Celebrating the 2024 Diversity Awards

Shannon Barlow: So pleased to be joined here today by Cheryl Blythen to celebrate the 2024 Diversity Awards that are coming up. But I guess before we jump into the awards, could you tell us a little bit about Diversity Works NZ?

Cheryl Blythen: Absolutely. Kia ora and thanks for having me. It's exciting to be here to talk about us and our program. Diversity Works New Zealand is the national body for workplace equity, diversity, equity, and inclusion. And we exist to support organizations to do inclusion well and do well because of it. We've been around for 30 years. We actually started out as the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust. The name was changed about eight years ago to reflect the broader scope of the work we do As a result of the way New Zealand's demographics have changed and the challenges around workplace inclusion have changed in the past 20 or so years. So we're a partnership between governments and employers. We have around 700 member organizations across Aotearoa. We have lots of training and resources available to any workplace via our website. But membership gives you access to more online tools, more information, and this amazing online community of people who are doing this mahi, who you can ask for advice. So that's really important. But we really see our main role as being the glue that connects all the stakeholders in this mahi. Whether that's workplaces, groups advocating for particular marginalized communities, or some of the experts that organizations work with, like accessibility tech or workplace literacy providers and that so bringing everyone together to create a real movement for change.

Shannon Barlow: Oh, that's fantastic and um now frog recruitment has been a member for uh many years um and you're saying that that chance to bring people together so think in the last I don't know maybe six months or so you've brought in the forum so it's just really great to see that others are out there just trying to work it out and you know step in the right direction but realize that we don't all have the answers straight away and to be able to lean in on each other to help each other on those journeys is really great. Now, why would you say that it's important to showcase and to celebrate organizations' diversity and inclusion across New Zealand?

Cheryl Blythen: I think, firstly, because our finalists and our winners in our awards program are really demonstrating best practice in this mahi. So by shining a light on their work through the awards, we can inspire other organizations and show them how they might make a difference in their workplaces to become more inclusive. So we have case studies of all our finalists and winners on the website, which are publicly available for anyone to learn from. So that's one reason. And then I think the second thing is that this work can be really hard. Sometimes progress feels like it's happening really slowly. And there's always more to do. So we think it's really important that at least once a year, we take a minute to celebrate how far we have come and the initiatives that are really making a difference in the lives of the people in our organization. And even the process of putting an entry together is uplifting because you're forced to look back on everything you've done for that initiative or that strategy and the positive impact it's had in your organization.

Shannon Barlow: Fantastic. Now, I understand that this year that there's a new category being introduced, the Respectful Culture Award. Can you tell us a little bit about that and why that's come into the mix?

Cheryl Blythen: Absolutely. We have an inclusive workplace award, and what we found is that that was our most popular category. But we were getting a real mix of entries. We were getting some that detailed overall strategies on how people were creating cultures of inclusion and then other entries that were focusing on specific initiatives for a non-dominant group in their workplace. So rather, to make it basically simpler for our entrants and our judges, we split that category into two. So the new respectful workplace category will be for entries that focus on overall culture transformation. So, or initiatives that might look at your approach to teamwork, communication, decision-making and employee relationships. and any entries that are around managing bullying and harassment or workplace conflict. Then we look at the inclusive workplace category can then just become for initiatives that target those specific non-dominant groups in your workplace. And depending on your workplace, that could be women in a real male-dominated sector, it could be the rainbow community, people with disabilities, neurodiverse people, or even an ethnic group that's underrepresented in your workplace.

Shannon Barlow: Fantastic. So even more chances to be able to showcase and, I guess, share your experiences and good news stories about the journey there.

Cheryl Blythen: Yeah, that's right.

Shannon Barlow: Okay, so if people, this sounds like an excellent thing to be involved with and yeah, really to highlight the work that's being done in this space. If people are wanting to get involved and to enter the awards, how does it all work? How do they do this?

Cheryl Blythen: Right. So the first place to go is our website, which is diversityworksnz.org.nz. It's got all the information on five categories that organizations can enter, plus our diversity champion award, and we have an impact award for organizations that are impacting a broader number of workplaces across New Zealand. So it's got frequently asked questions as well, which gives you a lot of guidance on which category you should be entering and how to prepare your entry. We've also just posted a webinar that our chief executive Marietta Smit ran that's an awards entry assistance webinar with even more guidance. So you can go and have a look at that. And then once you're ready to start, it's just a matter of following the link to our entry platform. Entries close on Tuesday, the 16th of April at 3 p.m. My advice is not to leave it till the last minute because you don't want to be scrambling for all the information and photos and things that we need. Well, and that's traditional, isn't it?

Shannon Barlow: Yeah, yeah. That last minute panic. Absolutely. But I have to say that. So that makes it easier for everyone. But also, if you have any questions, once you have had a look at the website, we're happy to help. And you can get in touch with our team at awards at diversityworksnz.org.nz.