DIVERSITY RACHEL HOPKINS
Driving action
in workplace diversity and inclusion: five key questions
Rachel Hopkins, Chief Executive at Diversity Works NZ, shares the most common questions she gets asked about workplace diversity and inclusion. And with no 'right' answers, Rachel shares some of the findings of a recent diversity survey and gives an insight into what actions may make sense for your organisation.
T
he most common questions we get asked about workplace diversity and inclusion are “where do we start?” and “how can we do better?”. Wherever you are now is the right place to start. There are no 'right' answers, just actions that make sense for your organisational purpose, actions that help you reach your goals faster and actions that engage your team and your communities in positive progress. The 2019 New Zealand Workplace Diversity Survey is carried out annually by Diversity Works New Zealand in partnership with Massey University to identify workplace diversity priorities. From the results this year, we developed 38
HUMAN RESOURCES
SPRING 2019
five questions for people leaders committed to doing workplace diversity and inclusion well. These questions might lead to the right actions for your organisation. 1. Do you have programmes or interventions in place to ensure you meet your gender equity targets and are you on track? Gender equity ranked significantly higher this year than last. But simply having a policy on 'better gender equity' is not enough. Vector Limited was the winner of the 2019 Empowerment Category in the 2019 Diversity Awards NZ™ because of the targets and metrics that it put in place to measure female participation, promotion and contribution to organisational success. Fisher and Paykel Healthcare was Highly Commended in the same category because of the scientific approach it took to analysing the gaps in pay, participation and promotion to inform its action plan. 2. What initiatives do you have for engaging your aging workforce? Aging was the only diversity issue considered less important by organisations in 2019 than it was in 2018 and it remains the diversity
issue for which businesses are least likely to have a programme or policy in place to address. With 20 per cent of our workforce aged over 55, and the over-65 demographic set to double in the next decade, this isn’t good risk management or workforce planning. Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) is launching an Alliance Partner project in October 2019 to help Diversity Works NZ members deliver positive transitions to active work and retirement options for aging workers. One of the leaders of this project is 2017 Diversity Awards NZ™ Walk the Talk category winner Fatu Patolo, who is Manager of the Manufacturing and Supply Division at CCA. 3. What action can you take to remove bias from your recruitment and promotion processes? The 2019 survey revealed a strongly growing awareness of the impact bias has on workplace decision making, particularly in recruitment and promotion. Organisations can put simple strategies in place throughout the whole employee life cycle to mitigate the impact of bias. Usually these don’t involve any extra cost or changes to policy.
