By Rocio Lorenzo and Martin Reeves Harvard Business Review, January 20, 2018 Advocates of workplace diversity have argued their case not only based on intrinsic fairness but because such programs are seen to bring tangible benefits to organisations. Not everyone accepts the second part of the proposition. Some contend that there is absolutely no evidence …
By: Heejung Chung (European Journal of Industrial Relations, January 2018) http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959680117752829 The demand for flexible working has been increasing globally. This applies across all sectors of the economy and it is sought by both genders although females remain statistically the major applicants. The reasons why employees of either gender wish to exercise control over their …
Australia has traditionally perceived itself to be a country of egalitarianism – the land where everyone has a “fair go” at least insofar as socioeconomic status is concerned. If this were literally true there would be little difficulty for anyone to move (up or down) into a different socio-economic bracket, regardless of where one was …
In many organisations when Symmetra is engaged to move the needle on the D & I agenda, we find it is taken for granted that the business case for diversity and inclusion is well established and serves as an elementary guiding principle for their business leaders. The focus we are told is “let’s get on …
Australia (as well as other countries in the Asia- Pacific region) could potentially reap massive economic benefits by 2025 if it takes accelerated steps towards gender parity. This is the conclusion drawn from the just- released report by McKinsey Global Institute—ThePower of Parity: Advancing Women’s Equality in Asia Pacific The report calculates that the region …
In its recently published report ‘Global Recruiting Trends 2018’, LinkedIn identified the four top trends shaping the future of recruiting and hiring. First and foremost in the list of these trends is diversity – ‘the biggest game-changer’. The diversity paradigm, according to the Report, no longer encompasses only diversity and inclusion but has been expanded …
For years Symmetra has been advancing the proposition that diversity and inclusion benefits businesses with regard to employee engagement; enhancing the generation of ideas; innovation and ultimately profitability. This stance, supported by data and research relating to returns on investment, share price movements and metrics on innovative capability has become widely accepted. Now with a …
A Case of Inclusion Illiteracy As much as diversity is incomplete without a culture of inclusiveness, so inclusion is incomplete without encompassing employees as well as customers of an organisation. Customers desire to be inclusively treated by organisations as much as employees do. And like employees they will be extremely sensitive as to how inclusive …
Australians who received with joy and satisfaction the news that same-sex marriage is now legal in our country must have been outraged by a disconcerting legal battle that is taking place in the USA. At about the same time that the Australian parliament was putting the finishing touches to the law allowing gay marriage, the …
Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect? It is named after a study carried out by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger who in 1999 had undergraduates at Cornell University undergo tests regarding humour, logic and grammar and then estimate how they fared relative to all other participants. And how did participants rate themselves? The …