Category: Uncategorized

Roman Ružbacký

July 24, 2016

I recently came across an article which contained a similar title, well, the first half anyway. I then reflected on the author’s narrative and sentiment and was wondering if I was being a little judgemental when I came across the words, “We are committed to company X being an inclusive, tolerant workplace; we are launching a dialogue; yesterday was a first step, dialogue is the beginning of change; and, be our best selves”. The words may have come from the heart. And, yes, silence about racism signals zero acknowledgement as implied by the rest of the author’s original title.

However, I feel that when in a leadership role of a large corporation, could we ‘start’ from a more deeper and informed place about race and issues facing people from culturally and linguistically diverse background in employment? Within its sphere of influence, what has the organisation done (historically and up to now) to bridge the racial inequity gap, close the gap or ‘jump the gap’? Does it want to and why? Does the composition of its workforce reflect the community it serves? Is there CALD at all levels of the organisation? Are the upper echelons of the company occupied by people of visible diversity or is it homogenous and lacks cultural diversity? Let’s not skim the surface of a conversation that has been happening for well over 50 years. Otherwise aspirational statements may be perceived as shallow and just talk.

Looking more closely at the narrative, using the word tolerance to me means “to put up with” or “the continual subjection of……”. Would acceptance or appreciation be a better narrative? “Launching a dialogue and taking a first step”. Well its 2016, that ship sailed long ago. And, “bringing your whole selves to work”……well, it depends what life you’ve had up till now if you’d want to do that. Read a little about code switching and internalised racism. People have become pretty good at it. So how do we move from talk shows at work to something more authentic and meaningful that will engage and inspire, and as the article did, starting with compassion and good intentions?

I had the great fortune of meeting Jane Elliot in 1998 at the Melbourne Convention Centre on one of her speaking tours. Jane Elliott devised the controversial and startling, “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes” exercise that labelled participants as inferior or superior based solely upon the colour of their eyes and exposed them to the experience of being a minority. In fact, my first ever autograph was from Jane. It was my first racial consciousness awakening.

The Courageous Conversations about Race model (developed by Glenn Singleton, Pacific Education Group) was another moment when I began to acutely understand how race impacts my life 100% of the time. The model uses a combination of experiential narratives/stories and values-based exercises within a race privilege conceptual framework to promote a deeper, more active and sustained engagement with the issues of cultural diversity, racism and community harmony. The process helped me to engage, sustain and deepen my race dialogue in a more meaningful way with humility and respect. Through years of practice and unlearning, I have aimed to further raise my racial consciousness and cultural competency, which helped me to understand my power, privilege, whiteness, biases, stereotypes, racial blindness or any internalised racism.

Is this the story in workplaces?

Diversity practitioners and researchers who have worked in the area of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (CALD) (including faith) are usually familiar with Government and Organisational Cultural Competency Frameworks, Reconciliation Action Plans, CALD Action Plans, and strategies and training programs that aim to build cultural competency and raise racial consciousness.

Despite a number of successful initiatives, there continues to be a relatively high level of complacency and relatively low level of commitment and investment in cultural competency activities across the higher education and corporate sectors.

To drive social and cultural transformation within our personal and professional areas of responsibility, we need to examine, in a coherent way, multiple perspectives that can be weaved into our frameworks and culture, so that we achieve a genuine and authentic inclusive environment.

Has your organisation addressed race and CALD seriously? Has it developed or successfully implemented a CALD Action Plan, have KPIs in relation to CALD, have inter-institutional benchmarks on CALD staff, have longitudinal data of their CALD staff, have evaluated the effectiveness of their CALD strategies, or reviewed their policies and practices with a CALD lens? Has it explored key issues in relation to under-representation, under-utilisation, unconscious bias and discrimination.

As there is no obligation to disclose your CALD background to an employer, data capture in organisations is difficult (a diversity survey may be one solution). There are also some slight variations in how CALD is defined. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) defines cultural and linguistic diversity by three variables, Country of birth, Language other than English (LOTE) spoken at home and English language proficiency. However, in the Australian context, individuals from a CALD background are those who identify as having specific cultural or linguistic affiliation by virtue of their place of birth, ancestry, ethnic origin, religion, preferred language, language(s) spoken at home, or because of their parents’ identification on a similar basis.

Here are some key issues to explore in relation to race and CALD in Australian workplaces

Under-representation at executive level and media

Anecdotal evidence shows that the representation of people from CALD backgrounds in the top echelons of Australian organisations and the mainstream media is not reflective of the community. Looking through the Executive Leadership Teams of the ASX 500 companies or mainstream television, we see a high degree of homogeneity and whiteness.

Participation rates in the workforce

Although unemployment rates for people from CALD backgrounds are broadly comparable to the general population, the rate is higher for people born in non-English speaking countries (more than nine per cent of people born in North Africa or the Middle East are unemployed). http://vcoss.org.au/documents/2014/11/Tackling-unemployment.pdf

AMES http://www.ames.net.au/about.html argues that official unemployment rates do not reflect the true unemployment rates in migrant communities. http://amesnews.com.au/media-releases/unemployment-a-hidden-issue-for-cald-communities/ because it does not consider underemployment and they suggest that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) count someone who has worked an hour a week as being employed.

In 2014-15, the labour force participation rate of people aged 20-74 years was 65.1% for women and 78.3% for men (ABS). For people of CALD background (born overseas) it was 59.8% for women and 75.9% for men (ABS). For people of people of CALD background (born in Australia) it was 67.9% for women and 80.2% for men (ABS). In 2016, the labour force participation rate of people aged 15+ years was 59.5% for women and 71.0% for men (ABS).

The proportion of the Australian population aged 18-24 employed full or part time in 2011 for i) Australian born was 71.6%; ii) CALD born – 44.5%, iii) Refugee born – 33.2%, iv) Refugee ancestry – 48.8%, and, iv) CALD ancestry – 55.9%. We may need to also consider student enrolment data in conjunction with this data.   

Participation rates of migrants in the workforce

Migrants who had obtained Australian citizenship since arrival were more likely to be employed (73%) than other recent migrants (64%) or temporary residents (63%). In all cases males were more likely to be employed full time than females: 90% of male migrants with Australian citizenship were employed full time compared with 63% of females.

Under-utilization of skills

Further analysis of ABS data shows that the skills of many migrants have not been fully utilised. The proportion of tertiary-educated migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds who were unemployed or working in low skilled occupations was higher than their counterparts from English-speaking backgrounds or born in Australia. This underutilisation of skills was attributed to barriers including; lack of local work experience, lack of references, language difficulties, lack of local contacts/networks, and overseas skills and qualifications not being recognised by employers.

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Products/6250.0~Nov+2010~Main+Features~Employment?OpenDocument

Diversity clusters

Results from a series of diversity surveys (2009-2013) from a large organisation showed that the employee cohort was culturally diverse with 30% of employees born overseas and ~50% of employees’ parents born overseas. This compares with 23% of Australians born overseas and 44% of Australians who had at least one parent born overseas (Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia – 2011).

However, the results showed that people from CALD backgrounds were clustered in specific work areas, for example, science and business departments. Conversely, people from non-CALD backgrounds were highly represented in human resources, equity and diversity departments, marketing departments and executive leadership groups. Digging a bit deeper, the results also showed that the majority of the survey participants who identified as CALD had both parents born from the same country!

Bearing this in mind (and looking at your own workplace or department), does homogeneity impact on the development and design of policy and procedure for the whole organisation? Does it impact how diversity and inclusion initiatives are prioritised? Many organisations are currently focusing on gender equity and have clear reasons for doing so, but are they equally focussing on the whole spectrum of diversity or the diversity within the cohort they are focussing on, for example, women of CALD backgrounds, Indigenous women, women with disability, women of diverse genders and sexualities, women at different life stages, parents and non-parents.

Do homogenous marketing departments look through a narrow lens when developing marketing tools to reach their target audience? At one organisation, I saw racial blindness in practice when I was involved in a poster campaign that looked at eliminating violence against women. The marketing department submitted a sample photo of woman waiting for a bus with a black man sitting in a bus stop shelter in the background. Not sure where the ‘flock’ the marketing guy came from?

Is there representation of people of CALD backgrounds in tv commercials, news reporters, films, secondary school brochures? Are these genuine or tokenistic? For example, are we attempting to diversify the pool of staff at secondary schools to better reflect the student cohort?

More cultural diversity attracts cultural diversity, more homogeneity attracts homogeneity

Results from a series of diversity surveys (2009-2013) from a large organisation showed that work areas with a higher representation of people from CALD backgrounds (than the survey average) appeared to retain or attract more people of CALD backgrounds, whereas, work areas that were homogenous appeared to retain their homogeneity.

Employment matters

Results from the same survey found that discrimination on the grounds of race was very low (2%) despite the higher proportion of people of CALD backgrounds (25% of the CALD cohort) experiencing unfair treatment in mainstream employment situations (for example, promotion, career progression, promotion, performance review, remuneration, recognition, workload allocation, resolution of workplace issues, etc.). They were not over-represented in incidents of unfair treatment compared to the non-CALD cohort.

However, does it raise an issue around whether discrimination is overt or covert? Does it depend on whose lens you’re looking through and how clues up you may be to detect it or articulate it? Should your CALD strategy focus on awareness or does is go deeper into employment practices as well as culture

Race discrimination

Race discrimination has been against the law for over 30 years under equal opportunity law because it is destructive, unfair and has high social and economic costs for all of us. It is against the law to discriminate against a person because of their race, colour, nationality or national origin, ethnicity or ethnic origin, descent or ancestry. However, according the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission 2015 Annual Report, 213 complaints of race and religious belief or activity discrimination were lodged at the Commission between 2014 and 2015, in the area of employment. This makes up 12% of all complaints lodged with the Commission in employment, the second highest behind disability.

Indigenous Australians

For the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population born in 2010–2012, life expectancy was estimated to be 10.6 years lower than that of the non-Indigenous population for males (69.1 years compared with 79.7) and 9.5 years for females (73.7 compared with 83.1). http://www.aihw.gov.au/deaths/life-expectancy/

So how does the conversation look like now?

Why should Melbourne or Australian organisations work in CALD and race? 433,628 immigrants have settled in Melbourne from 2001 to 2011. One in three of Melbourne’s residents today was born in another country. Almost as many speak a foreign language at home. Nearly one in five is of Asian ancestry, mostly Chinese or Indian. http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/census-reveals-citys-changes-20120624-20wme.html#ixzz2kgUYv83Y

Organisations need to be actively working in race and CALD at a deeper level to ensure that our community is inclusive and cohesive, where everyone is treated with dignity and respect and has the opportunity to participate in all aspects of work and public life. Not be disengaged, exploited, excluded or discriminated. This means a more sophisticated narrative and strategy in the employment arena.

On the whole, you’d think that most Australian organisations have moved away from food, fashion and festival (including multicultural lunches) or talk shows at work. It is through continual learning and unlearning, guided conversations, enquiry, reading, reflection, inquisitiveness and interaction that I widen my lens in order to have and sustain a deeper and courageous conversation about race.

Roman Ružbacký

January 13, 2017

Nepotism and cronyism is a confronting issue and many don’t want to talk about it or write about it. My colleague recently experienced ‘termination by nepotism and cronyism’ and after much contemplation asked me to share their story. Not for sympathy. Not for revenge. Not to vent. They wanted to put the spotlight on this the practice which I believe is not an isolated case. It’s a practice that erodes workers’ rights.

Nepotism and cronyism excludes people through no fault of their own. My colleague recently applied for a senior part time role that allowed them to fulfil their parental and carer responsibilities only to be callously hacked out of the organisation and replaced by someone who was made full time a week after they were terminated. This occurred at five months and three weeks into their employment. There’s an old Greek saying that every obstacle is for the ultimate good. Well, you might be philosophical about it. I prefer the Greek saying, you pay for your sins in this life time!

Nepotism and cronyism (aka jobs for mates) is not a new phenomenon. It usually operates in stealth. It involves by-passing a recruitment policy and procedure. It’s a purely subjective and exclusive process where a decision maker gets one of ‘their mates’ into a job that should have really gone to a competitive selection process. When it happens, decision makers are ‘in’ on the behaviour. There is no accountability or repercussion for their actions, no remedy, no appeal and no governing body to scrutinize this type of activity. The best person for the job, the one who may have the experience and qualifications to fulfil the role as outlined in the position description, and who painstakingly addresses all the selection criteria, doesn’t get a fair go or a fighting chance.

And you don’t have to look too far to uncover cronyism. Apply for a job where you clearly have the qualifications and experience necessary to fulfil the role. Wait for a few months. Then look up the position along with the organisation on LinkedIn and then go through the person’s qualifications and experience. Then scratch your head and wonder, for example, how your last five years as a personal trainer can get you a job as a manager of strategic programs? Or how an internal applicant who has a career change trumps an external with more qualifications or experience. In my parent’s day, being qualified and experienced was seen as an asset by employers. So what has changed? Has the employee lost their hand? Has it become so competitive and divisive that we need to look after our own? Or, are we not hearing enough from employers about anti-cronyism (whistle blowing) initiatives? From a diversity and inclusion perspective, this practice has the effect of knocking out potential candidates, usually those without networks and connections, and the vulnerable (think sex, age, disability, parents, carers, race, women in STEM, etc., etc.). 

Nepotism and cronyism could seriously impact an organisation’s brand and reputation, but that doesn’t seem to matter these days. In a ‘no complain’ and short term memory society, cases of nepotism and cronyism usually blow away in the wind. We might wear a little discomfort through bad publicity but everyone will forget things rather quickly and we’ll all move on. The credibility of your diversity and inclusion initiatives, however, will be severely crippled as those marginalised will talk about their experiences in stealth too.  

Nepotism: the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.

Cronyism: the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.

Phoenix (not their real name), a highly experienced program manager (not their real occupation), recently applied for a senior, three year, part time position with medium sized company. It was the only role of its kind in the organisation. Phoenix had to jump through many hoops to get this job, including four interviews, a police check and a ‘personality’ test to see if they were the right ‘cultural fit’ for the organisation. There was no gender balance in any of the interview panels and for the three of the interviews no panel or age balance. There’s your first problem, I hear you say.

Phoenix had young kids to look after so this job was a perfect opportunity that allowed Phoenix to balance work and family responsibilities. Phoenix was successful in securing the position. Phoenix was working steadily on the work assigned which included a number of projects that was anticipated to reap many long-term benefits for the organisation. These projects had never been done previously. 

The CEO of the company had met Phoenix for coffee twice in the first three months and all indications were that Phoenix was doing well in the role. Phoenix had a major project approved by the organisation’s Board and had met with all the Executives in the company. There were no meetings or emails by Phoenix’ manager to indicate that the work was of poor quality or that targets were not being met. In fact, there were no regular performance reviews conducted, no critical feedback received and no issues raised during the first five months of Phoenix’ employment. Things started to go awry when Phoenix was asked by a senior manager to complete research paper on Artificial Intelligence in less than two days, something that had nothing to do with Phoenix’s job. It was a ridiculous request by someone claiming to work at the upper echelons of the strategic upper class.

Around the four-month mark, a new person, Ash joined the organisation. Ash was also an experienced program manager (not their real occupation). Ash turned up to work one day and was introduced to everyone in Phoenix’ team, except Phoenix. As the work area was open plan, and people could see into the meeting rooms, Phoenix’ would observe the relaxed demeanour of Ash. Ash was an instant hit with his peers.

When Phoenix finally approached Ash to say hello, it became crystal clear that Ash was to soon take over Phoenix’ job. He was employed three days a week to do the same job Phoenix was employed to do. Ash did not have to apply for a job. It wasn’t advertised anywhere. Ash did not have sit for an interview. Phoenix was directed by to work with Ash, even though Ash was reporting to someone more senior.

Phoenix then started to be shut out from the information loop. Meetings would happen where Phoenix’ work was discussed by senior managers behind closed doors. Phoenix’s manager had little experience in Phoenix’ area of expertise. It wasn’t looking good. Phoenix was on probation. Phoenix sucked it in and went along with the game even though this move completely derailed the work. Then came the punitive behaviour and isolation. Working at a senior position, five layers down an organisation and being expected to work with executives was never going to work. Then being told how to speak and prepare for conversations with executive would have been quite insulting for an experienced program manager.

Ash, on the other hand, was schmoozing with executives and talking about how Phoenix’s work was going to be delivered. For an up and coming meeting with an executive, Phoenix prepared a presentation to report on progress after five months. It was a joint meeting with Ash, who didn’t bring anything in preparation for the meeting. Phoenix provided evidence to show that the five month targets had been met or had been progressed to a very good stage. The cat was out of the bag when, at this meeting, the executive started talking directly to Ash saying, ‘Remember when we were at company x, and how we tried this and did that’. The Executive and Ash had previously worked together at the same company for about four years on similar work. No-one spoke about this bizarre situation not even those in authority. The team could clearly see what was happening but no one spoke out. No one had the courage.

Around the five month and two week mark, Phoenix’s family member had suddenly passed away and the work place sent Phoenix’s a box of flowers. Approximately a week later, Phoenix was called into a frosted room by their manager and told that their employment contract would not be continued. Phoenix didn’t bother arguing the point, and after being given a flimsy excuse about not being strategic and lacking stakeholder engagement (that clearly didn’t stack up), left the workplace within an hour with young kids to support and Christmas around the corner. Like Snowball from George Orwell classic, Animal Farm, driven out of town, people finding out about Phoenix’s departure when emails started to bounce back and Phoenix’s trio of managers fuelling rumours that Phoenix was a poor performer. Trashing Phoenix at every turn. The ‘situation’ was contained and the ‘threat’ eliminated.

A week later, Phoenix heard that Ash was made full time. Phoenix had set up the projects and Ash was now going to take over the whole operation and fix up Phoenix’ stuff ups. As predicted, Ash didn’t raise the issue with anyone. Ash didn’t call Phoenix as say, bad luck chum, I took your job! He’s got a family too.

Now, my understanding is that unfair dismissal laws don’t apply during a probation period unless the termination is unlawful? So where does this leave Phoenix? Adverse action claim? What are your chances of securing meaningful part time work at a senior position when you will be possibly shafted before your probation ends by a full-time employee? What message doe this send for parents and carers wanting to secure employment? Who has your back? Well, I do Phoenix.

The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Victoria, Australia) states that discrimination occurs if a person treats or proposes to treat a person with one of the protected attributes (eg. disability, race, sex, etc..) unfavourably because of that attribute. Should nepotism and cronyism be a grounds for discrimination? If you think about the term, protected attribute, it describes a personal characteristic that cannot be changed and is beyond your control (eg. race, sex, disability). Employment activity was the last attribute added to the EO Act that didn’t actually describe a personal characteristic, for example, sex or race. It offered protections for employees who made reasonable requests and/or voiced concerns about their employment entitlements or workers’ rights. The same case could be made for nepotism and cronyism.

So what can we learn from this experience? I have suggested the following strategies for Phoenix, a ten point plan:

1.      Don’t get angry over things you can’t control when the agenda is clear. Ash probably already had the job lined up before Phoenix was appointed and given the job when he was ready to take it.

2.     Do what you can to protect your reputation including setting the record straight.

3.      Don’t be naïve. Nepotism and cronyism has been around for ages. Don’t expect it to go away soon. Find a safe space to talk or write about it. 

4.      Don’t accept a job where the organisations has never contemplated or done the work before. You end up answering to five chiefs who start behaving as experts and setting unrealistic expectations.

5.     Do a background check on the people you will potentially work with, for example, their LinkedIn profile and who they follow on Twitter.

6.     Do a background check on the organisation and assess whether your values align with the reputation of the organisation.

7.     If an organisation can’t decide on a candidate in two interviews, walk.

8.     I used to say take meticulous notes about your output and achievements, but in this case, it don’t think it would have achieved anything.

9.     In relation to the role being made full time after Phoenix’s timely exit, it signals that the organisation does not value senior part time roles, thereby rejecting work-life balance.

10.  Don’t let a negative experience diminish your confidence. 

I urge employers not to engage in nepotism or cronyism. What would your reaction be if Phoenix was your family member? What would your excuse be if you were Phoenix’ managers explaining your actions to your mother, father, son or daughter? I just terminated someone and gave their job to my mate. This truth will require having a conscience. If you are a hiring manager, be fair, objective and ethical. Do the right thing. Do the just thing. Don’t engage in nepotism or cronyism.

Phoenix, my heart goes out to you, my colleague and friend. I hope you rise from the ashes.

Roman Ružbacký

November 15, 2016

There has recently been an explosion of diversity and inclusion work and a new wave of emerging diversity practitioners, managers and consultants across Australian workplaces. With a sea of information out there (and some imitation), it is difficult to find information that helps you to provide a clear narrative to executive when talking about diversity; something with depth, academic rigour, that says something different, that considers your workplace context and that makes a compelling story. A call to action. A reason to act. You don’t want to be doing the same thing as everyone else and want to embed your unique style. Being old school, I have a library of print outs, including research reports and papers, case studies, opinion pieces and few odd but clever cartoons and videos. I pull these out in preparation for a conversation with boards and executives.

Because diversity is something that challenges people’s deeply ingrained core beliefs in relation to gender, race, age, pregnancy and LGBTIQ, it can be difficult to shift people’s hearts and minds, especially those who do bad things (discriminate, sexually harass, bully or are unethical). As I have said previously, diversity is one topic that appears to hit a nerve with people. It’s the endless comments section at the end of an article about promoting diversity and inclusion or that critiques power and privilege that is alarming, hurtful and harmful. You see people endlessly arguing their point of view and no one ever wins even if compassion is used as a rationale.

What has also been occurring with this surge in D&I activity is that people attend a few workshops, do a few courses, read a few articles and then become so called D&I experts, whilst their rationale and narrative remains clumsy or shallow. I don’t know who advised a prominent male figure to walk in stilettos for a few hundred metres in a campaign to eliminate violence against women??? No more wheelchair challenges. No more talking about what you are going to (50% females and zero pay gap in 5 years). Talk about it when it’s done. This makes it a challenge for a D&I practitioner, who usually flies solo in a HR department and under instruction, to stick to course or push back. There is constant evolution of thinking and practice and some great practices out there. So how do you go about the work when everyone has an opinion on what to prioritize and how it should be done?

Narrative is usually hardwired. It’s a great challenge for the D&I practitioner to introduce ‘fresh’ narrative or to change the narrative if it is clumsy or shallow. I remember hearing an executive once say, ‘We need to help those people out there’-  a hand out rather than a hand up. With the emergence of non-deficit language in D&I strategy – we’re now too afraid to name it what it is or afraid of leaving someone out. Some terminology has evolved, for example, People of diverse genders and sexualities instead of LGBTIQ (A). However, we can’t speak about eliminating discrimination or sexual harassment in our strategy because people will think it happens here. Let’s avoid using the term eliminating violence against women and replace it with domestic and family violence. Let’s talk about reflecting the community we serve, to harness this and that…… and ignore the organisation’s legal responsibility.

A classic case of popular thinking without academic rigour, is the recent claims that the blind recruitment processes is paying great dividends, without any clear references to evaluations or which groups are being targeted (professors, graduate engineers or executive), not areas where there is already gender parity like a call centre. Do some back the envelope calculations and you’ll see how many variables there are and how you probably won’t be able to get representative sample of hiring managers. At interview, the person is going to be exposed and game over, unless you bring your own curtain or wear a bag over your head.

One other issue in relation to impacting change is who has control over the agenda. A friend of mine who worked in a large organisation for a person in charge of diversity and inclusion, had their manager following Pauline Hanson and Andrew Bolt on Twitter. I don’t think it was a case of keeping the fire in the belly. It was possibly a person with a conservative view on life, in general, coming from a place of privilege (which don’t forget, is invisible to those who have it).

Any finally it is essential that diversity practitioners are at some stage exposed to discrimination and sexual harassment complaints, or have some complaints handling experience or read up on cases to really understand whether their strategies are working or not.

Successful organizations ensure that the D&I role is positioned high enough to have autonomy, freedom in decision making, licence to operate, be creative and innovative and adequate resourcing. The best model I worked in was having a reporting line directly to the CEO, where the work was perceived as independent without interference and with substance. Organizations at the start of their D&I journey usually needed to take a hard look at themselves and this can’t be out of the line of sight from a CEO.

Often the work involves exposing bad practices and results (like pay gaps between men and women) and demanding some accountability from executives. If you’re a diversity practitioner or manager buried layers down in an organisation and flying solo, your work is going to be struggle from day one. Stay true to the cause as it’s all about the work. You’re not meant to be a cultural fit. You’re usually trying to break the ‘perceived cultural fit model’ that allows homogeneity to thrive, breaking the mould, which means you will most likely not be one of the flock and you’ll need to comfortable on the fringe. The white middle aged male will not become an endangered species if the rationale is clear and if there is growth. Unless the place is morally bankrupt and knee deep in shit, you should make great incremental progress.

And finally, as a friend who was disillusioned with his organisation once told me, if you’re an organisation that has never made Harley-Davidsons, then it’s likely that you are never going to make Harley-Davidsons. So for those who are starting, it’s a marathon, not a sprint and you don’t need quick runs on the board. You need time to bring people with you and shift hearts and minds.

So with all this in mind, I’m going to share my five minute, ‘high level’, ‘strategic’ (add another buzz word here ……… opening conversation with executive and hopefully provides a clear narrative and rationale for investing and believing in diversity and inclusion.

Core of the work (my core)

Ø People have a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and participate in all aspects of work life to achieve their full potential (where diversity and inclusion is a lived and breathed experience)

Key Issues

Ø Under-representation of people of diverse backgrounds in leadership (not reflective of the community we serve and homogenous)

Ø Under-utilization skills (women – stupid/scissors curve, CALD, skilled migrants, 40+)

Ø Low participation rates in the workforce (women, PWD disability, etc)

Ø Discrimination, racism, homophobia, sexual harassment, violence, disability (permeates through society), under-reporting and non-disclosure

Ø Complacency in CALD and Age strategies across organisations

 Aim: “Excellence with Equity”

Ø Focus on inclusive leadership

Ø Ensure multiple perspectives in key decision making (avoid group think)

Ø Being competitive in an increasing globalised world (cultural competency)

Ø Being responsive to the changing demographic of Melbourne/Australia

Approach  

Ø Utilising a sound evidence base (eg. gender) – not an even playing field/stupid curve, pay gap hasn’t much changed in 25 years. Drilling into aggregate data.

Ø Proficient in diversity narrative  

Ø Mainstream diversity and inclusion strategies (leadership, employment practices and culture) and align with Corporate plan.

Ø Increase competency in diversity practice (diversity conscious practices, minimise racially and gender blind practices)

Ø Ramping up incremental change with aspirational goals/targets

Ø Creating formal setting for crucial conversations (including public image and public perception)

Ø Get people excited about diversity and inclusion (engagement piece)

Streams, themes and the culture piece

Ø Gender, CALD, Indigenous, Disability, Age, LGBTIQ

Ø Intersectionality (working across streams)

Ø The culture piece – taking people with you and moving from compliance, risk minimising, being competitive, aware, committed, reflective, aspirational, strategic to authentic (Jock Noble 2004)  

Measure of success (some aspirational results)

Ø  Longitudinal data shows change

Ø Qualitative results, such as, “Seeing diversity in leadership inspires me to achieve and aim high” or “The community views the success of the organisation as representing their own success. They seek to protect and strengthen the organisation because they believe values it represents, represents the values they hold dear.”

A role in Diversity and Inclusion role couldn’t be more critical in these current times where old fashioned values such as loyalty, fairness and good corporate citizenship has been eroded. After managing over 500 complaints of discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying over the years, I have seen the emergence and escalation of appalling workplace and public behaviours.

If you keep people disengaged, exclude them and treat them poorly then there are always societal repercussions to deal with. Stay true to the cause, speak your truth, be authentic and take the people with you. I hope this has added something to your next conversation.

Roman Ružbacký

June 10, 2016

The workplace has changed

Paul McCarthy once said that the workplace is like a moving chess board (cf. “Bullying Alive and Kicking”, The Weekend Australian, 16 July 2005).

Navigating your way through the complexities of any workplace can be a challenge even for the most resilient. More work, more change, more uncertainty, more competition, more administration, external pressures and an oversaturation of information (including emails) can lead to increased stress levels. Not to mention stress levels when stuck in traffic to and from work. It can take a lot of effort to switch off.

Findings from the Australian Institute’s Hard to Get a Break? survey and report (2013), showed an estimated 2.9 million people losing sleep because of work stress (and $110 billion in free labour). No wonder workplaces are rushing to get on board with resilience and mindfulness training. I recall recently sitting at a manager’s forum where a mindfulness expert took the packed room through some eye-closing, breathing and stretching exercises. I remember squinting at my laptop with one finger on the keyboard trying to finish that excel spreadsheet. I was multitasking with multiple deadlines. Guess mindfulness wasn’t my reality at the time.

Add another layer of complexity – the stuff that happens outside the workplace, usually beyond one’s control and usually not talked about at work. This may include family commitments, being a single parent, teenage dramas, financial strain, mental health issues, being subject to violence, going through trauma, drug, gambling, alcohol addiction, marriage breakdown, etc., etc., etc. (Queen to Bishop 6. Check.)

Add a final layer of complexity – the pressure to be a team player, your work colleagues having different values, belief systems, behaviours, communication styles, attitudes and varying degrees of empathy. The combination of these factors will no doubt, at some stage, lead to potential conflict, real or perceived. They can quickly snowball into unfair and unreasonable behaviours, actions or inactions that may constitute discrimination and/or bullying. It can often start off, or occur, in subtle and covert ways and in some instances be unintentional, but often come to a head in high pressure situations. (Bishop to King 7. Checkmate, I think.)

Having managed discrimination and sexual harassment complaints for some time, I have still not been able to profile the person being subject to bad behaviour or the perpetrator. One may be extroverted, introverted, popular, unpopular, outspoken or highly competent and still subject to discrimination, sexual harassment or bullying during their working life. It happens more than often when there is a power imbalance (not only one to one, but through a chain of command that is complicit or does nothing). It can also occur subordinate to peer. If left unchecked, negative experiences in the workplace can result in serious damage to an employee’s health and wellbeing and professional reputation.

That’s why it is important to be politically astute in the workplace and to have some smarts about you so as not to be a potential sitting duck. Having some knowledge and process can go a long way that allow you to read the agenda, draw clear boundaries to protect yourself and know enough about the law, your rights and responsibilities, and increasing your capacity to care for those around you. So get as much as you can from compliance based activities or demand more if you don’t have the skills to address the issues above.

And what has Paul McCarthy got to do with anything?  Well, he is the first person to introduce the concept to me that good strategy reduces compliance. Good diversity and inclusion strategy should address systemic issues and reduce your compliance based activities. Unfortunately, when an organisation slips from a strategic role back into a compliance one they then return to a culture of being reactive and risk averse.

Compliance? Whose box are you ticking?

Does your organisation have a diversity and inclusion strategy? Does your organisation have a diversity specialist? Do they have the authority, autonomy and appropriate resources to implement change? Are they the right management level to implement change? Is your organisation’s diversity strategy evolving? Or has your diversity strategy been mothballed and replaced by compliance based activities? Is your organisation stuck in a world of risk minimising compliance based activities?

Equal Employment Opportunity training (usually on-line), EEO policy development and revision, Discrimination Contact Officer networks and managing discrimination and sexual harassment complaints are essential compliance based activities that help educate, prevent and address discrimination, sexual harassment and victimisation. The organisation is vicariously liable for the actions of its employees (in the course of their employment) unless it can show that it has taken reasonable precautions to prevent unlawful discrimination or harassment. This means having appropriate policies and procedures in place, employees agreeing to comply with these policies, providing training and instruction on how to comply, monitoring the workplace to ensure compliance and ensuring that complaints are responded to appropriately. Employers and employees need to understand their rights and responsibilities in relation to discrimination and sexual harassment and compliance based activities ticks all the boxes, but whose boxes?

Compliance based activities (on their own) are a shallow strategy. These activities are often seen by employees as a tick the box exercise that ultimately protects the employer. Some may believe that the organisation is conducting EEO training to minimise its risk or to meet its minimum legislative requirement. Employees may be reluctant to engage in compliance activities and it’s usually the people who need to be there that don’t show.

If you’re going down compliance road, then teach us something useful!

An effective way for organisations to engage its employees in training (and teach them something useful) is to design a face-to-face training program that gives managers and employees practical skills to apply knowledge and process gained from the training room into their own work environment and context. This involves skilling up employees to be able to articulate the subtleties and giving them the clear language to do so. Putting a name to it. Calling it out. This also involves skilling up employees to challenge subtle, covert and inappropriate behaviours, stereo-typical attitudes, dominant cliques or systemic discrimination. This also involves increasing the manager’s competency (cultural, gender, disability), to consider the different lenses one looks through when resolving complex issues, to avoid racially blind or gender blind practices. This means testing the gap between ‘rhetoric and reality’ and ‘policy and practice’.

Employees need be confident in raising concerns, without fear, and develop the skills to leverage effective positive change whilst not fracturing the relationship (maintaining professional and harmonious working relationships). Complaints can be good things. They highlight a need for change or improvement. They target the behaviour that needs to change. Effective training and practice can sharpen an employee’s skill in detecting issues early, giving them the ability to chase it down and act swiftly. Often, a complaint is lodged too late in the piece which results in an exhaustive complaints process with harmful effects on the complainant and respondent and professional relationships most likely being fractured.

Employees need to walk away from training with a clear understanding of what constitutes unlawful discrimination, bullying, harassment and victimisation – how to identify it, how to define it, how to articulate it, how to eliminate and prevent it, how not to engage in it, how to challenge it, how to map out potential risks, how to use the policies and processes strategically and effectively; how to protect themselves, how to manage good working relationships and how to inspire positive change. Employees also need to understand that such conduct is against the law and that they, as well as the employer, may be held liable. Organisations have an increased responsibility to ensure that their managers, supervisors and team leaders receive adequate training, as recent case law shows.

The NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal Appeal panel dismissed an appeal by a KFC franchise against findings of vicarious liability for sexual harassment (Sharma v QSR Pty Ltd d/as KFC Punchbowl [2010]). KFC Punchbowl led evidence that it had a policy in place and trained its employees about sexual harassment. However, the Tribunal held the fact that the Assistant Manager was able to make sexual comments and engage in sexual harassment openly in the store, demonstrated that KFC Punchbowl had implicitly authorised the conduct. The employer has not taken all reasonable steps to prevent the conduct as the training and the monitoring of employee compliance with policies at management level were insufficient to detect the conduct. Ms Sharma was awarded damages of $15,000.

The training and/or trainer also needs to take into consideration the employer’s context, culture, challenges, constraints and environments which are often layered with complexity. What is really going to work if I have a complex issue I need to deal with? Interpretation of policy and application of procedures requires strategic thinking and solutions that are tailored for the individual and their environment. The training should provide an opportunity to learn and utilize practical skills to unpack complex issues and gain knowledge and process in addressing discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying. Bearing in mind that one driving lesson does not make once a competent driver.

What your EEO face-to-face training might look like?

In a previous life I developed, in collaboration with another highly skilled employment and discrimination lawyer and facilitator, an interactive face-to-face EEO and diversity awareness training program for managers, team leaders and supervisors. This training program offered participants practical strategies to address discrimination, harassment and bullying and armed them with knowledge and process that allowed them to navigate and manage their way through complex issues and complaints.

A pre-requisite to the face-to-face training was a basic EEO on-line training module (but not essential). This second tier of training allowed for more in-depth discussion around at a pace that allowed reflection, consultation and self-determination, exploring as many ‘grey’ areas as possible and considering the manager’s workplace context. Training focussed relevant Equal Opportunity legislation including the Fair Work Act (reverse onus of proof), discrimination, sexual harassment (including reverse onus of proof), roles and responsibilities of managers and non-managers, policies and procedures; but more importantly, how to act on policy, effective intervention and prevention strategies, procedural fairness, confidentiality, natural justice, practical complaints handling strategies and support mechanisms available to all employees.

An interactive program included managers working together in small groups to address 25 quiz questions of various complexity and ambiguity. Under the guidance of the facilitators, the managers were asked to provide reasoning as to why they answered a question in a certain way (yes, no or don’t know), discuss this with the participants and provide solutions using their current knowledge and skills base.

Here are some sample questions:

1. Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual behaviour which could be expected to make someone feel offended, humiliated or intimidated, if a reasonable person looking back at and knowing all the circumstances, would think that a possible result.
2. Genuine compliments, social invitations or a man holding the door open for a woman are examples of sexual harassment.
3. My manager has told me she has received an anonymous complaint about my behaviour but won’t give me details, yet is interviewing all my staff. This is a breach of natural justice.
4. A group of students in a tutorial is discussing a group assignment in a different language. You ask them if they would speak English so that you can join in the conversation. This is racial discrimination.
5. If disability is disclosed at the time of the performance review as the reason for not meeting agreed performance targets, the supervisor must allow for this in assessing the staff member’s performance, otherwise it is discrimination.
6. If variations in standard work arrangements are made for a team member because of a disability or family responsibilities, the rest of the team deserves an explanation to avoid resentment or discontent. 

The facilitators guided participants through the questions, providing their legal and practical expertise, resulting in a clearer understanding of the legal as well as ethical framework and greater confidence in proactively managing issues. The clear message at training was, “Doing nothing is not an option”. It was a highly interactive session that aimed to get all participants enthusiastic about making the workplace safe and happy.

The bigger picture

Compliance based activities should be part of a bigger diversity and inclusion picture that considers the legal, business and social responsibility case. However, if compliance is your only ‘stick’ in your organisation, you’re going to have to be a little creative. You can always imbed your diversity strategy into your compliance activities. I hope I have ticked your boxes!

Roman Ružbacký

August 24, 2020

Years ago, I met the inspirational Liz Wright from Leadership Café, and participated in a five-month leadership program with leaders and aspiring leaders. I remember four things clearly i) she looked after a herd of donkeys back in the UK, ii) we had a common interest in film music iii) we developed a leadership blueprint which I still use to this day, and iv) we had a heart to heart conversation about my career (which I now call vocation), values and purpose. And, for anyone working in the human rights, talking about your needs often comes second. That’s one of the reasons I have been heavily invested in my volunteer work at EEON for almost five years. It helps me gives back to the community and is good for the soul.

For years, prior to staring the leadership program, I had a re-occurring dream. Call it serendipity, but looking up the interpretation of the dream, I found the following passage.

“The message may be that your old self needs to be left behind. This may mean you must stop carrying around with you the crippling burden of your past (irrational guilt, feelings and martyrdom complex or any other negative self programming); and instead you must open yourself to what the present self is offering. Alternatively the old self may be old attachments, habits, ambitions, values, goals; in which case the dream is telling you that the only way forward for you lays through giving these up and looking deeper within yourself for better values, etc. (where better means more in tune with your real self).”

The message was central to my transformational leadership journey and I keep coming back to this message and my blueprint to make sure I stay centered.

In 1997, I pursued a career in what was then called, Equal Employment Opportunity, now called Diversity & Inclusion (D&I). I recently wondered if empathy was in my DNA? I only found out recently that my grandmother ran a halfway house in my mother’s village, nursing people back to health. And being called the ‘keeper of values’ in a previous organisation, or the conscience of the organisation, didn’t sit well with me, as it’s not my burden to carry.

For me, seeking fairness and a just world meant that through my work my purpose is:

“To ensure all people are treated with dignity and respect, have equitable access to employment opportunities and outcomes have the ability to participate in all aspects of work and public life”

Is this what some people call their ‘why’? I say respectfully that this is personal and different for everyone. Did my ‘why’ strengthen with life experience and adversity? Managing complaints of discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying for close to twenty years also gave me incredible insight into people’s experiences.

What has made me stay so long in the world of D&I? I remember the long seven years it took me to be able to work and get paid for doing this work that I was passionate about. During that time, I often worked for free, reading countless works, articles, acts, case studies, rewriting my own work 15-20 times before I was happy with it. I am a bit of a D&I nerd too. I started to think about whether it was grit, tenacity, care or resilience are hallmarks of people who choose a career in human rights?

And this is where I might find my second ‘why’. Why do we stay committed to the work. I keep coming back to…. the glory of the climb.  

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb”. Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)

So, let’s fast forward to 2020 and state my obvious.

Is D&I work business and usual during C….19?

(Note: I promised myself, as in the Harry Potter series, that I would not mention its name)

Can it be done in our current climate? Can it be done effectively and how? 

Do D&I practitioners need to re-examine their ‘why’ and ‘how’ in our current climate? I have been hearing a reoccurring theme in D&I forums: Should we pear back D&I programs and focus on core business? Is D&I work still a priority? Do non-D&I folk see D&I as important? Is there the same intensity of effort in this work during our current time? What’s changed? 

I always believed that:

Those who truly invest in the work see the benefits of Diversity and Inclusion.

The business case for diversity remains strong according to the 2020 McKinsey Report (Diversity Wins). The relationship between diversity on executive teams and the likelihood of financial outperformance has strengthened over time. Multiple perspectives are critical in solving complex problems. Diversity in leadership is seen as a business imperative.

However, the report also shows that most of the 1000 organisations they studied are stalling or even slipping backwards in their diversity and inclusion efforts to achieve diversity in leadership and gender parity at Executive level. They are not fully understanding the return on investment. This is no different in the Australian context, where achieving gender parity or cultural diversity at CEO and Executive level seems decades away according to the WGEA Census Report and AHRC research.

We have taken some significant steps forward during C….19. We are possibly surprised of the level of productivity that can be achieved working from home. There has been an increase in flexibility. We have a heightened awareness of people’s needs and circumstances during this challenging time, including parental and carer responsibilities, greater isolation, mental health issues, increased anxiety levels, domestic and family violence, feeling flat or tired and restriction of movement.

Through the introduction of Zoom and other on-line platforms in our working lives, we have now ‘invited‘ work colleagues to our homes. My dining room has become my workplace. My son’s school is now in my dining room. Parents and carers have had to also be sensitive to what others in their home are going through and pay attention to their emotional needs. And, like many, I can tend to get oversaturated with screen time. Sometimes the lines can get blurred between your work and personal life.

Based on many conversations with my peers, staying focused and forging ahead has been most people modus operandi. And they have been doing this with dedication and optimism mindful of the ever-present heaviness of our reality. Our work is multilayered, complex and full of emotion. Our sensitivity is heightened as we think about the vulnerable in our community. Creating a safe virtual space feels new.

We have leapt into a new area of practice that we haven’t really planned for. We have just adapted and hacked our way through it!

D&I practitioners may be asking, “How do we go about our work during C…19?” Here are some questions I have been unpacking.

·     What are our challenges and what approaches are working?

·     How do we have impact at scale?

·     In what ways are we being more or less inclusive in a virtual world? What processes result in more or less equitable outcomes?

·     How do we drive change without face to face human interaction? Without touch? Without a greeting or handshake? Without sharing a coffee or meal together?

·     How do we build trust and respectful relationships virtually?

·     How do we read and create a safe room? How do we welcome discomfort?

·     How do we run shorter seminars without comprising content? How do we become polished facilitators without a podium or stage?

·     How do we drive cultural change from behind a laptop screen, without face to face interaction? Have we done this before?

·     How do we celebrate diversity and build social cohesion and harmony, when we used to do it through food, fashion and festival?

·     Do we fully understand the impact of our current environment on D&I work? How are the vulnerable coping? How are they empowered?

·     What is the longer-term impact of current virtual initiatives? Can it last?

Over time we will see the full impact of our work. But maybe a plan that sees us through the next stage of our D&I work will give us the road map to accelerate the rate of progress towards equity, fairness, inclusion and opportunity, something my fellow volunteers want to see in their lifetimes.

With thousands of well-intentioned articles on the future post C….19, I have honestly clocked out and have let them amass in my promotions folder, never to be read. I almost fear reading anything with the C…19 word in it. It reminds me of the saying, “no-one has ever calmed down by being asked to calm down”.   

On the flip side, there has been some incredible work and activism lately (that has not mentioned) the C…19 word and I feel will change the D&I and human rights landscape forever. There has been increased urgency and intensity effort in our work, backed with some momentum and a promise not to snap back to old ways. As practitioners, we are good at turning ‘challenge’ to ‘opportunity’. We have an ever-increasing global reach and we are seeing increasing opportunities to engage in opportunities to sharpen our practice without leaving home.

My long-term D&I colleague Jill Sears recently said,

“There is no more important time than now to be working in diversity and inclusion. Diversity is everywhere and inclusion being identified by everyone”

D&I practitioners have known for a very long time that if you approach D&I work through a compliance approach and punitive messaging you push people away and don’t get anywhere.

We have evolved in our work by understanding that we need to bring people together. Wellness, compassion, connectedness are all traits intrinsically tied to equity and inclusion. Our mission is to bring these qualities to life.

Our D&I evolution should capture the spirit and imagination of our community, to heal and bring communities together with the intelligence and action the moment truly calls for. Now is the time to lead and create a world fit for the 21st Century with clarity, momentum and optimism.

Roman Ružbacký

October 23, 2021

You always remember a moving story. You might not remember all the details, but you often remember how you felt. The power of personal story telling gets you to the heart of the matter, unlike any policy, procedure, metric or strategy.

Around 1997, I entered the field of what was then called, Equal Employment Opportunity, after starting my career as an analytical chemist. I would work away in my laboratory, often in solitude. It was an exact profession, requiring precision, timeliness, troubleshooting, critical interpretation of data with room for some creative thinking.

My experience of poor behaviour was a turning point in my career. My analytical skills were put to better use in helping people navigating their way through complex issues and poor behaviour. It took me seven years before I could find paid work in my field. I got rejected for volunteer roles too. But I persisted. I managed discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment complaints until 2015. I’ll never forget the stories. I had some great teachers who helped me along the way. Complaints handling experience gave me some experience in finding where the systemic barriers and issues were hidden in employment practices and culture.

I have contemplated abandoning the work numerous times. There’s a lot of bones of good intentioned people and change makers along the highway. I got comfortable with uncertainty. My strength lay in being an enabler, an influencer, a doer in the engine room, an ally, understanding my privilege and place in the conversation and regularly checking on my biases.

When I am a little more comfortable with you, I can share more things about myself over time, once I have built some trust and feel safe to do so. I won’t do this every time, because sometimes when I have shown vulnerability, I get blamed for it. This will help you understand me a little before we work together.

So, my message is, work on your relationships. I have seen many departments over the years, chained to the desk, writing strategy after strategy, which end up collecting dust on shelves. Yes, they are important guides and tools to help you unlock the organisation’s potential to create, build or sustain an equitable and inclusive culture. It takes years to build trust and respect. And only people will bring your words and work to life.

Roman Ružbacký

February 10, 2022

As we enter 2022 our lives continue to be disrupted.

Almost every Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practitioner I have spoken is just as passionate about the work as they were three years ago. It’s not a job, but a way of life. Our empathy, compassion and thirst for equality doesn’t wane. Our work makes people safe, happy, included, like they belong. Our work is never on hold.

So, how do we lead with optimism in time of uncertainty? For any long-term human rights activist, advocate, or ally, trying to dismantle systemic and structural barriers that allow exclusion and discrimination to persist, is endless. And the road can be taxing and a dangerous one. Bad behaviour cuts deep and it’s everywhere.

We have been hearing with more frequency that there is no end date to Diversity Equity and Inclusion work, especially in workplaces. However, after 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 years in workplaces, doubts creep in about whether change is possible? How many years is it going to take? 200 or 400? Does my work make a difference? Do I make a difference? Should I start that career in environmental science now? I have often said over the years that my role is to work myself out of a job. If the systems were truly fair and equitable, we wouldn’t need DEI practitioners.

DEI practitioners haven’t stopped planning in the last three years, where it feels like other’s have. They are mobilised and know where we need to go. They have continued to look for ways to do the work effectively and bring people together when it seems impossible to do so, and while we are continually pushed into a virtual world/way of working.

For me, using a number of strategies (that come from radically rethinking diversity and inclusion) and stories of success, has helped me to keep focused over the long haul and during this time of uncertainty – believing it is possible.

Using stories of success to help me believe change is possible

One of the most successful initiatives I have been involved with has been with a large employment sector’s Enablers Network. Comprising approximately 700 members, including allies, the network is run by people with disability for people with disability. They were founded in approximately 2018 and were run by a group of volunteers across the sector.

The network had a governance structure, a clear vision and excellent terms of reference. It had already established an annual meet the CEOs event, where employees at every level of the organisation could personally meet and speak with numerous CEO in a speed networking style event. The work was aligned with a larger sector wide strategy.

Having worked as an ally with the executive group of the network, the founders and I approached one of the Executives to talk about long term sustainability of the network that would require centralised expertise and an operational budget.

It was suggested by the Executive that we write a sharp paper that will go to a sector wide CEOs group. In this paper, we outlined the plan for a dedicated senior position (senior advisor) to work across the sector, as a shared resource to support the network’s executive group. We were conservative in our request.

We outlined the process of selection of an advisor which included the use of alternative recruitment processes and wrote in the selection criteria that lived experience of disability was essential. The weighting of the selection process was interview plus written test that given to all applicants to complete over a few days. Interview questions were given to all candidates approximately 15 minutes before interview.

The paper resulted in endorsement by every CEO, who contributed funds totaling one million dollars over seven years. This resulted in the establishment of the inaugural Senior Advisor, Enablers Network and a yearly operational budget. This is one of the most successful initiatives and actions I have ever been involved with, making a significant difference to so many people’s lives. I speak about it at every opportunity.

In 2008, a proposal was prepared by a small team with a vision for the Vice-Chancellor of a large Victorian university to establish an independent Equity and Diversity Unit. It proposed the removal of the Staff Diversity & Inclusion function from Human Resources and join up with the Disability Resource Centre and Student Equity. It would operate as a cohesive unit with a direct reporting line to the Vice-Chancellor.

When I commenced as the Manager, Staff Equity in 2009, my reporting line was two steps away from the Vice-Chancellor, I had three staff and an operational budget of $10,000. After the first year the Director of the Unit said, “I like what you’re doing! Continue what you are doing.! And here’s an additional $15,000 operational budget for the following year.” By 2012 my operational budget was $60,000.

Compare this to another organisation, where I paid out of my own pocket to fund catering for an event for 70 people. I had enough of asking for money from my manager, and I couldn’t face the embarrassment of organising an event without providing any catering.

However, the level of autonomy I was provided by the university opened my world and allowed me to do cutting edge work and make significant achievements with the team, including collaborating with researchers in D&I and bringing international experts to the university. At its peak, the Equity and Diversity Unit had 27 employees. There were approximately 3,500 staff and 45,000 students.

The proposal was supported by a visionary female Vice-Chancellor with a second successive female Vice-Chancellor taking the work to the next level.

Diversity was enshrined in the Strategic Plan.

We require… “A diversity-savvy workforce to understand and align with the diversity in the global marketplace. Diversity will be a critical competency for leaders and employees.”

Still to this day, this is the one of the best environments I have ever worked in. It will probably never happen again. The team were dedicated the work flourished with much was achieved.

There are many astounding stories we can share to keep us motivated, such as

·     The Coles Group Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan that has seen the successful recruitment of more than 4,800 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Their dedicated Indigenous Affairs team and has been running the program over 10 years.

·     The University of Western Sydney gender equity work, which has seen it achieve WGEA’s employer of choice for gender equality for 17 years in a row. The university has an extensive body of work on their website, gender equity action plans and publication of their pay equity gaps. There’s an understanding that achieving gender equality is not a liner trajectory and getting to zero per cent pay gap isn’t the only end game.

There have also been some moments of discovery and affirmation. Like the time I heard Jack Noble’s presentation on Making Organizations Stronger through Diversity & Inclusion which included breakthrough work on a Diversity DNA Helix with nine stages of maturity, which to the best of my knowledge, has never been published.

Or the time heard a presentation by Glenn Singleton, founder of Courageous Conversations about Race which was a life changing moment. He asked an audience of around 200 people to write on a piece of paper from 0% to 100%, “How much does race impact your life”? A few minutes later everyone revealed their score to Glenn. I then saw him turn a room full of people in a matter of minutes to reach 100%. I frequently use his compass and protocols for talking about race.

All these changes, for example a policy, a practice or a workplace adjustment can make someone’s life significantly better. Time and time again, we hear these astounding stories and these help us believe change is possible.

What are you going to do that’s ‘radically’ different?

Show up

If you want to change to happen, then you need to show up. A few years ago, I was looking to host a forum on Human Rights Day about anti-racism and racial equity. I wanted to engage a race expert. This was an area of work that required attention within the organisation, it having a low racial consciousness.

I spent more time and energy trying to convince my managers to support the event than the time required to organize it. They didn’t think people would come to it. I was confident that we would fill the two hundred room theatre that I proposed to book (for free). After reluctantly getting a green light, I developed an invitation, a call to action, and cast the net wide. In three days, we received 70 RSVPs and the room fully booked in two weeks.

The story doesn’t end here. When it came to the day of the event only 80 people showed. There were 120 empty seats. I started to think that there was something that was stopping people coming to this forum. Was a competing work priority, a meeting that had been booked over the forum, or people being asked if they really needed to go to the forum? Or was it complacency? I don’t really need to go to this, maybe it will be recorded? We couldn’t have had 120 people sick on the day. This has not been an uncommon experience over the years for these type of events. It was a good lesson for me. I should have worked harder on the engagement piece. I should have written to leaders to encourage their staff to attend and also written to all our RSVPs. If you want to change to happen, then you need to show up. Otherwise, you end up preaching to the choir. And, as my colleague used to say, in this circumstance, the choir is in practice.

Identify resistance

I attended an online forum in 2020 with Michael Carter on his brilliant 30 minute presentation on Making Diversity and Inclusion Work in Resistant Organizations. Michael was able to put a name to the types of resistance he had seen and experienced in his life working in D&I. He gave a list which I jotted down on my conference brochure. I won’t explain each form of resistance in detail, but when you read these, they may sound familiar.

These include,

·     excessive data

·     excessive wordsmithing

·     continuous requests for more evidence

·     not being able to find time to meet with leaders

·     passive aggressive responses

·     diversity fatigue

·     low participation for training and events

·     resource issues

·     inaction

·     and the classic, “We’re not ready yet”.

There are ways to overcome resistance. As Faith Irving once told me at the start of my career, “Be the river that flows around the rocks and the branches (the protruding as well as hidden ones)”.

Being able to identify the subtle and covert forms of resistance means that you can strategically map or prepare actions where you may anticipate resistance and overcome one at a time.

A mental checklist should help you identify areas of resistance when you join a workplace in your new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) role, or even if you are coming in as a consultant to survey the landscape.

Is it easy to do DEI work here? Do you have centralized DEI expertise in your organization? Are you the first DEI person ever employed there? Do you have more than one or two people in your team? Do you have appropriate operational funds? What is the distance of your reporting line to the CEO? Do you have a lengthy or bureaucratic approval process? Do you have discretionary funds for workshops, programs and speakers fees? Are you more operational in your role than strategic? Can you walk into your CEOs office (without approval) to discuss DEI? Is it an open-door policy? Do your stretch proposals continually get knocked back? Do you find yourself continually explaining the basics? Is your organization nervous about what people might find in surveys? Are you asked to cherry pick data? Does style trump substance? Are you asked to sanitize the messaging? Are some conversations just too difficult to have?

Organizations that enable work and unblock resistant actions will progress quickly and see great outcomes. I wish I had attended this presentation at the start of my career.

Write it in

One of the ways I have had some good success in seeing change is to find places to embed actions that have clear accountabilities and timelines for completion and that are linked with the values of the organisation. I try to write these into DEI Frameworks and Action Plans, Organisation’s Strategic Pillars or Plans, Values or into Business area’s Operational Plans.

You may consider being quite prescriptive in your actions, that will allow you to work closely with your CEO and executives to their build competency in inclusive practice. Contemplate writing into your Plan, every executive or executive sponsor/champion driving a handful of strategies, or Executive champions an area of DEI they are passionate about. Write communications for your leaders. Simplify and streamline actions. Being inclusive in every setting doesn’t always cost money. Some changes to make workplaces more inclusive may just require a change in mindset.

Consider writing a proposal to boost resourcing or the introduction of new areas work. And if that is not successful in one organisation, then take it to the next one.  I usually have five A5 notepads on the go; one for new ideas, one for actions (including personal), one for people I meet, one for great articles, reports and books I read, and one that is blank for meetings and workings. In the role you will be spinning a lot of plates at the same time. And always looking for fresh ideas to record.

Make your time count

The best advice I’ve heard from a CEO very early on in my career was, “If you don’t have the respect of your supervisor or organisation within a year, leave”. From my own experience, it’s getting harder to find long term DEI practitioners as there is a high turn over rate. It’s rare to see a DEI practitioner work for more than five years in one place and this makes it difficult to get real traction. You can’t always choose your employment circumstances but also don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you are stuck, burn out, get burnt or get emotionally spent.

Most of the large DEI programs that I have started up in the last twenty-four years have usually taken three to four years to gain real traction. However, we usually don’t have the luxury of working in an organisation that long and need to manage expectations to work and achieve results quickly. Building relationships, trust and respect takes time. So, for organizations that expect too much in a short time, you either have to look for ways to be effective and efficient in a short period of time or look to leave quickly in order not to waste your time.

Some might find excitement in starting a new DEI function in a ‘Greenfields’ position. I have decided later in my career to gravitate towards organizations that have a higher level of maturity, where you can really challenge yourself. Or an organisation that really understands what it takes and what it needs to aim high and accelerate actions. There’s nothing better than to be able to talk frequently with your CEO about DEI and hear the workplace buzzing with conversations about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It keeps your alive and fresh. Now, that’s a place we all want to work in.

Finally

It’s great to see significant growth in the DEI profession globally in the last few years. More people in the profession will help to reinvigorate those who have been on the long haul. It will give us critical mass, fresh thinking and new voices to usher the change we want to see.

For me, using these strategies and stories of success, have helped me keep focused over the long haul and during this time of uncertainty – believing it is possible. Always working with humility and respect and understanding my bias and my place in the conversation and elevating other voices. I speak about these stories, and others, at every opportunity. They reaffirm that changes possible and to keep going.

Roman Ružbacký

August 11, 2022

Over the last six months, I have posted a series of simple diversity and inclusion examples that look at the critical interpretation of diversity data and some traps people may have fallen into (including myself!). Starting my career as an analytical chemist, I have always been interested in diversity data, and not forgetting human behind the figures. When I used to conduct pat equity analysis at look at total remuneration, I think about what that person’s life may be like compared to someone on a much higher remuneration.

🕵️ It’s easy to struggle analysing diversity data and understanding what the data is saying. At times we need to look at other influencing factors or work with missing data. How do we translate data or series of data sets into a succinct action? It can be complex process and tricky at times.

🧙 Integrity of the data and its interpretation is critical if we need to get to the truth of the matter or come up with appropriate solutions. Over the course, I have seen manipulation, fudging, cherry picking, poor presentation of data and just poor analysis.

I am mindful about accessibility, and these tables have some figures. Please message me if you require the more detail. The figures below are made up.

Case Study One

Each year the Workplace Gender Equality Agency publishes an annual Australian gender equality scorecard. The gender composition across classification roles is presented in the table below and has usually fallen this way for the last few years.

What more comes to mind? Under-representation of women in leadership? Under-utilisation of skills? Slower transition of women into leadership? Impacts of career breaks on career progression? Structural issues contributing to widening pay gap? The need for targets if this doesn’t change in a few years?

What else could you look at? Further breakdown of non-manager levels. Analysis of other diversity dimensions (age, cultural diversity, disability, TGDNB, etc)? Distribution of fixed term and casual work? Part time rates in upper levels? Recruitment and exit data? Job types?

Table 1. Representation of Women

Case study two

Years ago, when I heard that an organisation achieved a 0% pay equity gap between men and women, I got a bit curious. Actually, I was pretty sceptical. If you wanted to do some back of the envelope calculations, then transpose the data below in an excel spreadsheet and run through the calculations to see how the pay gap is also a structural issue. Public WGEA reports will show you how many men and women are in the organisation’s workforce and a breakdown of level from the CEO. You can find general remuneration data in Enterprise Agreements to work our roughly remuneration at each classification band. The example below shows an in band pay gap of 0% at each classification level and an overall gap of 13.2%

Table 2. Pay equity gap between men and women

Case Study Three

I went to a pay equity forum recently which was superb. They spoke about pay equity gaps for women, people with disability, cultural diversity, and even social economic background. I didn’t see any slides with calculations.

In our DEI work, we often see people with disability in organisations who are highly qualified and experienced working in lower grades (real pay inequity). More people with disability in leadership will also help to tackle the pay inequity, including structural pay gap. As we build confidence and comfort in people sharing information, we will also see more accurate internal data.

The first example shows what happens if we double the number of people with disability in each leadership classification levels (grade 4 to CEO) from 6 to 12 people in an organisation of ~1000. In this case, the gap goes from 8.2% to -0.9%.

Table 3. Pay equity gap between people with and without disability

Case Study Four

We often talk about our work in DEI work being a marathon, not a sprint. Some organisations who have been doing long term work in gender equity would understand the importance of longitudinal benchmark data.

Often when starting gender equity work in the organisation for the first time (even in 2022 – you’d be surprised) there may be a period of stagnation before things start to improve (years two and three). You can usually map out points of impact, where significant pieces of work have been introduced or completed year on year.

I always felt it was important to include percentages and numbers when presenting data, especially when the sample size is small (e.g., executive groups). We can also drill down into work area too. Presenting the data according to enterprise agreement classification levels tells us what may be happening at entry level and the top of non-management levels. These figures also show if an organisation is going through a period of growth or decline in staff numbers. Intersectional analysis will show you where people are populated in the organisation. For example, it’s easy to quote a broad figure of for example 10% people with disability and not show where they are located and where they move over time.

Table 4: Longitudinal gender representation data

Case Study Five

I have designed and completed analysis of a number of anonymous diversity and inclusion surveys over the years. When slicing and dicing data, I often try to explore the experiences of people of diverse backgrounds in mainstream employment situations. I also try to explore the experiences of people with multiple dimensions of diversity. Why stop at just gender when we can conduct intersectional analysis and explore intersectional inequity better? Even with a lower sample size we can still see trends, and who may be more vulnerable, excluded or experience discrimination in the workplace. With increased comfort and confidence in sharing information we will get a better representative sample. This is only one example of how you may start to look at intersectional analysis. We can further explore which mainstream employment situations does one feel excluded?

We could also look at some greater personalisation of DEI actions, not broad-brush strokes, and a one size fits all strategy. Think about how to be inclusive in all settings. We should expect the employment experiences of all people in the workplace should be exemplar. They shouldn’t be poorer because of your personal attributes.

Table 5: Diversity and inclusion survey results

Case Study Six

There was a survey conducted in an organisation (comprising 1050 staff) on gender equity. There were 1000 responses to the anonymous question ” My immediate supervisor genuinely supports equality between women and men”. Responses were from 600 men, 395 women, and 5 non-binary. 96% of people were in agreement. The organisation thought that’s a fantastic result.

Unpacking further, I looked at the representation of women in the Executive Group, nine men and one woman. I conducted a pay equity analysis between men and women, and it was 20%. I looked for any action plans on gender equity, there were none. All the external web site marketing materials included men. What other information may be missing? Has the work environment been accepted and normalised? What do you now interpret from this?

Figure 1. Survey result on supervisor supporting gender equity

Case Study Seven

Organisations often run annual insight or culture surveys. Diversity & Inclusion practitioners are keen to see how the organisation is tracking in their DEI efforts as well as the impact of the work. Are we getting through? Often, when asked to lead DEI work, and running consultations or conducting focus groups, I am asked what equity issues have being raised? What concerns me at times, is what is not being raised or talked about?

So, when looking at free text responses, I usually do a key word search on diversity, inclusion, gender, race etc, and frequency of responses to determine the level of awareness. Are people contemplating DEI work in their day-to-day decision making and interactions? What is their level of consciousness. Over time, and with sustained efforts in DEI work, I have seen the frequency and quality of DEI related comments in surveys improve over time.

Figure 2. Frequency of free text responses to DEI surveys

Case Study Eight

This post was inspired by someone who recently pointed out the need for transparency of pay equity data. Why, because it is connected to other parts of the work. We can often look for singular issues without connecting the dots and seeing how everything is connected. When we are missing critical bits of information, we are flying blind. For example, in this simple case study, look at the recruitment, promotion and exit patterns, vulnerability in employment, job segregation, pay equity, and employee experience, etc. Then when we write our action plans, we are keeping in mind that it is the combination of actions that help move the dial, not just singular actions.

Figure 3. Summary of diversity data in employment

I hope these are useful tips you can use in your work. If you do use these as examples or exercises in your training, I really appreciate if you could acknowledge the source. And I’d delighted to hear from people who have done similar work.

I encourage you to be curious.

Roman Ružbacký

June 9, 2023

Pay equity refers to equal pay for work of equal or comparable value. Equal pay is not just about equal wages. It takes into account allowances, performance payments, overtime, shift work, penalty rates, bonus payments, leave loading, superannuation, discretionary pay, etc.

I have been conducting pay equity analysis (base and total remuneration) and have been doing a number of analyses recently for organsations. I started conducting pay equity analysis in 2006.

Where do I start with my pay equity analysis?

Most organisations in Australia conduct pay equity analysis between men and women. If data is available on your HR system, you may be able to explore pay equity gaps beyond gender. You can, as shown below, attempt analysis by gender and age, disability and cultural diversity. There are may ways to slice and dice data and perform intersectional analysis. Even a small representative sample may show some trends, including where people are located in your organisation.

Here are some typical analysis I have performed.

·      Women and Men

·      LGBTIQ+ and TGDNB

·      Disability

·      Would love to try analysis or neurodiversity

·      Select age ranges (eg. (15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 & 65+ yrs)

• Cultural Diversity
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Check out this report on Socio-Economic Background Pay Gap Report 2021 by KPMG.

https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=7036602782769358509&li_theme=light

I look at a number of ways to explore in-band and aggregate pay gaps (base and total remuneration), usually starting with mean analysis, including

• Levels to the CEO (top levels usually are usually determined individually and reporting line to the CEO)
• Manager categories (similar)
• Executives (including median analysis)
• Casuals (and analysis of workforce without casuals)
• Classification levels (including Enterprise Agreement and graduate levels)
• Work areas (drilling into work areas and executive portfolios) including job types, such as Operations, HR, IT, Finance, etc (to determine any job seggregation)
• Position fraction and tenure, (FT, PT, Ongoing, Fixed Term)
• Position titles (for example chief, director, manager, lead, technical) – that one is interesting.

I can probably also look at length of service, remuneration versus culture survey responses and cultural diversity.

Example 1

If you wanted to do some back of the envelope calculations, then transpose the data below in an excel spreadsheet and run through the calculations to see how the pay gap is also a structural issue. Public WGEA reports will show you how many men and women are in the organisation’s workforce and a breakdown of level from the CEO. You can find general remuneration data in Enterprise Agreements to work our roughly remuneration at each classification band.

The skilled DEI leader is always curious and ready to dive deeper into data, particularly when something looks too good to be true. An organisation had publicised an achievement of a 0% pay gap between men and women.

However, it didn’t mention if there was an overall organisational pay gap or pay gaps at every classification level. It can make a huge difference as shown in Table 1a. When you break down pay data by classification level, it’s clear an overall gap of 7% remains as women dominate junior roles with lower pay, while men dominate senior roles. This highlights a clear structural issue in women’s progression that could have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Gender pay gaps in organisations are often structural and usually caused by this dynamic, the over-representation of men at senior levels and over-representation of women at junior classifications. Table 1b shows an 0.4% pay gap when we gender parity at every classification level.

Figure 1a. Select pay equity analysis of pay gap between men and women

Figure 1b. Select pay equity analysis of pay gap between men and women

Example 2

I attempted some preliminary pay equity analysis using cultural identity data (see table below). It’s not a straightforward calculation, as people may have multiple cultural identities. I have selected a range of ‘singular’ cultural identities and selected a range of remuneration points. I haven’t included the number of employees in this table.

This may be a good way to start your analysis before diving into more complex analysis. The preliminary analysis may show a pattern gender and racial pay equity gaps together.

Figure 2. Select pay equity analysis of gender and cultural diversity

Example 3

Pay equity is not only a gender issue. It impacts across all marginalised DEI cohorts including people with disability, culturally diverse people, and even people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. As an example, in DEI work due to unconscious bias we often see people with disability in organisations who are highly qualified and experienced working in lower grades. And yet, when we unblock the talent pipeline and appoint people with disability to more senior roles, we see a significant improvement in the organisation’s pay equity and the structural pay gap reduces.

In Table 3 below, we see if we double the number of people with disability in each leadership classification level (grade 4 to CEO) from 6 to 12 people in an organisation of ~1000.  In this case, the gap goes from 8.2% to -0.9%.

Figure 3. Select pay equity analysis of people with disability

There are some good resources online in Australia on pay equity.

WGEA: Guide to gender pay equity

https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=8755772082347661973&li_theme=light

Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector’s (Victoria) Baseline Report – 2021 workplace gender audit data analysis (from p37)

https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=9023668755809665076&li_theme=light

The Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector’s (Victoria) has released its first report on intersectional gender equality in October 2023

https://www.linkedin.com/embeds/publishingEmbed.html?articleId=9023668755809665076&li_theme=light

Pay equity is connected to everything – representation, recruitment, promotion, career development and progression, secondments, higher duties and progression, exit, career breaks, parental leave, caring, flexibility and superannuation. Pay gaps can also show vulnerability in economic security and employment, job segregation and employee experience – compounded forms of inequity – gender, race, disability, etc.

Roman Ružbacký

December 16, 2024

Every year I look forward to reading the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s Australia’s Gender Equality Scorecard 2024 (61 pages) https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Australia%27s%20Gender%20Equality%20Scorecard%202023-24_V10_0.pdf

I think I’ve read through each report since 2015. They are informative and usually on the top of my reading list for the year. Yes, they show some progress but the pace is still glacial, even more so when we think about intersectional inequity, compounded forms of inequity.

I also read the publication of the Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector’s Insights and Research Portal and the Intersectionality at Work Report (116 pages). Unfortunately, this report doesn’t contain diversity data by level to the CEO, so you can’t locate people in leadership roles.

I wrote a similar post in 2022, exactly two years ago, and the point I was making was that with increased expectations for diversity, equity and inclusion practitioners to deliver on their gender equity efforts, as well as a thousand other things, we should have seen a significant increase in the number of DEI and gender equity specialists, and increased resourcing to match the effort required. Flying solo might have been a thing of the past. Large teams are usually assembled in other parts of the business as they are seen to have ROI.

Having once worked in an organisation with 27 DEI practitioners in a Diversity and Inclusion Unit, I saw incredible transformational change. I don’t think I will see these numbers again in my lifetime.

Gender inequity is costing the economy with under-utilisation of skills. Sexual harassment, racial inequity and bullying is far from being eliminated. But ROI for prevention and elimination of gender inequity doesn’t seem to get the same attention as other functions of a business.

Gender equity work has another added layer of complexity, as DEI practitioners need to further develop their diversity data literacy skills, their understanding of intersectional analysis of diversity data, intersectionality, racial equity, cultural and psychological safety, TGDNB, LGBTIQ+, Neurodiversity, Disability, Age, etc, etc, etc.

A gender equity action plan is a guide on how to achieve gender equality in organisations, but having been round the traps for a while, something tells me that not many have ever been fully implemented with every action being completed.

So is it time for peak agencies to come in and bat for DEI and gender equity professionals who are expected to implement GEAPs and spend considerable amount of time reporting? It can’t be left for the DEI person to do this. They usually don’t have the autonomy, budgets or authority to do this. And to do the work well, really well, then have a read of some of the work you can be doing below.

Proposed Resourcing Plan – Case Study Example

Based on my experience in co-designing gender equity action plans, I have developed a resourcing plan (case study) that estimates how many specialist staff required to effectively implement a gender equity action plan in a medium sized to large organisation (approximately 1000 to 5000 employees). A minimum of five specialist staff. This is not news for the top performers in gender equity or DEI work.

In the proposed resourcing plan below, I have written some of the typical duties for five specialist practitioners, including one that has diversity data literacy skills. It’s not an exhaustive list and you may have more duties you could add. I have also suggested adding some operational costs.

Please use this to develop your next funding proposal.

Proposed Resourcing Plan – Case Study Example

High level experienced specialist – 1.0 FTE

• Working with CEO and Executives to establish annual priority areas of work, including process around accountability and formal reporting of outcomes
• Working with CEO and Executive to establish and agree to targets, including representation, pay gaps and culture surveys
• Working with CEO and Executive to establish to monitor, prepare, analyse data and prepare reports
• Working with CEO and Executive Champions and Sponsors to build their competency in gender equity (including narrative and rationale)
• Coordination of the Diversity Council, including preparation of reports, progress, outcomes and implement any recommended actions
• Coordination of the Intersectional Gender Equity Working Group, including agenda, minutes and actions
• Responding to and implementing initiatives from Board and Diversity Council
• Preparing briefs, presentations and board and Council papers
• Attending quarterly to Board and Council meetings
• Preparation of annual gender equity performance reports
• Regular progress report on gender equity action plan and coordination of actions
• Benchmarking analysis against WGEA, Commission for Gender Equity in the Public Sector (CGEPS) and incorporating new actions
• Conducting regular gender equity audits and culture survey reports (live dashboard or quarterly)
• Benchmarking gender equity actions with peak agencies

Experienced specialist role 1.0 FTE

• Review of Human Resources policies and practices
• Manager skill development in managing flexible working arrangements and workplace adjustments
• Development and implementation of contemporary and alternative recruitment practices
• Embed equity principles (including achievement relative to opportunity) into promotion processes and upskilling hiring managers
• Relationship building with professional associations and external networks
• Coordination of succession planning activities
• Maintenance of work experience, internships and graduate programs
• Coordination of annual IWD event (and significant days)
• Coordinate activities in gender equity that link to other DEI action plans
• Developing content and co-ordination and monitoring of on-line sexual harassment and anti-discrimination training
• Coordination of contact officers and inductions
• Coordination of keeping in touch program
• Coordination of Women in STEM or IT programs of work
• Coordination of annual forums on gender equity on sexual harassment, cultural and psychological safety, biases, assumptions around job roles and intersectional inequity, racial equity, accessibility, ageism, inclusive language, respect at work, and utilize findings to inform future work

Diversity specialist 0.8 FTE

• Working with data personnel to establish requirements, reporting templates and workflow process
• Working with data personnel to establish process to build data collection capability
• Analysis of all diversity data including pay equity analysis
• Establishing longitudinal benchmark data
• DEI survey design and delivery, including reporting outcomes
• Design of data literacy workshops
• Delivery of Gender Impact Assessments program for the organisation
• Embedding Gender Impact Assessments in programs, services and policies to the community

High level specialist – Project Based Work 1.0 FTE

• Building understanding of intersectional inequity in gender equity work
• Building understanding of racial equity, anti-racism, intersectionality and cultural safety
• Building understanding of TGDNB in gender equity work
• Building understanding of ageism and disability in gender equity work
• Building understanding of male engagement and resistance to gender equity work
• Embedding intersectionality principles in every aspect of gender equity work
• Implementing a Preventing and Responding to Respect at Work Strategy
• Developing and implementing a Respect at Work or Sexual Harassment communication strategy
• Project work – Research leading strategies based on best practice to advance the economic security of women
• Project work – Flexible and Hybrid Working (including impacts or Covid)
• Project Work – Eliminating gendered based violence
• Project Work – Menopause in the workplace
• Project work – Contemporary practices, including design principles, to address job segregation
• Project work – Coordination of activities and programs to increase women here there is under-representation
• Project Work – Review of processes and practices related to gender-specific issues including women’s health
• Project Work – All infrastructure, facilities and equipment we are compliant and gender inclusive, audited annually, modified, monitored, reported and measured for effectiveness
• Conduct areas of research in collaboration with the relevant Sector or Industry

Communication and Relationships 0.8 FTE

• Maintaining community relationships
• Events coordination for significant dates, including communication
• Developing employee resources, information and promotional materials
• Preparation of reports, fact sheets and marketing collateral
• PD and advertising review with gender lens and social media management
• Development of communications and promotional materials for Employee Value Proposition
• Working with social procurement team to implement gender equity initiatives
• Communication and workflow process to encourage sharing information and monitoring across the business

Operational Costs (If you want good things, you need to pay for them)

• Cost to upgrade HR system (to allow live dashboard, integration and intersectional analysis)
• Central Management Automated Complaints System
• Resourcing of On-line training program and platform
• Engaging subject matter experts for workshop delivery for family and domestic violence training, masculinity, etc
• Coaching program for parents
• Potential costs to upgrades to facilities