Events

Identifying the root problem interfering with inclusive hiring can help organizations boost both growth and progress. The speakers in this panel will talk about:

• How to enlarge the talent pool when the market lacks diverse talent
• How to promote the inclusion of minority employees
• How to ensure psychological comfort for diverse employees in the post-COVID workplace

This keynote session aims to highlight the keys to become an agent of inclusive change for women in leadership. It includes how gender should be embedded as part of the business strategy, how to support women in leadership on their career path, the strategy needed to develop women leaders, the inclusive policies that corporations should foster regarding women's empowerment at a workplace, and key pillars to build a culture of respect to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In our keynote, we will address why diversity can be mistaken for inclusion, how situations that seem inclusive may not be, and ways we can combat the issue. First, we will discuss how we define what we mean by the illusion of inclusion, and how current measures can often be misleading. We will follow that up with personal anecdotes and experiences from within the world of Special Olympics. We will then provide insights on what we see as critical to creating inclusive environments.

Over the last thirty years, researchers and diversity and inclusion practitioners have begun to challenge inequalities in workplaces through D&I initiatives and programs for a range of diverse groups. But for the most part, they haven’t attempted to answer the question of whether an individual’s social class makes a difference in their experience of inclusion.

At the Diversity Council Australia, we asked this question as part of our biennial national survey on the State of Inclusion. What we found was that despite the enduring myth of Australia as the land of the opportunity, that social class does in fact make a difference for individuals and their experience of being included in the workplace. We found was strong evidence that people from self-identified lower classes experience more exclusion, discrimination and harassment than people from higher classes.

Getting feedback and keeping in mind issues facing disadvantaged groups are essential, yet an undiverse team is never likely to know all the questions to ask or the experiences to consider. An inclusive organization, on the other hand, with multi-background employees, is more likely to be truly innovative and come up with products and experiences for all individuals, not just the presumed majority.

Our speakers will cover the following issues during this panel:

• How diverse teams can help enlarge your company’s customer base
• How inclusive products can boost customer loyalty
• What ethical issues to consider in developing inclusive products and services

Learn how to both attract and retain veteran talent through:

- Recognizing the value veterans bring to your business
- Assessing where you can improve your veteran retention strategies
- Investing in the veteran community