Cultural diversity guidance resource (PDF, 372kb). 

The Law Society of NSW recognises that creating an environment where every person, regardless of their background, has opportunities and support to reach their professional potential can result in better outcomes for the community at large, and better business outcomes for the profession.

The Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, cultural diversity guidance encourages workplaces to actively consider their recommendations towards improving cultural diversity in the legal profession.

Link to People at Work webpage. 

This tool supports organisations to identify, assess and control risks to psychological health at work.

It is a part of a five-step process that you can use to identify, assess and control risks to psychological health at work.

https://creativeequitytoolkit.org/

The Creative Equity Toolkit provides an action-oriented approach to increasing cultural diversity in the arts. It is a project run by Diversity Arts Australia and the British Council.

The site features dozens of implementable actions, from simple to complex, along with hundreds of links to tools and resources developed around the world to help put these actions into practice.

Internationally there are remarkable differences in how arts organisations approach the question of diversity. This site brings together ideas, research and best practice from around the world into one place. The Creative Equity Toolkit has extracted the solutions and recommendations from research and case studies, and provided short introductions to key concepts to help inform debate.

Ten steps you can take to create a fair and productive workplace resource

This guide from the Australian Human Rights Commission provides employers with ten practical and effective steps to create a fair and productive workplace.

Link to resource. 

Addressing employee complaints about discrimination and harassment quickly and fairly is good for business because it can:

• identify ways to improve workplace practices and policies
• improve staff morale, productivity and retention
• help avoid complaints to external agencies and/or legal action.

Under federal anti-discrimination laws, if an employer wants to argue that the organisation should not be held liable for any discrimination or harassment by one of its employees, the employer will need to demonstrate that the organisation took ‘reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence’ or took ‘all reasonable steps’ to prevent the discrimination or harassment. While the size of the employer is relevant to these considerations, an important factor that is likely to be considered is whether the organisation has an effective complaint handling procedure.

Link to workplace bullying, discrimination and harassment resource.

Link to Women of Colour's workplace survey report.

This landmark survey collects the experiences of diverse women of colour in Australian workplaces.

A total of 543 women of colour completed the survey, with 7% identifying as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Most respondents (70%) were between 25 and 34 and 70% worked full-time. Questions were not mandatory, so some questions had fewer answers than others. The women reported being employed in more than 250 different roles, and those who did not identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander had heritage from more than 60 different nations.

Most of the women who responded had experienced discrimination in the workplace (60%) while 40% had not. While 30% believed their identity as a woman of colour was valued in the workplace, 43 % did not, and the remainder answered “maybe”.

Most respondents (57%) felt they had faced challenges in the workplace related to their identity as a woman of colour, while 21% did not believe so and the remainder were unsure (answered ‘maybe’). While 59 % said their workplace had a diversity and inclusion policy, 22% said it did not, and the remainder were unsure.

The majority of respondents (57.61%) said the leader of their organisation was a man, not a person of colour, followed by a woman, not a person of colour, (25.63%) with just over 2% saying they were the organisation’s leader and 6.58% saying the leader was a woman of colour.

Many of the women responding named ‘mentoring’ as a key need for future development in their careers, and other suggestions included networking, counselling, and structural change.

Link to resource (PDF, 803KB).

The guide is part of the Law Society’s work in promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It contains practical tools that can assist legal practices in NSW to identify and eliminate discriminatory recruitment and employment practices. The guide provides helpful insights to enable law firms and other organisations to engage in best practice to promote a truly diverse and fair workplace.

Link to managing psychosocial hazards website. 

NSW Government Safe work Code of Practice for Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work is intended to be read by persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), usually an employer or business, and those who have duties under the WHS Act. It provides practical guidance on the process a PCBU could use to identify and to manage psychosocial hazards at work.

This code of practice is recommended for those who have functions or responsibilities that involve managing, so far as is reasonably practicable, exposure to psychosocial hazards and risks to psychological and physical health and safety at work.

Link to DCA's website. 

In Australia and overseas, culturally diverse women experience a ‘double jeopardy’ when accessing leadership roles due to their gender and cultural background. This double jeopardy results in a ‘glass-cultural ceiling’ in which invisible organisational barriers lock out culturally diverse women from accessing leadership positions in their workplaces.

The Diversity Council Australia report, Cracking the Glass-Cultural Ceiling: Future Proofing Your Business in the 21st Century comprises an extensive review of international and national research; an on-line survey of 366 female leaders and aspiring leaders from a diversity of backgrounds; four Think Tanks with 54 culturally diverse female leaders and emerging leaders; and 15 individual interviews with culturally diverse women who were in high-profile, very senior roles.

The Diversity Council Australia have produced a framework from the insights of culturally diverse females to explain what is happening to lock culturally diverse women out of leadership and what Australian organisations can do to unlock that talent.