E-Challenge is Symmetra’s unique diversity and inclusion online learning platform, built to empower leaders and teams to embed inclusive behaviours for the long term. Using a unique gamified approach that encourages learners to compete and complete, E-Challenge addresses the full spectrum of diversity and inclusion topics with a continuously evolving library of 10-minute interactive Learning …
There has been much speculation and confusion about the contents and the implications of the Ruddock report into religious freedom, portions of which seemed to have been leaked to the media over the past couple of days. It is premature to criticise it until the full report is released to the public and once it …
Battle lines have been predictably been drawn following the allegation by Christine Blasey Ford that she suffered a violent sexual assault at the hands of Brett Kavanaugh some 35 years ago and his emphatic denial that anything of the sort took place. Before either of the two protagonists have actually testified, large swathes of the American public have made it …
The cartoon by Mark Knight, published by the Herald Sun newspaper, depicting an on-court rant by Serena Williams, has, as most people now know, evoked a storm of criticism, particularly from the African-American community. A defiant doubling-down from the cartoonist himself as well as the newspaper ensued; followed by a spirited defence of the cartoon from a …
Businesses today have to deal with ambiguous and complex challenges which increasingly rely on harnessing of a range of skills and a reliance upon interdisciplinary perspectives. Examples are legion. Nanotechnology achieves its spectacular breakthroughs by drawing upon the skills of physicists, biologists and chemists. Disease control efforts bring together public health officials, behavioural scientists and …
True leaders foster a sense of inclusion amongst employees and create an ethos of inclusivity in their organisations. Possessing these skills is a mark of success. But only independent and reliable measurement fed by sources who really know can tell a leader if he or she is inclusive Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect? It …
The unseemly spectacle which unfolded recently in the Australian Federal Parliament where Senator David Leyonhjelm, in the midst of a debate about sexual violence against women shouted across the chamber at a young opposition female senator, Sarah Hanson-Young that she should “stop shagging men” (and later gratuitously repeated the same slur on Sky TV) has …
In 2016, the publishing house, Thomson Reuters launched its global D & I index to rank the Top 100 companies for diversity and inclusiveness. The index determines its rankings by applying 24 metrics across four key categories: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and News Controversies. The D & I index is intended to serve not as a measure …
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 …