The HR Leader in discussion with Lander & Rogers partner Aaron Goonrey about DEI

Aaron Goonrey, a workplace relations and safety expert and partner at Lander & Rogers, spoke to The HR Leader on 24 November 2022 to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Mr Goonrey described his drive behind promoting DEI, how this can benefit an organisation, and the best way for companies to introduce related policies.

Shandel McAuliffe, editor at HR Leader: “Why is it important for companies to embrace DEI?”

Mr Goonrey: “It never has made any sense … that people from different backgrounds or who have different abilities are treated less favourably.”

“In terms of business logic, the most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform non-diverse companies. For example, ‘companies with more than 30 per cent women executives were more likely’, according to a study, ‘to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30’. And ‘in the case of ethnic and cultural diversity … the likelihood of outperformance continues to be higher for diversity in ethnicity than for gender’.”

He further commented: “Workers in inclusive teams are four times less likely to leave their job and four times more likely to work extra hard. There are clear advantages [from] diversity and equity in improving employee retention based on these studies.”

Editor: “Why should DEI initiatives look beyond gender?”

Mr Goonrey: “The vast array and range of people who you could look at in terms of employing is quite huge. You have not just gender, you have race, you have age, you have disability. They’re all categories of employee who could benefit and will benefit with a good diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative and programs.”

Editor: “What is the best way for an organisation to introduce DEI policy?”

Mr Goonrey: “You really have to get leaders invested in it. You have to explain to them why diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are important. And I often say this about a range of subjects, not just this one.”

He added: “Statistics and providing studies that evidence these types of benefits are actually good for leaders because they can then go, ‘OK, I understand why we need to invest in this.’ When you are talking about this issue and you’re talking about it to leaders, I would recommend that you have the data that supports this.”

The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full audio conversation with Aaron Goonrey on 24 November 2022 is below, and the original podcast article can be found here.