Diversity in Australian Workplace

In Australia, its population is highly diverse. According to the 2011 Census, more than 75% of Australia identified as ‘having an ancestry other than Australia’, and 43% have at least one parent who was born overseas. Regarding Australian workforce, the research conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that 29% of Australian labour were born overseas. 47% of employees are women, but only 30.5% of women work in Australian senior management roles. Thus, the Australian workforce is diverse.

Workplace diversity means that the employees bring qualities to the company, as a result of their different experiences, backgrounds and beliefs. It also involves acknowledging the value of the employees and understands how their differences can contribute to the workplace.

In the Australian workplace, most employees accept cultural diversity as a part of workplace ethic, and there are national and state legislation such as the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and Australian Human Right Commission Act 1986 to ensure diversity in the workplace. According to legislation, it is unlawful to disadvantage employees and job seekers based on race, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability and marital status, etc. Australian companies have actively incorporated diversity in their company culture. For example, Accenture dedicates to achieving a ’50-50 gender balance by 2025’, and it established a local LGBTI community within Accenture.

However, the 2018-2019 Diversity and Inclusion Report from Hays revealed that 63% of Australian workers have felt that they cannot receive promotion due to their sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, gender or disability. Another research from Randstad has revealed that only 50% of employees believe their employers have a ‘diverse and inclusive’ culture. Thus, organisations need to better define and implement their diversity strategy and involve the employees in developing a diversity strategy.

Diversity can benefit the workplace in various ways:

1. They can contribute their talents, skills, and experiences to the workplace. For example, CALD(culturally and linguistically diverse) employees can provide additional perspectives and experience to assist the company in understanding the overseas market and foreign customers.

2. Diversity creates innovation. Through bouncing ideas off of each other, and offering feedback and suggestions to each other, the company can have a larger bank of ideas.

3. Diversity improves employee performance. Employees feel more comfortable when they are in a workplace that emphasis inclusivity.

4. Diversity improves decision making. According to research, the diverse teams outperformed individual decision-makers for 87% of the time.

5. Diversity boosts the company’s reputation and brand. People are easier to relate to a company that focuses on ‘diversity’, which will open the doors to the new markets, customers, and partners.

In conclusion, diversity is being valued in the Australian workplace, and a diverse workplace can benefit the company in several ways. However, there are issues with diversity and we need to tackle them.

References:

https://au.hudson.com/insights/article/diversity-in-the-workplace

https://www.themartec.com/insidelook/companies-do-diversity-right

https://www.aimbigemployment.com.au/what-diversity-brings-to-a-workplace/

https://www.business.gov.au/People/Hiring/Equal-opportunity-and-diversity

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/most-australian-workplaces-are-failing-to-achieve-diversity-study

https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/benefits-diversity-workplace/

https://www.talentlyft.com/en/blog/article/244/top-10-benefits-of-diversity-in-the-workplace-infographic-included