AuthorPride in Diversity

THURSDAY 30 JUNE, 2016 – STAR OBSERVER

SINCE joining the Westpac Group two years ago, Sam Turner has felt the most supported and comfortable she ever has with being herself at work.

Working as one of the brand’s many regional general managers, Turner has also taken on the role of chairing Global – Westpac’s LGBTI employee group.

The work that group and the company has achieved in the past year was recognised when Westpac Group took out the top gong at the 2016 Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) Awards for LGBTI employee inclusion.
“The thing I always say, since joining Westpac almost two years ago, I have felt the most supported and most comfortable in terms of being myself,” she said.

“That includes (telling) stories about a partner, if I had one at the time. The most important thing is not feeling like I have to cover any aspect of my life.”

Global has been in existence for four years, and has gained visibility, engagement and participation from the workplace, Turner said.

The group has held a number of activities and programs in an attempt to foster LGBTI inclusion in the workplace.

“We run inclusive language training across the group,” Turner said.

“This year we actually filmed it and it’s available to our staff at any time via our intranet. It includes how we’re involving all our colleagues.”

There is also an inclusive leadership program, and social events like a Mardi Gras picnic.

“My experience as a role model but also as someone who identifies as L on the LGBTI spectrum, I’ve met more of our LGBTI staff in the past 12 months than ever, and I’ve seen a lot of our global members become more confident and happy,” Turner said.

“We don’t just pay lip service to it. It’s not just a bunch of stats on a page, it’s about how people genuinely feel. And my take on that is we’ve got more people across the group feeling comfortable in their own skin and feel like they can fully participate, whether that’s sharing weekend stories or their partner’s gender if that’s what they want to do.”

BT Financial Group chief executive Brad Cooper, who is Westpac’s executive sponsor for LGBTI inclusion and was named Inclusion Champion of the Year, said their work was not about the recognition but about wanting a more diverse workplace.

“When we first started, we did a staff engagement survey and when we looked at the engagement level of LGBTI employees, it was four per cent below the rest,” Cooper said.

“In two years, we’ve closed that gap and now we’ve got no difference.”

Cooper said Group’s initiatives drove people who were usually quite passive on the subject become more vocal when they saw behaviours that were unacceptable.

“88 per cent of employees feel comfortable with their sexual orientation in the workplace which was up nine per cent from two years previously,” he said.

“A great testament of people being who they are.”

ACON’s Pride Inclusion Programs director Dawn Hough, applauded Westpac for their achievement.

“The Pride in Diversity Inclusion Awards, driven by the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) benchmarking process, reveal the significant work Australian organisations, including Westpac, are doing to create truly inclusive workplace cultures for their employees,” she said.

“The AWEI covers areas of contribution in policy, data collection, visibility, training, suppliers and community. Evidence-based, and objective, to be recognised as the Employer of the Year is a significant achievement.”

To find out more information about Pride in Diversity, visit its website here.

© Star Observer 2015 | For the latest in lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and intersex (LGBTI) news in Australia, be sure to visit starobserver.com.au daily. You can also read our latest magazines or Join us on our Facebook page and Twitter feed.

MONDAY 20 JUNE, 2016 – STAR OBSERVER

HEADS turned in surprise at the Pride in Diversity (PID) awards on May 20 in Sydney as New South Wales Police picked up a swag of awards.

ACON’s PID program is a national not-for-profit employer program for the inclusion of LGBTI people in the workplace.

Despite having been a member of PID since 2012, it was the first time NSW Police entered the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI), which is a benchmarking instrument that evaluates LGBTI inclusivity against a comprehensive set of measures in addition to a body of supporting evidence submitted by the employer as part of the evaluation process.

NSW Police came in 11th place overall on the index and also picked up awards for the inclusion of transgender people in the Transgender Inclusion Award category. Superintendent Tony Crandell was also recognised for his achievements in LGBTI workplace inclusion winning an Executive Leadership Award.

“I’ve been a police officer for 30 years and I’ve seen a massive change in LGBTI inclusion,” Supt Crandell said.

“I especially don’t want to say we haven’t got any further to go, because we have, but for police officers being able to be themselves, it’s been night and day in the journey I’ve seen.

Supt Crandell said much of NSW Police’s LGBTI inclusion achievements came via its GLLO (gay and lesbian liaison officers) program which was established in 1990.

“From my perspective the GLLO program is just so important and for the GLLOs to be identifiable to not only make officers know they can have someone they can trust, but for the LGBTI public to know the officers can identify with them,” he said.

“A lot of our work is through the GLLO program, we have over 200 GLLOs. They are the face of the police to not only the community, but to the force itself.

“They provide support and advice to LGBTI or sexuality and gender diverse police officers. They do lots of community engagement.”

The police also have a strong presence during the Wear It Purple Day and are planning to start a memorial for Transgender Remembrance Day.

NSW Police participates in Mardi Gras, uses inclusive language in its policies and runs training sessions for new recruits at the police academy.

Supt Crandell credits his whole team for their success, especially administration officer, Jackie Braw.

“For me that is such a massive team effort, Jackie is really the centre of all things LGBTI in the workforce,” he said.

Braw said one of her proudest achievements in NSW Police LGBTI inclusion plan was the 25th anniversary of the GLLO project an events last year.

“I was totally floored when we got 11th… it was a surprise,” she said.

Dawn Hough, Director, ACON’s Pride Inclusion Programs congratulated NSW Police on its achievements.

“Pride in Diversity would like to congratulate the NSW Police Force on achieving 11th place within the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) 2017,” she said.

“This is a significant achievement which reflects their commitment to both LGBTI workplace inclusion, and their commitment to the LGBTI community in NSW.”

QNEWS – May, 2015

Congratulations are in order for our friends at Key Assets who have just been awarded an AWEI Pride in Diversity award for their outstanding LGBTI workplace inclusion.

Key Assets is a non government organisation which provides foster care services across Queensland and has long been seeking LGBTI foster carers. They have been a regular presence at pride marches and festivals around the country for some years now and their parent company Core Assets has been listed on the the UK’s Stonewall top 100 employers committed to promoting LGBT equality in the workplace, so it is unsurprising that they have now been recognised locally for the great work they do with the LGBTI community.

Pride in Diversity is Australia’s first and only not-for-profit workplace program designed specifically to assist Australian employers with the inclusion of LGBTI employees and each year holds an awards ceremony to recognise Australia’s best employers for LGBTI people.

A full list of Australia’s top LGBTI employers can be found at www.prideindiversity.com.au.

STAR OBSERVER – 18 May, 2015

AUSTRALIA’S public sector is falling behind on LGBTI inclusion, new research has revealed.

Of the 20 highest-ranked organisations in the annual Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) of LGBTI friendly employers, only one-in-five comes from the public sector.

In contrast, half the organisations in the top 20 of the equivalent British Stonewall index are publicly-owned, including government departments and local councils.

Dawn Hough, Director of Pride in Diversity – which organises the AWEI – told the Star Observer that making workplaces more inclusive for LGBTI employees was simply not a priority for some public bodies.

Professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was awarded 2015’s most LGBTI friendly employer at Friday’s ceremony held in Sydney – the second year the company has topped the table.

Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, Curtin University and Goldman Sachs also made it into the top five.

Suzi Russell-Guildford (pictured above), a tax partner and executive sponsor of PwC’s LGBTI employee network, put the win down to involving everyone in inclusion initiatives.

“There’s a risk that when you run strategies around diversity that it just involves the diverse people,” she said.

“If you don’t go mainstream then you just don’t get it embedded in the culture and I feel PwC has really turned the corner on that.”

In March, PwC was one of a number of companies to sign a letter calling on the government to embrace marriage equality.

“We are strong believers that including people of all different diverse strands makes sense for work,” Russell-Guildford said.

“I’m gay, I’m married in the UK, I’ve got two children and I wouldn’t be able to do my job if PwC didn’t support me as a gay mother.”

Hough, who is a member of PwC’s diversity advisory board, said one of the initiatives that made the company a stand-out was the high level of engagement on LGBTI issues at an executive level.

She also said the AWEI benchmark was raised this year, with extra marks given to organisations that could show they were working with suppliers who shared their views on LGBTI inclusion.

“We work on the notion that to shift practice we need to constantly shift the bar,” Hough said.

Aside from Curtin University, the University of Western Australia (UWA) was the only public sector organisation to make it into the top 10 while the Australian Federal Police and Department of Defence tied for 17th position.

Last year, three public-sector bodies made it into the top 10 and in 2011 – the first year of the AWEI rankings – four such organisations were represented.

“It’s really quite sad,” Hough said.

“If you look at the UK the public sector is leading the way whereas as here it’s financial services so we need to get a lot more public sector organisations engaged.”

Hough said many public bodies took their cue from government on which areas of diversity to concentrate on and LGBTI inclusion was not high on the list.

“Unless it’s an area they are accountable for then it’s a ‘nice if we’ve got the budget’ rather than ‘we need to focus on this’,” she said.

“The answer is to make it an accountable area and that’s tough and may not happen for a while.”

Hough praised Curtin and UWA, both of which also scored well on the recent Star Observer-backed Australian LGBTI University Guide, for beating many larger companies.

On Friday, Hong Kong-based organisation Community Business released the territory’s first LGBTI workplace index.

Financial services organisations nabbed nine of the 10 top places with ANZ Bank – which also made it into the AWEI top 10 – the highest placed Australian company.

The top 20 most LGBTI-friendly workplaces according to the 2015 Australian Workplace Equality Index:

1. PricewaterhouseCoopers
2. Westpac Group
3. Curtin University
4. Commonwealth Bank of Australia
5. Goldman Sachs
6. ANZ
7. Macquarie Bank (first year in Top 10)
8. Lend Lease
9. National Australia Bank (first year in Top 10)
10. The University of Western Australia
11. IBM
12. Ernst & Young
13. Australian Red Cross Blood Service
=14. Accenture
=14. Allens
16. UnitingCare Ageing NSW.ACT
=17. Australian Federal Police
=17. Department of Defence
19. Herbert Smith Freehills
20. Telstra

HUMAN CAPITAL MAGAZINE – 20 May, 2015

Australia’s top companies for supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people at work were announced on Friday, with PwC coming out on top for the second time.

PwC’s Australian division topped the list of 20 organisations which was revealed at an event organised by Pride in Diversity.

“Not only is inclusiveness the right thing to do, as it encourages people to engage, respect and contribute to the organisation they are working for, it is a sound business decision as diversity leads to innovation, which leads to growth,” said PwC’s chief of staff James Collins, who received the award at the event. “We are delighted to be recognised for having strong policies on how to encourage and support our LGBTI employees as well as recognition for being a bold supporter of LGBTI issues in society, such as supporting marriage equality.”

The awards were determined by using Pride in Diversity’s Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI), which evaluates and benchmarks LGBTI inclusiveness in workplaces around the country.

Other award winners included ANZ, which won an award for its GAYTMs, Key Assets (best small employer), and the Australian Red Cross Blood Collection (best not-for-profit/charity).

“While many employees feel comfortable to be themselves at work, let’s not lose sight of the fact that many more do not,” said Michael Kirby AC, who presented the awards at the event. “Where we stand today is still not good enough. The more inclusive your workplace culture, the more likely people will be to engage, respect and contribute to the organisation they are working for.”

According to Pride in Diversity’s director Dawn Hough, more organisations are engaging with the AWEI.

“This is the fifth year of the AWEI,” she said. “The number of employers participating has increased by 152% from Year 1 and we now have over 9000 employees participating in the employee survey. The focus on LGBTI inclusion initiatives has increased substantially. We are really looking at our Top 20 Employers now as examples of good practice. There is very little difference point-wise between some of these employers, in some cases, as little as 1 point between leaderboard positions.”

It was also announced recently that Pride in Diversity will be developing an index to address homophobia in sports.

“Pride in Diversity congratulates all the organisations recognised for their significant achievement and for showing great leadership in the area of diversity and inclusion,” Hough added.

The top 20 Australian employers for LGBTI people are:

1. PwC
2. Westpac Group
3. Curtin University
4. Commonwealth Bank of Australia
5. Goldman Sachs
6. ANZ
7. Macquarie Bank
8. Lend Lease
9. National Australia Bank
10. The University of Western Australia
11. IBM
12. EY
13. Australian Red Cross Blood Service
14. Accenture
14. Allens
16. UnitingCare Ageing NSW.ACT
17. Australian Federal Police
17. Department of Defence
19. Herbert Smith Freehills
20. Telstra