Maximizing Workplace Diversity: Strategies for Success

1. CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE Pino migliorino Managing director cultural perspectives

2. Cultural Diversity in the Workplace Should We Even Care? • Important for what we want to achieve • Important to how we maximise the value of our human resources • Important for how we need to interact with local residents

3. Skills for Excellence • Equal Employment Opportunity Practices • EEO can sometime conversely disadvantage those without recruitment system experience; and those recently arrived • Wrong assumption that all skilled migrants fully understand the workings of the Australian job recruitment system • Non-recognition of overseas qualifications • Personal bias in the recruitment process

4. Personal bias • Australian National University study: • Chinese named applicants need to submit 68% more applications for a call back • Middle Eastern 64% • Indigenous 35% more and • Italian 12% more except for Melbourne where they required 7% less • The potential loss is skills, international experience and innovation.

5. PERSONAL BIAS …when managed workplace diversity delivers enhanced creativity, flexibility and problem solving skills.

6. CAPACITY FOR RESPONSIVNESS • Workplace diversity from equity consideration service capacity and client responsiveness consideration. • Structures in which the profile of staff reflects that of clients. • HR perspective- considering the inclusion of language/cultural sensitivity as either essential or desirable criteria • Ongoing resistance to linguistic or cultural identification in recruitment

7. Cross cultural competency • Morphed from cross cultural sensitivity cultural competency • HR - considering the inclusion of language/cultural sensitivity as either essential or desirable criteria • To realise this- resources and commitments must be allocated to: • Enhanced staff training • Cross cultural communication resource development • Budget allocations • An organisational recognition of these skills and applicability in the workplace

8. framework for workplace diversity

9. framework for workplace diversity • Council leadership must take initiative • Newcastle City Council • Where this works best: • Valuing diversity and multicultural responsiveness embedded in policy & programs • Managing diversity responsibilities embedded in position descriptions and performance indicators • Organisational performance measures for diversity established and reported against

10. framework for workplace diversity • Acknowledged as delivering enhanced creativity, flexibility and problem solving skills • Enhancing the effectiveness of working with CALD clients and colleagues • Risk mitigation value in developing good workplace diversity management skills and addressing workplace race based discrimination and harassment.

11. framework for workplace diversity • Councils need to develop an overall approach that will support and promote the value of workplace diversity. • Assessment of Councils’ structural and individual cultural competence and a programmed response to cover: • Vision • Leadership • Planning • Organisational diversity management • Organisational capacity and resources • Community engagement • Program enhancements for accessibility • Evaluation, review and re-planning

12. CULTURAL DIEVRSITY IN THE WORKPLACE