Category: Latest Insights From Symmetra

Can AI counter discrimination in recruitment?

The harms of discriminatory hiring practices  Discrimination in recruitment is a long-standing problem that adversely affects women and other protected groups, but also ultimately impacts organisations negatively when discrimination results in talented people being overlooked for jobs. Sometimes the discrimination flows from deliberate and conscious decisions to hire only from certain groups or to exclude …

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Adopting the Voice will make Australia more Equal

Recently Barnaby Joyce in a radio interview, claimed that incorporating the Voice in the Australian Constitution would be contrary to the principle of equality. It would give special and distinctive status to Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. We disagree with this proposition most emphatically. The stance of Symmetra is that giving a Voice to Indigenous …

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Employers need to Grasp the Nettle now on Sexual Harassment

  As we discussed in our two previous posts, employers, large and small, in Australia must now contend with an entirely new set of legal obligations when trying to render their workplaces free of sexual harassment. Firstly, the principal duty falls squarely on the employer who must act proactively and systematically to take steps to …

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How the Laws around Sexual Harassment have changed

The legislative landscape surrounding workplace sexual harassment and violence in Australia has undergone a profound change recently. The change is reflected in two principal areas: The first area concerns who bears the primary legal responsibility for addressing sexual harassment and what processes should be implemented and followed to combat it; The second area concerns classifying …

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A new dawn to reduce sexual harassment in the Australian workplace

Australia was at one time (in the 1970s and 1980s) lauded as being in the forefront of tackling the scourge of sexual harassment in the workplace and elsewhere. Since then, it has fallen behind. Sexual harassment has remained a perennial and intractable problem in the Australian workplace – as it has in other countries. Until …

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Symmetra partners with the iconic Sydney Swans!

(From left to right) Tom Harley, CEO of Sydney Swans; Emily Caska, Down Syndrome NSW CEO; Ellen Hester, Down Syndrome NSW Employee; Carly Wilkinson, Principal – Digital and Innovation – at Symmetra; Mon Schafter, Twenty10 Co-chair; Craig Foster, Addi Road Ambassador Symmetra is proud to partner with one of Australia’s most beloved sporting teams the …

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Symmetra Connect continues its series on diversity and inclusion with free events in Sydney & Melbourne

There is no denying that contemporary businesses face a new set of challenges in the workplace. With the world around us constantly changing and evolving, there is little time to adjust to the transformations that are taking place in our everyday experiences. Today, the need for a diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) workplace culture is …

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Shifting employers to proactively look after the psychosocial well-being of employees

A massive paradigm shift and a new conceptual approach to workplace mental health hazards is about to be established by law in Australian workplaces. What has already begun and what will continue to be implemented are laws and regulations at both Federal and State levels, requiring employers to implement comprehensive and systemic measures to minimise …

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How to ethically gather DEI data in organisations

Gathering DEI data in organisations is often a first step in implementing a comprehensive DEI strategy. However, DEI surveys and data-gathering exercises may expose organisations to legal pitfalls. In particular, these surveys must comply with changing privacy and data protection legislation which has been expanding rapidly across the globe in recent years. This legislation impacts …

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Symmetra Connect is back with a series of diversity and inclusion events

  Diversity and inclusion have become the DNA of any business that has succeeded in creating a safe and diverse workplace for all employees. Many leaders have taken a renewed approach to establishing diversity and inclusion mechanisms in their workplaces, including the idea of inclusive leadership. This is why Symmetra has partnered with Herbert Smith …

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