New research from Diversity Council Australia (DCA), has found strong evidence that people from self-identified lower classes experience more exclusion, discrimination and harassment at work than people from higher classes.
Inclusion
Beyond Diversity Towards Inclusion
Inclusion occurs when a diversity of people (e.g. of different ages, cultural backgrounds, genders) feel valued and respected, have access to opportunities and resources, and can contribute their perspectives and talents to improve their organisation.
Creating an inclusive workplace is fundamental to maximising diversity and creating successful organisations in today’s complex global environment. DCA has developed a number of resources to help improve inclusive practice and thus lift performance and wellbeing.
DCA Research
Counting Culture - coming in 2021
DCA, in partnership with the University of Sydney Business School is currently conducting a research project to understand what is the most inclusive and informative way for Australian organisations to ‘count culture’. This research will be released in March 2021.
Intersections at Work
Pride in Diversity and DCA joined forces on this project as their respective research on LGBTQ workplace inclusion had revealed that culturally diverse LGBTQ workers had unique workplace experiences that warranted deeper investigation.
In 2020, Do We Still Really Need Workplace Gender Equality?
It’s been over 100 years since the first IWD and we’ve come a long way in creating gender equality – but we still have a long way to go. In 2020, gender inequalities continue to limit the ability of both men and women to be respected and to contribute at work and at home.
Inclusion@Work Index 2019-2020
How inclusive are Australian workplaces for a diversity of employees, and how has this changed over time? What impact does inclusion have on performance and wellbeing? The 2019-2020 Inclusion@Work Index surveyed a nationally representative sample of 3,000 Australian workers to find out.
Creating inclusive multi-faith workplaces
This resource provides guidance to Australian workplaces about how to deal with a range of common faith-related queries, and also to provide workplaces with principles to help balance issues where conflicting rights might intersect.
Change At Work
For well over thirty years, initiatives designed to improve diversity and inclusion (D&I) have been a priority for organisations – but are the plethora of D&I initiatives actually creating the organisational change they aspire to?
D&I 101 - Conducting a Diversity Survey
DCA's Guide to Conducting a Diversity Survey - How to ask your employees about their diversity.
Inclusion@Work Index 2017-2018
The DCA-Suncorp Inclusion@Work Index 2017-2018 is a landmark study, providing the first-ever national benchmarks for Australian workplaces in regards to the age, cultural background, disability status, gender, Indigenous background, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity of workers.
WordsAtWork - Building inclusion through the power of language
DCA has developed a new Words At Work campaign for workplaces to show how inclusive language can improve workplace culture and drive productivity.
Building Inclusion - An Evidence-Based Model of Inclusive Leadership
DCA’s new study, Building Inclusion: An Evidence-Based Model of Inclusive Leadership sheds valuable light on the need for inclusive leadership and what it takes build more inclusive leaders.
Benchmarking Diversity and Inclusion Practices in Australia
Despite the well-known business benefits of D&I, many Australian organisations do not adequately resource their D&I function or put in place measureable goals or accountabilities for their D&I activities.
The Diversity & Inclusion Study
The study surveyed more than 100 diversity managers and human resources leaders in Australia and New Zealand to learn the profile of diversity functions within organisations and the professionals leading and implementing diversity strategy.
Other Research
Making the most of the skills and experience of migrants and refugees
This report explores the economic and social imperative for better utilisation of skills and experience of migrants and refugees in Queensland, what is getting in our way, and how we might move forward to reap the benefits.
Birthplaces, languages, ancestries and religions of Australian CEOs
Why do men born in the USA, UK or Canada have a greater chance of becoming an Australian CEO than those who are locally born?
Algorithmic Bias? An Empirical Study into Apparent Gender-Based Discrimination in the Display of STEM Career Ads
Despite explicit intentions to be gender neutral, a Facebook ad for STEM careers was shown more often to men than women, potentially due to economic forces and competition among advertisers
Mckinsey (2017) Delivering through diversity
This report from McKinsey research reinforces the link between diversity and company financial performance—and suggests how organizations can craft better inclusion strategies for a competitive edge.
Cloverpop: Hacking Diversity with Inclusive Decision Making (2017)
Teams outperform individual decision makers 66% of the time, and decision making improves as team diversity increases.
Case Studies
NAB’s African Australian Employment Program
NAB’s African Australian Inclusion Program provides six months of work experience, to help people find meaningful employment.
Herbert Smith Freehills taking action to improve ethnic diversity across the firm (2020)
In the wake of the tragic killing of George Floyd in May 2020, Herbert Smith Freehills’ CEO and the broader leadership team began a deeper conversation with their people about improving ethnic diversity across the firm.
Lendlease - showing support for LGBTIQ+ people
In 2020, Lendlease is continuing to demonstrate support of the LGBTIQ+ community and advocate for creating safe, inclusive places for everyone - virtually.
NAB’s Accessibility Action Plan (2017-2018)
The 2017 – 2018 AAP lays out NAB’s commitments to its customers, people and community, and was created in consultation with community groups such as the Australian Network on Disability.
NAB's Emerging Indigenous Executive Leaders Program
NAB has led the development of the EIELP, a program that has shown Aboriginal and / or Torres Strait Islander employees that their Indigenous culture has many things to offer the boardroom.
News
Australia isn’t the land of the fair go at work if you are in the lower class
Media releases
26 Oct 2020
EMBARGOED UNTIL 12AM 26 OCTOBER 2020: New research, released today from Diversity Council Australia, has found strong evidence that people from self-identified lower classes experience more exclusion, discrimination and harassment at work than people from higher classes.
Black Lives Matter and ways to make genuine progress on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workplace inclusion
News articles
25 Jun 2020
The US Black Lives Matter movement has shone a light on continued injustices and inequalities experienced by Indigenous people in our society. How can we ensure that this moment does not pass by without genuine progress on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workplace inclusion?
First Ever Australian survey to capture truths about employment experiences of Indigenous Australians
Media releases
16 Jun 2020
The first ever Australian survey that aims to capture the truths of Indigenous Australians’ employment experiences in Australia has been launched today.
Perspectives
Class has the strongest link to inclusion at work, so why aren’t we talking about it?
Opinion pieces
26 Oct 2020
According to DCA's CEO, Lisa Annese, we need to measure class, so we can understand how class impacts our experiences of work and why. And we need to ensure that organisational initiatives reach and positively impact people from all classes.
Neurodiversity: different not lesser than | Featuring Chris Varney
Q&A
20 Aug 2020
DCA CEO Lisa Annese, spoke with Chris Varney, founder and CEO of the I CAN Network – an organisation that empowers people on the Autism spectrum – to better understand neurodiversity and get his unique perspectives as a leader with autism successfully employing 38 employees with autism.
Why we need diversity and inclusion now, more than ever
Blog
25 Jun 2020
Inclusion isn’t just a nice to have. There is a recognition that the principles of inclusion – respect, connection, progressing and contributing – are essential in responding to the immediate challenges, and planning for the future.
Coming events
17 Nov 2020
‘Indigenous employment’ is a growing, vital area of focus within the employment and diversity, inclusion, and human resources landscapes but there are two glaring omissions – there is a notable lack of research that asks Indigenous people what they want and need from workplaces in order to flourish, and what is available has been primarily informed by non-Indigenous voices.
08 Dec 2020
DCA's WebEx investigates what it means to be a man today, and look at which workplaces are actively modelling respect.
Date and time are subject to change and will be confirmed closer to the event.
10 Feb 2021
Flexible working has arguably been mainstreamed during COVID-19 but what has the pandemic taught us about what works and what doesn't? Has working from home on mass resulted in improved performance and wellbeing? Discover how organisations are honing their approaches to flexible working.
18 Feb 2021
The Australian Human Rights Commission's inquiry on sexual harassment found there is a need to move from the current reactive, complaints-based approach, to one which requires positive actions from employers with a focus on prevention. Learn how organisations can do this by adopting a workplace health and safety approach and driving change in the structure and cultural practices of organisations.
04 Mar 2021
From the Heart is a campaign to engage Australians about why an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament enabled by the Constitution is a fair and practical change, and how it will unify our nation. Hear the latest on the campaign and how you can be an ally.
23 Mar 2021
We know that organisations need to cultivate an inclusive workplace in order to experience the benefits of diversity. But just how important is inclusive leadership? We investigate the mindsets of an inclusive leader and how organisations and leaders can build their capabilities.
07 Apr 2021
COVID-19 underlined the benefits of flexible working and brought hope to many people with disability that workplaces could be more accessible for them. We hear how organisations are drawing on the experiences of the pandemic to build more accessible and inclusive workplaces.
27 Apr 2021
What makes a mentally healthy workplace in 2021? Our new Mental Health Network explores what it takes for workplaces to be mentally healthy and what leading practice organisations are doing in this area.
17 Jun 2021
24 Jun 2021
The Australian Reconciliation Barometer is a national research study conducted every two years to measure and compare attitudes and perceptions towards reconciliation. At this network, we will hear about the latest indicators for reconciliation and relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians.
29 Jul 2021
In 2021 DCA's Anna McPhee Memorial Oration will explore why class is something that we can no longer afford to ignore when implementing best practise D&I strategies in the workplace.
09 Aug 2021
Our Gari Yala 'speak the truth' report released last year drew on the insights and experiences of more than 1000 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait workers. A key learning from the report was the importance of unearthing and acting on workplace truths – however uncomfortable they may be. At this event, we will uncover historical truths that underpin exclusion of Indigeous people and move forward and how to shape a better future.
08 Sep 2021
15 Sep 2021
Topic and event details of this DCA event are s subject to change and will be advised closer to the date. Please revisit this event page for updates.
Diversity Leadership Program: Age diversity and the ongoing effects of COVID-19 (Preliminary Notice)
COVID-19 has had a severe effect on workplace opportunities for many but for younger and older people in particular. At this event, we will investigate the impacts and consider how workplaces can ensure they attract and retain talent across all ages.
26 Oct 2021
At this event, we will discover how organisations can use social media to support diversity and inclusion.
04 Nov 2021
DCA research has found that mutliple diversity dimensions can work together to compound disadvantage. We explore the experience of culturally diverse women when it comes to exclusion at work
09 Dec 2021
What are the experiences of Australian workers when it comes to inclusion? DCA will launch the third Inclusion at Work Index which maps and tracks inclusion in Australian workplaces.
Webcasts from past events
26 Oct 2020
The notion of Australia being the land of the ‘fair go’ is deeply ingrained in Australia’s national psyche, but do we really all have the same opportunities? Does class make a difference to workplace inclusion?
20 Oct 2020
This Webinar provides an update on our latest D&I research on Counting Culture and the DCA-Suncorp Inclusion@Work Index.