‘It’s important companies and businesses take the lead on DEI’

Where government regulation falls short, it’s up to businesses to pick up the slack when it comes to effective diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy.

“It’s important companies and businesses take the lead on DEI, and we see this happening in many large organisations like Woolworths, NAB, Telstra, the NRMA, [and] Ampol,” commented DEI expert Nicholas Stewart.

“These usually pave the way for DEI initiatives, and governments then follow suit. Sometimes it takes a while for them to catch up; sometimes they do it quickly.”

Mr Stewart believes the government can often lag behind when it comes to enacting change, which makes it crucial for businesses to lead the charge by implementing policy.

“There needs to be a commitment from the government to promote and encourage DEI programs, no matter who is elected at any given time. The current Opposition Leader, for example, was critical of ‘woke culture’ in the Department of Defence,” said Mr Stewart.

“But DEI initiatives are critical, especially in the case of trans and gender-diverse people. The [Australia Workplace Equality Index] survey tells us that 57 per cent of trans and gender-diverse people say they do not feel they would be accepted by some members of their team, and 47 per cent said they are not comfortable enough within themselves to be open at work.”

While there is certainly more that can be done, it’s not all bad news. Mr Stewart recognises Australia as comparing “very well” compared to the rest of the world in promoting DEI in the workplace. Many workplaces have DEI plans that recognise:

• First Nations people and a Reconciliation Action Plan or RAP
• Gender equity or equality
• LGBTI
• People with a disability
• Multicultural communities

However, to continue to drive change, employees must play an active role, said Mr Stewart: “It’s important to encourage these streams / employee networks to be intersectional and work with each other rather than independently in silos.”

“Intersectional collaboration can demonstrate deeper knowledge of DEI. For example, encouraging the people who identify as LGBTQ and First Nations to work collaboratively on, say, NAIDOC Week, ensures First Nations LGBTQ representation at events or on a panel an organisation may be hosting.”

He continued: “Another issue to consider is including a trans woman as part of International Women’s Day events. Most Australian organisations would mark a number of days of significance during the year and publicly show support for minority communities. However, it’s important we show support by being active in all areas, not just putting a poster or changing our logos on social media at certain times of the year.”

Organisations that promote these tokenistic gestures to achieve the bare minimum in DEI recognition run the risk of ‘values washing’, a term discussed recently by HR Leader, described as a “moral grandstand through hollow, yet substantively unfulfilled, promises and commitments”.

“From our perspective, we need to ensure Australian organisations [that] have a presence in countries like the Middle East or Asia, where DEI and human rights are under threat, are working with their people and governments in those countries to provide a safe working environment,” Mr Stewart explained.

“The objective would be to encourage employees to bring their authentic selves to work. For instance, making sure an organisation doesn’t send a same-sex couple to work in Saudi Arabia, but also recognising the skills that person or couple can contribute to the success of an organisation.”

With this in mind, what can Australia do to achieve a stronger DEI? Mr Stewart believes government intervention is necessary to establish better legislation.

He commented: “Strengthening our anti-discrimination laws, protecting minority communities, including sex workers, and ensuring we provide better opportunities for minority communities to demonstrate their real value and remove unconscious bias (and racism), which still exists in many businesses.”