Just like any other diversity attribute, ‘faith’ or ‘religious conviction’ can provide people with dimensions that may have an impact on their values and attitudes. As part of a person’s complex diversity make up, these dimensions can be a source of organisational innovation or of conflict and difficulty, depending on how well organisations manage them.
State of play in Australia
Australia has been multi-faith for over 50,000 years given the diversity of beliefs and practices among Australia’s Indigenous peoples. Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Jews and Muslims began arriving in Australia since colonisation in 1788. Since then, religious diversity in Australia has continued to grow. At the same time, an increase has also been noted in the number of people who identify as atheist, anti-theist or agnostic.
In all, the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census recorded over 120 different religious denominations each with 250 or more followers, while about 5,400 Australians practise Aboriginal traditional religions. Moreover, it is widely believed that the (19%) of Australian’s who identify as having ‘no religion’ is a larger group than this.
What does this mean for organisations?
Globalisation means employees, clients, and target audiences come from diverse cultures and practice different religions. In order to have inclusive and productive workplaces, faith in the workplace can no longer ‘fly under the diversity radar’.
Australia's diverse population and workforce can provide business with skills, knowledge, networks and market intelligence.
