Allies as ‘change agents’ are a vital part of building a more inclusive workplace culture for LGBTI employees. Pride in Diversity are the owners and facilitators of the Engaging Allies for Change workshop. This session is designed to provide participants with a hands on and practical ‘how to’ be an Ally for LGBTI employees by revising terminology and inclusive language, examining extensive research and data on LGBTI and workplace culture. The session utilises experiential workshop techniques to facilitate learning. Attendees will practice how to respond to exclusive or negative language and behaviours across a variety of contexts and will learn of additional actions that effective allies implement to create a more inclusive culture for LGBTI employees.

Once the excitement of having a ‘new’ LGBTI network has died down, it can be difficult to maintain momentum, especially to keep existing resources involved. We will provide some examples of how to insert LGBTI aspects into more general training, events and diversity activities, to help you reach as many people across your organisation as possible.
The session will provide information about how to move from educating your workforce in LGBTI awareness to an approach which includes LGBTI diversity into management and leadership training.
We will also investigate how working with other employee resource groups/networks across your organisation can help to expand awareness, knowledge and networking opportunities for your LGBTI staff.

Organisations do a lot internally to create a diverse and inclusive workforce, yet how many have social impact externally? Having a social purpose that springs from D&I initiatives can empower internal activities and create a glue that binds everyone together. If “giving back” becomes part of the D&I mantra then discrimination can end, lives can be transformed and sometimes even saved. This workshop explores ways an organisation can capture its power to do good and demonstrate to its staff, customers and business partners how good D&I can change the world.

This session will review some of the specific challenges of introducing LGBTI inclusion into the aged care and disability sectors, while sharing example of successes. It will explore inclusion for sectors facing many changes in terms of funding streams and discuss how to utilise benchmarking as an advantageous marketing tool.

Learn how to reach a wider audience to sell product, attract better staff or create a stronger connection with the LGBTI community.

Using market research, audience analytics and case studies Star Observer and Pink Media provide practical information to help you develop a media strategy which will stand out from the crowd.

In and across our workplaces, there continues to be greater awareness of diverse sexualities – but what about the other “A”? What about Asexuality?

To create a truly inclusive culture, this is of course an equally important orientation to understand, but how much do you really know, how visible is your network’s support, and how equipped are you in providing an environment for  your asexual employees and colleagues to feel supported and bring their full selves to work? We will be joined by Sapphire member and NAB Pride Network member Emily Gornalle, an asexual advocate who has worked tirelessly in her local area to build awareness and understanding in this often overlooked orientation.

84% of respondents from the Out of the Fields Study said that homophobic jokes and humour occur ‘all the time’ , ‘often’, or ‘sometimes’, around sports and just 1% of all participants believed that lesbian, gay and bisexual people were ‘completely accepted’ in sporting culture.

In this session, hear from Andrew Purchas, one of the founding members of the Pride in Sport Index (PSI) advisory board. Andrew will talk about how the Index seeks to change the sporting landscape for LGBTI people not only from a player perspective but also create a more inclusive environment for spectators.

While the Commonwealth Bank of Australia prides itself on securing and enhancing the financial wellbeing of people, businesses and communities, it is also very mindful of the ever changing myriad of intersections of gender identity and gender expression and the impact they can have on employees, customers and communities.

In this session we will discuss how we are considering, engaging and supporting our employees who identify as LBT women, servicing our gender diverse customers, and resultant impacts on technology and processes.

In comparison to Private Sector employers, year-on-year representation of Australian Public Service (APS) employers in the Top 20 of the AWEI is decreasing (representing 1 in 5 in 2015). The UK’s 2015 Workplace Equality Index (conducted by Stonewall) features a 50% representation of public-owned, public sector and/or local councils.

This session is an interactive breakout group exclusively for Australian Public Service attendees designed to outline the ‘state of play’ of APS in the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) and facilitate discussion around raising the bar on performance of APS in the AWEI.

You may have made good progress on promoting LGBTI inclusion here in Australia, but how can you extend your commitment to other markets in Asia?   In this discussion, Fern Ngai, Chief Executive Officer of Community Business will provide valuable insights into the LGBTI landscape in Asia and share advice on how companies can get started in engaging key stakeholders and putting LGBTI on the corporate agenda in a way that is appropriate to the local cultural context.

The lack of ‘out’ LBT role models in Australian workplaces, and more broadly, is not a new story. Many of us have been lamenting this reality, and searching for ‘solutions’, for decades now. So… What has changed? What changes do we still need? And how do we go about achieving them? Facilitated by the LGBTI Network of Law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, this interactive session will address these important questions, and more. Hear about the firm’s widely-respected approach to LGBTI inclusion and experiences in role modelling successful ‘out’ women, and explore how we can all ensure LBT women feel comfortable and confident to express themselves at work and beyond.

It is no longer enough to bring together a diverse mix of people; it is about having a culture and leadership that engages and unleashes the full potential of their people. Most organisations already have a diverse workforce comprised of different people with different experiences.
Diversity does not address how these different people function together- this is inclusion. Inclusion enables us to strive to have all people respected and valued, not just for their abilities, but also for their unique qualities and perspectives to realise diversity of thought.
In creating strategy that specifically addresses the inclusion of employees that identify as LGBTI this has the potential to unlock significant benefits for the wider diversity agenda as well as an organisation.

Academics have well known responsibilities when it comes to teaching and learning. But what about LGBTIQ academics? Do they have any additional responsibilities? This session considers the role that LGBTIQ academics can/should play in ensuring that universities are a safe and supportive environment for students. It will explore:

• Curricula and pedagogical issues;
• Leadership and mentoring roles;
• The place of Ally networks; and
• Advocacy – both within and outside of universities.

Heads Up is an initiative developed by beyondblue in collaboration with the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance, a tri-partite collaboration between business, government and the mental health sector. Heads Up highlights the benefits of creating mentally healthy workplaces and assists individuals and organisations to take action. In this session you will be given a guided tour of the Heads Up website to introduce you to the free tools and resources available to assist you to create a mentally healthy workplace, take care of yourself at work and support others in your workplace.

Details to come.

Often we see network groups and employee engagement activities operating with an individual approach, however when collaboration is evident a movement becomes more powerful. In order to appeal to broader audiences and have the opportunity to leverage new and greater resources, Pride@Macquarie will share their experiences in connecting with their clients, community and staff in a collaborative approach, leading the charge at Macquarie in diversity and inclusion initiatives.