is part of "a movement". This is just how it is.

Maybe I'm being unfair. DuVernay probably did not want to focus on these aspects of the film, but that was all she was asked about. And there's something distasteful about me ignoring all the struggles she will have had as a black female director in Hollywood as I focus on how the film is being promoted. But I do think we all have a responsibility to push the discussion of these sorts of films away from "a cause".

A recent Kermode and Mayo podcast featured a listener who had written to say they had found Black Panther a bit boring, and hoped that its shortcomings did not remove Hollywood's appetite for films with a black superhero at the fore. You what, mate? I remember being chased out of school by bullies throwing eggs. I ran to where my mum was waiting. She flipped out and started battering the bullies with her handbag. For two weeks, everyone called me Mummy's boy and the girl I was going out with split up with me because she couldn't take the embarrassment. That fortnight was more fun than watching Batman v Superman, but I don't remember anyone saying that movie was going to undermine the future of films with white men saving the world.

Black Panther is a great film. It has the most compelling villain of any Marvel movie, and it deals admirably with the issue of diminishing jeopardy in a million superhero films where the world is going to end. It also has an almost completely black cast and some kick-ass female characters. It deserves to be judged on its own merits. We should not be talking about this film as a giant leap forward for movie-making; we should be talking about it as one of the most exciting Marvel films for a while. I would also argue that a film set in Africa having a lot of black characters in it should probably be a given, and also that Wesley Snipes must be bloody furious that everyone's forgotten about Blade.

Ghostbusters is another example. After it was announced the 'Busters would all be women, breaking all stereotypical traditions from the original film except for the one with the underwritten one-dimensional black character ("You guys are really smart about this science stuff, but I know New York and can borrow a car from my uncle!"), the internet cracked under the pressure of a million fanboys expressing disdain from their mum's basement. The director, Paul Feig, was forced to defend these decisions and the film became a cause, with some reviewers scared to criticise it. It underperformed at the box office and the unfortunate consequence is that a load of internet losers think they've been proved right. You can find them now campaigning for the destruction of every copy of The Last Jedi.

Announcing a diversity initiative, or making it a cause, exerts unwanted pressure. This is not restricted to movies. When the BBC's then director of television, Danny Cohen, announced that it would put at least one woman on every panel show, this made the job of every woman on a panel show more difficult. All three of them were livid. In short, we should all be pushing to make more diverse films, TV shows and business opportunities. But we probably shouldn't mention it.
Topics

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Can we all just stop banging on about diversity in films?

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Ava DuVernay, director of A Wrinkle In Time, spoke on the red carpet at the London premiere about how important the film was because of the diversity of the cast and crew, because the main protagonist is female and because it is part of the desire to bring a more diverse range of storytellers to the fore.

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This article from SBS seems to be more of an advertisement for A Taste of Harmony (ATOH) rather than a newsworthy article that gives a deeper understanding of workplace diversity. I think this is disappointing because ATOH is a massive opportunity to celebrate diversity and is one tool that managers can implement to encourage acceptance of other cultures for their staff members. I find this especially disappointing because SBS is a government funded channel that values inclusivity but this does not come across in this article.

In saying this, SBS did interview and quote culturally diverse members of the food industry in the article. This allows the readers of the article to see the perspective of people who they may not have previously been influenced by. Another thing I enjoyed about the article is that they included the LGBT community in their discussion of diversity, a group that often gets overlooked for the more obvious demographic factors that diversity can be classified by.

References

The one really easy thing you can do for a more diverse workplace. (2018). Food. Retrieved 20 March 2018, from https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2018/03/14/one-really-easy-thing-you-can-do-more-diverse-workplace

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How to build a culture of diversity and inclusivity into the workplace

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How to build a culture of diversity and inclusivity into the workplace

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This article discusses how a culture of diversity and inclusivity should be built into a workplace. I believe that diverse workplaces will be better at learning, creating and innovating. I believe that diversity and inclusivity results in people being more happy and staying at the organisation on a long term basis. When a workplace is diverse, they will have a large talent pool to work from. This means the organisation will be more likely to have the creators and innovators that will drive growth in the business and take it forward.

Reference: Management Today. (2018). How to build a culture of diversity and inclusivity into the workplace. Retrieved from https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/build-culture-diversity-inclusivity-workplace/future-business/article/1457154

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How a diverse workforce can be your competitive advantage

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How a diverse workforce can be your competitive advantage

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This article discusses how a diverse workforce can give organisations a competitive advantage. I believe that competitive advantage can be achieved when organisations portray themselves as open and welcoming to diverse people. Organisations that reach out to diverse people are more likely to attract talent, this will then result in the organisation gaining a competitive advantage in terms of workplace diversity over their competitors. Leaders need to be aware of the competitive advantage that is gained from workplace diversity.

Reference: Human Resource Director. (2018). How a diverse workforce can be your competitive advantage. Retrieved from https://www.hcamag.com/opinion/how-a-diverse-workforce-can-be-your-competitive-advantage-247585.aspx

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For any of you looking at gender diversity this is an interesting perspective.

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A year on from "A Day Without a Woman," which saw women across the United States boycotting paid and unpaid labor to highlight the impact of women on society, people around the world responded to the call for a global women's strike on Thursday.

Strikes are going ahead in several European countries, with the movement gaining the most traction in Spain, where the gender pay gap is 19% in the private sector and where reports of violence against women are on the rise.

"Today we claim a society free of oppression, exploitation and sexual violence," said the organizers of the nation's first "feminist strike" in their manifesto. "We call for rebellion and the struggle against the alliance between patriarchy and capitalism that wants us to be docile, submissive and silent."

Twenty-four hours of strikes and rallies kicked off at midnight in the capital Madrid. Protesters gathered at the central square banging pots and pans as the city council buildings behind them were lit up in purple, the official color of #IWD2018.

As light dawned, demonstrators began gathering in cities across the country to call for an end to unequal pay and precarious working conditions, and to draw attention to the role of women in "devalued" domestic labor.

"I am here to prove that if women stop, the world stops," said Ines Arias, a university administrator, who joined hundreds of others to demonstrate in Madrid's university district. "Because we do much more than working."

Men had also come along to show their support.

"We need to change the laws, but also the culture, the society we have created," said Roberto Guerra, a union representative at the National University of Distance Education. "I am here for my female colleagues, my friends, my neighbors, for society."

Hundreds of students from the city's universities soon joined the protest, shouting, "Don't bring me flowers, bring me rights," "No means no, the rest is rape" and "Madrid will be sexism's grave."

In a seated protest, they blocked two lanes of a central thoroughfare as police directed traffic around them.

"We have to get rid of the idea that the women can do everything, that we can work but we also have to tend to the house," said Paloma Morillas, a 19-year-old physics student. "Housework has to be shared."

The "8 March Commission" -- the umbrella group organizing Thursday's strike -- is also inviting women to spend no money for a day to highlight their power as consumers.

Fifteen demonstrations and more than 100 gatherings are scheduled in locations across the country.

Most of the country's unions are backing the walkout and called for a 24-hour strike, while two of the biggest -- the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the Workers' Commissions (CCOO) -- have asked their members to stop work for two hours.

More than five million people joined the two-hour strike, according to UGT and CCOO.

Unai Sordo from CCOO said about 10,000 people demonstrated in central Madrid, with another 2,000 students marching through the university district in a separate protest. In Barcelona, 7,500 protesters assembled in Sant Jaume square for the strike, according to a spokesperson for the local government.

Some of the country's top politicians are backing the strike, including Manuela Carmena and Ada Colau, the mayors of Madrid and Barcelona, respectively.

The ruling People's Party does not support the movement, however, with Minister of Defense Maria Dolores Cospedal speaking out against the strike earlier this week.

Minister of Health, Social Services and Equality Dolors Montserrat also questioned the usefulness of a women-only strike and defended those who are choosing to continue working.

"The feminine evolution belongs to everyone, including men, but each person does it in their own way," she said in an interview with radio station Cadena SER.

According to a survey last week by Spanish newspaper El Pais, 82% of Spaniards believe there are sufficient reasons for the strike, with 72% of men agreeing that sexist behavior is widespread in the country.

By dusk, 170,000 people flooded the streets of the Spanish capital, according to a spokesperson for the Spanish government.The General Union of Workers estimated the crowd at 1 million. Demonstrators rallied at the Plaza de Cibeles in central Madrid, spilling out to streets as the evening progressed.

Nine-year-old Indira Bravo donned a purple scarf and marched with her mom. She said she was demonstrating "so when I am older, everyone is the same."

Student Aisling Martinez, 18, carried a "justice" sign with her as she marched. "I would like to go out when I want, and dressed how I want -- and not feel like a piece of meat," she said.

While Spain is seeing some of the largest walkouts, women in many other countries around the world were also on strike. Feminist group Non Una Di Meno has planned strikes and demonstrations in around 40 cities in Italy, with two of the country's largest unions offering their support.

The 24-hour general strike -- organized around the hash tag #WetTooGether -- is disrupting local and national transport networks, with around 130 flights canceled and Rome's bus, tram and subway services severely reduced.

"On 8 March, we cross our arms, interrupting every productive and reproductive activity," Non Una Di Meno announced.

Acknowledging that striking is a challenge for many people due to lost wages and fear of repercussions, the group called for solidarity among all women.

"We demand a radical transformation of society: We strike against economic violence, precariousness and discrimination."

Women in the UK and Ireland are showing their solidarity by demonstrating in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Derry, and using the hash tag #WeStrike.

London-based artist and teacher Clare Qualmann used Twitter to document her boycott of unpaid domestic labor.

CNN's Laura Perez Maestro reported from Madrid and Judith Vonberg wrote from London. Kara Fox contributed to this report.

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international women's day 2018: women worldwide go on strike - cnn

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Judith Vonberg and Laura Perez Maestro, CNN

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'If women stop, the world stops:' Women down tools for 'feminist strike'

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A year on from "A Day Without a Woman," which saw women across the United States boycotting paid and unpaid labor to highlight the impact of women on society, people around the world responded to the call for a global women's strike on Thursday.

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Although diversity is powerful in force and workflow, it has become a possibility that it can become fatigued in the sense that it will not always be perfect.

Integrating a diverse workplace can be difficult when molding the different outlooks and work ethics together. Some of these building blocks that take a considerable amount of time include trust and a high degree of variance in work products. It has also been addressed that some woman with particular backgrounds may have become accustomed to holding their tongues which can potentially hold off great ideas.  This is only three reasons why patience can be a virtue.

I do agree with these statements but I also acknowledge the fact that some leaders can integrate procedures that work tremendously well. This can be done if a leader obtains characteristics and traits of self confidence and problem solving ability.

I do believe that diversity fatigue is a large underlying figure that companies seem to slip by, but where there is challenge lays great opportunity for growth.

Reference
The Economist (2016)
"Diversity Fatigue".
Retrieved from
https://www.economist.com/news/business/21692865-making-most-workplace-diversity-requires-hard-work-well-good-intentions-diversity

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The Myriad Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace

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The Myriad Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace

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This article discusses how a globalized marketplace can allow you to have access to worldwide insights. Not only can this be on a social media platform, but it can also be done face to face by recruiting a diverse set of employees.

Businesses are moving towards technology for innovation and development.  This poses less liability and opens a doorway for a larger clientele.  I believe that leaders need to have a variety of skills to achieve success.  These include self awareness, appreciation of individual differences, closing cultural gaps by looking at similarities, increasing self assurance and or showing confidence and always looking towards the future.

The key benefit of diverse recruitment I agree with most in this article is increased creativity. The environment one has lived in may have been more innovative due to lack of resources. One with such experience could obtain a coping mechanism that requires them to be creative. This could bring great outcomes to a business. This is one of many benefits of hiring someone of a cultural background.

Reference
Abreu, K. (2014)
"The Myriad Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace". Retrieved from
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240550

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Employers pay for staff racism, even if they have racial discrimination policies

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Employers pay for staff racism, even if they have racial discrimination policies

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This article discusses the importance of a strong and immediate policy of anti-racism in the work place. Employers are simply not acting fast enough to issues in the work place. One example of such a case is noted in the article stating that an Australian Post employee told one of the contractors to "Go home to Sri Lanker by boat".  The contractor then was granted a compensation amount of $40,000. This was a case of the employer not remaining vigilant towards who they have employed and who with a diverse and cultured background works with them.

Australia Post can be examined from a leadership effectiveness perspective in this situation.  The company has not evaluated their internal and external environment.  Although this predicament was not within the control of the leader, the policies should have been known by the employees and consequences should be bold.  Such a large company is bound to have a diversity of workforce and organisational culture.  I believe, no matter how close of a friendship employees have, or how warm the environment is, racism should not be a factor of discussion nor should it be taken lightly.  A workplace should remain professional and set a high standard of respect.  Leaders should be the first base of policy towards the diverse load of employees they may have.

Reference
Tredwell, K. (2017)
"Employers pay for staff racism, even if they have racial discimination policies". Retrieved from http://www.afr.com/leadership/employers-pay-for-staff-racism-even-if-they-have-racial-discrimination-policies-20170413-gvkhmz

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Four ways to drive workplace diversity and inclusion 

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Four ways to drive workplace diversity and inclusion 

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This article lays out four ways to drive workplace diversity in an organisation. I believe that fostering an inclusive workplace culture will bring about more new ideas and unique perspectives on how to better achieve organisational goals. I believe that empowering woman and people of diverse nationalities into key leadership positions will bring workplace diversity to the top of the organisation, this is needed because leaders are the face of an organisation. I believe in investing and training diverse people and providing opportunities for them to move forward in their career. As more and more customers choose to shop from businesses that embrace diversity, leaders of organisations need to make diversity a priority.

Reference: Gov Insider. (2018). Four ways to drive workplace diversity and inclusion. Retrieved from https://govinsider.asia/innovation/four-ways-drive-workplace-diversity-inclusion-michelle-simmons-microsoft/

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Silicon Valley companies hire plenty of Asians, but few become executives: Study

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Silicon Valley companies hire plenty of Asians, but few become executives: Study

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This article raises the issue that technical skills backed with a college degree don’t always lead to better opportunities.  Cultural norms and beliefs are admirable but could be a hindrance to achieve a certain level of success especially when society in a foreign land dictates otherwise.  The desire for career advancement despite the intercultural capability of an individual and the opportunities remain elusive.

Hughes (2016) emphasizes the need for diversity intelligence in an organisation.  Stereotyping certain cultural background and having varying perceptions on leadership competencies based only on one race criteria does not foster acceptance toward differences.  This would then become a challenge for of the leader of an organisation to integrate diversity intelligence to retain nor grow talents from within as these affected minority or class employees will see themselves undervalued.  I believe it is important that the leaders improve their mindset of engaging these employees in the organisational leadership and develop a conscious awareness to avoid the stereotypes inherent to the workplace.

Reference:

Hughes, C. (2016) Integrating Diversity Intelligence, Leadership and Career Development. Diversity Intelligence.  Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/chapter/10.1057%2F978-1-137-52683-0_7

Silicon Valley companies hire plenty of Asians, but few become executives: Study. (201 https://globalnews.ca/news/1982579/silicon-valley-companies-hire-plenty-of-asians-but-few-become-executives-study/

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SAN FRANCISCO - Google, Yahoo and other major technology companies are far more inclined to hire Asians as computer programmers than to promote them to become managers or executives, according to a study released Wednesday.

The analysis uncovered a glaring imbalance between the number of Asian technology workers in non-management jobs and the number in leadership positions in Silicon Valley.

Ascend, a group focused on Asian business issues, based its conclusions on 2013 data filed with U.S. employment regulators by five Silicon Valley companies - Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and LinkedIn Corp.

"If you step in the cafeteria of any of these five companies, you will see plenty of Asian talent around," said Denise Peck, a co-author of the Ascend study and former vice-president at computer networking equipment maker Cisco Systems.

"It's only when you walk into the executive suites at these companies that you might see a problem."

Google declined to comment on Ascend's report. Intel reiterated earlier commitments to diversify its workforce. Yahoo, LinkedIn and HP didn't immediately respond to inquiries.
READ MORE: Google sends engineers to teach at historically black colleges in push for diversity
Ascend's findings may raise more questions about ethnic and gender biases in Silicon Valley at a time when the technology industry is already under attack for its hiring practices. The study is coming out on the same day that civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Push organization are holding a summit in San Francisco as part of a year-old campaign to pressure tech companies into hiring and promoting more minorities and women.

Most of the criticism has been spurred by the release of employment data showing an abnormally low percentage of women, blacks and Hispanics who have programming and engineering jobs.

There's no shortage of Asians in those technology jobs, according to those numbers and Ascend's new report.

Asians, though, are having trouble climbing up the chain of command, based on Ascend's analysis of the "professional" jobs at the five studied companies. The classification refers to white-collar positions that typically require technical skills or college degrees.

The report found that Asians held 27 per cent of the professional jobs yet only 14 per cent were executives. By comparison, whites held 62 per cent of the professional jobs at the studied companies, but filled 80 per cent of the executive jobs.

Asian women faced a "double whammy" of racial and sexual discrimination, according to the report. The study found there is only one Asian female executive for every 287 Asian women professional jobs at the five companies. By comparison, there was one white female executive for every 123 white women in professional jobs, Ascend said. The ratio for white men was one executive for every 87 professional jobs.
READ MORE: Google says workforce mostly white, male in diversity report
The technology industry's shortage of Asian executives stems in part from a cultural divide, the report concedes.

Corporate America often embraces confident, outspoken individuals with unconventional ideas. In contrast, many Asians are taught to be deferential and cling to a belief that doing a good job will automatically be rewarded, said Peck, a Chinese-American.

"There are cultural norms and attitudes that help get Asians to a certain level of success, but then work against them and hold them back from reaching a higher rank," Peck said.

The challenges aren't insurmountable. Microsoft Corp. is led by an Asian CEO, Indian-American Satya Nadella, who has received high marks since taking the job 15 months ago. Another Asian leader, Sundar Pichai, has worked his way up to become one of Google's top executives since joining the company 11 years ago.

In a Tuesday blog post that didn't directly address Ascend's report, Google said about half of its 55,000 employees have completed "unconscious bias" workshops as part of its diversity commitment.

"With an organization of our size, meaningful change will take time," wrote Nancy Lee, Google's vice-president of people operations. "From one year to the next, bit by bit, our progress will inch forward."

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Silicon Valley companies hire plenty of Asians, but few become executives: Study

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SAN FRANCISCO - Google, Yahoo and other major technology companies are far more inclined to hire Asians as computer programmers than to promote them to become managers or executives, according to a study released Wednesday. The analysis uncovered a glaring imbalance between the number of Asian technology workers in non-management jobs and the number in leadership positions in Silicon Valley.

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Unconscious bias @ work - Making unconscious conscious

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Unconscious bias @ work - Making unconscious conscious

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This video explores the idea that workplace diversity is an ongoing challenge.  Corporations or organisations would say it’s a work in progress.  I believe that the unconscious biases that each individual has need to be looked into, one can easily identify or define another person based on the different stereotypes the other has formed or are exposed to.  These biases may have been built during one’s childhood, but these can be managed through workshops not only for the subordinates but for the entire team, including those who lead the organisation.

For diversity in the workplace to thrive, managers need to be at the forefront of the workplace diversity management.  Davis, Frolova and Callahan’s (2016) research findings highlight an earlier study that managers can be ignorant of their biases and lack the enthusiasm to be involved in the diversity initiative.  Thus, making it difficult to influence employees’ attitudes and instil an inclusive environment for the organisation’s global competitiveness.

Reference
Davis, P.J., Frolova, Y. and Callahan, W. (2016) "Workplace diversity    management in Australia: What do managers think and what are     organisations doing?", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International   Journal, Vol. 35 Issue: 2, pp.81-98. Retrieved from       https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1108/EDI-03-2015-0020

Unconscious bias @ work - Making unconscious conscious (2014). Retihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NW5s_-Nl3JE

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Unconscious Bias at Work — Making the Unconscious Conscious

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I believe that this video emphasises the fact that homogeneity makes a risk for an organisation to adapt and flourish in the global landscape.  A diverse workplace provides an opportunity for an organisation to tap into the team’s differing ideas and life experiences that could help in resolving issues and responses to the changes in the market and in the society.

Lambert (2016) emphasized that although there could be a negative effect of dissimilarities of others in a diverse group, the conflict and discussion could spark innovative thinking to resolve problems. With the integration of the wide range of perspectives, skills and abilities of a heterogeneous group, creativity will be produced.  A homogeneous environment’s lack of insightful knowledge of the worldview particularly related to global market concerns, due to their limited exposure to the information, may affect the ability of the organisation to address these concerns nor be able to come up with a solution that could become a competitive advantage.

Reference:

Lambert, J. (2016). Cultural diversity as a mechanism for innovation: Workplace   diversity          and the absorptive capacity framework. Academy of Educational    Leadership       Journal, 20(1), 68-77. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-          com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1851028857?accountid=10344

What is diversity in the workplace? (2015). Retrieved 10 Marchc 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUWFEy0ez5U

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Learn more about what diversity in the workplace means for your business

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The Top 25 Companies Australian Professionals Want To Work In 2018

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The Top 25 Companies Australian Professionals Want To Work In 2018

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The author of this article believes that Australian professionals desire to work in organisations that offer flexible leave, have wellbeing services, and gender parity. In terms of workplace diversity, I will focus mainly on the gender parity conversation from the article.

According to LinkedIn Australia, 57.8% of employees at Commonwealth Bank are female, with 44.4% at manager level or above. Further to this, Westpac Group recently ran a targeted recruitment campaign that resulted in 140 Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander people being employed. It is easy to see from these figures that there are some large Australian businesses investing in a diverse workforce.

The limitation to this article is that it only provides a list of companies that people wish to work for and does not delve beneath the surface to analyse the behaviours of the listed companies. For example, while the Commonwealth Bank has a majority of employees as women, it does not discuss if these women are on the same salary and/or benefits package as their male counterparts, and thus further investigation would need to be completed.

Reference

The top 25 companies Australian professionals want to work in 2018 - SmartCompany. (2018). SmartCompany. Retrieved 19 March 2018, from https://www.smartcompany.com.au/people-human-resources/top-25-companies-australian-professionals-work-2018/

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Global Leaders on importance of diversity in workplace

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Global Leaders on importance of diversity in workplace

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Workplace diversity is creating an inclusive environment that accepts each individual's differences, embraces their strengths and            provides opportunities for all staff to achieve their full potential.

It means co-habitation of people of different race, religion, ethnic group and gender by making them feel valued and accepted. Workplace diversity does not end with just having a pool of employees from different culture or religion, but it also lays a great significance on how to embrace their talents, their differences of opinion, and their values and culture.

Workplace diversity is important for every organisation because of the following reasons:

·Diversity brings different talents working towards a common goal and thus increases productivity.

·Having a diverse workforce adds a competitive edge to the organisation as its market value increases.

·It creates a satisfied and diverse customer base as customers feel such organisations are socially responsible.

Reference
The Importance of Diversity in the Workplace. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzqNgyqUYso

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The video talks about an actress Jamie Brewer. She is well known as Addie', a character with Down syndrome of the famous TV series American Horror Story. Having Down syndrome herself she is a vocal advocate for increased diversity and inclusion in film and TV. When asked what Jamie loved about acting, she answered, “The whole entirety of it. For me, it's an outlet because when it comes to diversity and with disabilities, we always need to find a way to express who we are in our own ways. Some of those ways may be creative, and if they're creative, that's where we really have a lot of fun with it.” Jamie is presently in Australia working on a short film. Bus Stop Films, a not-for-profit that collaborates with promising filmmakers who have intellectual disabilities and those from marginalised societies. Jamie adds that by being genuine, also means seeing the heart. As a result, a true heart to support and encourage diversity is the start.

Sales, L. (2016). Actress Jamie Brewer advocates for increased diversity and inclusion in film and television. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/actress-jamie-brewer-advocates-for-increased/7450202

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LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Friends of the Emmy Award-winning TV series American Horror Story will be familiar with one of its main stars, Jamie Brewer. Her character has Down syndrome. She's become a vocal advocate for diversity in film, television and on the catwalk. Last year she was the first model with Down syndrome to feature in New York Fashion Week. Monique Schafter caught up with Jamie Brewer here in Sydney, where she's working on a short film made by students with disabilities.

(Excerpt from American Horror Story shown)

MONIQUE SCHAFTER, REPORTER: In 2011, Californian Jamie Brewer made her TV debut as Adelaide 'Addie' Langdon in Emmy Award-winning series American Horror Story.

Producers were looking for a young woman with Down syndrome who could act and Jamie nailed her audition.

JAMIE BREWER, ACTRESS: For me, it's a huge relief that people can see the real me, see the true raw me. Because within horror, you expose yourself.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: After discovering a passion for theatre in her teens, the show gave Jamie her big break in Hollywood.

What do you love about acting?

JAMIE BREWER: The whole entirety of it. For me, it's an outlet because when it comes to diversity and with disabilities, we always need to find a way to express who we are in our own ways. Some of those ways may be creative, and if they're creative, that's where we really have a lot of fun with it.

(Excerpt from American Horror Story shown)

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Jamie is currently in Australia working on a short film with Bus Stop Films, a not-for-profit that collaborates with budding filmmakers who have intellectual disabilities and those from marginalised communities.

GENEVIEVE CLAY-SMITH, CO-DIRECTOR, BUS STOP FILMS: It was really exciting when Jamie agreed to work with the students and be involved in this film.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: The film is called Kill Off and it's anything but a horror story.

GENEVIEVE CLAY-SMITH: It is a dance-drama-comedy. Yeah, so we're all pretty excited about it. It's about a woman with an intellectual disability who forms an unlikely friendship with an African refugee through their mutual love of street dance.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Tell me about your role.

JAMIE BREWER: (Inaudible) she's spunky. She has a lot of sass. She expresses anger through dance.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Is there much of you in that role? Do you like to dance?

JAMIE BREWER: A lot. And this is also the first time, actually, that I get a full experience chance in working through comedy.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: And do you like comedy?

JAMIE BREWER: I'm a big - I'm a variety girl. I'm a variety girl when it comes to different genres.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: OK. Fantastic.

JAMIE BREWER: Comedy is one area that it's - it's all around me in my house.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Jamie's visit is also part of Screen NSW efforts to increase the diversity of people working in film and TV.

MANDELA MATHIA, ACTOR: I'm looking forward to learn so much from people who are already in the business and working well Because I'm trying to pattern my career to down kind of the same lane so that would be a good experience.

JONI CAMPBELL, ACTRESS: So gonna be an extra in the movie, production designer, first assistant director, director, and then - there was one other one, but I can't remember.

ACTOR: I can't wait! I can't wait!

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: You're such a positive role model for people living with disability. Has that always been something that drives you?

JAMIE BREWER: (Inaudible) role model and advocate is something that always rings true. 'Cause it's something that people need to do and that I've always done.

GENEVIEVE CLAY-SMITH: The students have been really excited to be able to meet with her and work with her and learn from her as well. Jamie is a wonderful advocate and it's one of the reasons we wanted to work with her. In Texas she helped to change legislation, so she was part of a group that advocated to get the word retarded taken out of legislation and replaced with intellectual disability. So she is a shining light for how we can use our voice to make change, no matter who we are or what background we come from.

(Excerpt from American Horror Story shown)

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Jamie wants to see a whole lot more authenticity on screen.

JAMIE BREWER: It's really neat to actually see that. (Inaudible) because by being authentic, it also means seeing the heart. And people need to see that. They need to see the heart because our true voice rings from inside.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: What's your dream role?

JAMIE BREWER: Oooh, I get asked that quite a lot! There are several things that is a dream role.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Yeah.

JAMIE BREWER: One hobby that I - if it's a character that does it, possibly skydiving.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Wow. Have you done that before?

JAMIE BREWER: No.

MONIQUE SCHAFTER: Do you want?

JAMIE BREWER: Yeah. If there's a character in a film or TV show, I will do it.

LEIGH SALES: Monique Schafter there.

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Actress Jamie Brewer advocates for increased diversity and inclusion in film and television

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LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Friends of the Emmy Award-winning TV series American Horror Story will be familiar with one of its main stars, Jamie Brewer. Her character has Down syndrome. She's become a vocal advocate for diversity in film, television and on the catwalk.

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Black Panther promoting diversity in Arts.

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Black Panther promoting diversity in Arts.

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Diversity in media or entertainment industry is what can be defined as giving equal opportunities to people from different religions, castes, races etc.

The entertainment industry has realised that in order to reach to the masses it now needs to change its perspective and adopt people from different cultures. Entertainment industry see it as an opportunity to tap talent from different spheres and bring diversity in their work.

Some of the filmmakers are trying to bring diversity by giving major roles of “role models” and “leading characters” to the black people and thus showing the audience that the role of a hero is not just for a white men.

Examples:

· Facebook has appointed Kenneth Chenault to its board, making him the first African American on board.

· Oscars 2017 showed diversity as most of the awards were presented to African American stars.

Reference

(2018). Nydailynews.com. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/black-panther-moment-seize-promote-arts-diversity-article-1.3851729

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40 companies making changes to help women succeed

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40 companies making changes to help women succeed

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Companies are creating an environment where women all around the world are treated equally on every level be it socially, economically as well as politically by promoting equal employment opportunities.

When it comes to the organisations be it a multi-national firm, a small scale firm who wants to be accepted and respected in the society, it is giving the society what they want that is upliftment of women by giving them all the chances to succeed by having a diverse employee base, by providing a more safe and secure workplace. They are now looking into aspects of what their goals are so that they can help them achieve their goals by providing better opportunities.

Example

ENGIE a natural gas distribution company which supports the idea of women taking new positions. ENGIE now has 30% of the women in the top 350 managers.

Reference

Boorstin, J. (2018). Microsoft, Adobe and Mattel among 40 companies pledging to make workplace changes to help women succeed. CNBC. Retrieved 14 March 2018, from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/07/microsoft-among-40-companies-to-make-changes-to-help-women-succeed.html

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Diversity and inclusion in the organisation.

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Diversity and inclusion in the organisation.

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This article discuss that a new study found that some organisations have the wrong tactic to diversity and inclusion throughout all levels of the organisations, as simple quotas and training modules fall short. Diversity First through Sydney University has conducted a study for a year. It assessed diversity and inclusion exercises in 42 workplaces across the Australia, including not-for-profits, government and private organisations. Theanna Kiaos, the managing director of Diversity first said that the research discovered that while some organisations had been positive in succeeding good outcome across all layers of management, many others fell short. As a result of the new research, Ms Kiaos suggested workplaces should apply a framework that exceeds simply using workplace diversity quotas and one-off training modules for employees. White Ribbon is a non-profit domestic violence organisation that practices the right workplace diversity.  The organisation was admired for their open plan office spaces and glass conference rooms, which supported dialogue and inclusion between all stages of employment. Libby Davies, White Ribbon CEO said the organisation strived to guarantee the employees symbolised the diverse Australian demographic and felt that opinions were understood by the superiors. Additionally, Ms Kiaos is working with other organisations to improve a broader and more moving framework boosting improved diversity and inclusion into the future.

Harris, L. (2018). Most Australian workplaces are failing to achieve diversity: study. Retrieved from https://www.sbs.com.au/news/most-australian-workplaces-are-failing-to-achieve-diversity-study

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Many workplaces across Australia are taking the wrong approach to diversity and inclusion across all levels of the organisations, as simple quotas and training modules fall short, a new study has found.

The year-long study, run by Diversity First through Sydney University, examined diversity and inclusion practices in 42 workplaces across the country, including not-for-profits, government and private organisations.

Diversity First managing Director Theanna Kiaos said her research found that while some organisations had been successful in achieving results across all layers of management, many others fell short.

"Other organisations, despite having the best of efforts in diversity and inclusion through their initiatives, weren't necessarily translating into cultural change," Ms Kiaos said.

"What we found was that some organisations were doing a lot of ad hoc initiatives like unconscious bias training and perhaps having guest speakers, but on their own, they weren't really doing much to change the culture."

Ghada Maher immigrated to Australia from Egypt a decade ago and said she experienced reluctance from workplaces to accept new migrants.

Despite having an impressive resume, which included a PhD, a Masters Degree in Business and several senior management roles at global organisations, Ms Maher said she found it impossible to gain employment.

"For almost a whole year, I couldn't find a job. I kept applying and applying and the answers that I got were things like 'you're overqualified' or 'you don't have the Australian experience'," she said.

"I think there is a general fear of employing immigrants who just arrived in the country."

As a result of the new research, Ms Kiaos recommended workplaces implement a framework that goes beyond simply using workplace diversity quotas and one-off training modules for employees.

"I think what needs to happen is a much broader approach to diversity and inclusion, it can't just be a tick the box approach," Ms Kiaos said.

She said an example of a workplace getting it right was not-for-profit domestic violence organisation White Ribbon.

"The decision making behind their operations here are really driven by people being able to speak openly and transparently about what they think about the organisation and the direction for the organisation," she said.

White Ribbon was also commended for their open plan office spaces and glass conference rooms, which encouraged dialogue and inclusion between all levels of employment.

White Ribbon CEO Libby Davies said she endeavoured to ensure her employees represented the diverse Australian demographic and felt their opinions were heard by their superiors.

"White Ribbon reflects the broader community. The work that we're doing has that interface right across the Australian community and that diversity of culture as well as the diversity of practice has to be very much exemplified by our own organization," Ms Davies said.

Ms Kiaos said she was already working with other workplaces to develop a broader and more affective framework encouraging better diversity and inclusion into the future.

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Most Australian workplaces are failing to achieve diversity: study

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Many workplaces across Australia are taking the wrong approach to diversity and inclusion across all levels of the organisations, as simple quotas and training modules fall short, a new study has found. The year-long study, run by Diversity First through Sydney University, examined diversity and inclusion practices in 42 workplaces across the country, including not-for-profits, government and private organisations.

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Ryan Holmes discusses the importance of weeding out those in workplaces who show prejudice to diversity. In doing that and providing a workplace that is inclusive of all backgrounds allows for better culture and productivity in the workplace.
This article is of relevance to the subject as removing prejudice to diversity is probably the first place a company wants to start in diversification of the workplace. by still having resistance to diversity in the workplace it would make those who are diversely different, experience negative culture which might attract a stigma to the company of being a non-friendly place to work.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/psst-5-things-your-boss-desperately-needs-reverse-mentoring-holmes/?trackingId=P5WRxmlqOOLks0jEoykTxA%3D%3D

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Building an inclusive company in a diverse world

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Building an inclusive company in a diverse world

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Quoted in Oliver Blums article it is evident through research that
"global analysis of 2,400 companies by Credit Suisse found that organizations with at least one female board member enjoyed both a higher return on equity, and net income growth than those without."
The discussion in Blums article resides around the facts of inclusion and diversity in the workplace being a tangible benefit to business on all levels. Having females in executive roles disscussed in this article showed befits in income growth and equity. The photo included is a good representation of the article as diversification allows for greater skillsets, opinions and ideas.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-inclusive-company-diverse-world-olivier-blum/?trackingId=nyxCecOmZLfwgFvdO7PBnw%3D%3D

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Diverse workforce can be the organisation's competitive advantage.

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Diverse workforce can be the organisation's competitive advantage.

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Rigger (2018) states that there are positive outcomes diversity can contribute to the organisation’s competitive advantage. It also discusses that diversity attracts more talent. Professionals must feel recognised by a company before one decides of working for a certain organisation. The acceptance of different characteristics, orientations, ages, and capabilities will reflect in the workforce. If employees see people working happily in the organisation, they will be happy to work with each other too. The more staff that are happy to work with the organisation, the more option the organisation will have in hiring the best. More predominantly, many forward-thinking employees connect diverse workforces with forward-thinking organisations. A diverse workplace will be able to produce various ideas to help the company with the improvements or decision-making. A culture of diversity enhances creative thinking by encouraging employees to express themselves. Additionally, organisation should be as diverse as the customer-base. The vital inverse of this is that organisation’s customer-base can only be as diverse as the organisation. Captivating customer minds comes from understanding customer mind-sets.

Rigger, D. (2018). How a diverse workforce can be your competitive advantage. Retrieved from https://www.hcamag.com/opinion/how-a-diverse-workforce-can-be-your-competitive-advantage-247585.aspx

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Is your company investing more in diversity? It should be. An investment in diversity is an investment in top talent, new ideas and better connections. In short: Profit. More CEOs and executive leaders are realising this and investing accordingly. If you're not investing in diversity, here's why you should be.

Diversity attracts more talent. The fact is, professionals must feel accepted by a company before they can consider working for them. This acceptance - of different identities, orientations, ages, and abilities - is reflected in your workforce. If professionals see people like themselves working happily in your organisation, they'll be happy to work with you too.

The more professionals who'd be happy to work with you, the more choice you'll have in hiring the best. More broadly, many forward-thinking professionals associate diverse workforces with forward-thinking organisations. If you want to attract forward-thinkers, and you should, invest in the best sign of a forward-thinking company.

A diverse workforce also generates diverse ideas, and diverse ideas help your company outthink the competition. In fact, the next billion dollar idea may come from a background none of your employees have yet. Homogenous employees often cross-fertilise the same tired ideas, giving you the same results. As well as bringing in better ideas, a culture of diversity enhances creative thinking by encouraging employees to express themselves.

Wondering how diverse you need to be? Your organisation should be as diverse as your customer-base. The important inverse of this is that your customer-base can only be as diverse as your organisation. Winning customer minds comes from understanding customer mind-sets.

Having those mind-sets already working for you will put you at an enormous advantage. Not only does diversity bring in customers, it can also bring in business partners. Imagine your company wants to expand into another country. Having staff who already understand the country's language, customs and culture can ease that expansion.

Of course, diversity isn't just about who you hire and where you hire them from. It can also be about the position you're hiring for. Think of the ideal position for applicants with experience in IT. Conventional wisdom might place them in the IT department, but why not in HR? It sounds like a strange choice, until you consider how innovations like machine learning could optimise the HR process.

But how do you access these benefits? What steps does your company need to take to increase diversity? To begin, implement change from the top down. Unless your CEO, executives and managers are engaging in discussions on diversity, no one will think your effort is authentic. Also, don't look at diversity as a single initiative. Break it down into a series of small initiatives implemented across every department. Speak with managers at every level to see how they could increase diversity, and stay in contact to monitor progress.

I'm proud to say that SAP is already reaping the many benefits of a diverse workplace. We were the first multinational technology company to receive the Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) Certification, reflecting our growth through gender diversity initiatives. Our Autism at Work program employs nearly 120 colleagues on the autism spectrum across 9 countries, allowing us to access their unique skills and insights. I hope that by advancing such diversity initiatives across the tech world, we as an industry can grow for everybody's benefit.
By Debbie Rigger, head of human resources, Australia/NZ at SAP

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How a diverse workforce can be your competitive advantage

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Is your company investing more in diversity? It should be. An investment in diversity is an investment in top talent, new ideas and better connections. In short: Profit. More CEOs and executive leaders are realising this and investing accordingly. If you're not investing in diversity, here's why you should be.

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Dr Mobley is a very inspirational African American woman who stands up for what she believes in, in diversity and that diversity matters. An interesting comment that she makes is that many people feel that society has already done a lot in regards to diversity, however she said that really we have only begun. Her main argument is that we need to pay attention to diversity and when we do then we are acknowledging it and valuing it. If we look at our biases, then we are aware of diversity and of what best practice needs to take place. She states that if we believe in diversity then we have to action it, we need to act on what we care about. I felt strongly towards her statement that when we reflect upon ourselves that we need to reflect on our identity – who we are, what is our calling in life – what work we do, and what service do we do – how will you contribute to what you do.

Reference:

Mobley, M. S. (2013). The Paradox of Diversity. Video TEDx Talks. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCgqkY5jlXc

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The Truth about  Diversity and Why it Matters

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The Truth about  Diversity and Why it Matters

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Shelley Zalis’s article discusses what the truth is about diversity and why it matters. She states that many companies make diversity a priority however they do not include initiatives to make it successful (Zalis, 2017 p.1). In the article, it discusses how inclusive teams perform and how this performance is greater and how they make smart business decisions. Her statement, and the truth is “diversity is an action, inclusivity is cultural, and belonging is a feeling” (Zalis, 2017 p.1) this is exactly correct and could not be put more simply and direct. Businesses use the buzz word of diversity and employ people, so they take action. To make this action work and be successful a business needs to have a cultural environment that includes all people so that then they have a feeling of belonging to a group, a team and a business. I feel that the article is about changing mindsets of people so that they are not fixed. We need to employ people that are not like the managers so that it generates discussions and creates creativity.

Reference:

Forbes Welcome. (2017). Forbes.com. Retrieved 10 March 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleyzalis/2017/11/30/the-truth-about-diversity-and-why-it-matters/#7cf62a3b66e7

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Workplace diversity policies ‘don’t help’ — and ‘make white men feel threatened’

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Workplace diversity policies ‘don’t help’ — and ‘make white men feel threatened’

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This article raises am important issue, with a concerted push towards workplace diversity, does the average Caucasian man suddenly find themselves being on the other side of the diversity push.  The article speaks of white males being subjected to “reverse racism” which is not hiring a certain person because they do not fit a diverse ideal as set by a company.  This is an issue which each company must address when creating a diversity policy, and ensure that all backgrounds are represented.

The article also speaks of some diversity policies acting as a façade for companies.  These superficial policies act only as check box tickers and serve the organisations as marketing tools and offer no real benefit.  A company must back up its policies with actions and incorporate them into their organisational culture to ensure buy in from the entire business.  By having all employees championing such policies in will be embedded into all company actions including recruitment.

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What are the benefits of Diversity in the Workplace

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What are the benefits of Diversity in the Workplace

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This article by Sophie Deering highlights what the benefits are to having a diverse workplace. She states that diversity is much more than employing people from different ages, gender, race and cultural backgrounds. Diversity is about including people with different experiences, different personalities and with different viewpoints and ideas so as to capture creativity. People from diverse backgrounds are able to bring to the company their different talents and skills to help improve performance. Another benefit is having employees join the company who speak different languages so as to enable the company to go global, broadening the customer base. This article highlighted for me the benefits of diversity in the workplace and that it goes deeper than just the appearance of a person. A diverse workplace will open up wider opportunities for a company and is necessary for a company to move forward.

Reference:

What Are the Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace?. (2018). Undercover Recruiter. Retrieved 10 March 2018, from https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/benefits-diversity-workplace/

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In it for the diversity or in it for the money? 

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In it for the diversity or in it for the money? 

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Without a doubt, diversity is a large issue that can benefit many organisations. This fact is undeniable. But, regarding this article, I believe a business does not necessarily have to change its entire structure and policy toward diversity just to increase sales, increase creativity and attract the best new candidates. An organisation must implement step-by-step plans separately in both respects. Although these factors are used as draw-cards to make businesses think about diversity and what it could do for the company, I believe that this very way of thinking could completely backfire on the entire idea of diversity.

If companies that are very traditional in their business structure and leadership decide to sink substantial amounts of money and resources to implement a diversity plan/system primarily to benefit the business and its associates, that then backfires and doesn’t reap the rewards that were stated above, then what happens to the organisation then? Do the people employed through this system retain their positions? Is there even more discrimination to these people from the management if they have caused the business to lose money?

Reference:

Crawford, Courtenay (Nov, 2015) 3 Reasons why diversity is amazing for Business

From:
https://graduateland.com/customer/article/why-diversify-your-workforce

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Read Graduateland's short article explaining why a diverse workforce makes good business sense.

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Nearmy (2016) explains that the ABS has statistics that suggest Aboriginals find it hard to find employment in Australia (para. 2). Based on this information it can be gathered that employer discrimination can be one factor on why this is happening. The article also explains that education is a crucial determinant of becoming employed, where aboriginals need support in learning.
While the author believes this information is partly right, they understand that many multinational companies make it their mission or corporate responsibility to hire a selected amount of diverse individuals.While Aboriginals do find it hard to find work, this problem is becoming smaller and smaller every year because society is focussing its attention on it. While it might be hard to persuade small-medium enterprises on their rules because owners have full control, companies are changing to accommodate different groups and individuals.
Diversity in the workplace is changing in a great direction where people with issues in learning can get support to benefit society.

References

Nearmy, T. (2016, June 6). Eight ways we can improve indigenous employment. Retrieved from the conversation: http://theconversation.com/eight-ways-we-can-improve-indigenous-employment-60377

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The world is changing, the organizations are getting more and more employees with different background and culture. People of all colors and different religious believes. This video has made me thought that leadership in diversity workplace does not only need consider the leader itself. Leaders should not only think about how to change themselves. They also need to understand that many employees in the organization have already been led by different people in a different way.  The leader needs to understand that they do not only bring themselves to meet the employees. They also bring their values, religion, and culture into the workplace. Therefore, when leading a diverse workplace, we need looking things from a cultural competence standpoint with compliance. For example, sometimes we need to stop look and think things in our own personal values and beliefs .

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Culture and Leadership | Joseph Trimble | TEDxWWU

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James Griffin's Report: Great Leaders Who Make The Mix Work

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James Griffin's Report: Great Leaders Who Make The Mix Work

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https://hbr.org/2013/09/great-leaders-who-make-the-mix-work

This article is a series of interviews from the CEOs of 24 notable organisations who have acquired reputations for their inclusivity and tendency to recruit workers from numerous diverse backgrounds. These business leaders stated that they regarded the fostering of diversity as part of a personal mission to improve their organisations, citing its moral importance and beneficial effects on the competitiveness of their organisations. Diversity is regarded by these workplace leaders as a source of dissent, which results in differences and necessary disagreements that help companies develop and solve problems. They argue it also deters insularity; diverse organisations are more in touch with increasingly heterogeneous and international customer bases, and thus more likely to succeed in a globalised environment.

The suggestions of these business leaders are not necessarily incorrect or unfounded, but I am sceptical to the extent they are interested in increasing diversity on a moral basis and more to enhance their organisation’s reputational profile and bottom line. Corporations are essentially profit-making vehicles, so this may be the fundamental concern of these business leaders overall

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Blame with no solution seems to be a common occurrence surrounding the talk on diversity 

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Blame with no solution seems to be a common occurrence surrounding the talk on diversity 

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“Women or minorities who promote diversity in the workplace are penalized by their peers but white men who do so are not.” I believe this article is the pinnacle of social blame for issues that are vast and large and that seem too big to be fixed. Although the ‘study’ results seem to favour the idea that white men are to blame for the issue of diversity, the bigger picture issue that needs to be addressed is that why is this issue occurring in the first place.

This article is true in stating that in some occurrences and workplaces, these practices might be the case, but associating the correlation between white men and the negative practices of some workplaces seems a bit farfetched! I believe this article (source) should be offering up solutions and options to this issue after laying a blame to an issue that seems very weak in its opening argument!

Reference:

Brait, Ellen (Mar, 2016)
Women and minorities penalized for promoting workplace diversity – study

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/25/women-minoriites-penalized-workplace-diversity-study

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Women or minorities who promote diversity in the workplace are penalized by their peers but white men who do so are not, a new study says.

The authors of the study, University of Colorado professors Stefanie K Johnson and David R Hekman, surveyed 350 executives about diversity-valuing behaviors.

Questions explored "whether they respected cultural, religious, gender and racial differences, valued working with a diverse group of people, and felt comfortable managing people from different racial or cultural backgrounds".

The researchers said they were surprised by their findings, which were published in the Academy of Management Journal.

They found, for example, that when white men promoted diversity in the workplace, it did not improve how bosses rated their performance and competence. When women and non-white executives promoted diversity in the workplace, their evaluations from bosses were worse.

"For all the talk about how important diversity is within organizations, white and male executives aren't rewarded, career-wise, for engaging in diversity-valuing behavior, and non-white and female executives actually get punished for it," Johnson and Hekman wrote in an article for the Harvard Business Review.

To verify their initial survey results, the researchers had 307 people review a fabricated hiring decision. The participants were given an explanation for the decision and a photograph of the manager involved. They were then asked to complete a survey and rate the manager's competence and performance.

Female and non-white managers who hired either a female or non-white applicant were rated less effective then when they hired a white male applicant. There was no significant difference in the ratings of white male managers, no matter who they hired.

"Basically, all managers were judged harshly if they hired someone who looked like them, unless they were a white male," Johnson and Hekman wrote.

According to Johnson and Hekman, their findings could help explain why applicants with resumes that include experiences related to their ethnicity are less likely to receive a call back than those who omit such information.

The authors also said this disparity could cause women and minorities in positions of power to not advocate on behalf of the groups they are part of, "as they don't want to be perceived as incompetent, poor performers".

According to Johnson and Hekman, "increasing racial and gender balance is becoming more urgent". They argued that "appropriate structures and processes" need to be put in place, to ensure women and minorities are treated fairly.

They added: "The challenge of creating equality should not be placed on the shoulders of individuals who are at greater risk of being crushed by the weight of this goal."
Topics

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Women and minorities penalized for promoting workplace diversity - study

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Women or minorities who promote diversity in the workplace are penalized by their peers but white men who do so are not, a new study says. The authors of the study, University of Colorado professors Stefanie K Johnson and David R Hekman, surveyed 350 executives about diversity-valuing behaviors.

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If only the benefits of diversity were this easy to reap!

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If only the benefits of diversity were this easy to reap!

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The world has become smaller, and technology has made it easier than ever to communicate across the globe, night or day, with friends, family or business associates. This, alongside other social changes that have happened in the last few decades, have changed the way a workplace operates regarding its business practices and staff. This article highlights the benefits an organisation or business can reap by implementing diversity across its workplace.

As the world is changing at such a fast pace, companies are doing their best to keep up with the face-paced world around them. Operating with diversity can open avenues of opportunity especially if a company’s primary markets are overseas and international. Due to these reasons I believe the article is right in stating that, opening these doors can increase innovation, increase creativity, make recruitment easier, avoid high turnover and most importantly to most organisations, capture more of the market and drive sales.

Although diversity is very important to an organisation, I believe this article is wrong in assuming that diversity can be implemented with the click of a button. It can take painstaking months or years to implement a system that provides diversity while catering to the needs of the existing stakeholders.

Reference:

Abreu, Kim (Dec, 2014)

The Myriad Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace

From
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/240550

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5 min read

A Note From The Editor

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In the age of technology, the world has become smaller. Smartphones and other mobile devices make it possible to interact with customers, vendors or employees on the other side of the world anytime of day or night. As businesses and individual communities have become more globalized, most companies are operating within a diverse marketplace.

You may be doing business with customers and vendors around the world, but even if you're not, chances are that the demographics in your neighborhood are also becoming more diverse.
Related: Diversity Defines Our Global Economy. Do You Speak the Language?
That's why it's more important than ever before to build a diverse staff for your business: Recruiting and retaining a diverse, inclusive group of employees lets your company reflect the world around you and makes your team better able to develop fresh ideas that will meet the needs of the whole marketplace.

To be profitable in a diverse, globalized marketplace, savvy companies are making efforts to look more like the community around them. If you employ only those who identify with a small portion of the market, you just don't have access to the insights, experiences and worldviews of the full marketplace.

When planning to expand your staff, make an effort to recruit a diverse set of employees to help your company. Here are five key benefits of diversity in today's workplaces:

1. Drive innovation.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Melinda Marshall and Laura Sherbin identified and highlighted companies with what they called "two-dimensional diversity." The leaders of these businesses had at least three inherent diversity traits and three acquired ones (culled from experience).

"Working in another country can help you appreciate cultural differences, for example, while selling to female consumers can give you gender smarts," the authors wrote.

Using new research, Hewlett and her co-authors found that these firms performed better in business, explaining, "By correlating diversity in leadership with market outcomes as reported by respondents, we learned that companies with 2-D diversity out-innovate and out-perform others."

2. Increase creativity.

Teams that include workers from different backgrounds and experiences can come up with more creative ideas and methods of solving problems.

"The more your network includes individuals from different cultural backgrounds, the more you will be creatively stimulated by different ideas and perspectives," according to research by Harvard Business School professor Roy Y.J. Chua. "Importantly, these ideas do not necessarily come from the network members who are culturally different from you."
Related: How to Leverage Boardroom Diversity for Greater Success
3. Make recruitment easier.

Competition is fierce for the most talented workers. Research indicates that diversity can help you recruit top talent. In a recent Glassdoor survey, two-thirds of the people polled said that diversity was important to them when evaluating companies and job offers.

No matter whom you're recruiting a position, the data says they're likely to welcome joinining a diverse workforce. In addition, if you make an effort to recruit a wide variety of candidates -- not just those who went to the local college or who match the ethnicity of the rest of your staff -- your company is more likely to hire the best and the brightest in the labor market.

Talent is vital to improving the bottom line in an increasingly competitive economy, so you'll do your company a favor by selecting employees from the largest and most diverse set of candidates. And with a diverse workforce, your candidates will be more likely to accept your job offers. It's a beneficial cycle.

4. Avoid high turnover.

According to the Labor Department, more people are quitting their jobs now than they have since 2008, meaning retention should be top of mind for managers. The Glassdoor survey found that 57 percent of people surveyed think their company should be doing more to increase diversity in its workforce.

Most business owners know that when an employee leaves, finding and hiring a replacement can be an extremely expensive process. In many cases, a lack of diversity can create an unintentionally hostile environment for those who feel like they don't fit in.

With the current job market bouncing back, many people are now considering their options in a way they haven't in six years. Rather than dealing with turnover rates that could become increasingly high as communities become more inclusive, make a commitment to creating a diverse and discrimination-free work environment at your company.

Successful companies create internal programs, resources and networking groups after listening to employees and supporting efforts they're interested in. This not only supports diversity but has the added benefit of creating a tighter, more invested community among the workforce.

5. Capture more of the market.

When your workplace is home to a diverse group of individuals from different backgrounds and experiences, your company can more effectively market to all groups of consumers, from a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds, men and women, older and younger adults and those who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Building a diverse workplace can help you increase your company's market share.
Related: Richard Branson on Why Diversity Is an Advantage

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The Myriad Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace

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5 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. In the age of technology, the world has become smaller. Smartphones and other mobile devices make it possible to interact with customers, vendors or employees on the other side of the world anytime of day or night.

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This article discusses the importance of a gender diverse workplace and the performance of these businesses.  This article reports that workplaces who create a diverse work environment can potentially see increases to profitability of around 2.1%.  The article does not mention if other factors affect these figures, such as corporate image as these may inflate these numbers considerably.

The article also speaks of workplace diversity being a key consideration in the recruitment and retention process at a Senior Management level and people who do not follow this school of thought may be forced out of the business.  This may be true however as this may be somewhat of a generational issue, this push for diversity may actually remove older people from these positions.  These people who resist creating diverse work teams should instead be retrain to emphasise the importance of these teams and the benefits that they bring.

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Boards and senior management need to push the benefits of diversity. Daniel O'Brien

by John O'Mahony
This content was produced by The Australian Financial Review in commercial partnership with Westpac.
If you said to a CEO that achieving senior management gender parity in their organisation could increase profitability and deliver a significant national economic dividend, you would think the business case would be done and dusted.

Yet, in spite of the fact that women make up 51 per cent of the Australian population (and 47 per cent of the workforce), only 34 per cent of senior managers in Australian businesses are women.

So what about that business case? Deloitte Access Economics recently asked more than 1000 businesses about diversity in leadership and the results were both encouraging (many have made, and continue to make, significant strides), and more than a little sobering (we still have plenty to do).

Two in five do not have a gender strategy or written policy in place. Only 12 per cent have dedicated budgets to help drive the right diversity outcomes, and 17 per cent think diversity is the responsibility of their people and HR team, rather than something that needs to be relentlessly driven from the top.

Whether reasons or excuses, two in five said a lack of female talent, either within their organisation or the workforce more broadly, was the number one barrier preventing equality in senior leadership. Unconscious bias also plays a significant role. A quarter cited factors relating to business culture as another issue, and 9 per cent even said it was too hard to challenge the organisation's culture.

It is accepted that company boards with gender balanced representation perform better than those without. So it makes sense that having more women in senior management roles should be good for business, and have the potential to deliver major dividends.

We have previously found that improving the quality of leadership in Australia's businesses can represent as much as a $70 billion GDP boost for the Australian economy. But we have now found that the composition of leadership teams can also be crucial to business success.

Our research points to businesses realising a potential 2.1 percentage point increase in profitability through reaching gender parity in senior management. And more diverse and inclusive leadership would also provide broader national benefits - an additional $10.8 billion every year to the Australian economy - with female leaders encouraging more women to work and therefore greater labour force participation.

It needs to start with leaders who believe this is the right thing to do, and who also understand that driving action - and driving it pretty hard - can deliver compelling bottom-line benefits.

In the complex, constantly evolving and diverse world in which we find ourselves, leadership diversity needs to become the norm, and not the exception.

Organisations that do not get this right risk underperformance relative to others, including their competitors, who do. And perhaps those who resist the compelling case to drive gender balance - at senior levels and more broadly - might not be around for much longer.

Unlocking the benefits we have identified will not be easy. It will take time. That said, we are also making good progress. Business leaders do appear to be ready to step up, and the likes of Westpac, Qantas, Telstra and, I am pleased to say, my own firm in Deloitte, are at the vanguard of action. They understand that there are very good reasons to do the hard work needed to achieve parity.

When combined with a culture of inclusion (and we should also, of course, be looking beyond gender, at disability, ethnicity and age) and an open approach to flexible working arrangements, the business benefits can be there for the taking, including increased return on assets, improved staff retention and better teamwork.
John O'Mahony is a partner at Deloitte Access Economics and principal author of the Westpac Diversity Dividend report.

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by John O'Mahony This content was produced by The Australian Financial Review in commercial partnership with Westpac. If you said to a CEO that achieving senior management gender parity in their organisation could increase profitability and deliver a significant national economic dividend, you would think the business case would be done and dusted.

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Mark Zuckerberg On Lack Of Diversity In Tech: 'That's Our Problem To Figure Out'

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Mark Zuckerberg On Lack Of Diversity In Tech: 'That's Our Problem To Figure Out'

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Mark Zuckerberg as highlighted the importance of creating a diverse workforce and has called out the tech industry for being behind in this area.  Mr Zuckerberg spoke of the benefits of having diverse work teams, but believes that the onus is on tech industry leaders, such as himself, to facilitate this movement.  He spoke specifically of people of colour being victims of unconscious bias, and that the only people responsible for improving this situation are people like him.

Mr Zuckerberg is correct to a point, that being unconscious bias is an intrinsic value and as such, only that person can manage this bias and take steps to become more inclusive.  Tech leaders can actively seek to employee a diverse work force, but must do so while not weakening their teams.  Some onus must also be placed on the education system to ensure all people are given equal opportunities.

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Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg believes it's up to tech companies themselves to diversify the white, male-dominated industry.

The Facebook CEO joined students at North Carolina A&T, a historically black college and university (HBCU), to kick off the chancellor's speakers series on Monday. During the discussion, which was streamed live from his page, a student asked Zuckerberg how he plans to make his company more inclusive. She also asked what people of color can do to get jobs in those non-inclusive spaces. He told her that was the onus is on tech companies to fix the problem.

"Frankly, I think that's our problem to figure out," he replied. "I think that responsibility rests on us and our companies in the industry to make sure that we get to that. And there's so much research that shows that you need diverse teams to do the best work. So it's important that we do better on diversity, not only because it's the right thing to do for the country and for people, but because that's the only way we're going to serve our community the best."

Zuckerberg also told the audience that uncovering unconscious bias has become something that he's focused on.

"So we do this really rigorous training for every manager at Facebook where you have to go through and understand what you're unconscious biases are... a lot of people who think that they care about diversity actually still have a lot of these biases that hold them back."

In 2015, Facebook launched an internal recruiting effort to bring diverse talent to their company. But not much changed between 2015 and last year. Women in tech roles at the company increased from 16 percent to 17 percent. The total number of black and hispanic employees combined made a slight jump from two percent to six percent.

Zuckerberg told the HBCU students that their skills as engineers are necessary and that progress is going to take time.

"This is something that's very ingrained in our society and it's gonna take a while to fully back this out," he said. He then directly addressed the student who asked the question. "It's holding us back from building the best things that we can and we have to solve this. So I appreciate the question but this one's on us."

Watch the full Facebook Live video below.

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Mark Zuckerberg On Lack Of Diversity In Tech: 'That's Our Problem To Figure Out'

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Mark Zuckerberg believes it's up to tech companies themselves to diversify the white, male-dominated industry. The Facebook CEO joined students at North Carolina A&T, a historically black college and university (HBCU), to kick off the chancellor's speakers series on Monday.

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LGBT-Inclusive companies are better at 3 big things

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LGBT-Inclusive companies are better at 3 big things

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This article draws attention to an important topic and one that hasn't been covered in great detail in this assessment so far, LGBT inclusive companies. Ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace isn’t just a legal and moral responsibly, it is also essential for staying competitive, and this seems to be a ’key’ selling point to help bring this topic to the boardroom. The article highlights that one of the competitive benefits to organisations who adopt an inclusive and diverse culture for LGBT employees, is the ability to to attract and retain top talent. In such a competitive, global labour market this is critical.

A workplace that has policies to support LGBT employees is great place to start, however it takes more than a simple policy to truely impact change. For organisations to experience the benefit mentioned above employers need to ensure they have a zero tolerance to behaviour that sits outside of their values of inclusiveness and equality. This applies to all cultural differences (e.g. gender, sexual orientation, ability, age, ethnic background and religion).

Reference:

Hewlett, A. S., & Yoshino, K. (2016, February 2). LGBT-Inclusive companies are better at 3 big things. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/02/lgbt-inclusive-companies-are-better-at-3-big-things

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This article from Harvard Business Review looks at how a diverse workforce can unlock a new level of innovation. It explores the notion of inherent and acquired diversity, inherent diversity consists of factors like race, gender, age etc., and acquired diversity looks at the individuals mindset which has developed through their personal experiences. After completing some extensive research the results showed that companies with a 2-D diversity approach (inherent & acquired) will have a better chance to lead the market in performance and innovation. The research highlights some concerning numbers that are still affecting workplaces today. In the absence of diverse leadership “women are 20% less likely than straight white men to win endorsement for their ideas; people of colour are 24% less likely; and LGBTs are 21% less likely (Hewlett & Marshall & Sherbin, 2013)”. Exposing numbers like the above helps build a stronger business case for diversity, and teaches leaders new ways to approach diversity in the workplace that is supported by key research.

Reference:

Hewlett, A. S., Marshall, M., & Sherbin, L. (2013, December). How diversity can drive innovations. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-diversity-can-drive-innovation

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Most Australian Workplaces are Failing to Achieve Diversity: Study

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Most Australian Workplaces are Failing to Achieve Diversity: Study

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This study, run by Diversity First through Sydney University, offers insight into how a large number of organisations are purporting to have achieved workplace diversity simply by filling quotas and running “ad hoc initiatives” (Harris, 2017).

In observing the merit of this study, a recurring belief amongst academics was observed, this being that “diversity is not a phase, but a real component of how an organisation conducts its business” (Andrulis, & Sachev, 2009, p.2). This supports the findings of the Diversity First study in identifying that workplace diversity is not a surface issue. It is instead something which must be integrated at, and fostered by, every level of an organisation.

This study took a well-rounded, unbiased approach to studying the efforts of Australian organisations to be diverse. In turn, this SBS article offers a relatively fair critique of the results, noting that while many organisations are inadequately addressing diversity, there are some businesses doing a truly good job. This positive approach of reporting in the media is what, I believe, fosters a real opportunity for culture change in organisations as it provides a benchmark for what is bad and what is good.

References:

Harris, L. (2018). Most Australian Workplaces are Failing to Achieve Diversity: Study. Retrieved from https://www.sbs.com.au/news/most-australian-workplaces-are-failing-to-achieve-diversity-study

Andrulis, R., & Sachdev, R. (2009). Diversity in the Workplace. The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities, and Nations, 9(1), pp. 175-186. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=e9427f3b-cb78-4a4b-8f3e-7ccb49c4a5ed%40sessionmgr4007

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Many workplaces across Australia are taking the wrong approach to diversity and inclusion across all levels of the organisations, as simple quotas and training modules fall short, a new study has found.

The year-long study, run by Diversity First through Sydney University, examined diversity and inclusion practices in 42 workplaces across the country, including not-for-profits, government and private organisations.

Diversity First managing Director Theanna Kiaos said her research found that while some organisations had been successful in achieving results across all layers of management, many others fell short.

"Other organisations, despite having the best of efforts in diversity and inclusion through their initiatives, weren't necessarily translating into cultural change," Ms Kiaos said.

"What we found was that some organisations were doing a lot of ad hoc initiatives like unconscious bias training and perhaps having guest speakers, but on their own, they weren't really doing much to change the culture."

Ghada Maher immigrated to Australia from Egypt a decade ago and said she experienced reluctance from workplaces to accept new migrants.

Despite having an impressive resume, which included a PhD, a Masters Degree in Business and several senior management roles at global organisations, Ms Maher said she found it impossible to gain employment.

"For almost a whole year, I couldn't find a job. I kept applying and applying and the answers that I got were things like 'you're overqualified' or 'you don't have the Australian experience'," she said.

"I think there is a general fear of employing immigrants who just arrived in the country."

As a result of the new research, Ms Kiaos recommended workplaces implement a framework that goes beyond simply using workplace diversity quotas and one-off training modules for employees.

"I think what needs to happen is a much broader approach to diversity and inclusion, it can't just be a tick the box approach," Ms Kiaos said.

She said an example of a workplace getting it right was not-for-profit domestic violence organisation White Ribbon.

"The decision making behind their operations here are really driven by people being able to speak openly and transparently about what they think about the organisation and the direction for the organisation," she said.

White Ribbon was also commended for their open plan office spaces and glass conference rooms, which encouraged dialogue and inclusion between all levels of employment.

White Ribbon CEO Libby Davies said she endeavoured to ensure her employees represented the diverse Australian demographic and felt their opinions were heard by their superiors.

"White Ribbon reflects the broader community. The work that we're doing has that interface right across the Australian community and that diversity of culture as well as the diversity of practice has to be very much exemplified by our own organization," Ms Davies said.

Ms Kiaos said she was already working with other workplaces to develop a broader and more affective framework encouraging better diversity and inclusion into the future.

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Most Australian workplaces are failing to achieve diversity: study

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Many workplaces across Australia are taking the wrong approach to diversity and inclusion across all levels of the organisations, as simple quotas and training modules fall short, a new study has found. The year-long study, run by Diversity First through Sydney University, examined diversity and inclusion practices in 42 workplaces across the country, including not-for-profits, government and private organisations.

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Facebook’s Female Engineers Claim Gender Bias

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Facebook’s Female Engineers Claim Gender Bias

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The degree to which Facebook’s female engineers face seemingly unfair scrutiny on their work is the topic of this Wall Street Journal article. The article highlights that “female engineers received 35% more rejections on their code than men”, along with other worrying gender biases (Seetharaman, 2017).

Women account for 17% of technical roles at Facebook, hence, the diversity issue being broached in this article goes far beyond a woman’s role in the workplace (Seetharaman, 2017). The statistical differences between male and female coding rejection rates is perhaps most reflective of the practices at Facebook rather than the company’s policies. We cannot take issues, like this one, at face value. Seetharaman touches on this, noting that something such as prior experience can factor into why there appears to be diversity issues in the workplace (2017). Without devaluing what is certainly a significant issue, we as readers and professionals must observe all the facts, rather than simply reading a statistic and agreeing with it.

I firmly believe that diversity does not mean hiring someone based on their diversifying traits simply to ‘fill the quota’. Instead, workplace diversity should elevate a company’s skill base by working with diverse individuals who add value to the business.

Reference:

Seetharaman, D. (2017, May 2). Facebook’s Female Engineers Claim Gender Bias. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-female-engineers-claim-gender-bias-1493737116

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Facebook's Female Engineers Claim Gender Bias

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An analysis last year by a longtime engineer at Facebook found female engineers received 35% more rejections of their code than men, setting off an internal debate over gender bias. A later study rejected those findings.

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Google is Trying Too Hard (or Not Hard Enough) to Diversify

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Google is Trying Too Hard (or Not Hard Enough) to Diversify

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Google faces tough scrutiny in this New York Times article about their handling of diversity issues in the workplace, with one of the toughest, recurring criticisms being that “Google was ‘elevating political correctness over merit’ with its diversity measures” (Wakabayashi, 2018). Several ex-Google employees’ experiences were drawn on in this article to articulate how major issues can stem from a lack of cohesion between an organisation’s diversity policies and the beliefs and values of employees.

Wakabayashi presents interesting views on diversity, views which challenge ‘the line’ of political correctness (2018). He is decidedly unbiased when addressing how both Google and its employees have each played a role in creating issues in the workplace, placing the responsibility of implementing diversity on both the actions of Google, and the response to these actions by employees.

It would be naïve as a reader to simply view Google as having failed in its role of providing a diverse workplace. Upon reflection, perhaps the most important point of this article is the lack of any party – Google or its employees – taking accountability for these issues.

Reference:

Wakabayashi, D. (20178, March 9). Google is Trying Too Hard (or Not Hard Enough) to Diversify. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/technology/google-diversity-lawsuits.html

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Google Is Trying Too Hard (or Not Hard Enough) to Diversify (Published 2018)

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The internet giant is being sued by former employees who say the company is going too far with diversity. Other lawsuits accuse it of the opposite.

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150 Executives commit to fostering diversity and inclusion.

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150 Executives commit to fostering diversity and inclusion.

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Diversity alone is not enough, without inclusion diversity is merely a number on a report for organisations to celebrate. Improving diversity numbers in organisations is only one part of the challenge, but it’s a good place to start, and that’s exactly what a group of passionate CEOs decided to do when they launched C.E.O Action for Diversity and Inclusion (ceoaction.com). When leaders lead by example and show their employees and the community that one of their core values is to build a diverse workforce, these actions are empowering employees in organisation to do the same, breeding a culture of inclusion. Recent studies show the country’s workforce is made up of 47 percent women and 37 percent minorities (Olson, 2017), reinforcing it’s a critical time for leaders to act and use their collective voices and large networks to influence positive change on the topic of diversity. This article highlights a great example of leaders using their influence in the right way and opening up a conversation on the topics that matter.

Reference:

Olson, E. (2017, June 12).150 Executives commit to fostering diversity and inclusion. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/business/dealbook/work-racist-sexism-diversity.html

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Workplace  diversity (Culture intelligence ( Yi Zhao

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Workplace  diversity (Culture intelligence ( Yi Zhao

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In a globalized business environment, people are very easy to have colleagues from another country with different culture background. I think as a leader in the team should understand his or her co-worker’s cultural background. Here are some ideas I have for this speech.
1.    Do not use judge other people based on your culture and perspective in a diverse workplace. When there is conflict happened in the workplace, leaders should look the thing from a different angle, not just in their own perspective, but also consider the co-worker’s situation and background.
2.    Dealing with people need have EI, (Emotion intelligent), However, when a leader is leading a team with multicultural, the leader needs to have Culture intelligent too. Because while you considering thing for other’s perspective, you also need to have the ability to work and lead the people are not like you.

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Cultural intelligence: the competitive edge for leaders | Julia Middleton | TEDxEastEnd

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A workplace should be a place of comfort that allows you to feel good going into each day. The policing industry is one that is looked upon very highly and should make those feel safe. However not all our women and men who work in this industry are, with a number of reports of harassment including sexual being documented and reported. Whilst there are so many documented, many more go untold and many police officers, especially women go on to suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as they feel the cost of making a complaint about colleagues will hinder their job and their positions within the industry. This article refers to the untold of how this once male dominated industry has left women feeling through the sexual harassment and the shallow comments that are made to them throughout their working days. It further identifies that workplace diversity is an issue and that police forces around Australia have a problem with the attitudes of sexism and homophobia that don’t seem to be going away anytime soon (Mann, 2018).
Each individual should feel as if there company has an open door policy no matter their diversity and the companies need to stand up for the individuals who are bringing issues and flaws to the table as is it only from these that the industry will grow from.

References:
Mann, A. (2018). The Cost of Making a Complaint. Retrieved from ABC News: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-09/the-cost-of-making-a-complaint-in-the-police-force/9397864

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Updated February 09, 2018 13:46:26

Police forces around Australia have a problem with attitudes of sexism and homophobia. And they don't seem to be going away any time soon.

'It was like a zoo'

Tucked away in a cupboard in her five-year-old son's bedroom, hide the suits of a NSW Police detective who suffered years of sexual harassment at the hands of her colleagues.

Jen* is still technically a serving police officer, but says she'll never go back.

Each coat hanger is a painful reminder of the near-constant sexualised comments and innuendo she endured.

Rifling through the cupboard,Jen holds up a simple white long-sleeved business shirt.

"This one here was when the colleague said that I had massive boobs in them, or am I wearing a push-up bra?" she says through tears.

"It's kind of awkward when you dress reasonably normal and you get stuff like that."

At one point, a supervisor noticed she'd dyed her hair, and asked a nearby group of men, "What do you reckon fellas, would you give it a go?"

Another time, a colleague pointed to his crotch and said, "Hey, suck it".

Jen says no clothes were safe.

"That's how they were in that office, it was like a zoo," she says.

"They talk about victims like that. A sexual assault victim would come in and that particular [superintendent] was like, 'That slut's down there, go get a statement off her'".

The boys club

In the past five years, independent reviews have examined the workplace culture in the Victorian and South Australian police, as well as the Australian Federal Police.

On average, almost half of the staff who participated reported having personally experienced sexual harassment or sex discrimination.

In South Australia, the review called the force a "boys club".

A decade ago, NSW Police was given comprehensive guidelines on how to change their culture and has since introduced a raft of new workplace behaviour guidelines.

The organisation's goal has been to reduce the prevalence of sexual harassment and sex discrimination in the police force, and when someone complains about that behaviour, reduce the chances they will be victimised as a result.

But a number of current and former NSW Police officers subjected to sexual harassment and sex discrimination by their colleagues spoken to by Background Briefing have slammed the organisation's internal complaints handling process as nothing more than an "arse-covering exercise".

Background Briefing has spoken to half a dozen current and former officers who have plans to sue NSW Police for personal damages relating to sexual harassment and sex discrimination they experienced at work.

When asked, NSW Police declined to say how much taxpayers are paying to police who've been sexually harassed by their colleagues.

Lawyer John Cox, who acts for many NSW Police officers who've experienced sexual harassment or who suffer from post-traumatic stress, says the enquiries to his office for legal support haven't slowed down since the review's recommendations were implemented.

"If you're asking me, has that changed the culture? Then what I'm going to say to you is that I have many, many clients with horrific stories of sexual harassment and bullying post-2007," he says.

The price of fitting in

George Torres is a 20-year veteran of the NSW Police Force and has a unique perspective on the organisation's workplace culture.

Just a few years ago he was a decorated officer acting as a Special Senior Constable overseeing security at NSW Parliament House.

He's been decorated for his bravery in disarming a knife-wielding attacker at the Sydney Police Centre by breaking his arm.

Now, that reputation is in tatters after an internal investigation found he sexually harassed female staff by relentlessly talking about anal sex and the practice of inserting ball bearings into the penis for sexual stimulation.

"When I joined the NSW Police, I thought you were allowed to swear," he says.

"You are allowed to call people names and they talk about sexual relationships."

Most of those who brought complaints against Mr Torres were new cops in their early 20s. One of them has now retired on stress leave as a result.

This is the first time Mr Torres has spoken in detail about the workplace culture he still maintains excuses his behaviour.

"I've been unfairly targeted," he says.

Mr Torres says his comments were simply "workplace banter" and he was so convinced he shouldn't have been fired that in 2016, he took NSW Police to the Industrial Relations Commission for unfair dismissal.

The union supported him and ran his legal case. Their defence was the workplace culture itself.

To understand this defence, and how it could realistically be used, it's helpful to hear Mr Torres describe his own introduction to the NSW Police Force.

It doesn't excuse his behaviour, but it does go some way to explaining how he could come to justify it.

Mr Torres came to Australia from the Philippines in 1979. And in those early days as a new migrant, he was desperate to fit in.

He says the price of fitting in when he joined in 1992 was putting up with some vile language and behaviour.

"It's like either you fit in, or you don't. Right?" he says

He says he was called "slopehead, "black c***" and "no habla inglés (does not speak English)".

"I have to fit in on that because if I get upset they might get offended and they won't talk to me anymore. That's what I feel," he says.

Reputational damage control

The Industrial Relations Commissioner found Mr Torres's behaviour was extreme and went beyond the behaviour of his male workmates. His claim was rejected.

But echoes of the culture Mr Torres describes can be found in every review into police culture that's been published in Australia since 2007.

Queensland University of Technology Professor Paula McDonald has been studying sexual harassment and sex discrimination in the workplace for more than a decade.

Most recently she advised Victoria Police on their own internal review into sexual harassment.

She says that in order to fit in, "people conform to the dominant ways of being and doing things in an organisation, [and] in policing it has a long, historical trajectory".

Each year, NSW Police officers lodge about 200 harassment complaints against their own colleagues.

About a quarter of those are for sex-based harassment.

What's impossible to say is how many were taunted, ostracised or had to watch their careers flatline as a result of their complaints.

In 2007, when the review into sexual harassment in the NSW Police was made public, it showed one in four people who complained were victimised.

Now, a State Parliament inquiry is looking into that workplace culture again ... and when we asked NSW Police for an update, they declined to say.

In a statement, a NSW Police spokesperson said: "The NSWPF has a sound framework in place to support and reinforce appropriate standards of behaviour in the workplace which includes systems, policy, programs and education and training."

The spokesperson reinforced the Police Commissioner's message, "that sexual harassment and other forms of inappropriate workplace behaviour will not be tolerated".

'Change feels a long way off'

Just three months after starting at the detectives unit, Jen told a colleague about the harassment she was experiencing at work.

She says the way this was handled completely undermined the organisation's own procedures and her own right to privacy.

"I disclosed certain things to him," she says. "And he told an inspector."

Eventually Jen was called into a meeting with her bosses and was told that now they knew about the harassment, an official complaint would have to be made and investigated.

Her superiors tried to assure her that the complaint would be handled confidentially, but it was soon obvious that word of the complaint had travelled.

"Everyone knew what was in the complaint," she says.

That internal investigation upheld the details of Jen's complaints and the officer who told her to "suck it" was sent a notice that asked him to justify why he shouldn't be fired.

When that officer tried to get his workmates to give him character references, he sent the entire complaint file around Jen's office.

It made public every detail of her once confidential complaint.

"I'm angry because I feel like I never did anything wrong. I stuck up for myself and I dealt with those things, and I just wish I didn't complain because I basically ultimately have lost my job," she says.

Background Briefing has seen the internal emails from that time that show how senior police in Jen's office tried to address the situation.

Among these were all-staff directives about the respectful workplace behaviour protocols, and how there was a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment.

They were cold comfort for Jen.

"I truly believe it's like a cover arse exercise," she says.

Professor McDonald has studied the way organisations try to ensure they not only follow their own complaints processes, but that they're seen to follow them.

She says at times the complaints handling process can be more about protecting the individual than the organisation itself.

"Because if an organisation ends up in court, they are required to prove that they took adequate steps to both prevent the harassment in the first place, to redress it where it did occur, and where they became aware of the problem," she says.

A new case every day

John Cox is a lawyer with 21 years' experience representing current and former police officers with psychological injuries and says he's approached to represent new clients every day.

Mr Cox says sexual harassment is a common thread in lots of his PTSD cases.

"So many of our female, and a certain number of our male clients I must say as well, it's part of their story," he says.

"Part of the reason that they've become psychologically unwell is the harassment that they've suffered."

After the 2007 public inquiry into sex discrimination and harassment in the NSW Police Force, a raft of new guidelines were brought in.

There's the Respectful Workplace Behaviours Guidelines, the Sexuality, Diversity and Intersex Policy, the Workplace Relations and Equity Unit, and many more.

But Mr Cox says the inquiries from traumatised police aren't slowing down.

"I think one of the challenges is changing the culture of such a vast organisation that polices the whole state," he says.

Mr Cox says while he's convinced the NSW Police Force has a genuine desire for change, that change has been slow to come.

"There are local, current local area commands, some of them have serious reputations as being poor places to work [with] poor management places, systemic bullying. Things like that," he says.

"And we know that because we act for clusters of people within those commands.

"The same people, the same bullies' names, harassers' names keep coming up. So there are certainly pockets where change is needed or change hasn't occurred."

Credits

Reporter: Alex Mann

Executive producer: Alice Brennan

Digital producers: Laura Brierley Newton and Tom Joyner

First posted February 09, 2018 05:55:51

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'It was like a zoo': The cost of making a complaint in the police force

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Updated February 09, 2018 13:46:26 Police forces around Australia have a problem with attitudes of sexism and homophobia. And they don't seem to be going away any time soon. Tucked away in a cupboard in her five-year-old son's bedroom, hide the suits of a NSW Police detective who suffered years of sexual harassment at the hands of her colleagues.

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Cracking the Glass-Culture Ceiling: Disrupting double-jeopardy to unlock the talents of culturally diverse women

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Cracking the Glass-Culture Ceiling: Disrupting double-jeopardy to unlock the talents of culturally diverse women

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As more culturally diverse women enter the Australian workforce, many are being locked out of leadership opportunities due to what is known as double jeopardy, where gender and cultural background combine. Companies who are adopting culturally diverse people are seeing more positive results in regards to their success. This article dives into culturally diverse women and their views on the workplace in regards to their experiences in the workplace, their progression in the workplace and what organisations can do better to harness their talents (Diversity Council Australia, 2017). A shocking 1 in 10 culturally diverse women strongly agreed that their leadership skills and traits were recognised or that their opinions were valued and respected (Diversity Council Australia, 2017). This article and survey identified that there are 6 key barriers that are locking culturally diverse women out of progression within the workforce and are were the focus needs to be put. As Company Director Ming Long says “There is a deep pool of highly capable and talented culturally diverse women out there. If we do not harness this, we risk missing out on talent, skills and most importantly new perspectives” (Diversity Council Australia, 2017). We need to open our eyes and adapt ourselves to this diversity in order to move Australian businesses forward and allow for competitive advantage with other companies across the globe.

References:
Diversity Council Australia. (2017). Cracking the Glass Culture Ceiling. Retrieved from Diversity Council Australia: https://www.dca.org.au/media-releases/cracking-glass-cultural-ceiling-disrupting-double-jeopardy-unlock-talents-culturally

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Given only 2% of ASX directors are culturally diverse women, there is strong evidence that 'double jeopardy' (when gender and cultural background combine) is locking these women out of leadership opportunities. For the first time ever in Australia, Diversity Council Australia and The University of Sydney Business School have asked culturally diverse women about their experiences in the workplace, what is preventing them from progressing and what organisations can do to better harness their talents.

DCA talked with over 230 culturally diverse women who are leaders or aspiring leaders in Australian-based organisations in its new report, Cracking the Glass-Cultural Ceiling: Future Proofing Your Business in the 21st Century, said DCA's CEO, Lisa Annese.

"These women told us that gender equality initiatives typically benefitted women from Anglo-Celtic backgrounds, and that cultural diversity initiatives typically benefitted culturally diverse men. It's time to bridge the divide and focus on how diversity and inclusion efforts can benefit culturally diverse women, and organisations across Australia," said Lisa.

Prominent company director, Ming Long, who participated in the research and recently joined the DCA Board, said Australian companies are missing out.

"There is a deep pool of highly capable and talented culturally diverse women out there. If we don't harness this, we risk missing out on talent, skills and important new perspectives. With an increasingly global marketplace and disruption, this is something Australian organisations can't afford not to do," said Ming.

Key report findings:

Culturally diverse female talent are ambitious, capable and resilient

Ambitious. 88% of culturally diverse female talent we surveyed planned to advance to a very senior role and 91% said mobility into leadership was extremely or very important.

Capable. 66% of culturally diverse female talent spoke a language other than English when at home, and 37% had a bi/multicultural identity so are able to communicate across cultural contexts.

Resilient. Culturally diverse women reported that their personal resilience had been key to them retaining their leadership aspirations in the face of the career barriers.

But they are under-leveraged, under-valued and likely to resign

Under-leveraged. Only 15% of participants strongly agreed that their organisation took advantage of workforce diversity to better service clients or access new markets.

Under-valued. While 88% of culturally diverse women planned to advance to a very senior role, only 1 in 10 strongly agreed that their leadership traits were recognised or that their opinions were valued and respected.

Moving on. 26% agreed that cultural barriers in the workplace had caused them to scale back at work (i.e. reduce their ambitions, work fewer hours, not work as hard, and/or consider quitting) and 28% said it was likely they would seek another job within the next year.

​Key barriers are locking out these women

1. Lack of relationship capital - A lack of access to sponsorship, mentoring and networking prevents culturally diverse women from progressing into leadership positions.

2. Amplified bias - The combination of gender and cultural biases compounds culturally diverse women's lack of career progress and opportunities.

3. Divisions in driving change - Perceptions that organisational changes, designed to benefit culturally diverse women, represent an unfair advantage.

4. Masculine western leadership models - Models used for assessing talent are inherently biased towards more masculine Western or 'Anglo' leadership styles.

5. Lack of flexibility - Full-time face-time cultures, lack of genuine managerial engagement with flexibility, and stigma associated with flexible workers mean organisations are failing to make flexibility standard business practice.

6. Lack of accountability - A culture of disinterest/lip service and few measurable objectives contribute to a lack of leadership accountability for delivering on diversity and inclusion.

​Drawing on these findings, DCA has crafted an organisational framework for action to dismantle these six barriers and unlock the talents of culturally diverse women. For more information, download the infographic, the synopsis report or contact DCA for the members-only full report. Or download the media release with additional information. About the research
Cracking the Glass-Cultural Ceiling: Future Proofing Your Business in the 21st Century is a partnership research initiative between Diversity Council Australia and The University of Sydney Business School, Google, Aurecon, Commonwealth Bank, and Deloitte.

The research comprised an extensive review of international and national research; an on-line survey of 366 female leaders and aspiring leaders from a diversity of backgrounds; four Think Tanks with 54 culturally diverse female leaders and emerging leaders; and 15 individual interviews with culturally diverse women who were in high-profile, very senior roles.

'Culturally diverse women' refers to any women who identified in the survey as being only from a non-Main English Speaking Country cultural background (according to the ABS these are countries other than Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States of America).

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Cracking the Glass-Cultural Ceiling: Disrupting 'double jeopardy' to unlock the talents of culturally diverse women

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Embargoed to 4:00am, 7 September 2017 Given only 2% of ASX directors are culturally diverse women, there is strong evidence that 'double jeopardy' (when gender and cultural background combine) is locking these women out of leadership opportunities.

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Different genders, different lives is the reality of men and women being compared within the workplace and how their genders play a role on their decisions made and the way they are perceived. This article provides an outline of how gender bias effects not only women but men as well throughout their lifetime in the work force (Workplace Gender Equality Agency, 2018). It is known and seen that gender differences in pay and promotions are evident in most workplaces with the data there to prove it (Workplace Gender Equality Agency, 2018). This article further demonstrates that it is isn’t a one given moment that leads a woman to a feeling of inequality but is rather formulated throughout a lifetime of exposure to gender stereotypes and the hindering effects on womens opportunities in education and pay (Workplace Gender Equality Agency, 2018).
Gender equality needs to go both ways for males and females in order for workplaces to get the right balance. Both men and women should receive equal flexibility and the same priviledges and pay, without feeling hindered.

Reference:
Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2018). Different Genders, Different Lives. WGEA.

https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/PP_different_genders_different_lives.pdf

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Australia is a multicultural country but “20% of Australians experience racial discrimination of some kind. About 11% say that they’ve been excluded from the workplace or from social settings because of their race, about 5% say that they’ve experienced physical assault because of their racial background.” And that's just Australian citizens, if foreigners living in Australia were included in the count I’m sure those numbers would be far higher. The article starts off by focusing on ‘Beyond Blue’s’  advert about discrimination against Aboriginals and Torres Straight islanders and then goes on to include other ethnic minority’s living in Australia and the positive but on going changes in Australian culture. Australia sees a lot of benefits from its multicultural population when and where people are accepted and given opportunities. In business human resource management needs to be aware of the issues, do something to minimise discrimination and maintain a healthy working environment. “The world is for us to share and respect.” “To be renovative and integrate.”

Reference:
Soutphommasane, T. ( 2015). Culture diversity in the workplace. Human rights commission. Retrieved https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/cultural-diversity-workplace-0

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Many of you will have seen some advertisements not long ago from Beyond Blue's Stop. Think. Respect. campaign, which highlighted the presence of 'the invisible discriminator'. The advertisements were aired to raise awareness about the harms of racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They featured a number of scenarios.

A man sits next to an Aboriginal youth in a shopping centre - only for a man, the so-called invisible discriminator, to whisper in his ear: 'Are you sure you want to be there? Maybe you should slide over'. The next scene, we see a woman walk into a corner shop getting herself a pint of milk: the invisible discriminator emerges to whisper in the shopkeeper's ear: 'Are you sure you know what she's doing?' Then you have a woman stepping onto a bus: the bus is almost full, there's one seat free next to an elderly Aboriginal man who picks up his bag to make the seat vacant. But the invisible discriminator tells this young woman: 'Don't make eye contact.' The young woman declines to take the seat and remains upstanding on the bus. Perhaps most pertinent to all of us here today, there's another scene, involving an interview. A young Aboriginal candidate is there, sitting across the recruiter and the invisible discriminator emerges once more: 'Could you really rely on her?'

Those advertisements may have been aimed at raising awareness about racism for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but their content are applicable to cultural diversity more generally. Could you really rely on her? Do you think this candidate really has the right fit? Could you imagine, really imagine, this person managing this project? Do you think they could really do this under pressure? Could you really imagine them as a leader? These are some of the questions an invisible discriminator may be posing in that scenario involving an interviewee of a minority racial or ethnic background.
Australia's cultural diversity and multiculturalism
Let me share with you some other scenarios, quite different from what I've just mentioned. I want to talk to you about the old neighbourhood where I grew up, here in South West Sydney.

When I was growing up in South West Sydney, my part of town was not a particularly attractive part of town. It was the 1990s and if you wind your clocks back a little, you'll remember that a place called Cabramatta was the heroin capital of Australia, the hub of ethnic crime. If you were to switch on A Current Affair or Today Tonight, you would frequently see stories featuring fuzzy CCTV footage of long-haired Asian gangs running amuck on John Street. To an extent, the reputation that Cabramatta had was well-earned: there was a problem with drugs, it wasn't a pleasant place. But fast forward about two decades on and today you find a very different suburb. In fact, for those of you visiting Sydney this week, if you were to pick up a brochure about what to do in the city, you would most likely find Cabramatta being mentioned as a food destination, a place where you can make a day trip to sample the authentic delights of South East Asia. Ethnic ghetto one decade, a tourist attraction the next.

I do reflect, though, growing up in that area. I used to catch my bus and my train to school from Cabramatta Train Station. But I think about the town square there, where there is an ornate gate that was erected in the 1990s. It has on it a number of inscriptions in a number of different languages, in Chinese, in Vietnamese, in Khmer, in Lao and in English. The inscriptions on one side say, 'The world is for us to share and respect.' On the other side, it says, 'To be renovative and integrate.' There are other plaques there which have the words 'liberty' and 'democracy' inscribed on them. If you look at that gate and how it has stood the test of time, what you have is you have a physical expression of a community's aspiration to integrate into a community, perhaps to renovate some of their traditions and some of their receiving society's traditions as well.

We can take a great deal of pride in our success as a multicultural country. Very few countries have managed to conduct the programme of immigration that this country has had since the end of the Second World War period - and do so without experiencing significant social fragmentation or division. But if that is the case, if we have been a successful multicultural country, how then do we reconcile the persistence of racial discrimination, how do we reconcile the lingering, insidious presence of that invisible discriminator who continues to whisper in the ears of many, including in the workplace? We're talking about a society where about 20% of Australians experience racial discrimination of some kind. About 11% say that they've been excluded from the workplace or from social settings because of their race, about 5% say that they've experienced physical assault because of their racial background. So the problem we're talking about here is far from marginal; it is something much more prevalent than what you might expect.
Diversity in the workplace
Today I'd like to talk about cultural diversity in the workplace - about the case for embracing cultural diversity. But I also would like to challenge you about how you should deal with cultural diversity, because too often we think of diversity as just being about festivals, about being about lunches or maybe an event or two that we should have in our workplace to celebrate our diversity and show how inclusive we are. Let me ask you: is that enough? Are you doing enough? Or are the things that you're doing designed more to mollify our own feelings than to tackle the real challenges brought up by diversity?

Our workplaces across the country are, of course, manifestations of the diversity that we have. Here's a quick picture of what Australian society looks like: 28% of our population was born overseas; another 20% have a parent who was born overseas; about 20% of our population speaks a language other than English at home. To put it in one way, we can say that almost half the population is either first generation or second generation Australian.

In our workplaces, most of us would accept cultural diversity as part of everyday life. If we were to think though about why embracing or being explicit about celebrating diversity matters, I think we can put it in the following terms: it is about capturing talent, it is about boosting innovation, it is about encouraging productivity. Let's think about what the future Australian workforce is going to look like. If we are talking about a country that still takes in a significant number of immigrants every year, where almost half that population is first or second generation, then this diversity isn't likely to diminish in any way. If you think of the source countries of our migration at the moment, the two biggest source countries are now India and China. Diversity will endure.

There's a negative case too - if we can call it that - for thinking about cultural diversity in the workplace. Where an organisation is able to manage its cultural diversity and be inclusive, it is more likely to reduce the cost of staff turnover, more likely to minimise legal and compliance risks, more likely to negotiate any negative publicity that may arise from mismanaging a case involving diversity. There are some interesting statistics from America, which illustrate that share prices for publicly listed companies can drop significantly within 24 hours when a diversity related complaint becomes public.

There's also a positive case. Economists from Stanford University and the University of Chicago recently finalised some research looking at labour productivity in the United States from 1960 to 2008 and they found that 20% of productivity growth over that time can be attributed to a reduction in racial discrimination. Other research shows that companies with high executive and board diversity had returns on equity that were on average 53% higher than those with low levels of diversity. In the US over a 10 year period, the top 50 companies for diversity outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index by 25.8% and the NASDAQ by 28%. In the Financial Times, there was a report about a study by the American Sociological Association which found that every 1% rise in gender ethnic diversity results in a 3-9% rise in the sales revenue. So the numbers look pretty convincing and compelling when you aggregate all of that. The picture's pretty clear.

So how then do we embrace diversity in the workplace? What does this practically look like? We can reduce it to a question: is it about festivals or fairness? I'm sure we all here love our Harmony Day lunches on 21 March. Many of you would have had delicious lunches in your workplace; you might have might have encouraged workers to dress up in their ancestral costumes or do something to express their cultural heritage.

Now I think it's worth reflecting on where Harmony Day comes from. Harmony Day, 21 March, happens to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Now that has a slightly different ring to it. But 21 March was proclaimed by the United Nations as that day in 1966 to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa which occurred on the 21st of March 1960. There you had 5000 people gathering in this township to protest against new laws that had been introduced by the apartheid government, namely, the so-called 'pass laws' which required all black men and women to carry personal identification papers. Anyone who was found without a reference book was to be arrested and detained for up to 30 days.

There was a protest. It began as a peaceful protest. But what began as a peaceful demonstration ended in bloodshed, because three hours into the protest, police moved to disperse the thousand strong crowd. Up to 300 police officers in armoured vehicles opened fire into the protesting crowd. Sixty-nine people were killed, more than 100 people were injured. Here's what the Police Commander of the Sharpeville township said, a Mr D H Pienaar: he said it started 'when hordes of natives surrounded the police station. If they do these things, they must learn their lessons the hard way.'

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the origin of Harmony Day. It's worth us thinking about what it is exactly that we commemorate on the 21st of March, I think we can probably do both, we can probably celebrate our diversity, but it does strike an odd note to find that the true provenance of Harmony Day is often unknown.
How well are we doing?
For all of our cultural diversity, for all of our multicultural success, we don't seem to see this being replicated at the levels of leadership in our institutions. Let's begin with our most public of institutions, our parliaments. Let's begin specifically with our Federal Parliament. We have 226 members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, but only a handful of those 226 come from non-European backgrounds. There are only currently two who are of Indigenous background. If you look at our public service, you see a similar pattern as well. Let me just read to you the list of the names of the 17 heads of Federal Government Departments. Moraitis, Glyde, Clarke, Richardson, Paul, Leon, Tune, Varghese, Halton, Campbell, Bowles, Beauchamp, Mrdak, Pratt, de Brouwer, Thawley, Lewis, Fraser. Now there's only one of those names that comes from a non-European background. You might say well maybe it's a bit unfair if we are just look at Departmental Secretaries; if we were to look the rung below, perhaps we might find a different, more positive, encouraging picture. Well, based on an exercise I did in 2014, of the 64 Deputy Secretaries in the Australian Public Service at the time, there were only a handful of those with non-European backgrounds. Of the 81 Departmental Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries in Canberra, less than 5% come from non-European backgrounds.

Let's consider as well our universities and the senior leadership of our universities. Again I did an informal audit of the Group of Eight last year at the levels of Vice-
Chancellor, Provost, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Pro Vice-Chancellor. Of the 49 senior executives at these ranks in the Group of Eight universities, I identified a total of four who had non-European cultural backgrounds, which comes to about 8%.

What about the private sector? In the past year or so, the Diversity Council of Australia studied the cultural origins of Australia's business leaders. They did so with particular attention to leaders from and Asian cultural background. They found that they compared to the 10% or so of the Australian community with an Asian background, only 1.9% of executive managers and 4% of directors have Asian cultural origins.

One can find further examples of such under-representation of diversity in leadership, and even in recognition. Consider the honours lists around Australia Day and the Queen's Birthday. I give you the example of the Queen's Birthday Honour's List from last year. You may recall that at the time that there were vocal criticisms - and rightly so - that women comprised only 32% of the recipients of the Order of Australia awards handed out on the Queen's Birthday. What was interesting to me, though, is that no-one seemed to be interested in the almost complete absence of non-European background Australians among those awarded ACs, AOs and AMs. So, again, based on a quick, informal audit of the 800 odd recipients of Queen's Birthday Honours in 2014, there were only about 25 names of apparent non-European background. That comes to about 3% of the total. To give you some sense of how this stacks up in terms of representativeness, this would be equivalent to women comprising only 15% of total honours recipients.

I make this point of comparison here very deliberately, because I think in our conversations about diversity and inclusion, sometimes there isn't much oxygen left for a conversation about race after we have a conversation about gender. That is a real pity. It is a pity if advances in diversity and inclusion were to occur unevenly, whether that's across gender or race or disability or sexual orientation. To put it another way, you could say that breaking the glass ceiling or cracking the cultural ceiling are things which are not to be regarded as mutually exclusive. Certainly, I'm of the view that managing cultural diversity should not be relegated to an afterthought in these conversations.
Dealing with discrimination
So how are we to deal with all of this? And how are we to explain that persistence of such under representation of cultural diversity?

Discrimination is a factor: we know that. I draw your attention to research done by Australian National University in 2010 involving resumes, 4000 resumes which were sent to prospective employers. Many of you will be familiar with this example: all the qualifications were identical, they involved people who were born in Australia (so can be assumed to have mastery of the English language). The only variable that was amended was the names. Some had Anglo-Saxon sounding names, some had Chinese sounding names, some had Middle-Eastern sounding names, some had Italian sounding names, some had Aboriginal sounding names. The researchers found that if you had a Chinese sounding name, you had to apply 68% more times in order to be invited to interview compared to someone with an Anglo-Saxon sounding name. If you had a Middle-Eastern sounding name, you needed to apply 64 more times to be invited to interview. If you had an Italian sounding name, 12% more. The one aberration that was found in the research was that in Melbourne it was in fact an advantage if you had an Italian sounding name, not a disadvantage.

Now you might say such findings relate only to discrimination at the entry level of employment. Discrimination, if it does occur at other levels in an organisation, can be more difficult to identify. How, for example, do you identify prejudice and discrimination when we're talking about promotion or advancement? And I think this is part of the difficulty we have with having a conversation about cultural diversity and leadership. Quite often, it is going to be subtle. It's going to be very difficult to disentangle from other judgements or evaluations that you may be making about people's suitability for leadership.

I do want to say a little about unconscious bias and culture because this is important to our conversation. It is important that we are able to identify this as a possible cause for the under-representation of diversity. And for me, unconscious biases cannot be separated from broader social attitudes that we may have about our cultural diversity.

There's particular value in looking at how unconscious bias might exist, for example, with respect to one group that has been typically identified as a model minority. Now as a general proposition, the data tells us that the children of migrants are out-performing the children of native born Australians when it comes to education and employment. Those of Asian cultural background over the last three decades or so have been readily identified as part of a model minority stereotype. Picture the law-abiding, hardworking family with studious, obedient children. Now, so far as stereotypes go, you might think this is pretty benign. Surely, if this is a stereotype, it is a good stereotype; it doesn't reflect any adverse judgement based on culture or ethnicity.

But if we were to look at the positive stereotypes or evaluations that we make, we may find them to be double-edged in nature. What one person may regard, for example, as the qualities of being inoffensive and diligent and productive, can sound a lot like another way of saying passivity, acquiescence, subservience. These can be embedded in the evaluations that we make and the responses that people make to unconscious bias when they may have experienced it can contribute to this. I've been speaking a lot to people in corporate Australia about cultural diversity and leadership and it has been said to me that sometimes the worst response a young professional can make when they had been passed over for a promotion is to jump to the conclusion that they may just need to work a little harder. To think that the next report or the next pitch is going to be even better than the last one - to be convinced that sheer work and merit will ensure that their boss cannot overlook them for that next promotion. It may be the case that some from particular cultural backgrounds are especially prone to thinking in those terms. But the way that such responses can be interpreted by those in leadership positions can be quite different. Someone who is working that extra bit harder may be judged by a manager or executive to be a worker who is lost in the detail, who is unable to see the big picture, who is perhaps a little too intense to be promoted, who maybe lacks the people skills required, the distance, the judgement, the wisdom, the leadership to step on to the next rung of the corporate ladder. Which all goes back to some of those questions that I posed at the outset involving our imaginary, invisible discriminator. Do you think they really have the right fit? Could you really imagine them managing this piece of work? Do you really think they could do this under pressure? Can you really imagine them as a leader?
How we should respond
Let me speak now about the responses that can be made to all of this and some of the work we do at the Australian Human Rights Commission. A central part of our educational work involves the National Anti-Racism Strategy, which has been running since 2012 and which aims to empower Australians to speak out against prejudice and discrimination. As part of that work, we have a public awareness campaign called 'Racism. It Stops With Me'. What we do with the campaign is we invite organisations across the country interested in demonstrating their commitment to tolerance and diversity and inclusion to join as supporters, to undertake some work in countering prejudice. To date, we've had organisations from corporate Australia and higher education and sport, from local government, to name but a few areas, come on board. At the moment, we have about 350 organisations that have done this.

We think it's a modest but important way that organisations can signal that they are taking prejudice and discrimination seriously, because we can't combat this problem through legislation alone - although I do think legislation does play a fundamental role in setting the tone of our society. Many of you will be familiar of course with the intense debate that has taken place during the past year and a half or two years around the Racial Discrimination Act, particularly the racial vilification provisions of 18C and 18D. Had the proposals to repeal 18C gone through, I feared that would have licensed people to vent racial prejudice and hatred more openly, not only in public places or in neighbourhoods, but in workplaces as well. Why? Because the law rightly dictates the standard that is acceptable in our society.

In addition to our 'Racism. It Stops with Me' campaign, we conduct more systemic work around discrimination. Take the Cultural Diversity Workplace Tool that we have developed to help organisations gauge how well they're embracing cultural diversity: you can go and do this online, it's free and confidential, via culturaldiversity.humanrights.gov.au. What the tool consists of is 30 items across areas including leadership, strategy, staff, culture and monetary. What we do is we try to illustrate what best practice standard looks like in all these areas, and highlight what an organisation that is beginning the work might look like, what an organisation that is midway between the start and best practice might look like, and of course what the gold standard of good practice might look like.

Let me conclude now with some questions for you. What is exactly the role of Human Resources professionals in all of this? I'm interested in your answers, but I do believe the challenge that we have is one about changing attitudes. And it's one that can be summed up in three words: empathy, power, privilege. In order to understand what prejudice and discrimination look and feel like, we need first to be able to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who may be on the receiving end of prejudice and discrimination.

We should be clear that empathy doesn't require us to do an exercise of impersonation. We don't, for example, need to conduct a radical experiment in the form what John Howard Griffin, an American journalist in the 1950s, did. Deciding that he wanted to understand racial segregation, Griffin, a white American, underwent ultraviolent treatments and began taking drugs in order to turn his fair skin into a darker pigmentation. Now we don't need to do anything as radical as that to be able to empathise. Quite often, it begins with just asking people about their experiences and listening.

As for power and privilege - when we're challenging prejudice and discrimination, we are in one very basic sense challenging power. If we are not honest about that, we will not get anywhere. It is not about fairness alone. It is about ensuring that the status quo does not serve to advantage others and disadvantage others. Related to that is privilege. Can someone who does not ever have to experience discrimination be honest about the possible privilege that they may be experiencing? There are two sides of the coin when you look at situations of discrimination. Let's return quickly to that ANU study involving resumes, which found that people with Chinese sounding names or Middle-Eastern sounding names suffered from ostensible discrimination. Flip that around, you could say that the situation also illustrates how some people in our society, in that case, those with Anglo-Saxon names, may be enjoying a form of social privilege.

But I leave you with this question. Which interest do you serve as a Human Resources professional or diversity and inclusion practitioner? I've spoken to some who have suggested to me that if you're really serious about diversity and inclusion, you can't put your faith in human resources, at least in human resources alone. We can all agree that leadership is important, but whose interest do you serve in your work? There is, naturally enough, an organisational interest in harmony, in stability, ensuring that people can get along. But if we are in the business of challenging power, or if we find it necessary to ask people to think about privilege, there may be times when disruption might be necessary.

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IntroductionMany of you will have seen some advertisements not long ago from Beyond Blue's Stop. Think. Respect. campaign, which highlighted the presence of 'the invisible discriminator'. The advertisements were aired to raise awareness about the harms of racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They featured a number of scenarios.

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The video promotes how happy Australia Post employees are to be working in a culturally diverse work place. Australian Post has employees from more than 138 different nationalities. The Human resource management of Australia post have done a good job in creating diversity in the workplace. The manager can see the importance of diversity in the workplace in a multicultural country like Australia. Australia Post has realised the benefit of a diverse workplace positively impacting the experience of customers and the community. Australian post run the program that aims to increase education, training and employment options for young refugees. The program results in happy, appreciative employees who work hard and promote the business. The employees feel respected and get on well with their colleagues. Workplace diversity helps in building a great reputation for the company, leading to increased profitability and opportunities for workers.

Reference:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=05-H96tmQs0

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Asian and Muslim women get discriminated against in Australian workplaces

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Asian and Muslim women get discriminated against in Australian workplaces

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The article talks about how non white women are not given equal opportunities in the work place and are discriminated against predominantly by white men. Muslim women especially are not considered for leadership roles. The article states only “12 per cent of culturally diverse women surveyed strongly agreed they had the same opportunities in their workplace as anyone else with commensurate ability and experience”. It does not mention culturally diverse males or Caucasian females who may also feel discriminated against in the work place.

When an organisation actively assess their handing of workplace diversity issues and develops and implements diversity plans multiple benefits are reported.

I think the work place is becoming more fair and equality is becoming more of a reality but the change is happening too slowly, job hunting and moving into more senior positions is still harder for females and ethnic minorities.

People need to be taught about different cultures and to accept and encourage diversity which will improve the environment in the workplace.

Reference:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/careers/asian-and-muslim-women-get-discriminated-against-in-australian-workplaces-report-20170906-gybvxx.html

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Women told to 'move overseas'

The tale above was one of many similar stories featured in the report, Cracking the Glass-Cultural Ceiling: Future Proofing Your Business in the 21st Century. The report found only 12 per cent of culturally diverse women surveyed strongly agreed they had the same opportunities in their workplace as anyone else with commensurate ability and experience.

Some women said "well-meaning" mentors had recommended they move overseas where their "difference" would be viewed as an asset rather than a liability. "They see you as three strikes and you're out - a woman, a woman with children, and a woman with an accent," a respondent said.

Male Anglo-Celtic leaders preferred and selected people who dressed, looked and sounded like themselves. "It's like a voting system that doesn't work because, well, look who's voting," another respondent said.

Muslim women also reported discrimination and intolerance. "Stereotypes about Muslim women result in them being written off as leadership material," a respondent said. "They see a hijab and think I must be subjugated and I'm submissive and passive and therefore not able to lead."

Not valued

The report found that, while 88 per cent of culturally diverse female talent surveyed planned to advance to a very senior role, only one in 10 strongly agreed that their leadership traits were recognised or that their opinions were valued and respected.

Further, 26 per cent said cultural barriers in the workplace had caused them to scale back at work, including reducing their ambitions and working fewer hours. And 60 per cent of culturally diverse female executives and 79 per cent of senior managers surveyed were considering leaving their employers in the next year.

The report suggests raising awareness about common gendered cultural stereotypes, that leaders and colleagues commit to understanding different cultures, and ensure that unconscious bias training considers this. In the same way companies are setting and reporting on gender-based targets, the report suggests they also report publicly on cultural diversity inclusion and outcomes.

The number of culturally diverse women in ASX100 and ASX200 companies is minuscule. Only 2 per cent of ASX directors are culturally diverse women. In 2015, there were fewer than 25 female ASX200 senior executives, chief executives or chief financial officers, and 10 or less women in each of these positions in ASX100. The numbers of culturally diverse women in these categories were even smaller.

Time for quotas?

They see you as three strikes and you're out - a woman, a woman with children, and a woman with an accent.
Survey respondent

AMP Capital Funds Management and DCA board member Ming Long, who participated in the research, told Fairfax Media it was time for gender-based quotas, noting they had worked in Sweden. "The case for quotas is getting much stronger because we're not seeing the pace of change we need for women and, when it comes to ethnic women, we're still in the dark ages."

Ms Long said given women were making the bulk of purchasing decisions, it made sense to have more women, including women of non-Anglo saxon backgrounds, on boards.

The report notes that the Australian "multicultural market" has an estimated purchasing power of more than $75 billion a year, while the global buying power of women is estimated to reach $40 trillion by 2018.

"I'd love to challenge leaders to actually speak to ethnic women they have in their business, get to know them and earn their trust, " Ms Long said. "They've probably been overlooked for leadership. Please, look beyond gender and ethnicity. You might actually find there's a gem in your midst."

Google, Aurecon, the Commonwealth Bank and Deloitte also supported the research. Google had to face hard questions following the anti-diversity memo from one of its US-based engineers James Damore.

Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Jason Pellegrino said: "We strive to create an environment where everyone can feel comfortable bringing their best selves to work, so they can be more innovative, creative, and inspired."
Female ASX leaders with non-Anglo-Celtic cultural origins make up: * 15 of all 1482 chief executives * 44 of all 2327 senior executives * 188 of all 7491 directors * 55 of all 1350 chief financial officers. Follow Nassim Khadem on Facebook and Twitter.

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the university of sydney business school

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Asian and Muslim women get discriminated against in Australian workplaces: report

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The tale above was one of many similar stories featured in the report, Cracking the Glass-Cultural Ceiling: Future Proofing Your Business in the 21st Century. The report found only 12 per cent of culturally diverse women surveyed strongly agreed they had the same opportunities in their workplace as anyone else with commensurate ability and experience.

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Fairness of work the way forward for Women and Minorities

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Fairness of work the way forward for Women and Minorities

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Williams and Multhaup (2018) in their article divulge in the idea that managers must fairly share work load to effectively manage diversity (para. 4). The article explains that while diversity can be present in the workplace, biasness leads to high turnover. For workplace diversity to be most effective it has to go hand in hand with fair inclusion from leaders.

The article makes a valid point that stereotyping is still present in society which can lead to a toxic work environment for diverse people. It does make sense that women would be asked to do menial tasks such as organising papers or making coffee and this is wrong. By having a system where people who can properly complete menial tasks are rotated, this will be most effective in leadership managing diversity.
When a company can remove stereotyping and fairly include diversity In the workplace, this is how they can achieve a competitive advantage in their industry.

References

Williams, J. C., & Multhaup, M. (2018, March 5). For Women and Minorities to Get Ahead, Managers Must Assign . Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2018/03/for-women-and-minorities-to-get-ahead-managers-must-assign-work-fairly

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Strong Leadership must be supportive with Diversity

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Strong Leadership must be supportive with Diversity

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Phillips, Dumas, and Rothbard (2018) affirm that companies who wish to increase diversity and promote the careers of racial minorities should use processes to make minorities comfortable and reduce stress (para. 9).

Having a different background or gender can make it harder for employees to open up. Trusting another co-worker takes a large amount of risk, in which some instances can backfire. Heading away from the typical alcohol based events and towards work games is a great idea to break the ice in a more professional manner. When a company can support employees interacting in a friendly way this can increase retainment of diverse staff, motivation, friendliness and decrease conflict and turnover.

While it is important to give a helping hand, career progression and standing out comes into a persons internal qualities rather than an organisation helping everyone achieve what they are after. While every minority should be included, career progression comes down to workers feeling familiar and close. Staff advancement must be based on unbiased factors such as being ambitious.

References

Phillips, K. W., Dumas, T. L., & Rothbard, N. P. (2018, March-April). Diversity and Authenticity. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2018/03/diversity-and-authenticity

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For the first time in our history, there are five generations working side by side. This thought-provoking report written by Birkman (2016), considers age differences in the workplace and the specific challenges faced by organisations, teams and individuals across the generations (from traditionals born before 1945 to generation Z born since 2000). Although this report focuses on the American workplace, much of the commentary is relatable here in Australia.

Evident in literature, the subject of diversity covers a wide range of topics, yet many organisations limit their definition of diversity to gender and ethnicity, tragically generational diversity often remains overlooked. According to this report, employers are struggling to balance the different needs and working styles of three distinct generations currently in the workforce (baby boomers, gen X and gen Y). This conflict hinders productivity and can lead to frustrations and poor moral. I am currently facing this challenge at work, with three very different age groups in my team. Knight (2014) claims that it is up to the ‘boss’ whether a multi-generational workplace feels happy and productive or challenging and stressful, and as their team leader I am feeling the responsibility heavily.

The Birkman report asserts that leaders and teams can be trained to effectively deal with these differences through team building activities and mentoring programs. I would go a step further and say that these differences should be celebrated and seen as an advantage, a source of creativity and innovation not just simply something to be ‘dealt with’.

Birkman, (2016). How generational differences impact organizations & teams. Retrieved from https://birkman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Generational-Differences-PDF.pdf

Knight, R. (2014). Managing people from 5 generations. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/09/managing-people-from-5-generations

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Kat Kafantaris - Why having a diverse workforce pays – BBC News

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Kat Kafantaris - Why having a diverse workforce pays – BBC News

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This media article discusses the important of companies having a diverse workplace, as it has more opportunities for benefits and expansion of a positive workplace environment. Many CEO’s in Australia as stated throughout this media article, have indicated that having a diverse workplace is a key concept for successful business and provides a chance to produce better results.

Alan Joyce (chief executive of Quantas Australia) quotes “it is important to be who you are”. I agree with this 100% as society around us is continuously changing and growing, and to have a more diverse workplace, results in having multiple opinions/views on industry issues, instead of biased opinions, thus a company being able to make better decisions. Managing diversity can increase profits, reduce turnover and absenteeism (as more employees are satisfied with their workplace environment), and provides the chance for current employees whom may have been overlooked before the chance to shine (Dubrin, 2013). Any great team that follows with the CEO is allowing themselves to learn from this experience, create richer views on issues and is a source of inspiration to others.

Dubrin, A. J. (2013). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice and Skills. South-Western, USA: Cengage Learning. Pg. 442-465

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Why having a diverse workforce pays   BBC News

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Kat Kafantaris - Challenges for diversity in Australia

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Kat Kafantaris - Challenges for diversity in Australia

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It has been known for years that women do not get the same amount of recognition, job roles, pay etc. as men do. It is unfortunate and quite sad that in this 21st century, businesses don’t understand the importance of utilising woman for their strengths, knowledge, power and being able to influence others for the benefits of their organisations, and how having a diverse leadership can create a positive workplace environment for employees.

As stated in this media article, Libby Lyons, the director of Workplace Gender Equality Agency, is disgusted with the pay gap between men and women. This article discusses the impacts a pay gap can have on women during their entire career and leading into their retirement fund (superannuation). Libby states that “women’s superfunds are 50% less than men”, however, as stated in the Financial Times article about Woman and the Workplace, women bring empathy and intuition to leadership, and pose greater awareness of motivations and concerns than men do (Medland, 2012), so why is this still an issue?!

A prime example to support the two articles, is the March issue of Focus magazine that was structured around women in business in the Port Macquarie region and how each lady mentioned has helped the community/their business in one way or another. Thus, justifying the impact a female leader in the workplace can be and how an organisation can benefit by having a more diverse range in leadership!

Focus Magazine. Issue: March 2018. Woman in Business. Retrieved from http://portmacquarie.focusmag.com.au/focus-mini-mag-women-in-business-2018/

Medland, D. (2012). Woman and the Workplace: The Benefits of Gender Diversity Put to the Test. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/1fc8a3dc-0d65-11e2-97a1-00144feabdc0

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Kat Kafantaris - Average media worker is a male hipster, report warns lack of diversity is harming industry.

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Kat Kafantaris - Average media worker is a male hipster, report warns lack of diversity is harming industry.

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This article highlights the current issues in media, since majority of the workers are white males, aged 35 and are monolingual. As we all know the society around us is continuously evolving and growing with knowledge/experiences in a variety of industries, which comes from individuals and organisations adapting to cultural change. The media is such a focal point in society and to have this article raised, justifies the effects it is having on potential organisational growth and reduces the diversity that the media has potential for!

Megan Brownlow quotes “media outlets must review their strategies to improve gender and racial diversity”.

Managing diversity is one of the key issues leaders have today, as it can either have a positive or negative response (Dubrin, 2013). If managed correctly, having a diverse workplace can increase performance and productivity, whilst expanding the organisations cultural environment. For example, increasing higher media roles for woman, broadening the knowledge (views) of different cultural aspects and having open-end discussions about organisational issues with employees.

Dubrin, A. J. (2013). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice and Skills. South-Western, USA: Cengage Learning

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Updated June 07, 2016 08:20:23

A report out today warns a lack of racial and gender diversity in Australia's media is dragging down the future growth of the industry.

The research shows that instead of reflecting real world Australia, the average media worker is a white male "hipster" who lives in Sydney's inner west or eastern suburbs.

In Melbourne - Australia's second biggest media market - the typical media worker lives in the inner city suburbs of St Kilda or Richmond.

The disturbing snapshot is revealed in PwC's annual media and entertainment outlook, which urges the media sector to tackle internal culture and recruitment problems to create better diversity in ethnicity, gender and age.

The outlook examines workplace diversity in the media for the first time and says the industry is overrepresented by English monolingual staff with 75 per cent of employees white, male and aged over 35.

Megan Brownlow, who edited the outlook for PwC, told The World Today the media sector needed to face up to some disturbing truths about media workers confirmed in the geospatial modelling.

"It turns out to be the Bondi hipster - a 27-year-old white male who lives in Bondi," Ms Brownlow said.

"The top 10 suburbs for media and entertainment people are all in Sydney, either in the eastern suburbs or the inner west."

Ms Brownlow said the report showed that Australia had moved on dramatically from 1910 when the average Australian was a 24-year-old white male farmer who was Anglican and of British background.

"I think it's fairly apparent that we are not a very diverse industry," Ms Brownlow said.

"If we to fast-forward to today, the average Australian has changed from being a male to a female.

"She's a 37-year-old and her belief is not Anglican but Catholic, and she works in retail."

But when it comes to decision makers, or senior managers, the average profile is a 45-year-old white male who is less likely to be bilingual.

The PwC report reflects recent comments made by ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie that the national broadcaster needed to better mirror Australian society.

Ms Brownlow said all broadcasters, including the ABC, needed to constantly review their strategies to improve diversity.

She said the lack of diversity stemmed from "unconscious bias" or "similarity of attraction", where employers are drawn to people like themselves.

However, Ms Brownlow has highlighted Waleed Aly, who recently won a Gold Logie, as a role model of changing times in the media, along with Rebecca Maddern, who is now presenter of the Victorian version of The Footy Show on the Nine network.
Follow Peter Ryan on Twitter @peter_f_ryan and on his Main Street blog.
Topics: media, community-and-society, population-and-demographics, multiculturalism, globalisation---society, industry, business-economics-and-finance, sydney-2000, australia, melbourne-3000, vic, nsw

First posted June 06, 2016 16:03:56

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Average media worker is a male hipster, report warns diversity at risk

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Updated June 07, 2016 08:20:23 A report out today warns a lack of racial and gender diversity in Australia's media is dragging down the future growth of the industry. The research shows that instead of reflecting real world Australia, the average media worker is a white male "hipster" who lives in Sydney's inner west or eastern suburbs.

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See all the wonderful things Mariah Foley has made

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How to lead the push for diversity in the workplace. 

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How to lead the push for diversity in the workplace. 

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The article “How to lead the push for diversity in the workplace” (Thakrar, 2017), is written by Monica Thakrar which relates on how they can push businesses to more diverse within their workplace and accept individuals for who they are. Data has not only shown that businesses being diverse will tend to increase their income but will also retain more of their staff and enhance their innovative and smartness when it comes to their overall performance and achieve their goals.
Within the article there has been some examples provides such as “google” and “apple” in relation to those business trying of becoming a diverse workplace while finding ideas and different strategies to be an example to other business and to show that it works. Personally, I feel that business need to come up with goals and strategies for individuals and the business to adapted too which should result in the business becoming more diverse and accepting their employees and coworker’s opinions, culture, experiences age and gender. There was an interesting question / statement raised within this article that relates to leaders of businesses which is “So what can organisations and leaders do to reflect the growing tide of data that shows that diversity simply makes good business sense?” (Thakrar, 2017). Leaders within businesses can have a positive of negative impact / influence on the business become more diverse

Thakrar, M. (2017). How to lead the push for diversity in the workplace.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/06/09/how-to-lead-the-push-for-diversity-in-the-workplace/#61d0bfc1415b

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Gender Diversity: Female leadership in a big business growing at a glacial pace

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Gender Diversity: Female leadership in a big business growing at a glacial pace

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This article written by Joanne Gray is in relation to gender diversity and how that is a big factor within many organisations. The words “glacial pace” (Gray, 2017),  is used at the start of the article describing the proportion of women managers in Australia’s biggest companies. Which is an indicating that business isn’t too worried about having females as leaders of business. The article has provided statistics which specifies there has been 2% increase from 2014 36% to 2017 38% the ratio of women managers. (Gray, 2017).  Personally, I feel gender diversity plays an influencing aspect on the results from the statistics as it shows a low increase over the three years and still a low percentage of women taking on a management or a leadership position within a business. According to the article women are understated in leadership roles within their business which means they are less likely to receive a management or any other high positions within their workplace. To me this is a disadvantage to the females who put in time and effort into their job and want to have successes from what they do.

Gray, J. (2017). Gender Diversity: Female leadership in big business growing at a glacial pace.

http://www.afr.com/brand/boss/only-small-chinks-in-the-glass-ceiling-20171015-gz1fqh

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Gender equality is not simply about addressing the disparities between men and women, it entails so much more. It is not equal if women are mostly employed in lower level positions or earning considerably less than their male counterparts. However, despite women having higher education levels, this appears to be the case. It is alarming to see that women are still greatly underrepresented especially in leadership roles.

Data from the ABS Gender Indicators (as cited in Workplace Gender Equality Agency, n.d, para 2) indicate a considerable disparity between men and women in leadership roles. For example, males enumerate 82.7 percent of CEO roles. That equates to less than 18 percent of women in CEO positions despite 32.4 percent of women enrolled in a bachelor’s degree or above compared to 25 percent of men (Workplace Gender Equality Agency, n.d, para 3).

These figures provide strong evidence that a deep cultural change is needed even at the top level. Women’s education is failing to translate into workforce participation and necessary action is needed to drive change. For example, setting a clear diversity aspiration supported by accountability.

By embracing women in both workforce participation and leadership roles will help create and an equal and fair workplace and assist in driving economic growth (Workplace Gender Equality Agency, n.d, para 8).

Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (n.d). Women highly educated but missing from leadership roles. [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.wgea.gov.au/media-releases/women-highly-educated-missing-leadership-roles

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The Gender Diversity and Inclusion in the Australian Federal Police (AFP) (“Cultural Change”, 2016) is an informative report that addresses various issues, including the underrepresentation of women in the AFP. It also highlights that workplace diversity entails more than simply hiring more female employees to men, but rather is a mindset that should be imbedded in the organisation’s culture (“Cultural Change”, 2016, p. 31).

It is no secret that diversity is a fundamental aspect of organisations because of its ability to create effective teams through creativity and much more (“Cultural Change”, 2016, p. 6). Diversity is not a metric, instead, diversity is a mindset that is shown through an inclusive culture by embracing a diverse range of people (Schell, 2017), including women.

It is both shameful and degrading to review a report from a powerful organisation that still has a diversity issue. While the AFP recognises the problem, they also admit there is further work to be done to achieve parity (“Cultural Change”, 2016, p. 58). Despite many AFP members supporting the increase in female representation, other members stated that bringing more women into the AFP could lower standards and is discriminatory towards men (“Cultural Change”, 2016, p. 47). This resistance is of significant concern and appears to an indication of the AFP culture.

Although the 2016 statistics revealed that 35% of women comprised of the AFP workforce, the AFP aims for a 50:50 gender balance by 2026 (“Cultural Change”, 2016, p. 8). This is appearing to be a good indication proactivity in winning the fight for equal representation within the AFP.

Cultural Change: Gender Diversity and Inclusion in the Australian Federal Police. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.afp.gov.au/sites/default/files/PDF/Reports/Cultural-Change-Report-2016.pdf

Schell, C. (2017). Harnessing the power of diversity and inclusion for innovation. Retrieved from https://www.cio.com/article/3185445/it-management/harnessing-the-power-of-diversity-and-inclusion-for-innovation.html

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The disabled deserve work that suits their skills

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The disabled deserve work that suits their skills

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This article highlights the under representation of differently abled persons in the workforce and within Vocational education and training programs, and the discrepancy between the employment rates of those with and without disabilities which is 83% for people without disabilities and only 53% for those with disabilities who make up almost 4.5 million Australians (Muldowney, 2017).

The article also discusses the many benefits that organisations can gain by hiring diverse employees including: a better understanding of the community, better problem solving skills within teams, and a stronger more inclusive workplace culture that reflects the population.

Finally, it touches on the benefits that society has as a whole by creating and developing a diverse workforce, and how society itself has responsibility to provide suitable, meaningful, and rewarding employment for those who are differently abled that recognises their individual skills and abilities.

This is interesting and it is sad to see that those who have differing abilities are often unable to utilise the skills and abilities they have because of a lack of support, opportunity, or prejudice.
I agree with the CSR  view and I think that organisations in Australia have a responsibility to provide meaningful and suitable work where possible that recognises diversity and supports the skills of the individual to allow them contribute to society, and live fulfilling lives. Finally, it is important when we think of a workplace diversity programs we also include the many Australians living with disabilities.

Muldowney, S. (2017). Improving job opportunities for people with a disability. In The Black. Retrieved from https://www.intheblack.com/articles/2017/06/01/job-opportunities-people-with-disability

Pollaers, J. (2018). The disabled deserve work that suits their skills. The Australian. Retrieved from
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/opinion/the-disabled-deserve-work-that-suits-their-skills/news-story/ab42a62131fb73468b84462a7da6f69f

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Across may organisations, in various industries, it is evident and known that women are behind men when it comes to leadership and management. This is supported by statistics that have been gather through extensive research to identify where women are currently positioned in the corporate world. Such statistics indicate that women were only making up 24.7% of elected positions in the house of representatives in 2012, and only 22% of sporting board directors, across all sporting codes.

Woman in leadership should be a priority as there are more woman holding relevant qualifications that will benefit leadership in any company. More so, women’s productivity is not maximised compared to their male counterparts, due to the positions they currently hold. Again, this is evident because of the often-higher qualifications the women can obtain.

This could suggest that there is woman who want to be in the leadership positions, however are chosen behind their male counterparts.

Leaders need to be aware of the talent that is available to them. Woman in the workplace need to be expanding their productivity by suggesting and talking about the direction of their position in an organisation, as ultimately this drives teams to become more productive. There is becoming smaller tolerance for discrimination against woman, thus, the article aims to empower women to ensure they can work cohesively with male counterparts for the most beneficial outcome for the company.

Australian Human Rights Commission. (2010). Women in Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/women-leadership

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Age discrimination in the workplace happening to people as young as 45

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Age discrimination in the workplace happening to people as young as 45

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Almost of third of Australians perceived some form of age – related discrimination starting as early as 45. (Iriving, 2017). That is very young for employees and coworkers within our businesses to deal with that as they still have many years left in the workforce. Irving has conducted a national survey form 2,100 men and women aged 45 years and over, while also completed 100 phone interviews. (Iriving, 2017).  There were many interesting results that came back from these surveys, which outlined the common form of discrimination and what employees were limited too. The common for of discrimination found within in workplace was aimed at order worker and their skills and learning abilities which is an indication that they found it challenge to develop different skill and abilities fast within a workplace.  Some other results from the survey found that older employees had limited to promotion, training or opportunities within the work which is an indication that older employees have outdates skills which they slowly have to learn new ones that are required. (Iriving, 2017). The attitudes found from younger coworkers or employers towards the older employees was disgusting in relation to how limit some older employee knew or took to gather information which result in most business age discrimination. The article provides some ideas and strategies with how to deal with age discrimination within the workplace and why business should fight for it.

Iriving, J. (2017). Age discrimination in the workplace happening to people as young as 45.

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-28/age-discrimination-at-work-starts-at-45-study/8480992

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Workplace diversity equality on their mind

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Workplace diversity equality on their mind

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Melanie Burgess reports, Millennial's make up a large part of the workforce. Issues relating to gender equality and attracting talent in this demographic have required employees and employers make changes. Recent data from SEEK’s Laws of Attraction reflect 41 per cent of Millennial's require organisations to support diversity and 15.9 per cent see the importance of having senior female managers in the organisation.

SA Water is a leading agency in diversity achieving a “zero per cent gender pay gap for its 1500 employees”. This is substantially lower than the national figure of 15.3 percent. However, it is unclear if the zero per cent gap includes other diversity workers such as disability and multicultural workers.

Roch Cheroux SA Water Chief believes in fair pay stating everyone plays a role in promoting diversity and are accountable for the 1.6 million customers across the state. SA Water have a ratio of 4:5 board of directors and 2:5 general managers are female.

Burgess, M. (2017, October 14). Workplace diversity equality on their mind. The Advertiser.  Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/anznews/docview/1954416423/393FF4A3C5844D0EPQ/3?accountid=10344

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Therese                                                                                    Global Leaders See Globalization as Challenged, Not Failing 

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Therese                                                                                    Global Leaders See Globalization as Challenged, Not Failing 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6Gl_P7ZTww   |
Daniel Scheart, reports from New York on the United Nations General Assembly. Business and political leaders around the world focused on most relevant issue for today’s leaders which stimulating new thinking and inspiring actions.

Professionals are connected to support globalisation while others perceive it as a trait said Schesrt. Global leaders presented their views about advantages of inclusion and how this can benefits businesses and reduce poverty around the world.

They took action for high achievement while reaching their goals and also finding fulfilment and being a force for good in the world. They agreed on collaborative activities with the aim of thriving the next phase of development for different industries.

Insightful messages where delivered by CEO’s, entrepreneurs, innovators and others. They recognised that with everyone’s involvement the outcomes will be effective and significant. People will connected to each other and citizen will take control of their own lives in the positive way.

2nd & 3rd  article.

Transform your culture: Diversity and inclusion in the modern workplace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtv161StaNs

Inclusion is when people are invited to be at the table. The more they participate into work activities make them feel they belong.

To create a better future we must see it first of all in our mind. Walled Aly argue that we talk about integration when there is diversity and this require the acknowledgement of differences. He highlight imperatives about putting people first for transforming company into an empowering task for all. He defined integration as maximising the participation of all diverse people within the organisation or city. We are living in a diverse society and differences are real.

Australian government, DSS (The Department of Social Services, 2018), has implemented policy the multicultural Access and Equity policy which is about ensuring that Australian government programs and services meet the needs of all Australians, regardless of their cultural and linguistic background. For instance Diversity Australian https://www.diversityaustralia.com.au/our-programs/

Diversity and inclusion programs help local economies by increasing social responsibility. Leaders should be the first for valuing the inclusion of these differences including multiculturalism, workforce trends, the generation gap, gender and understanding of culture.

The Department of Social Services (DSS) has create an environment of open communication.

McCrindle reported that (McCrindle, M., 2006) the key to business success is understand these human traits, attitude shifts, social trends and mindset of the ever–changing customer and employee. A creative life begins when someone invite you to explore the world not only see it as the world.  . The DSS aim is to inspired and develop builders of tomorrow by implementing initiative and actions such as investment which enable people with capacities and abilities to succussed beyond skills and technique needed along the way. They instil a culture of a continual living and learning. Leaders create a better future by shifting from a block into a multicultural mindset of keeping people first and pulling out the best out of them. As a result citizen will know how to shift in cultures.

However, most Australian despite the policies implemented are still feeling discriminates and not includes, reported Stan Grants…. https://youtu.be/eA3UsF8yyho

The workforce are becoming more diverse and cultures of inclusion are becoming more common. A leader need to have a vision, a clear road map, milestones, be directive, be inclusive by putting people first, and then hold people accountable for results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLlv2O0V0Pg&feature=youtu.be

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How can we integrate communities | Waleed Aly | 2015 CoAct conference

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Introduction to the special issue on diversity and leadership

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Introduction to the special issue on diversity and leadership

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Theories of leadership have been developed over the years, with multiple definitions triggering academics to justify their definitions of what leadership actually means. This article identifies how the changes in the social acceptance of diversity have been filtered into organisations. However, it also examines where diversity is not being addressed on behalf of academics.

Chin (2010), explains how the 2007 American Psychologist Special Issue highlighted the traditional paradigm’s of leaderships through the customary traits and systems that were failing, in relation to, traditional leadership roles and diversity structures. Traditionally, diversity has been portrayed as cultural belonging and fairness, however, specifically in their issue there was a lack of differentiation in the diversity issues that concerned woman, racial and ethnic groups.

However, the article also delves into explaining that leadership has the potential to break boundaries. Therefore, if leaders are able to identify where their diversity is lacking they have the ability to increase their operational value because of how they are able to filter their influence into the organisation.

Chin, J. L. (2010) Introduction to the special issue on diversity and leadership. American Psychologist. 65(3). P. 150-156.

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Two speakers have pointed out the issues of women in diversity workplace. Such as the gender pay gap, inequalities, also, both of them have pointed out that female is not usually become the board of director in a large organization. Moreover, they have shown the researchers that female employees are always been underestimated.

I think in a diverse workplace, a leader has to embrace the issues of the difference between male and female. For example, many guys believe that women are lack of judgment for big decisions, and women easily to get emotional, etc. Those gender stereotypes are effective in most of the organizations. However, I think female candidates have its own advantages and strengths. A leader should be aware that women have a different mindset with male employees, they always can different perspective to find the solution.

Overall, from my personal view, for an organization, rich diversity workplace doesn't only mean have a different race and sexuality. The more important things for diversity workplace are the leaders need to understand that do more practice about to build up the diversity culture for the organization is better than just set up work policies.

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Addressing Diversity in the Workplace | Talent Connect London 2014

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The surprising solution to workplace diversity. 

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The surprising solution to workplace diversity. 

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Increasingly diversity is becoming an integral part of organisations. Interestingly, there have been studies conducted that indicate organisations that are embracing diversity, as more than just a compliance, out-perform those companies who do not prioritise diversity in the workplace.

The Ted Talk explained that embracing diversity contains opportunity for organisations, highlighting that diversity is beneficial to the overall profitability of an organisation. However, in identifying the opportunities for companies, the Talk also examined how there is a gap currently being supported by big business. An example of that is the 17 Johns running large companies, compared to the seven women holistically, running large companies.

Therefore, leaders need to identify how diversity can be opportunistic for their company. The structure of companies is changing in the face of society, in relation to acceptance and the fewer limitations people who are not males and from ethically different groups face. Leaders can embrace this idea of change, and implement into their organisation. Thus, diversity will increase operations and potentially revenue if the leaders are able to adapt to the changes that are being made by society.

Tedx Talks. (2016). The Suprising Solution to Workplace Diversity. Hamburg.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtUlRYXJ0vI

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Could gender-blind CVs end workplace discrimination?

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Could gender-blind CVs end workplace discrimination?

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This article written by Sarrah Le Marquand discusses an experiment that Westpac undertook to tackle unconscious bias when reviewing CV's.

Sarrah states that numerous studies confirm the widespread occurrence of unconscious bias, where ingrained stereotypes and social assumptions influence otherwise well-intentioned recruiters charged with hiring new staff.

Westpac will partner with the Victorian State Government to pilot an anonymous recruitment program across the company in which the applicants name and gender will be removed from their CV in the hope to have a fully inclusive workforce.

I can see the pilot working well as all recruitment should be based on merit however I would like to understand further the next steps. How are they going to combat this at the interview stage? Is this bandaiding the real issue that recruiters have the wrong mindset and need to be educated around this.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/rendezview/could-genderblind-cvs-end-workplace-discrimination/news-story/c23e908299a80e34550a58aff8cea4f9

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Australian women report 'shocking' levels of inequality, sexual harassment in new study

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Australian women report 'shocking' levels of inequality, sexual harassment in new study

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Alarming results from a survey conducted by the University of Sydney under the Women and the Future of Work study reflected one in 10 believe they have experienced sexual harassment. The Australian study surveyed over 2,000 women and 500 men aged between 16 and 40 showing 31 per cent of women believed men and women were treated equally, and 50 per cent of men reportedly thought equality existed at work.

However, the results showed women felt disrespected by senior colleagues with over half thinking men are treated better. The most disturbing results discovered “18 per cent of women with a disability; 16 per cent of women from ethnically or linguistically diverse backgrounds, and 14 per cent of women currently studying reported having experienced harassment” (Wylie, 2018) .

The article reflects some perceived bias stating the results were expected given the “gaps and traps” in women’s careers and that there is a high number of sexual harassment claim under reported. An interesting fact in the report showed that workplaces were not equipped to meet the aspirations of young women. Perhaps this is an area all workplaces could improve.

Wylie, B. (2018, March 6). Australian women report 'shocking' levels of inequality, sexual harassment in new study. ABC news. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-06/australian-women-reveal-shocking-cases-of-inequality-at-work/9516642

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Jessica Irvine’s article suggests women should stop adopting Sheryl Sandberg’s book of “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead” as there are structural barriers preventing women from career progression. Recent studies by RMIT University show little advantage is gained for women in displaying more confidence. Rather from the 7,500 participants the data showed confident men receive a 3.3 percent boost in job promotions with no boost for confident women. The data demonstrates potential bias in the treatment of women suggesting confidence does not translate into career gains, where Sandberg suggests career progression is possible if women change their behaviour. There is a suggestion that every week in Australia there is a new sexual harassment claim e.g. Michaelia Cash’s comments in the last week are enough to highlight the issues. The article ends telling women not to blame themselves for the failures for career progression but to consider the system is the problem, not us.

Irvine, J. (2018, March 4). Leaning in doesn’t pay. The Age. Retrieved from https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/leaning-in-doesn-t-pay-20180304-p4z2qq.html

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In the modern workplace, age 50 is considered old

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In the modern workplace, age 50 is considered old

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Jenny Brice discussed the challenges as you get older in the workforce and the age  that is considered to be old is getting younger at the age of 50 in modern workplaces.

The article discussed the age to be eligible for the aged pension is getting older with it going up by 6 months each year until it reaches the age of 70. This I see as a discrimination in itself as the age of 70 not all jobs will be appropriate and another flaw with this strategy is that employer's are reducing older workers in there workforce at a fast rate.

Older people trying to reenter the workforce are finding this considerably hard and a number of government initiatives to assist this has failed. It's easy for the government to get the data, change pensions policies and set up an inquiry. It is much more difficult to change a culture. This is challenging in Australia, as ageism in the workforce is as rampant as it is silent (Brice, 2016)

This is a difficult topic as I strongly agree roles change and people need to be able to move with this change, I have seen older and younger people not able to cope with change and therefore have left the workforce... the issue would be if the person was the most suitable for the role and was exited or not hired because of their age.

I see the dream of retirement getting harder for the average person.

https://www.theage.com.au/opinion/time-to-rectify-costly-age-discrimination-in-the-workforce-20160301-gn73jq.html

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One in 10 women sexually harassed at work.

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One in 10 women sexually harassed at work.

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Women in the workplace is one of the issues coming to the forefront of diversity and has been at the forefront for a long time. There is more and more research being conducted into diversity and the treatment of women in organisations. An article by The Australian with the title One-in-10 women sexually harassed at work, shows that this issue is still relevant today.

After a survey was conducted the results showed astonishing results, that “one in 10 women are being sexually harassed at work” (Tasker, 2018, para. 1). The survey showed that women wanted to be treated with respect and equally within a workplace, shouldn’t this already be happening?

Not always the case I know. Only “two thirds of women are being treated respectfully by their managers” (Tasker, 2018). This showing that times have not changed and diversity for women is still needing to be at the forefront of diversity. Overall, no matter your age, race or gender, everyone should be treated with respect within an organisation.

Tasker, B. (2018, March 6). One-In-10 Women sexually harassed at work. The Australian. Retrieved from https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/govt-urged-to-fix-gaps-for-women-at-work/news-story/0f2fb6e29a8d91cda4e466a6c1ca1c72

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Open the Internet Browser Click Tools (or "gear" icon at top right hand corner) > Internet Options > Privacy > Advanced Check Override automatic cookie handling For First-party Cookies and Third-party Cookies click Accept Click OK and OK Enabling Cookies in Internet Explorer 10, 11 Open the Internet Browser Click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.

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This piece published in the Harvard Business Review argues the positive benefits that diverse teams have on the business and the benefits they provide in complex situations that require critical thinking and problem analysis. The authors David Rock and Heidi Grant refer to a study conducted by Credit Suisse, that highlighted that having diverse individuals working together in group situations challenges the individuals way of thinking and this can in-turn develop the overall performance of the group.
The article highlights that there are three main points that contribute to the success of diverse teams: They focus more of facts, they process those facts more carefully and they are more innovative. Regarding the focus facts the authors argue that those within diverse groups are more likely to remain objective and recall facts more accurately. This focus on facts has obvious benefits to commercial organisations as this indicates that diverse teams are less likely to make mistakes and more likely to detect inconsistencies, or seize opportunities.

Finally and interesting point is that the authors argue that hiring those who are different reduces the need for conformity within the workplace, and this in-turn fosters innovation.

Whilst it is a positive that diversity can produce improved group outcomes, these are only possible if the group functions effectively and the possible challenges are understood (Amaram, 2011, p.5). It is important to understand that diverse groups, like most groups, require effective group dynamics and fundamentals to overcome diversity challenges such as communication, and to ensure those within the group are able to and to participate fully, and realise their full potential within the group (Amaram, 2011, p.5).

Amaram, D. (2011). Cultural Diversity: Implications for workplace management. Journal of Diversity Management, 2(4), 1-6 Retrieved from https://primo.csu.edu.au

Rock, D., & Grant, H. (2016). Why Diverse Teams are Smarter. In Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/11/why-diverse-teams-are-smarter

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Striving to increase workplace diversity is not an empty slogan - it is a good business decision. A 2015 McKinsey report on 366 public companies found that those in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry mean, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to have returns above the industry mean.

In a global analysis of 2,400 companies conducted by Credit Suisse, organizations with at least one female board member yielded higher return on equity and higher net income growth than those that did not have any women on the board.

In recent years a body of research has revealed another, more nuanced benefit of workplace diversity: nonhomogenous teams are simply smarter. Working with people who are different from you may challenge your brain to overcome its stale ways of thinking and sharpen its performance. Let's dig into why diverse teams are smarter.

They Focus More on Facts

People from diverse backgrounds might actually alter the behavior of a group's social majority in ways that lead to improved and more accurate group thinking. In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, scientists assigned 200 people to six-person mock jury panels whose members were either all white or included four white and two black participants. The people were shown a video of a trial of a black defendant and white victims. They then had to decide whether the defendant was guilty.

It turned out that the diverse panels raised more facts related to the case than homogenous panels and made fewer factual errors while discussing available evidence. If errors did occur, they were more likely to be corrected during deliberation. One possible reason for this difference was that white jurors on diverse panels recalled evidence more accurately.

Other studies have yielded similar results. In a series of experiments conducted in Texas and Singapore, scientists put financially literate people in simulated markets and asked them to price stocks. The participants were placed in either ethnically diverse or homogenous teams. The researchers found that individuals who were part of the diverse teams were 58% more likely to price stocks correctly, whereas those in homogenous groups were more prone to pricing errors, according to the study, published in the journal PNAS.

Diverse teams are more likely to constantly reexamine facts and remain objective. They may also encourage greater scrutiny of each member's actions, keeping their joint cognitive resources sharp and vigilant. By breaking up workplace homogeneity, you can allow your employees to become more aware of their own potential biases - entrenched ways of thinking that can otherwise blind them to key information and even lead them to make errors in decision-making processes.

They Process Those Facts More Carefully

Greater diversity may also change the way that entire teams digest information needed to make the best decisions. In a study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Katherine Phillips of Northwestern University and her team divided sorority or fraternity members into four-member groups, each of which had to read interviews conducted by a detective investigating a murder. Three people in every group, referred to as "oldtimers" in the study, came from the same sorority or fraternity, whereas the fourth, the so-called "newcomer," was either a member of the same sorority or fraternity or a different one. The three oldtimers in each group gathered to decide who was the most likely murder suspect. Five minutes into their discussion, the newcomer joined the deliberation and expressed their opinion as to who the suspect was.

It turned out that although groups with out-group newcomers felt less confident about the accuracy of their joint decisions, they were more likely to guess who the correct suspect was than those with newcomers who belonged to the same group.

The scientists think that diverse teams may outperform homogenous ones in decision making because they process information more carefully. Remember: Considering the perspective of an outsider may seem counterintuitive, but the payoff can be huge.

They're Also More Innovative

To stay competitive, businesses should always continue to innovate. One of the best ways to boost their capacity to transform themselves and their products may involve hiring more women and culturally diverse team members, research suggests. In a study published in Innovation: Management, Policy & Practice, the authors analyzed levels of gender diversity in research and development teams from 4,277 companies in Spain. Using statistical models, they found that companies with more women were more likely to introduce radical new innovations into the market over a two-year period.

In another study, published in Economic Geography, the authors concluded that increased cultural diversity is a boon to innovativeness. They pooled data on 7,615 firms that participated in the London Annual Business Survey, a questionnaire conducted with the UK capital's executives that asks a number of questions about their companies' performance. The results revealed that businesses run by culturally diverse leadership teams were more likely to develop new products than those with homogenous leadership.

Though you may feel more at ease working with people who share your background, don't be fooled by your comfort. Hiring individuals who do not look, talk, or think like you can allow you to dodge the costly pitfalls of conformity, which discourages innovative thinking.

In a nutshell, enriching your employee pool with representatives of different genders, races, and nationalities is key for boosting your company's joint intellectual potential. Creating a more diverse workplace will help to keep your team members' biases in check and make them question their assumptions. At the same time, we need to make sure the organization has inclusive practices so that everyone feels they can be heard. All of this can make your teams smarter and, ultimately, make your organization more successful, whatever your goals.

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Striving to increase workplace diversity is not an empty slogan - it is a good business decision. A 2015 McKinsey report on 366 public companies found that those in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their industry mean, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to have returns above the industry mean.

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What do leaders need to understand about diversity?

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What do leaders need to understand about diversity?

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Victoria Brescoll’s article can be beneficial for leaders, as, within the article five leaders with diverse backgrounds and characteristics explain the importance of diversity and how to implement diversity successfully within the workplace.

Victoria Brescoll discusses the gender balances within the workplace and argues that anger -based leadership and power bases only seem to work for men, however, do not for women within the same job role. This means women within that organisation are needing to take a softer leadership approach whilst men do not. She also explains that those within the workplace who diverge from the stereotypical gender roles found it hard to maintain influence and respect from peers, which, means inclusivity and diversity are not being achieved within these work cultures creating difficulty for leadership.

David Thomas had a great point within the article by stating that an inclusive and diverse work environment allows leaders and employees to feel as though they are accepted, valued, unique and enable the workplace to be a place where people can bring their identities and not worry about being trapped in a box or discriminated against. This attitude towards leadership and diversity communicates the benefits of an inclusive working culture which allows the employees to feel respected at a diverse and safe work environment. This type of environment and leadership style allows for higher efficiency and productivity.

Brescoll, V. L. (2011, Jan 1). What leaders need to understand about diversity. Yale Insights. Retrieved from insights.som.yale.edu/insights/what-do-leaders-need-to-understand-about-diversity

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Making Diversity Part of the Organization

David Thomas
H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
What do business leaders need to understand about diversity?
The first thing is that the companies that do it most effectively don't have a separate program. What they do is integrate diversity into all of the processes of their organization. Diversity becomes a lens for looking at, identifying, developing, and advancing talent. So when they think about recruitment, they don't only have a minority recruiter. They educate all of their recruiters about how to relate to the diversity of the population that they recruit from.

Leaders need to know that they have to build accountability into their systems with regard to their managers taking responsibility for creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. We often see the people at the very top saying all the right things relative to diversity, but their middle management, who really run the organization and create the experience of people who work there, don't understand and don't feel accountable for diversity and inclusion.

You can cut diversity across a lot of different dimensions-what's important for each organization is to identify the relevant dimensions, measure them, and make that part of how managers are evaluated. It's not a matter of inventing new measures as much as it is using diversity as a lens to look at the measures that we have. And diversity, in my view, should also be one of the lenses through which we look at customers and community stakeholders.

There is a cosmetic diversity that can come when an organization decides they need internal diversity when they meet external stakeholders who are diverse. Those stakeholders need to be interacted with by someone like them, so African-Americans need to be interacted with by African-Americans. I think the danger there is that it pigeonholes people.

The way I look at it is, if our customer base is diverse, we need diversity in our workforce so that we can learn from our own diversity to make ourselves more effective at meeting the needs of our clients. I, as an African-American male, will never be Asian, but if I'm in a diverse work group where we can actually talk about cultural differences, I can become much more effective relating to that Asian client. But if we're homogeneous inside, then we're likely to make all kinds of mistakes in the way we think about diversity.

The most effective organizations, in my view, are organizations that don't simply use their diversity in order to have legitimacy with clients, but use their diversity to increase the cultural competence of their workforce, writ large.

I think that identity will increasingly be part of the conversation. What it means to be a diverse and inclusive place is not simply that you have people who look different, but that you have created an environment where people feel like, at the end of the day, they are who they are, uniquely, and in a way that integrates them, and that they're not trapped in a box. We're going to have to find a way to talk about diversity that isn't just about categories, but it's about the kind of organizations we want to create for people to be able to bring their identities to work and to be, if you will, whole people. And that's really what I think is the future of the work around diversity.

Diversity of Thought and Innovation

Richard Boyatzis
Distinguished University Professor, H.R. Horvitz Chair of Family Business, Professor in the Departments of Organizational Behavior, Psychology, and Cognitive Science, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
What do business leaders need to understand about diversity?
I think some of the most profound diversity we experience in life has to do with diversity of thought. Diversity initiatives can have important and interesting social justice benefits, but the real reason you want to pursue diversity programs is for innovation. You want diversity of thought. Here's the key: If you want diversity of thought, you have to bring in people around you who have diverse experiences. Differences in race, gender, and socioeconomic background are three characteristics, but so are differences in learning style or differences in professional field. And I'm not suggesting that any one of those points of diversity is more potent than others.

If a group has an ability to create dialogue, diversity of thought helps them not get into groupthink. On the whole, almost everybody knows the difference between right and wrong. So how do you help people, in the heat of the moment, when they let go of that and use some form of contingent morality or expediency or self-justification as an argument to do something that ends up being a bad thing? We need to teach people to have better conversations, more dialogue, with people who have differing views. How else can you get somebody to say, "I'm not sure that really is the best way to go" or "We've had this whole conversation and we haven't mentioned our customers once"?

There's a performance-based argument to say that diversity of thought, diversity of perspective, diversity of opinion is really crucial. Why? Because the world changes. If you don't have any changes in your marketplace or your competitors, if you don't have any changes in your materials or your workforce, then maybe it doesn't matter. But I don't know of a business like that. One of the ways organizations adapt is by noticing what's going on in the environment and trying new things. How do you come up with innovative ideas, unless you have a spectrum of ideas to examine?

This is where emotional intelligence and social intelligence come in. Leaders need some degree of emotional intelligence to rise above our need to justify or validate ourselves, which is what happens when we seek people who are just like us in their thinking. And we need a certain amount of social competency to be able to engage people who do have differences of ideas and perspectives.

The default condition for the human organism, neurologically and hormonally, is to protect itself. That's what happens under chronic stress or acute stress- our body goes into a defensive posture. That defensive posture closes down our ability to learn. We go into a state of cognitive and perceptual impairment. People stick with what they know, what's comfortable, what feels safe. Strong leaders create an environment where people don't need to get into that defensive posture, or when they do, they pull them back out of it. That's how you encourage diversity of thought and innovation.

Gender in the Workplace

Victoria Brescoll
Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, Yale SOM
What do leaders need to know about gender in the workplace?
My work looks at what happens when people behave in gender-counter-stereotypical ways. We find that when they go against stereotypes, people generally lose status. And traditional organizational power and dominance behaviors, like talking a lot or expressing anger, really only work for men.

I have a project to code C-SPAN videotapes of the Senate looking at volubility. For men, there's a strong relationship between how much power a male senator has and how much he talks from the Senate floor. But for women, there's practically no relationship whatsoever.

Women who know what they're doing know it's not a power and status behavior for them. And it may even hurt. I have other studies that show that when women dominate the conversation in a meeting or show anger, they experience status decreases.

I used to work in the Senate, and I was fascinated by how many times female senators making their standard stump speeches would talk about how they never intended to become a politician in the first place. I never saw a male senator do that. But these women are masters of impression management. They know that this is an effective way to present themselves to the public.

That was the inspiration for a study. We found that if people inferred that a woman had an intention to get power, or if she explicitly said that she was looking for a position of power, they were less likely to vote her into office. But people were more likely to vote for a man when he explicitly expressed or they inferred that he had that intention.

We think that it's entirely driven by expectations for how men and women are supposed to act. A strong desire for power on the part of women is very much violating a gender stereotype that women should be modest and play more of a backseat role.

So, it looks like men and women should use a different set of tools if they want to get ahead or maintain their status and power. And it's not easy, but you can predict what those will be based on whether or not certain behaviors are consistent or inconsistent with common beliefs about how men and women should behave.

When you actually ask people if women should be able to express anger at work, they say it is okay. If you ask people if they would vote for a woman who says she wants power, they'll say yes, I wouldn't discriminate. But when we randomly assign people to view one of the scenarios, they will show the bias against the people enacting counter-stereotypical behavior.

The simplest way that women can express anger while avoiding this bias, at least according to my research, is to offer an explicit reason, so that somebody can't blame their anger on who they are as a person. It's not offering an excuse, but a context. This is a great thing for women to do.

Although this research appears to be about women, it's really about gender. In all the examples, you can say that there's a flip side. There are things that biases dictate that men should do and women shouldn't. And vice versa. So things like expressing sadness or asking for a lot of help in a professional context might not be good tactics for men.

Diversity Initiatives at One Company

Niloufar Molavi
Tax Partner and U.S. Chief Diversity Officer, PricewaterhouseCoopers
What do leaders at PwC need to know about diversity in order to be effective?
Diversity can and should be a critical component of the innovation that leaders are driving in their organization, and it can and should be a competitive advantage for them.

Research shows that diverse groups outperform homogeneous ones. I think of PwC as being in the business of serving clients; for us, innovation means solutions that we bring to our clients. And if we have people who come from different perspectives at the table, the solutions that we bring to our clients, the way we interact, and the relationships we build with our clients are going to distinguish us from our competitors.

Demographic trends indicate that women and minorities are the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. workforce, and I think that's true globally as well. A focus on diversity and building an organization that's culturally inclusive is going to allow you to attract and retain that top talent.

One of our goals has always been, when we think about diversity, to make sure we're building the cultural dexterity of all our people. By cultural dexterity, we mean the ability to connect across myriad areas, backgrounds, and focuses that are different. It's difficult to be a true leader in today's world without a minimum level of cultural dexterity. Ultimately, we need to make sure we're creating a culture where every individual is valued for their unique contributions and that they are able to achieve their highest potential.

For working parents, and that often tends to be working mothers, formal flexibility is very important. So we have a number of different programs allowing individuals to work reduced hours, work from home, or arrange job-sharing. One such program that we've been really excited about, Full Circle, allows parents to off-ramp from their careers for up to five years, and then return to the firm. Individuals that enter this program are assigned a PwC coach and have access to all the training that the firm provides to keep their skills current. They stay connected with the firm. And when they choose to come back, they can.

More than half of our new hires are women. And more than 30% are minorities. A lot of our focus, now that we are attracting diverse individuals to the firm, is continuing not only to retain them, but really getting these individuals into leadership positions.

We have a mobile workforce engaged with our counterparts and clients around the globe. It's challenging, because diversity doesn't mean the same thing across the globe. Certain dimensions of diversity, for example, gender, resonate. Beyond that and a few others, you really have to look at what elements of diversity become important in a given jurisdiction. In Nigeria, dealing with race is not the issue, but dealing with tribal differences is very important. You want to make sure it's relevant. That's why we continue to talk about cultural dexterity, because that resonates no matter where you are and what the specific facts may be in those local markets.

Overall, looking at the big picture, the initiatives that we've put into place focus on flexibility. The way we look at it is one size doesn't fit all.

Supervising Older Workers

Peter Cappelli
George W. Taylor Professor of Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
What do leaders need to know about older workers?
The evidence on discrimination for older workers is that it's a bigger issue than for any other group, bigger than for gender, bigger than race. I think the discrimination is just so prevalent that people don't even recognize it. It affects primarily people getting jobs in the first place, but the scope of claims of age discrimination has been rising in the downturn, because there are more age-related dismissals.

There are also problems for older people who are employed. Performance appraisals of older employees tend to be worse, independent of actual performance. And problems of performance are attributed to age for older workers where they're not for younger employees.

Data show older employees perform better on almost all dimensions of performance. Absenteeism is lower. Turnover is lower. Interpersonal skills are better. Job performance in general is better. The only thing that younger people do better on, among any of the tasks that might even loosely be related to jobs, is solving novel problems under time pressure without assistance like calculators. So that's basically taking SAT tests. While we obsess over the differences between Generations X, Y, and Z, we're ignoring what to do to tap into a huge and growing population of older workers.

There are structural management practices one can use to avoid unconscious biases in efforts to recruit people. But I'd say the biggest issues have to do with direct management. Having a younger supervisor manage an older subordinate is in some ways a reversal of the historic norms. In some cases, it makes the older subordinates uncomfortable. But we know it makes the younger supervisors uncomfortable. And this is the heart of much of the discrimination; younger supervisors say, "I don't see how I can manage somebody who has been doing this job longer than I've been." Or they say, "They've been doing this job longer than I have and they're still doing it-there's got to be something wrong with them."

For quite a while, the military has had the challenge of young second lieutenants being in charge of older, experienced sergeants. What they've learned is that the second lieutenants have really got to manage with more of a partnership model in mind, recognizing the expertise of the sergeant, consulting them, and making decisions jointly.

At the same time, the supervisor is still in charge. Often one of the problems we see with younger supervisors is that they just abdicate management of older subordinates. We know that younger supervisors tend not to give as much praise to older subordinates, and we know that they tend to be biased in the attributions they make concerning performance. Older subordinates are less likely to be told that the problem could be fixed by training. There's more likely to be a conclusion this is just dispositional-"You're just a bad worker."

The engagement model that I'm describing for how to manage people is a model which pretty much works everywhere. The difference is that with younger subordinates, you can more easily get away with supervisory practices which we could describe as not so good, like just telling people, "Do this because I said so." You can't do that with more experienced subordinates.

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What do leaders need to understand about diversity?

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Making Diversity Part of the Organization David Thomas H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School What do business leaders need to understand about diversity? The first thing is that the companies that do it most effectively don't have a separate program.

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Victoria’s Male Champions of Change tackle gender equality in workplace

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Victoria’s Male Champions of Change tackle gender equality in workplace

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Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Kate Jenkins says gender equality at work is everyone's problem and everyone's responsibility to change.

As a society Australia has worked toward offering equal opportunity in the workplace and statistics appear to reflect significant progress. However Kate Jenkins highlights the fact that some people are able to see gender inequality very clearly where as some people are blind to this. Kate states that on you see gender inequality you cant unsee it. I find this would very much come from if you have had an experience with gender inequality. Kate mentions examples throughout the article of gender inequality focusing on 'parenting' how women have lost jobs from having children, this absolutely astounds me that this would still be happening. The article highlights how males are getting involved in the discussion and actions around eliminating gender inequality. The article is titled as "Victorias Male Champions of Change' I cant help but see the title of this article still supporting the ego's and male influences in the workplace, with the wording 'Male Champions! I'm not sure it was the right choice of words for what the article was trying to express.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/victorias-male-champions-of-change-tackle-gender-equality-in-workplace/news-story/2a1dcab79aa88fc389d99be646f50296

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This article by Robert Dougherty in The West Australian describes how BHP has increased the number of Indigenous employees four-fold since 2001, and how it plans to create more opportunities for Indigenous Australians in the Port Headland area. It is positive to see that BHP has stated clear targets for indigenous representation of at least 13 per cent by 2020. The article also states that the increase in employment will not only benefit those directly employed but will also help the communities themselves in the Port Headland area.
One of the main points of the article I found interesting was that BHP recognises the mutual benefits of having a diverse and inclusive workplace. This is positive to see that BHP understands the benefits that providing employment will have but also appreciates that having a diverse and inclusive workplace is likely to make the company itself more competitive.
Whilst these figures are encouraging  I would like to see the outcomes and positive impacts that the employment is having on the communities themselves. Also the employment percent is a good indicator and is a positive step, but I would like to see companies in the Port Headland area such as BHP set future targets for indigenous leadership roles, and actively support indigenous employees to achieve and succeed specifically in Managerial and Leadership positions. As discussed in Dubrin (2016), leaders and CEO's of these organisations should be the champions for inclusion and diversity and this behaviour at the senior level will provide a role of behaviour for others within the organisation to model and apply (p. 450). Furthermore having these clear targets and the subsequent Indigenous representation at the upper level may help to promote and expedite the employee development programs and employment representation targets.

Dougherty, R. (2018). Indigenous jobs on the rise. In The west Australian. Retrieved from    https://thewest.com.au/news/north-west-telegraph/indigenous-jobs-on-rise-ng-b88736420z

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Indigenous work opportunities in the mining industry are improving in Hedland and Newman, as resource companies rush to match each other.

A BHP spokeswoman said the number of indigenous employees in their iron ore operations had increased four-fold since 2001 and were targeted to rise from 8 per cent of the total iron ore workforce to at least 13 per cent by 2020.

More than 9 per cent of BHP employees in Newman are indigenous, with about 80 per cent based there residentially while about 10 per cent of BHP employees in Port Hedland are indigenous and 80 per cent residential.

"We are proud to be continuing to build our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce across all of our operations, and we recognise the mutual benefits that stem from a diverse and inclusive workplace," she said.

"BHP is the largest residential employer in Port Hedland and we will continue to promote residential opportunities." A FMG spokesman said the company had a commitment to providing training and employment opportunities to Aboriginal people. "We currently have 127 Aboriginal employees working in Port Hedland, representing 21.1 per cent of the total workforce at our Hedland operations and 39.7 per cent of our employees who live in Port and South Hedland," he said.

Bloodwood Tree Association chief executive Kelly Howlett said indigenous employment in the mining industry was on an upward trend locally.

"It is a noticeable trend that all mining companies and their sub-contractors are striving to do more," she said.

"This is great, and going forward. I feel there will be more opportunities for local Aboriginal people, both in terms of employment and direct supply of service opportunities.

"There have been significant advancements recently, and with a greater emphasis on local procurement/supply, as well as an emphasis on cultural diversity."

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Indigenous work opportunities in the mining industry are improving in Hedland and Newman, as resource companies rush to match each other. A BHP spokeswoman said the number of indigenous employees in their iron ore operations had increased four-fold since 2001 and were targeted to rise from 8 per cent of the total iron ore workforce to at least 13 per cent by 2020.

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Google is Trying to Create a more Diverse Workplace.

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Google is Trying to Create a more Diverse Workplace.

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This YouTube video posted by Google in February 2017, strongly influences on the diverse atmosphere at Google.

Google believes in providing its employees a safe space to come to work and talk about their experiences and culture, by bringing 'their full self to work'. This video shows how Google have implemented a system of Employee Resources Groups (ERG) which involves facilitating like-minded individuals with conversations about issues and events that will personally impact the employees work and productivity.

This video has made an important point and that is everyone is made up different with their experiences, cultural backgrounds and as leaders, having a system such as ERG allows leaders to know just what is going on and including everyone in a conversation and ideas, and that they put the best ideas first, no matter where they come from.

As explained towards the end of the video, inclusion is something that needs to keep being innovated. Google makes it known that they have a commitment to improving inclusion within the workforce, which makes sense in a multicultural world, as it opens up the pool of skills and abilities to so much more, than just gender, age, culture or disability. Thus creating a diverse workplace.

Fortune Magazine, (2017). Google is Trying to Create a More Diverse Workplace. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7InEVnJ3o_Q

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Google Is Trying to Create a More Diverse Workplace. Here's How I Fortune

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Google's Diversity Core program, among others, gets employees talking about race and ethnicity issues. Subscribe to Fortune - http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=FortuneMagazineVideo FORTUNE is a global leader in business journalism with a worldwide circulation of more than 1 million and a readership of nearly 5 million, with major franchises including the FORTUNE 500 and the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For.

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The Reality Gap (Bourke, Garr, Van Berkel, & Wong, 2017) is a persuasive article that successfully argues about a diversity gap in organisations by using a non-bias approach supported by research and evidence. The article argues that there is a gap in ownership in creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Interestingly, Bourke et al (2017) argues that executives have abdicated responsibility for the diversity issue and should take ownership in developing an inclusive and diverse organisational culture. Whilst training holds a significant value in providing a fair and equal workplace (Zephyr, 2017), in today’s business environment it appears simply not enough. Rather, organisation’s executives should consider making structural changes, implementing data driven solutions, and training executives in understanding how bias decision-making affects business outcomes. Bourke et al (2017) further argues that a ‘new set of rules’ to be written that demand a new focus on process change, data driven tools, transparency and accountability.

Although is it also leader’s responsibility to drive a diverse workforce, this article raises some interesting points and awareness to support workplace diversity. For example, Victoria is considering experimenting with erasing names from resumes because candidates with ethnic sounding names may be discriminated against. While there are some challenges to diversity such as communication issues, a diverse and inclusive organisation is more innovative and creative with both executives and leaders responsible for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Bourke, J., Garr S., Van Berkel, A., & Wong, J. (2017). Diversity and inclusion: The reality gap. Retrieved from https://www2.deloitte.com/insights/us/en/focus/human-capital-trends/2017/diversity-and-inclusion-at-the-workplace.html

Zephyr, J. (2017). The Importance of Diversity Training in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/info-8291870-importance-diversity-training-workplace.html

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ET Women Ahead: Workplace diversity possible only with high-visibility, female role models 

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ET Women Ahead: Workplace diversity possible only with high-visibility, female role models 

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This article discusses the need for more female candidates to be brought on board into the workforce particularly in upper levels of management. It delves into how a diverse team is good for business as it has been proven to create superior results.

A number of points are raised which I thought were interesting. The notion of analysing ones workforce diversity in comparison to the customer base was raised. I am unaware of companies doing this it makes complete sense. Who better to teach you about your customer base than people who mirror your customer base? If a large proportion of your customer base is female, mirroring this would allow you to best align with their needs.

The article also raises that the best way to address this is with increased leadership and culture changes. It highlights the need for the onus to be taken off females as a group and for everyone to realise that this is an issue we all need to work on together.

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Back in 2007, when Drew Gilpin Faust was appointed the President of Harvard, she is said to have famously corrected a member of the audience during her appointment speech, saying, "I'm not the Woman President of Harvard, I'm the President of Harvard".

Even today, an announcement on the appointment of women to CEO positions might include a reference to their gender as an 'addon' achievement.

As an executive search and leadership advisory firm and study partners for The Economic Times Women Ahead initiative, we are no strangers to the 'D' word - Diversity. Here are some learning from our experiences, and our advice for organisations and leaders who are serious about having more women in leadership positions:

Understand and acknowledge the issue, and the need for change
If you still think of diverse leadership teams as a good to have, rather than good for business - despite numerous studies confirming the linkage between diverse teams and superior business results - look within, at your own organisation. Look at your own data on the number of women at each level in the organisation, engagement and retention numbers by gender, average compensation at each level for men versus women, performance of diverse teams versus homogenous ones, and the extent to which your employee base diversity mirrors that of your customer base. It can be highly revealing - even to organisations who believe that they have got it in hand.

Focus on leveling the playing field, not only equipping individual players
Building an enabling environment for all genders is the only way to build a diverse talent pipeline. The banking industry in India is a great example of this, with more women in leadership positions than most other industries. Bringing in senior female talent laterally at the top of the pyramid is always an option - but not the most sustainable. Ultimately, organizations who invest in building a level playing field not only build a stronger internal pipeline, but are more attractive for female leaders coming from outside too. Leadership and culture play the biggest role in leveling the field - work on yours. Address the conscious, as well as unconscious bias in the organisation's culture to drive real inclusion. Hold leaders accountable to walkingthe-talk. Have them mentor high potential women across levels, take bets on them. Change policies that disadvantage a gender.

Also read: ET Women Ahead: Diversity will remain mere talk unless boardrooms become equal

Talk about it - internally and externally
Most organisations and industries today need more visible female role models and success stories. Talk about yours, and collaborate beyond organisational boundaries to create a new normal. In countries that have made more progress than us, commitment to publicly sharing data and actions have proven to be even more powerful than government regulations. Coalitions like the Paradigm for Parity - consisting of organisations committed to addressing the corporate leadership gender gap in the US, and one that Spencer Stuart is a proud member of - provide effective platforms for such partnerships.

In closing, it is high time that the conversation shifted from 'what women need to do', to 'what we all need to do' - in order to ensure that we make real progress when it comes to having more women - not only in leadership positions but also in the workforce.

Let's start now.

(Sahiba Singh is the Leadership Advisory Services Practice Leader for Spencer Stuart in India. Atul Bhandari leads the Technology, Media and Telecom Practice for the Asia-Pacific region, also at Spencer Stuart)

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ET Women Ahead: Workplace diversity possible only with high-visibility, female role models

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Back in 2007, when Drew Gilpin Faust was appointed the President of Harvard, she is said to have famously corrected a member of the audience during her appointment speech, saying, "I'm not the Woman President of Harvard, I'm the President of Harvard".

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A diverse workforce can improve a business’ bottom line

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A diverse workforce can improve a business’ bottom line

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This article introduces that organisations who employ a diversity and inclusion strategy are statistically proven to perform better financially and those who do not employ these strategies are proven to perform worse.

Interestingly, the article goes on to address that diversity and inclusion strategies are not process with a defined end goal to reach. Understandably, it is a constant evolution to become more diverse and inclusive so there will always be more that can be done.

A great point the article makes, which upon reflections seems so blatantly obvious, is that diversity and inclusion strategies help the way staff feel when they come to work. Aiming to ensure they feel safe, engaged and fulfilled. I know this is true in my experiences, therefore, can definitely understand how this correlates. When I feel this in my workplace, I’m happy to come to work and put my best effort in. If I am not feeling satisfied in my job then it is harder to motivate myself to come to work but also to complete my tasks. This lack of morale can then spread throughout a team and creates a flow on effect which can wreak havoc in a team.

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DJC Oregon: Oregon's building connections

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Global Leaders on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion

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Global Leaders on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion

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This piece spoken by CEO’s from various firms mostly focused on the topic of gender diversity in the workforce. It brings about the notion of how beneficial it is to mirror the customer base within your workforce as it harbors innovation from the right perspectives to appeal to the customer. Upon reflection, this seems such an obvious point however one that may be easily overlooked.

It is discussed that workplace/gender diversity is not just about doing the right thing because of societal pressure but reinforces that diversity is good for business. It can create increased performance so should definitely be focused upon.  Increasing performance is the bottom line for most organisations anything that improves that should be harnessed.

The piece discusses how diversity will not come overnight but with the right leadership, harboring the correct foundations and creating a sustained focus on moving in the right direction it can be achieved. This is a very good point to make as it is definitely being reiterated time and again how this is an evolutionary process, not just a quick fix.

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1/30/2018 11:04AM

Global business leaders discuss why diversity and inclusion are important in the workplace-and what they do to make these issues a priority. The Wall Street Journal spoke to them at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

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Global Leaders on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion

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1/30/2018 11:04AM Global business leaders discuss why diversity and inclusion are important in the workplace-and what they do to make these issues a priority. The Wall Street Journal spoke to them at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

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What is so great about this Ted Talk by Simon Sinek (2016), is not whether what he says is particularly right or wrong, but that it has been viewed so many times (30+ million views and counting) and has therefore fed the debate about generational diversity in todays’ workplace. Baby boomers, gen X and gen Y have united with each other to protest “hey that’s not fair, that’s not us”.

The term ‘millennial’ is used to describe the generation of people aged between 18 and 34. Sinek (2016) (an author and motivational speaker) uses his video to explain why these millennials are ‘so difficult to work with’. His argument is simple: Millennials are the result of failed parenting techniques (offering rewards for everything and telling their children the sky’s the limit) which creates an apparently false sense of entitlement which then rapidly comes crashing down when faced with the realities of the (tough) world we live in! Sinek (2016) goes on to claim that these false promises are compounded by our instant gratification culture and the ‘omnipresence of social media’ in everyone’s lives. Leaving this younger generation of professionals constantly dissatisfied at work and in their personal lives, leading to an increase in suicide and accidental overdose rates. Harsh criticism indeed!

However, his arguments are willfully blind to the influence of race, gender, sexuality and socioeconomic background (to name a few) within any generation. After all, not everyone is born into a happy (two parent) home where they are treated as mini gods and given everything they could possibly want (including the ‘dreaded’ smartphone).  Kadakia (2017) highlights this fact, saying that only 46% of millennials grew up in two parent homes and that 43% are not Caucasian in the US. She correctly establishes that there is no singular parenting style for the millennial generation that can then be used to typecast the entire cohort as Sinek has done.

He also appears to ignore the various potential benefits of social media, where in todays’ digital world we can build whole careers online, meet like-minded strangers (Tinder anyone?) and ingest empowering messages that may not be readily available in mainstream media. Importantly, minority groups and those feeling lost and alone, can more easily find people they can relate to online. This element of self-recognition and social interaction with others can save lives as opposed to destroying them.

One final comment of his that I would like to address from a personal point, is his claim that this younger generation are so much more ‘entitled’ than previous ones. I don’t agree with this opinion at all. I have two young adult children (aged 19 and 22), who will need to pay astronomical fees for their university degrees. Higher education now being a luxury or privilege rather than a right. In the UK (where I am originally from) fees were only introduced in 1998, before that education was completely free. My children are also unlikely to be able to afford a mortgage anytime soon, unlike for my generation or that of my parents before, where being married in your early 20’s and owning a home was the norm, it is now no longer seen as a viable reality for many.

Sinek, S. (2016). Millennials in the workplace. [TED Talk]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=hER0Qp6QJNU

Kadakia, C. (2017). Why millennials can’t stand Simon Sinek’s viral interview on milliennials. Huffington Post. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-millennials-cant-stand-simon-sineks-viral-interview_us_59a423cce4b0a62d0987b0cb

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Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace

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Although this article by Knight was written in 2014, it still holds relevance today, looking at how you should relate to employees of different age groups. These days it is becoming more common to see someone younger managing some older which can lead to tensions on both sides. In my team, 50% are older than me and I do sometimes find it difficult to ‘lead’ them effectively. Knight (2014) suggests it is the leader’s role to help employees recognise that they each have a distinct set of skills and different things they bring to the table.

The 2015 movie, The Intern, staring Anne Hathaway (as the young CEO) and Robert De Niro (as the 70-year-old intern) is an excellent mainstream example showing both the complexities and challenges of their working relationship but also the possible benefits when, over the course of the experience, Robert’s character soon becomes popular with his younger co-workers, and where his charm, wisdom and sense of humor help him develop a special bond and growing friendship with the young boss.

Knight’s article highlights the importance of not dwelling on the differences but rather work to build collaborative relationships. A good leader should study their employees, to better understand their preferred communication styles and planned career paths. It would be dangerous to assume that just because someone is approaching 60 they are winding down to retirement.

The Diversity Council of Australia in their report ‘Grey Matters: Engaging Mature Age Workers’ (2018) reveal that baby boomers are in fact challenging traditional ideas of retirement. If handled correctly they are ‘an exciting pool of talent, ready, willing and able to work’.

If an organisation can provide older generations some flexibility in start and finish times, a phased retirement plan, job sharing and working from home opportunities, there is no reason senior workers can’t remain in the workforce for well beyond the usual retirement age.

Then perhaps once the younger generations realise baby boomers are here to stay for a while yet, they might both accept the need to find better ways of working together harmoniously. All generations should appreciate there are many things to be learned from each other to the benefit of all involved.

Knight, R. (2014). Managing people from 5 generations. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/09/managing-people-from-5-generations

Diversity Council Australia. (2018). Grey matters: Engaging mature age workers. Retrieved from https://www.dca.org.au/research/project/grey-matters-engaging-mature-age-workers

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For the first time in history, five generations will soon be working side by side. But whether this multi-generational workplace feels happy and productive or challenging and stressful is, in large part, up to you: the boss. How should you relate to employees of different age groups? How do you motivate someone much older or much younger than you? And finally: what can you do to encourage employees of different generations to share their knowledge?

What the Experts Say
As people work longer and delay retirement, internal career paths have changed. "Organizational careers don't look the way they did before," says Peter Cappelli, professor of management at the Wharton School and coauthor of Managing the Older Worker. "It's more common to see someone younger managing someone older." This can lead to tension on both sides. "Maybe there is a feeling of: why am I being bossed around by someone without a lot of experience? On the other hand, maybe the younger person feels insecure and wonders: how do I do this?"

"It's important to be aware of generational tension - loosely defined as a lack of respect for someone who's of a different generation from you - among colleagues," says Jeanne C. Meister, a founding partner of Future Workplace, a human resources consultancy and the coauthor of The 2020 Workplace. "It's your job to help your employees recognize that they each have distinct sets of skills and different things they bring to the table," she says. Here's how.

Don't dwell on differences
The Boomer mystified by Facebook; the Millenial who wears flip-flops in the office; the Traditionalist (born prior to 1946) who seemingly won't ever retire; the cynical Gen Xer who's only out for himself; and the Gen 2020er - born after 1997 - who appears surgically attached to her smartphone. Generational stereotypes abound but according to Cappelli, "they are just not true. There is no evidence that 35-year-old managers today are any different from 35-year-old managers a generation ago." Besides, your goal is to help your team "move beyond the labels." Generation-based employee affinity groups are a waste of time and energy, he adds. Don't assume people need special treatment and "don't dwell on differences with a group discussion that devolves into: 'People my age feel like this.' Or 'All Boomers act a certain way.' There's a lot of variation," he says. "Get to know each person individually."

Build collaborative relationships
While it may seem daunting to manage someone much older than you, try taking a cue from the military. The U.S. Marine Corps routinely puts 22-year-old lieutenants in charge of 45-year-old sergeants, notes Cappelli. "The mindset is to make that person your partner and involve them in everything you do. You're still the boss and the one making the decisions, but you should hear them out." A collaborative approach works well when managing workers who are in their 20s, too. "They are used to discussion and engagement because that's what they had in the college environment," Cappelli says. Help your employees make the transition from school to the workplace by encouraging debate. "You don't necessarily need to take their advice, but be aware that this is where they're coming from," he says.

Study your employees
"Just as you would research a new product or service, you need to study the demographics of your current workforce and the projected demographics of your future workforce to determine what they want out of their jobs as these things are different generation to generation," says Meister. If your company conducts an annual survey of vision and values, Meister suggests adding new questions to the mix, such as queries about your employees' preferred communication style and planned professional paths. Then "use that information to look critically at your human resources and business strategies. Figure out: What matters to different sets of employees? What can you do [to attract younger or more experienced workers]? It's a low cost way to get a pulse on generational career issues," says Meister.

Create opportunities for cross-generational mentoring
Reverse or reciprocal mentoring programs, which pair younger workers with seasoned executives to work on specific business objectives usually involving technology, are increasingly prevalent in many offices. "The younger person - who grew up with the internet - teaches the older person about the power of social media to drive business results," says Meister. Meanwhile, the more experienced employee shares institutional knowledge with the younger worker. Mixed-age work teams are another way to promote cross-generational mentoring. "Studies show that colleagues learn more from each other than they do from formal training, which is why it is so important to establish a culture of coaching across age groups," says Meister. In mixed-age teams, mentoring relationships develop more naturally, adds Cappelli. "Older folks are more likely to fall into a mentor role and help the young employees," he says. Meanwhile, young people often find it easier to take advice from an experienced worker than from one of their peers "because they're not competing in the same way," he says.

Consider life paths
When it comes to inspiring and incentivizing employees who are much older or much younger than you, it helps to think like an anthropologist. "Consider where your employees are in their lives and what their needs are," says Meister. Younger people, for instance, typically don't have many outside obligations; work-wise, they are motivated by new experiences and opportunities. Employees in their 30s and 40s, on the other hand, often have children and mortgages and are in need of flexibility as well as "money and advancement" says Cappelli. Workers at the end of their careers "are probably not as interested in training, but they do want interesting work and work-life balance," he says. "Understanding the characteristics around these predictable life paths will help you figure out how best to [divvy up] work assignments and also the best ways to manage and motivate your team."
Principles to Remember Do:

Experiment with mixed-age teams and reverse mentoring programs that enable older, experienced workers to interact with and learn from younger hires

Develop incentive plans that reflect where your employees are in their lives

Conduct regular human resources surveys to get a pulse on your employees' demographics and needs

Don't

Bother with generation-based employee affinity groups - they generally reinforce stereotypes

Act like a top-down manager - forge partnerships with employees of different ages and encourage them to share their opinions

Assume you already know how to motivate employees who are older or younger - ask them what they want out of their professional lives

Case Study #1: Leverage your young workforce's expertise
Ron Garrow, Chief Human Resources Officer at MasterCard, is not a technophobe, but he readily admits that social media didn't come easily to him - at least at first. "I recognized that I had a lot to learn about operating in this new world," says Ron, who is 51.

So he volunteered to take part in a reciprocal mentoring program run by one of MasterCard's internal business resource groups. The program partners young employees with older colleagues to work on tech skills. Ron was assigned a coach, Rebecca Kaufman - 24 years old and an avid social media user - who taught him how to use Twitter and how to get more out of professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn. "Rebecca has shaped my thinking in terms of how I operate in the social space," says Ron. "I now carve out time in my day to get on LinkedIn and I have a [better appreciation for] the importance of social media."

Working with Rebecca also helped Ron relate to Millenials as both the consumers and workforce of the future - a critical insight considering the changes taking place in MasterCard's industry. "This new generation is shaping the future in terms of purchasing habits: They don't use cash to buy things; they use electronic means. [As a result,] MasterCard's job descriptions have changed." Rebecca also benefits from the relationship: Ron provides professional counsel and is also helping improve her communication skills.

Today hundreds of MasterCard employees take part in the program, which is currently offered in five offices. "There's a contagion going on - people are raising their hands and saying: 'I want a mentor.' It's really about making yourself vulnerable," he says.

Case Study #2: Motivate your employees with incentives that matter to them
Kris Snyder - the founder and CEO of Vox Mobile, the mobile technology management company based in Cleveland, Ohio - offers his 130 employees a veritable cafeteria of benefits, compensation, and work assignments. "I think of my employees as a cast of characters," says Kris, who is 42. "Everyone's needs are different, so we can't be a one-size-fits-all [employer]."

The majority of Vox Mobile's sales force - about 85% - are just out of school and on their first or second job. Its leadership team, however, is comprised of people in their 30s and 40s. To appeal to these different age groups, he has developed different sets of employee perks based mainly on where these two age groups are in their personal and professional lives. "I noticed that these groups have different motivations and, therefore, they need different incentives," he says. "There are no hard and fast rules, but generally speaking, my Gen Y workers want us to fund their LinkedIn accounts; they like things like branded gear and company-sponsored happy hours - they're more social and they're not going home right after work. Gen Xers don't care about logoed backpacks; instead they are looking at our 401(k) matching plan and our healthcare provisions."

The different incentive packages and perks will likely shift along with the company's demographics, says Kris. "As we build and grow and as the company goes through different stages, the makeup of our workforce will change, too," says Kris. "We will navigate those changes and experiment with new ways to incentivize employees."

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For the first time in history, five generations will soon be working side by side. But whether this multi-generational workplace feels happy and productive or challenging and stressful is, in large part, up to you: the boss. How should you relate to employees of different age groups?

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Fewer women run top Australia companies than men named John, or Peter, or David.

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Fewer women run top Australia companies than men named John, or Peter, or David.

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The article written by Liddy & Hanrahan, 2017 combines research and data surrounding women in executive roles in business in Australia. Highlighting the extreme difference between men and women in leadership roles within different industries within Australia. There is a 40% chance that a CEO of a company in Australia is more likely to be named John or Peter than be a female (Liddy, & Hanrahan, 2017, para. 2).

The research provided is concerning especially surrounding that the number of females in executive and CEO roles decreased in 2017 is alarming (Liddy, & Hanrahan, 2017, para. 3). By the research being backed by institutions such as the Australia Bureau of Statistics, it can be said the information within this article is of quality.

The information provided within this article suggests that within Australia female dominant industries are now being dominated by men. It can be stated that in Australia there are more men in leadership roles than women and that Australia companies are not as diverse in gender as some may think.

Liddy, M., & Hanrahan, C. (2017). Fewer women run top Australian companies than men

named John, or Peter, or David. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-08/fewer-women-ceos-than-men-named-john/8327938

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Updated March 08, 2017 09:12:06

Fewer large Australian companies are run by women than are run by men named John.

Or Peter. Or David.

Consultant Conrad Liveris gathered the data on CEOs and chairs at Australia's largest 200 companies for the third year running, and released it to coincide with International Women's Day.

"To be a captain of Australian business you are 40 per cent more likely to be named Peter or John than to be female," he said.

"Straight, white, able-bodied men aged 40-69 years, which represents the majority of Australian leadership, are 8.4 per cent of the population."

Wait, are you sitting down?

The number of women in those key leadership positions actually fell in 2017.

There are only nine women CEOs and 10 women chairing boards in the ASX 200.

Mr Liveris calls this "ironic", although that really only applies here in an Alanis Morissette kind of way.

"It seems like we discuss this topic all the time and it is amounting to even fewer women accessing these roles," he said.

Why does this matter?

"Such a narrow pool of executive talent does a disservice to organisations, shareholders, the business community and Australia overall," Liveris said.

Even 'female-dominated' industries are male-dominated

Wait, is that even possible?

Yes, turns out it is. And here's what we mean by that.

Even in industries where a large majority of the workforce is female - think health and education - a large majority of CEOs are, wait for it, male.

For example, about three quarters of the health care and education workforces are female, but only a third of the leaders in those fields are women.

And in this case we are not just talking about Australia's 200 biggest companies. This data is slightly older but largely comes from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, so it covers the private sector for those entire industries.

This is a long chart but take a look and see if you can find any industries where women are over-represented in the CEO's office.

Nope, we couldn't either.

Is there any good news?

Well, that probably depends on your perspective, but if you take one step down from the CEO level, things do look a little better.

The proportion of women employed as executives is typically much closer to representing their relative numbers in the workforce.

For example, around 40 per cent of executives in the Commonwealth public service are women, relatively close to the 50 per cent level of overall staff numbers.

Mining and construction promote women to executive level at almost the same proportion as their female workforce numbers.

Marian Baird, professor of gender and employment relations at the University of Sydney Business School, said the higher proportions of women at executive level was encouraging but only if those women held critical positions.

"We know quite clearly that if you are in [human resources] or communications or public relations, which is where a lot of women are clustered at senior executive level, they are much less likely to become the CEO than if they are in finance or operations.

"They are the two that go through to the next level."
About the data

Data for the first two charts is drawn from an analysis by economist Conrad Liveris, published in a report titled: To Be Meritorious, Gender Equality At Work In 2017.

CEO and executive numbers for each industry were taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics gender indicators for 2014-2015 and represent the private sector.

Industry employee numbers for 2015 were taken from the Australian Bureau of Statistics labour force data for August 2015 and represent all sectors.

Note that all industries, with the exception of public administration and safety, health care and assistance, education and training, and electricity, gas, water and waste services, all have more than 90 per cent of their employees working in the private sector.

Federal parliamentarian and minister numbers are current, and state and territory parliamentarian numbers were correct at January 2016.

Public service numbers were taken from the Australian Public Sector Commission APS statistics bulletin 2014-15 and are for June 2015. They do not include state and territory public servants.

Executives in the public service are defined as senior executive service managers.

First posted March 08, 2017 06:31:34

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Fewer women run top Australian companies than men named John. Or Peter. Or David.

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Updated March 08, 2017 09:12:06 Fewer large Australian companies are run by women than are run by men named John. Or Peter. Or David. Consultant Conrad Liveris gathered the data on CEOs and chairs at Australia's largest 200 companies for the third year running, and released it to coincide with International Women's Day.

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10 Tips for leaders to support workplace diversity. 

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10 Tips for leaders to support workplace diversity. 

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To ensure organisations attain the competitive advantage and create a comfortable and productive working environment, companies need to support an inclusive and diverse work culture. The Forbes article below caught my attention as it is a guide on how leaders can create a more inclusive workplace with the acceptance of diversity.

Paolo Gaudiano and Ellen Hunt have used twitter to offer tips upon the correct conduct to increase morale and boost productivity whilst sharing experience and supportive arguments to make their suggestions for leaders to better the work environment.

The tips upon sharing diversity and employee inclusivity responsibilities evenly throughout the workplace and taking all complaints regarding discrimination and bias seriously, will see a more comfortable work team and will see the employees and leaders take a stand against behaviour that does not coincide with the missions of the organisation.

The article also speaks upon how to educate the majority of employees regarding diversity and how to seek assistance when unsure of how to apply diversity.

These tips can be helpful with creating a diverse and inclusive working culture and will mean that employees and leaders will be able to apply these methods within their macro and micro environments to create a happier and more productive environment.

Gaudiano, P., & Hunt, E. (2017, Feb 27). 10 tips for leaders to support workplace diversity, part 1: Things to do at work. Forbes. Retrieved from www.forbes.com/sites/gaudianohunt/2017/02/27/workplace-diversity-tips-for-leaders-part1/#2c46871f33db

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As leaders, our words and actions have a great impact on workplace diversity. Here are several simple things you can do at work that will make your workplace more inclusive, while boosting morale and increasing performance. In Part 2 we focus on things leaders can do outside of the workplace, which nonetheless impact the workplace.
1. Give your time and attention to colleagues who want to support diversity.
One of the most frequent complaints we hear is from employees who feel that their ideas and initiatives about diversity and inclusion are not supported by their company's leadership. If someone in your organization is making the effort to spearhead a diversity and inclusion initiative, no matter how small, take the time to listen and participate.
2. Balance the time you spend supporting others.
Whether it's an impromptu discussion about a project, a performance review, or a mentoring session, check to see if you are inadvertently dedicating more of your time to specific groups of people, especially those who feel comfortable asking for your help. If so, make sure you offer help to those who may be reluctant to ask.
3. Spread responsibilities evenly across your organization.
As with the previous point, it is easy to fall into the trap of assigning more responsibilities and giving more visibility to those who are comfortable asking for it. Those who don't feel they belong may be less likely to ask to do something, but equally likely to get it done if given the chance. Check that you are not inadvertently supporting this form of self-perpetuating bias.
4. Listen to all complaints about bias or discrimination.
If someone voices a complaint about bias or discrimination, be open-minded, listen carefully, and let them know that you care. And then make sure you follow up and take action as appropriate. Even if you think that someone is being hypersensitive, do not underestimate the courage that it takes to bring up an uncomfortable issue with a superior.
5. Take a stand against inappropriate behavior.
Even without someone voicing a complaint, if you witness someone say or do something inappropriate, don't let it slide. Everyone in a room may laugh at a sexist joke, but that does not make it appropriate workplace behavior, and ignoring it can send the wrong signal. The slight awkwardness of dealing with it promptly will be more than made up by the improvement in workplace atmosphere.
6. Look for diversity beyond skin color and gender.
Just because someone's skin color is different from yours, it doesn't mean that the person is particularly different from you. And conversely, someone who looks exactly like you may feel different from everyone else because of economic status, gender identity, political inclination, religious beliefs or many other characteristics that are not visible.
7. Foster open, candid conversations with and among your colleagues.
One of the keys to embracing diversity is to understand that it can lead to some awkward moments. Although certain conversations need to be handled professionally, being open and inquisitive is a good thing, as long as it's done in a candid and respectful manner.
8. Assume that you will need to educate the majority.
If you just hired your first team member from an underrepresented minority, chances are that he or she is quite used to being surrounded by people who look different. It's the members of the majority that need help understanding how to make their new colleague feel welcome.
9. Educate yourself about unconscious biases.
Some biases are called "unconscious" because we don't even realize we have them. Learn about unconscious biases, take an online test that can help you spot your own weak points, and be aware of the potential pitfalls - for yourself and for those around you. It's a leader's role to be aware of these biases and to know how to deal with them.
10. When unsure, ask for help.
Whether or not you have received formal diversity training, you will encounter some difficult situations that you are not prepared to handle. Don't be afraid to look for help! Look for internal company resources or consider bringing in outside help.

Next week we will focus on simple things that leaders can do outside of their work environment, which nonetheless can have a significant impact on their company's success in leveraging diversity as a competitive advantage.

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10 Tips For Leaders To Support Workplace Diversity, Part 1: Things To Do At Work

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As leaders, our words and actions have a great impact on workplace diversity. Here are several simple things you can do at work that will make your workplace more inclusive, while boosting morale and increasing performance. In Part 2 we focus on things leaders can do outside of the workplace, which nonetheless impact the workplace.

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Too Young To Lead? When Youth Works Against You

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Too Young To Lead? When Youth Works Against You

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This article is very close to my heart, with experiences that I have been through in work scenarios. Where I have been too young to start a business, I don't have the experience or often go to someone who is older, as they are perceived of having more 'experience'. I have been called a preschooler and find this quite hurtful.

As explained in the article by Beaton, most discrimination, surrounding age, in the workplace comes from a  bias perspective, as most research is conducted from older people in the workplace. It was quite astonishing to find that if you discriminate on someone over 40, it is actually illegal. It was quite shocking to find that from research undertaken, employers are reluctant to hire people under 30, due to being "unpredictable and they don't know how to work". It is not fair to tarnish all young people with the same brush.

There are some really good points for young entrepreneurs throughout the course of this article, such as;
1. Create your opportunity
2. Find complements
3. Get Good
4. Work where age doesnt matter
5. Practice humility

It is not fair or ethical to hire someone based on someones age, how are they meant to get experience if companies are legally not allowed to hire someone due to inexperience, which is a big thing for the millennial generation.

Beaton, C. (2016). Too Young to Lead: When Youth Works Against You. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/too-young-to-lead-when-yo_b_13714864.html

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A version of this article originally appeared on Forbes. Sign up for my newsletter to get my articles straight to your inbox.

Most research on age discrimination covers bias against older people in the workforce.

But if the media's anti-millennial messages are any indication of what's going on at work, younger employees may face discrimination, too. One survey found that employers are reluctant to hire people under 30 because they're "unpredictable and 'they don't know how to work.'" Another study published in the Human Resource Management Journal found that discrimination for being "too young" is at least as common as discrimination for being "too old."

Age discrimination at any age reduces our wellbeing and commitment to our work.

Unfortunately, unlike our older colleagues who can sue for it, millennials aren't protect by law. Discriminating against current or prospective employees on the basis of age isn't illegal if they're under 40.

Granted, laws protecting young workers would be hard to enforce. The existing laws apply if the discrimination isn't plausibly based on any other factor but age. For millennials, inexperience--a valid, legal reason to fire or not hire--and youth are practically synonymous.

So overcoming age discrimination is up to us. I asked three young entrepreneurs how they overcame the setbacks of their age. Zach Obront, 26, is Tucker Max's cofounder of Book in a Box. Mattan Griffel, 28, founded the coding education platform One Month. And Sol Orwell, 32, is a veteran entrepreneur and the founder of Examine.com.

Here are my five takeaways:
1. Create your opportunity.
Obront thinks people are bad at evaluating risk. "There are a lot of things you're unlikely to succeed in, but there's no downside in trying." But because they're a long-shot and getting rejected could hurt, "people avoid opportunities."

Obront did the opposite. Once a month in college, he took a day to try a bunch of things that would probably fail. One of those undertakings was emailing I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell's Tucker Max, who had recently blogged on a topic Obront was covering in an essay. Obront asked for advice and where to turn for more information. Max replied. For the next two years,Obront emailed Max every few months. By the time Obront saw Max ask for help on some work, he felt comfortable sending an email saying, "Hey, I think I would be a good fit -- do you want to chat about it?"

Obront helped Max with writing and managing a website. Their casual working relationship eventually lead to their decision to be cofounders.

Orwell echoes Obront's lesson. In Sol's early days as an entrepreneur, "I learned how to be a sales person, selling what you have to offer." Even if all you have to offer is an email, or some side hustle skills, that's sometimes enough to get the ball rolling on a larger opportunity.
2. Find complements.
Obront, Orwell and Griffel all have cofounders who are significantly older or younger than they are. All recommend it. Obront explains, "A lot of people would benefit from cofounders with not just different experience but who are also in different stages of life."

When Book in a Box's team grew last year, Obront said it boosted his credibility to have 41-year-old Max alongside him in meetings with a bunch of new employees.

Even if you're not an entrepreneur, cultivate complementary relationships with older people. Obront says he enjoys managing people fresh out of college who remind him of himself. Many older managers feel the same: they want to help young hustlers succeed. Seek out these kinds of partners, bosses and mentors.
3. Get good.
One reason age discrimination can be so murky for millennials is entry-level job traits are often vague and ill-defined--requiring, for example, soft skills like "communication" or "leadership." It's harder to discriminate against someone who blatantly has the defined, technical skills you need.

Obront suggests developing "an objective expertise in specific areas that are relevant." For example, Obront may not know how to manage people, but he knows the ins and outs of book publishing and marketing. "If I'm talking to an entrepreneur about how to use a book to support their business, I could be 14 years old, but what we're talking about gives me authority immediately because I know my stuff."

When you have a foundation of expertise, you're more "palatable," said Obront. "A lot of millennials are thinking, 'how do I become a thought leader?' Well, you need the more micro skills first in order to earn [older people's] attention."

Orwell agrees: "Experience is underrated." We celebrate the Zuckerbergs of the world, "but they're the exception ... Experience is more of a positive than people imagine."
4. Work where age doesn't matter.
There are good and bad environments for young leaders.

At corporate conferences, Obront feels an attitude among 50-plus year olds: They think, "'I put in so much time. These kids can't be worthy of this.' There's a little bit of disdain or negativity." In consequence, Obront and Max typically send their older CEO with a corporate background to these conferences instead. "They see him more as a peer." By contrast,Obront feels right at home at entrepreneurship conferences.

In the late '90s when Orwell was a teenage entrepreneur, online was the perfect place for him. "The anonymity of the Internet was a great way of hiding the fact that I was still relatively young at the time." People on Reddit and other forums don't care how old you are, Orwell explained. "As long as you seem to be a competent human being, they'll teach you something."

The Internet was and is a great place for young people to start a business. Orwell was so young he couldn't register his own business, domain name or bank account without his parents signing off. But his argument as an entrepreneur was, "I'm a kid and I know technology better than you do ... I was able to harness my age and make it useful." Griffel sums, "There are some topics where youth can be an advantage. Technology is one area where older generations defer to our expertise."

Freelancing, entrepreneurship and remote working opportunities are all ways to avoid age discrimination. At Orwell's company, a fully remote operation, "All we care about is the quality of work you produce."
5. Practice humility.
In an age where the title "expert" reigns, it's tempting to pretend we know more stuff than we do. We're just trying to keep up with everyone else.

But one trend I've noticed among dozens of successful millennials is they know their one or two things and leave the rest to other people. When I asked Orwell how I could apply his startup experience to corporate environments, he responded, "I know what's not in my wheelhouse, and that's not in my wheelhouse." It's brave to admit you don't know something, but it will earn you respect long-term.

On teaching a beginner coding class at Columbia Business School, Griffel explained that he deliberately doesn't act like an authority. "I try to never put myself above other people," he said. This attitude helps students open up and makes Griffel the BFG of beginner coding.
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Too Young To Lead? When Youth Works Against You

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A version of this article originally appeared on Forbes. Sign up for my newsletter to get my articles straight to your inbox. Most research on age discrimination covers bias against older people in the workforce. But if the media's anti-millennial messages are any indication of what's going on at work, younger employees may face discrimination, too.

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Groysberg and Connolly’s article interests me, as, it combines the interviews of 24 CEO’s from different industries around the globe who each speak of the benefits of diversity within the workplace. Each of the CEO’s argue that diversity is imperative to their business and elaborate upon how their personal experiences and values enable them to incorporate diversity into their companies to create a competitive advantage and harmonious work culture.

Paul Block, sweetener manufacturer CEO, expressed that “diverse groups within the workplace challenge each other which leads to greater breakthroughs”, with Jonathan Broomberg adding “Diversity enables creativity and innovation”.

This means that creating a diverse workforce has allowed theses companies to engage in innovative practices and create inclusive work teams. This has seen the companies reflect upon their intended target market and use diversity to appeal to a wider audience and gain a higher market share.

This article also discusses the differences between male and female leadership styles, with researchers arguing that due to cultural barriers and discrimination, women’s assertiveness in leadership can hold them back in some industries. The article states that inclusive working cultures can eliminate the challenges of discrimination and allow the employees to be themselves and align their values with the values of the company. Which means a productive and fair working environment for each employee.

Groysberg, B., & Connolly, K. (2013, Sep). Great leaders who make the mix work. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from hbr.org/2013/09/great-leaders-who-make-the-mix-work

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Photography: Courtesy of Studio Echelman

Business leaders send a powerful message when they demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion that goes beyond rhetoric. But how does diversity make its way to the top of a CEO's agenda? To find out, we interviewed 24 CEOs from around the globe who ran companies and corporate divisions that had earned reputations for embracing people from all kinds of backgrounds. These executives represented a wide range of industries and regions, as well as different stages on the journey to creating an inclusive culture. Our goal was to understand not only why they had made diversity a strategic priority but also how they executed on their goals and what that meant to the organization and its practices.

To find leaders who were at the forefront of the diversity movement, we first identified companies with reputations for successfully leveraging diversity. We then assessed their progress at creating inclusive cultures by examining, where available, employment statistics, leadership attitudes, and third-party recognition. (Information pertaining to employment statistics and third-party recognition was collected using public sources. Leadership attitudes were assessed on the basis of public sources, published interviews, and involvement in diversity initiatives.) We also took cultural differences into account. For example, 6% of the Japanese automaker Nissan's management is female, a ratio that sounds dismal from a U.S. citizen's vantage point. But the Japanese national average for female representation in management is 2%; Nissan is actually significantly ahead of the curve.

After identifying these companies, we selected CEOs to participate in interviews as part of an exploratory study. We wanted them to represent different industries and regions, as well as different stages of inclusivity. For example, some of the companies had well-established practices for leveraging diversity, while others were initially developing practices. We also asked CEOs whom among their peers they admired for creating inclusive cultures and used this information as leads to other companies and other CEOs.

The CEOs we spoke with did not see diversity as a once-and-done initiative, nor did they hand off the responsibility for it to others. Rather, each of the 24, in his or her own way, approached inclusivity as a personal mission. When we asked these executives why advancing diversity in their organizations was so important to them, the aggregate answer was twofold: They believed it was a business imperative because their companies needed it to stay competitive, and they believed it was a moral imperative because of their personal experiences and values. As Mikael Ohlsson of the Swedish home-products company IKEA put it, "My leadership on diversity is vision-driven from a business point of view and value-driven at the foundation."

These CEOs spoke forcefully about diversity as an advantage. Paul Block of the U.S. sweetener manufacturer Merisant pointed out, "People with different lifestyles and different backgrounds challenge each other more. Diversity creates dissent, and you need that. Without it, you're not going to get any deep inquiry or breakthroughs." Or, as Jonathan Broomberg of the South African insurer Discovery Health put it, diversity is "a source of creativity and innovation."

A diverse workforce also prevents an organization from becoming too insular and out of touch with its increasingly heterogeneous customer base. Many of the CEOs asserted that it is crucial for a company's employees to reflect the people they serve. Brian Moynihan of Bank of America saw an important link to customer satisfaction: "When internal diversity and inclusion scores are strong, and employees feel valued, they will serve our customers better, and we'll be better off as an organization."

Ajay Banga, CEO of Mastercard

The Role of Personal Experience

A CEO's commitment often arises from his or her own understanding of what it means to be an outsider. Take Andrea Jung of the personal-care-products firm Avon. (Note that Jung, like a number of other CEOs we talked with, has stepped down since our interview with her.) Describing her career, she said: "I was often the only woman or Asian sitting around a table of senior executives. I experienced plenty of meetings outside my organization with large groups of executives where people assumed that I couldn't be the boss, even though I was." MasterCard's CEO, Ajay Banga-a Sikh from India who was hassled in the United States after 9/11-shared something similar: "My passion for diversity comes from the fact that I myself am diverse. There have been a hundred times when I have felt different from other people in the room or in the business. I have a turban and a full beard, and I run a global company-that's not common."

Carlos Ghosn of Nissan Motor Company told us how bias had affected his own family. "My mother was one of eight children," he said. "She used to be a very brilliant student, and when the time came to go to college, she wanted to become a doctor. Unfortunately, her mother had to explain to her that there was not enough money in the family, and that the money for college was going to the boys and the girls would instead have to marry. When I was a kid and my mother was telling me this story-without any bitterness, by the way, just matter-of-fact-I was outraged because it was my mother. After hearing that story, I said I would never do anything to hurt someone based on segregation."

To Ghosn, gender bias is a personal affront. "When I see that women do not have the same opportunities as men, it touches me in a personal way," he said. "I think it's some kind of refusal related to my sisters or to my daughters."

Even white male CEOs had stories to share. Kentucky native Jim Rogers of the electric-utility holding company Duke Energy felt like an outsider at the start of his career. "When I went to Washington to be a lawyer, I felt like I had to work harder, be better, and prove myself because I had a southern accent and came from a rural state," he said. The self-awareness, insight, and empathy that Rogers and other chief executives acquired from personal experience have clearly shaped their attitudes toward diversity and inclusion and informed their priorities as leaders.

Persistent Institutional Barriers

The CEOs were generally disappointed with the lack of progress on diversity in the C-suite. While several women have risen through the ranks to become leaders of multibillion-dollar corporations, the statistics are grim overall. Only 4% of companies on the 2013 Fortune 500 list are led by female CEOs. As Banga acknowledged, "That's more than what it used to be 20 years ago, but it's nowhere near where it should be." The disparity also persists in other senior leadership positions and on boards. Ken Frazier of Merck offered a harsher assessment: "I think that the progress of women in the last two decades has been so limited, so slow, so inadequate, that it would defy even the most skeptical people from 20 years ago."

We asked the CEOs what they perceived to be the greatest obstacles to women's advancement in their own companies and industries. Although there's no one truth about what holds women back, the leaders we spoke with offered candid views based on years of observation.

If there's a single barrier that affects all women, it's exclusion from networks and conversations that open doors to further development and promotion, according to seven of the CEOs. Woods Staton of Arcos Dorados, the largest operator of McDonald's restaurants in Latin America, defined the offending mechanism as "social cliquishness," a pattern of interaction in which men seek out the company of other men and ignore women. "The men come out of a meeting, hang out with each other, and then go out at night for drinks," Staton explained. "It's subtle discrimination, and it's difficult to work around." Barry Salzberg of the professional services firm Deloitte described this pattern as a tangible, negative consequence of "the old boys' network."

Frazier went so far as to say, "I'm an African-American, and I've worked in the business world all my life, and I believe very strongly that whatever barriers race presents in the workforce, they pale in comparison to the barriers that women face when creating the close mentoring relationships that are necessary to be promoted." We find that this kind of discrimination is often unintended, unconscious, and embedded in a company's culture.

The CEOs also reported that the contributions of women are often underappreciated. As an example, Jim Turley of Ernst & Young described an incident when he himself was called out: "I like to facilitate our board discussions by getting right into the more contentious points, and we were having a discussion around a particular topic. Three women on the board made individual comments that were similar in direction, which I didn't respond to. Not long after they spoke, a fourth person, who happened to be a man, made a comment in line with what the women had been saying, and I picked up on his comment. I said, 'I think Jeff's got it right,' not even aware of what I had just done. To their great credit, the women didn't embarrass me publicly. They pulled me to the side, and they said, 'Jim, we know you didn't mean for this to be the way it was received, but this is what happened.' They played it back to me, and they said that that's what happens to women throughout their careers. It was a learning moment for me."

Clearly, even leaders passionate about building inclusive cultures can inadvertently allow unconscious biases to shape their behavior.

Five of the CEOs asserted that unexamined assumptions also constrained women's chances to progress. As Frazier explained, "If a job requires a woman to travel a lot, sometimes people decide preemptively that she's got a young child at home-this won't be something she's interested in." Double standards can also trip up women in line for promotions, as when characteristics prized in male leaders are viewed as negative qualities in women. "When men come into the environment and they're tough, they're perceived as strong business leaders," said Block. "When women come in and they're tough, it's not always as valued."

Geographic immobility due to family constraints was another problem, mentioned by three of the CEOs. "People often require geographic mobility to get the appropriate amount of exposure to the various aspects of the business that they need to understand," Randall Stephenson of AT&T noted. "As managers mature, we observe that some female managers get to a place where they want to begin families or their spouse also works, which makes them less inclined to move and physically relocate their families." Jung concurred: "In my experience, where part of career development and part of talent management was getting a 'global passport' stamped, one of the barriers for women could have been mobility. I saw that beyond the opportunity for the individual, we also had to try to create all of the opportunities necessary to make sure the whole family could in fact move."

Another three CEOs cited insufficient support for women who were rejoining the workforce after taking time off to raise children. Any organization that hopes to encourage women to succeed needs to address that, noted Rogers. "If a woman is pregnant and leaves, you have to have the flexibility to allow her to do that but not lose her place or her momentum," he said.

Unsurprisingly, five CEOs brought up barriers related to childbearing and child rearing, and six mentioned a lack of flexible work hours. They observed that the push-and-pull between work and family, though increasingly an issue for men too, remains predominantly a barrier for women. George Chavel of Sodexo North America drove home that point, asking, "Why should women have to be superhuman, have these reputations of 'They can do it all,' and make these major sacrifices, and men don't have those kinds of expectations placed on them?"

Do Women Lead Differently?

Eight of the CEOs perceived a distinction between male and female leadership styles. Though social scientists may not agree with their take on things, the CEOs said that women were less political, less likely to define themselves by their careers, more collaborative, better listeners, more relationship-oriented, and more empathetic and reasonable. We also heard that women were more likely to focus on completing the job at hand and to neglect to position themselves for recognition or promotion, while men were more apt to seek attention.

This tendency not to assert themselves could hold women back. George Halvorson of the California-based managed-care consortium Kaiser Permanente explained the problem this way: "There are cultural barriers, in that leaders who are looking for the next generation of leaders, for the people to promote, are less likely to see and understand the capable women that they have in their shop, probably because the male style tends to focus more on being in the spotlight, and the female style tends to focus more on bringing people together to get things done. The very thing that makes the best female leaders very successful also makes them less visible, and that's an incredibly important distinction. A good leader knows to look for things that have gone really well and then drills down to find the person who really did it, as opposed to just looking for whoever has a lot of accolades and did the dance."

But some differences in leadership style can work to women's advantage, said several CEOs. "When you've got a complex project involving multiple layers, you need a leader who is collaborative, and more often than not I have found that leader to be a woman," said Halvorson.

What Is an Inclusive Culture?

Resoundingly, the CEOs agreed on what an inclusive culture meant for their organizations. They defined it as one in which employees can contribute to the success of the company as their authentic selves, while the organization respects and leverages their talents and gives them a sense of connectedness. "In an inclusive culture employees know that, irrespective of gender, race, creed, sexual orientation, and physical ability, you can fulfill your personal objectives by aligning them with the company's, have a rich career, and be valued as an individual. You are valued for how you contribute to the business," said David Thodey of Telstra, the Australian telecommunications firm. Brad Wilson of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina described an inclusive workplace as "one where all who come with the professional skills sufficient to perform the requirements of the job feel welcome, supported, and rewarded, and are inspired to succeed based on their ability." That's similar to the point that John Rowe of Exelon, a U.S. energy producer and distributor, made when he noted that a culture of mutual respect helps his company address the complexities of its business. "A big organization needs only a few generals and a lot of sergeants," he said. "The sergeants deserve respect too."

Some CEOs observed that the proof is not only in how individual employees feel about opportunities for growth but also in how teams operate and decisions are made. "In an inclusive culture, we create and support heterogeneous teams," said Chavel. "They may take longer to make decisions than homogeneous teams, but it's worth the investment because their decisions will be better informed." To these CEOs, inclusiveness is not merely a matter of the composition of the organization or of particular teams (though such metrics can be helpful); it also has to do with how people relate to one another. "Broad diversity is necessary, but if you just walk away after you have it, you may not get the outcomes you want," said Steve Voigt of King Arthur Flour, a company where women account for three of eight board members and three of six senior executives. "You really have to manage it, grow it, and educate around it."

Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck

Practices That Make the Difference

Turley drew an important distinction: "Diversity itself is about the mix of people you have, and creating an inclusive culture is about making that mix work." We asked the CEOs which of their organizations' practices had been most effective at harnessing diversity. Here's what they told us:

1. Measure diversity and inclusion.

The CEOs agreed that metrics are key because, as we know, what gets measured gets done. Bank of America, for example, puts questions about diversity and inclusiveness into its biannual employee engagement survey and compares the results for any team that gets at least seven responses against those of a normative group of companies. "We've also built a diversity-and-inclusion index that tells us if people here feel they are treated fairly and to help us ensure that people of diverse backgrounds can succeed at Bank of America," said Moynihan. "With this data, each team can have a dialogue to determine what we're doing well and what we can improve to make Bank of America a better place to work."

2. Hold managers accountable.

Merck, Nissan, General Mills, Telstra, and ABB North America are among the many organizations that make diversity and inclusion goals part of their managers' performance objectives. "Each of my direct reports has things that they're going to do personally to help promote diversity, not things that they can assign to their team," explained Moynihan. "I say, 'What are you going to do to get involved?' For example, they can mentor somebody individually or sponsor diversity events." AT&T takes a different approach. "We benchmark diversity objectives at the senior levels of management, and we have regular meetings around my table about how we're advancing," said Stephenson. "A portion of our officers' compensation is based on achieving those objectives." Many CEOs also reported that managers who embraced diversity were more likely to be considered for promotion at their companies.

Further Reading

Work-Life Balance Feature

Data on how top executives reconcile their personal and professional lives.

In some organizations a favorable attitude toward diversity even determines whether an employee is viewed as a good fit for the organization. "We really have challenges when the leadership group is not diverse and they don't get it. And so you have to educate them-and if they still don't get it, I let them go," said Tim Solso of the engine manufacturer Cummins. He elaborated: "We hit a serious downturn in the second half of 2000 through the first half of 2003. I mean, we were on the brink as a company, but I didn't back off on diversity. One of the senior officers basically said to another officer, 'Why doesn't Solso get off this diversity stuff? We need to save the company.' I fired him. It was well known why he was fired. After that, people either got it or didn't talk that way anymore."

3. Support flexible work arrangements.

Many of the CEOs reported that their organizations offered benefits that helped employees balance their professional and personal commitments-such as flexible hours, on-site child care, and onboarding support after a leave of absence. Ken Powell of the U.S. food processor General Mills explained his company's efforts this way: "I've had officers at General Mills say to me, 'I realize that I'm one of several people who could be the brand manager for Cheerios, but I'm the only person who can be the mother to my children.' While some of those women make the decision to leave the company-sometimes permanently-we've learned that we can retain many of them by providing greater flexibility during those hectic childbearing years."

At Sodexo North America, Chavel and his leadership team have made work/life balance a personal matter. "Although the job is 24/7, I try to send the message that I'm open and receptive to any kind of flexible arrangement," Chavel said. "For example, I will end a meeting early to get to one of my sons' athletic events or travel somewhere for a family commitment."

4. Recruit and promote from diverse pools of candidates.

Workforce diversity begins with the search for talent. At General Mills, Powell's leadership team tracks metrics during and after the hiring process. "From the beginning, we're looking at the composition of the pool of candidates that we interview on campus, because that's an important early indicator," Powell told us. "Then we look at the composition of the group of people we hire in any given year. We track the retention rate for different groups, such as women or African-Americans. Even interns. At what rate are they leaving? At what rate are they getting promoted? What percentage advances to each level in the company? Our metrics help us diagnose and understand what's going on-enabling us to develop action plans to address any issues we see. It's important, and that's why I review those metrics myself on a quarterly basis."

Ghosn has taken a different approach at Nissan in Japan, where women are strikingly underrepresented in management ranks. "We've implemented quotas in hiring, particularly in the populations where there are fewer women-like engineering-and we make sure that in the succession plans of the company we always have a specific number of female candidates," he explained. "This forces management to identify women in their own ranks or to hire more women. So when it comes time for promotions, we have a diverse group of candidates from which we can choose. I believe quotas are a great way of advancing diversity, particularly when you have a long way to go and you don't want to wait forever. After a company attains a certain level of diversity, I think quotas lose their effectiveness. But when you're moving from 1% female managers to 5%, if you don't enforce a quota, it's going to take forever to reach that number."

Owing in part to this strategy, the representation of women in Nissan's management has increased three times as fast as the average rate in Japan over the past decade.

5. Provide leadership education.

Another key practice is providing leadership development opportunities for women at the lower levels of the organization, which tend to be more diverse. Broomberg described Discovery Health's CEO Program like this: "It's a brilliant two-year program which involves candidates in intensive internal and external training, significant exposure to senior executives, and travel to the U.S. to do a course at Duke. It includes external candidates and young candidates from previously disadvantaged backgrounds already in the company. It's a big financial investment for us, but we've been able to add quite a lot of muscle to our recruitment capacity and also invest significantly in the more rapid advancement of existing internal candidates."

And Johnson & Johnson's Bill Weldon noted that diversity training cannot be hived off from the rest of the operation. It has to be woven into the culture. "About 10 years ago one of the women's leadership initiative programs was being held across the street, and I asked the people running it if I could go to the program," he recalled. "They said no. I asked why not, and they said I couldn't go because I was a man. My response was that that may be the problem-you have to broaden it beyond women. We evolve and learn and grow to make sure we're capturing not just the people involved but the views of the whole community."

Needless to say, companies should also offer their high-potential employees opportunities for external education and development. But according to Harvard Business School, only 23% of participants in executive education programs on the Boston campus in 2012 were women. Companies also need to invest in women-only leadership development programs and in educating both men and women about subtle gender biases and how they manifest themselves in firms.

6. Sponsor employee resource groups and mentoring programs.

Several of the CEOs' companies offered less structured professional development opportunities to various subgroups of employees. One approach is employee resource groups, or networks of employees who share an affiliation (such as women, ethnic minorities, or young professionals). Angela Braly of the U.S. managed-care firm WellPoint underlined the importance of leveraging such groups in substantive ways. "I visit each group twice a year and give them real assignments," she said. "I am very clear about my expectation that they will have a real impact on the business."

Companies must also invest in these groups, according to Banga. "Here at MasterCard we have many business resource groups, or BRGs," he said. "We have women's leadership networks, a YoPro group for young professionals, a group for employees of African descent, a pride community, a Latino community, and an 'East' community for Asian employees. Each BRG has a business sponsor, who's normally a direct report of mine. We do a ton of things with them, from employee-networking events to multicultural summits to a women's forum for which we get outside speakers as well as panels comprised of me and members of my board."

7. Offer quality role models.

It's no surprise that diversity at the top promotes diversity throughout an organization. A varied array of leaders signals an organizational commitment to diversity and also provides emerging leaders with role models they can identify with. Several of the CEOs, including those from Kaiser Permanente, Sodexo North America, King Arthur Flour, Duke Energy, and Cummins, said that putting women in leadership roles was key to attracting, retaining, and developing other female talent. Rogers described how Duke did this: "This historically has been a man's industry. So, early on, we worked to move a woman into a plant manager position. That set an example. You have to be intentional and make sure you populate your organization with leaders who represent diversity. That creates an environment that allows those with diverse backgrounds to say, 'If they can, I can.' That is a very important feeling that needs to be embedded in the people in the company."

As for individualized employee development, many CEOs cited the importance of mentorship and sponsorship opportunities. Ohlsson explained IKEA's unique approach to mentorship this way: "We have a grandfathering/grandmothering principle at IKEA-that is to say that a hiring boss has to have another manager say yes to a candidate before that person can be hired. Two people then share the responsibility for the development of that individual." Such double sponsorship increases the likelihood that talented employees of any background will feel supported and stay with the company.

But Halvorson warned against tokenism-the practice of putting people into jobs because of their classification, not their ability. "If you put someone in place who fits a certain category but doesn't have the skill set needed to do the job, then you basically set the whole agenda back significantly," he said. "My sense is to hire stars, and the constellation is far more effective if it's a diverse constellation."

8. Make the chief diversity officer position count.

As this relatively new role proliferates across industries, CEOs must decide how to maximize its effectiveness. At the time of his interview, Enrique Santacana of ABB North America had just received approval from the firm's North America Executive Committee to create a chief diversity and inclusion officer position, reporting directly to him. "We want to make sure that people understand that it has full support from the top, and it's not just a communications message that goes out there with no follow-up," he explained. "It institutionalizes the process and the intent, and it establishes a formal means by which we will develop programs as well as metrics, so that we can track our progress."

Lead by Example

Once the vision of an inclusive culture has been articulated and best practices have been put in place, what is the CEO's daily contribution to seeing that the vision becomes a reality? Nearly half the CEOs said their most important role was to set the tone for the organization's culture by demonstrating a commitment to inclusion.

Perhaps the most meaningful way to do that is by dedicating time to work personally on diversity and inclusion initiatives. A quarter of the CEOs we interviewed mentioned direct involvement with diversity programs, such as meeting regularly with employee resource groups and diversity councils. Banga, Moynihan, and Thodey even chair diversity and inclusion councils themselves. By pointing the way, CEOs will help their organizations attract and develop the best, most diverse talent, giving them the edge they need to succeed.

A version of this article appeared in the September 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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Photography: Courtesy of Studio Echelman Business leaders send a powerful message when they demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion that goes beyond rhetoric. But how does diversity make its way to the top of a CEO's agenda?

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Updated August 18, 2017 18:26:59

Michael Kimmel is in Australia to give corporate men a bit of a gee-up about equality.

"It's so close, it's right there," he says.

Women, on average, currently represent 25.2 per cent of all board positions.

Experts say that once 30 per cent representation is achieved, gender equality on ASX boards will only be a matter of time.

"We can touch it, it's the golden ring, we can grab it," Dr Kimmel says.

I spoke to the Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at Stony Brook University in New York at a breakfast briefing hosted by international accounting firm PwC.

"Making the case that gender equality is not only right and fair, but also it is smart, is part of the evidence base argument that we want to make to companies," Dr Kimmel says.

He is not alone in this latest push to the finish line for corporate gender equality.

There is a groundswell of women seeking to smash the glass ceiling in Australia once and for all.

Lonely at the top

Gai McGrath is a professional company director. She sits is on seven boards. One of those boards has 60 per cent female representation; on another, she is the only woman.

She is well placed to compare the pros and cons of more women on boards.

"To me it feels like the level of debate and constructive dialogue is at a higher level, to where I am sitting on the board and I am the only female there.

"Where it becomes not even noticed, it's not even part of the equation, but it's just 'that's the way we do things around here' - it just allows a better level of debate and dialogue," Ms McGrath says.

The numbers speak for themselves, there is obviously still a glass ceiling in corporate Australia. But the numbers show women add significant value to companies at the board level, so the more diversity we achieve, the better for the economy as a whole.

Diversity breeds success

This chart shows that the companies with the largest market capitalisations have the highest proportion of female board members.

That is not to say that having more women on a company board guarantees a higher stock price, but it does highlight the case for diversity.

It is no coincidence either. A recent study by international accounting firm PwC shows women bring skills to a board that an all-male board will likely lack.

For example, the study notes that overall among Australia's largest companies, "there are more female board members with sales and marketing and consulting experience than male board members" with those skills.

Women lose less money

Stephen Mayne, a director of the Australian Shareholders Association, has been advocating improved corporate governance for publicly listed companies for years now.

His argument for why more women should be on company boards could be seen as controversial.

"Shareholders lose money in over-priced takeovers, and it's often the aggressive men [on the board] who want to dominate their opponent, and who are prepared to take bigger risks."

He argues that women create necessary balance on boards that ultimately leads to better decision making in the complex world of corporate finance, takeovers and mergers.

He says many men are driven by their egos in the middle of a corporate raid, while women think more objectively and strategically.

Dr Kimmel agrees with Stephen Mayne on this point.

He uses Iceland as an example. It was one of the worst hit countries during the global financial crisis. In response, it basically got rid of all the male bank managers and replaced them with women.

"Why? Because they were more sensible," Dr Kimmel says.

"They were making it possible to have long-term sustained growth."

Breaking through is crucial

There is a cruel truism in finance: "You've gotta have money, to make money".

Unless you buy a winning lottery ticket, you need to have tens of thousands of dollars for an initial investment, and the means to consistently top-up the "honey pot". You simply cannot make money by squirrelling away $2,000 and then walking away.

The same rule seems to apply to gender diversity at the board level.

As Ms McGrath explains, when a woman enjoys success on one board, other opportunities then open up.

"It is one of these things which, because you're working as part of a team, it is important that you have some credibility around a board table to get recommended and supported by your board colleagues for other board roles," she says.

"So breaking through that first appointment makes a significant difference for women."

The study also found the greater the percentage of female board members, the more comprehensive the reporting, hence the more accountability.

Dangers in forcing equality?

Despite the advantages of gender equality, billion-dollar fund manager Roger Montgomery said it would be a mistake to push or force gender equality. He said it should happen organically.

"There are a whole range of reasons why women are not on boards."

Mr Montgomery says it's not necessarily because we can't find enough women, and it's not necessarily because we don't want to see more women in the boardroom.

It's simply because circumstances might be that it's not appropriate, or even that a candidate given the opportunity doesn't want a seat at the table.

Mr Montgomery says he knows a female executive that declined a seat on the board because she viewed it as a token gesture.

The only way is up

Judging by the enthusiasm of women at this year's Business Chicks annual expo - the largest gathering of female entrepreneurs in the country - held last week in Sydney, there will be no shortage of business-savvy women looking to smash the glass ceiling in the years ahead.

But we haven't reached critical mass yet.

"What you need to achieve real change is a truly committed chair and CEO," Australian Institute of Company Directors general manager Advocacy Louise Petschler says.

"Hopefully when we see more women in board roles, and indeed in senior leadership roles, there'll be more chairs and CEOs who have experienced the benefits diversity brings first-hand, and have themselves become committed to achieving change."

Dr Kimmel also sums it up nicely.

"Of course gender equality is the right thing to do: it's fair, it's just, it's democratic."

"But more than that, it's also good for business - there's ample research on that - and it's also good for men.

"It's good for men in their personal lives."

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, women, community-and-society, corporate-governance, management, australia

First posted August 17, 2017 06:04:48

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Why boards need more women to make more money

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Updated August 18, 2017 18:26:59 Michael Kimmel is in Australia to give corporate men a bit of a gee-up about equality. "It's so close, it's right there," he says. Women, on average, currently represent 25.2 per cent of all board positions.

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The Boardroom benefits of Gender Diversity

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The Boardroom benefits of Gender Diversity

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This article from PageGroup by Nathan Dobosz has a strong emphasis on creating a better workplace for everyone.

Dobosz points out a good point, that gender diversity within the boardroom creates a value-add, allowing for a greater “cognitive variety” given that females who have different values, experiences and knowledge, often leading to greater performance within the workplace (Dobosz, 2018). One point that I found quite amazing is that the world population is roughly 101 males to 100 females (Dobosz, 2018), then it is ideal to have a strong sense of female presence in the board room to tailor the organisations marketing approach to those needs and requirements of the market.

From the research conducted, many businesses have found this quite difficult in creating a balance of gender ratio within senior talent. In doing so the issue that is found from this is that it creates a smaller talent pool. This company incorporates an innovative and contemporary form of leadership, whereas they work with a 'grassroots' perspective, allowing for entry positions to work with executive positions in a bottoms up approach.

Dobosz, N. (2018). The Boardroom: benefits of gender diversity. LinkedIn. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/boardroom-benefits-gender-diversity-nathan-dobosz/?trackingId=ldr8chu9BXwhxziAWRVPxQ%3D%3D

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The Importance and advantages of Diversity in the Workplace

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Work place Diversity

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Diversity and Inclusion at Workplace-EMC Award Winning Inspirational Short Film Video

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How diversity makes teams more innovative.

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How diversity makes teams more innovative.

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During this TED talk, Rocío Lorenzo discusses a study that was conducted about how diverse teams are making organisations more innovative. Throughout the talk she makes great connections regarding the link between diverse organisations and teams with innovation. However, the three countries in the study being Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Lorenzo, 2017) do run organisations sometimes differently to Australian companies so it is difficult in some circumstances to compare to Australia.

Towards the end of the talk, Lorenzo discusses women in organisations. For a company with diverse teams, it takes 20% women in leadership to make the organisation more innovative (Lorenzo, 2017). Lorenzo however, does not state that an organisation has to have 20% women in leadership in all organisations, most organisations have a lot less than 20% women in leadership roles (Lorenzo, 2017). She implies that for a company to be innovative and diverse a company needs to hire more women into leadership roles.

Overall, the TED talk discusses how women can make a company more diverse and in turn the more diverse a company is the more innovative that company will be.

Lorenzo, R. (2017). How diversity makes teams more innovative [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/rocio_lorenzo_want_a_more_innovative_company_hire_more_women

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Rocío Lorenzo: How diversity makes teams more innovative

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Are diverse companies really more innovative? Rocío Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out -- and the answer was a clear yes. In a talk that will help you build a better, more robust company, Lorenzo dives into the data and explains how your company can start producing fresher, more creative ideas by treating diversity as a competitive advantage.

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In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be encouraged and celebrated.