awardsadmin, Author at Gender Equity Awards

The Consistent Diversity Champion

by awardsadmin | Dec 19, 2022 | Technology

Sheeza Shakeel has consistently championed and supported women from the time she left school.

Though she was born in India to an orthodox Muslim family not known for modern educational pursuits, she showed exceptional academic talent early on to receive support from her parents to focus on and value education. “She went on to not only complete an engineering degree in Computer Science and master’s in management (MBA) but graduated with distinction by topping the university”

One of Sheeza’s early endeavours at championing women’s cause came while she was at the university, where she chose to do a project that would make a difference. She collaborated with the Sri Ram Foundation to set up low-cost Sanitary Napkins production for poor and disadvantaged tribal women. The challenge was twofold, how to convince them of its usage benefits and find resources to invest in sanitary products, both very hard asks for those more in need of food and lacking basic education. However, against the odds a factory under the CSR initiative was set up where these women were trained & employed to help generate income and with that access to food and sanitary products. Today, it is still running successfully.

After completing her MBA, she took up a sales career in India working in technology. A career that would enable her to interact with people, travel around the globe and explore new things every day. After a year Sheeza was transferred to Australia. Her sudden move was fraught with a few challenges because Indian Muslim women do not leave the country generally unmarried. Despite these challenges, Sheeza eventually made it through the gender-biased red tape to come to Australia. “where she didn’t know a soul”.

In Australia, Sheeza was keen to champion the cause of women. She started working with the Australian ABCN Accelerate program, an online mentoring program supported by Accenture. It involved mentoring exceptional girl students who are facing significant economic, family and/or social challenges in society. One of Sheeza’s mentees was a young girl who had fled from Syria with her family and struggling to fit into Australia. Her challenge was having to work with her siblings to support her family because her father was ill & unable to work. Between school and work, she had little time to herself but dreamed of being an engineer or an architect. Exhausted and overwhelmed she found motivation & encouragement from her mentor and made the effort to study. Today, she has made it to the university. Sheeza comments that “Mentoring is a two-way street; she is inspired by this young person’s drive and determination.” Whenever Sheeza feels demotivated, she reflects on what this young girl has had to do to achieve her dreams.

Other initiatives Sheeza embraced involved coaching and counselling housewives towards entrepreneurship. Given her knowledge of technology, she encouraged them to use social media platforms and to sell through registered kitchens on Facebook and Online Marketplaces. She also worked with the Smith Family and other social organisations as a volunteer to promote social and workplace diversity.

After working with a couple of global multinational organisations, Sheeza joined Accenture to be part of large-scale transformational cloud deals. It was quickly evident that Sheeza was passionate about gender diversity & inclusion, and she was encouraged to be involved with many of the programs offered by Accenture. She has delivered multiple social service engagements that promoted inclusiveness and equality across geographies and organisations. For her work and initiatives, she has been recognised as Accenture’s global champion of Diversity & Inclusion in 2021.

All great actions take inspiration and Sheeza says she was inspired by Accenture’s CEO Julie Steel. She is keenly supporting Accenture’s targets to get 50:50 by 2025. Her effort to drive diversity and inclusion initiatives included the creation of net new STEM jobs in the Australian market. When asked, “what’s next, she shares that as the newly appointed Social Mobility Lead, there are lots of possibilities to bring in more women into senior technology roles.”

LEARN MORE of Careers at Accenture

Angela Advocates Another Way

by awardsadmin | Dec 17, 2022 | Legal

Angela Smith loves being part of the non-traditional law firm, SLF Lawyers. The environment has given her the confidence to advocate for another way beyond the cigars, cognac and wood panelling.

Law is a very traditional, male dominated sector. Right from law school, lawyers are channelled down a path to do things the “way they’ve always been done”. To be successful, you must do what you are told and compromise on your personal life. For instance, male norms of business demand that informal meetings are still held on the golf course. Angela openly admits she does not like or play golf yet she has (attempted to) play on numerous occasions early in her career because she felt she had to. She also talks about hiding the fact she wanted to have a family because it would be a career breaker.

Today she knows that there is another way.

Angela is passionate about mentoring others and helping them get the most from their careers. This started early when she worked with young graduate lawyers. She shows them they do not have to limit themselves to the “way things have always been done”. Instead, she works to help them build their skills, so they have the tools they need to do things on their own. She believes too many are thrown in the deep end and sent out to deal with clients by themselves with very little training. Whereas Angela routinely goes out of her way to bring them to client meetings and business functions so they may shadow her and see another way of getting things done.

As the partner heading up the Sydney office, she has been able to create a haven for growth with her own team. She runs a predominately female-based office with over 66% of employees being female. Many have been attracted because Angela has been a strong advocate for flexible work arrangements including part-time and remote working. She is a champion and a role model, openly saying her family and their health come first and encouraging others that it’s fine to have work and life in balance. She has altered the company’s culture significantly, allowing younger female professionals to excel in their career whilst balancing other commitments outside of work.

Her team is very supportive of one another, empowered and they regularly check in to see “how everything is going” showing genuine interest and support. A sure sign of a problem is when someone’s door remains closed for too long. This usually indicates the person is drowning. If that happens, anyone of the team will step in to ensure the workload becomes rebalanced.

Ensuring that SLF is a safe environment for female employees to grow and develop skills is very important to Angela. There is still a lot of inappropriate behaviour in the legal sector from both clients and suppliers. Angela works to support her team should this occur. Sometimes they cannot avoid the communication, but they have a system to ensure it’s all in writing and channelled straight to her. Often, this alone works to the diffuse the situation.

Angela actively mentors’ young females both within the office space and outside. Within SLF Lawyers, both in the Sydney office and nationally, Angela is an active participant in mentoring young lawyers and guiding their professional development. In this respect, Angela promotes and encourages career growth within the organisation and is supportive in all employees’ professional endeavours. She loves creating opportunities for them to step up.

Externally, Angela is a frequent mentor through Business in Heels Mentor Mornings, connecting likeminded professional women of all demographics. Through these events, Angela empowers other professional women, within and without the legal sector, to collaborate with each other, be confident in their professional abilities and courageous in their career pursuits. “I have assisted and mentored approximately 50 female individuals, assisting them in forming other professional connections and ensuring they have a safe platform to learn from like-minded females,” says Angela.

Another of Angela’s activities is her board position at Humanity Matters, a charity aimed at supporting at-risk and vulnerable youth. The charity focuses on engaging with them to facilitate positive interactions with their community, families and other vulnerable youth. This is turn promotes their development so they can acclimate and succeed in society and all other aspects of their lives.

When asked why she is a great advocate and mentor Angela comments, “In order to promote equity in society, it is important to equip people with the means to succeed and the confidence to pursue their goals.”

The Power of a Social Contract – Accuteque

by awardsadmin | Dec 7, 2022 | SME

Many companies talk about teams being aligned & operating with a common purpose, however Accuteque is unique with its approach to this common paradigm. They have a philosophy that encourages each team member to act independently to advance the company because they feel connected to the purpose. That’s exactly what Olivia Fenton did when she saw the chance to enter Accuteque in the Recalibrate – Gender Equity Awards. She rallied the team who collectively contributed to the effort. Their plan was well underway when CEO, Caroline Patton, became aware.

Caroline Patton is a progressive woman who, like many people, comes with her own set of family responsibilities. When she became aware of Olivia’s initiative, she immediately saw the benefits. You see, part of her mission has always been to give women a voice and an opportunity to showcase their talent in the male dominated IT sector.

Says Caroline; “People First is truly part of our DNA. It is reflected in our recruitment, engagement, leadership and even at board level. Today, the majority of our leadership and board positions are held by women which is unheard of in similar companies.”

Accuteque accepts people for who they are and where they are in life. This may be at the start of their careers, towards the end where they can deliver their expertise to others or by taking risks on those wanting to re-join the workforce by giving women an opportunity after a parenting stint. As a result, they are attracting very experienced individuals and are proud they have one of Australia’s foremost female enterprise architects as a key member of their team.

Moving beyond policies and procedures, part of what makes Accuteque unique is their social contract. This is an agreement developed by the team and builds on their values to outline what behaviour should happen in certain situations. One example was a statement “Share the load. We are always ready to help. Don’t wait to be asked.” To ensure there is clarity on this, it is explained further; “We are always ready to help. Just ask. There is power in being part of a team. Working together is more enjoyable and you get a better outcome.” Then it goes further; “It doesn’t mean offloading the hard or boring jobs to someone else. Just don’t do it all yourself.” The company operates with a number of these statements which they keep current with regular review so the whole team feels involved.

When Accuteque responded to the Recalibrate Gender Equity Awards, the Social contract allowed Olivia to work “with positive intent”.

As this is so effective for their company, Accuteque will work with other companies and teams to develop their own “social contract” for what is meaningful and important to them. For example, they did this with NAB for the Data Platform team. To deliver the transformation, they needed to be able to work autonomously and have courageous conversations. The social contract implementation backed by the General Manager enabled them to land the project.

Another shift has been into true hybrid ways of working. Caroline says, “We don’t really care where you work from or what you are doing minute to minute between 8 am and 8 pm. Do what you need to do as long as you achieve your KPI’s.” And like their values, everyone is very clear on the company BHAG’s and the associated KPI’s. In fact, one team member travelled to Vietnam and used his location as a base for work whilst also taking some family time. What made it more remarkable was that he had exhausted his leave and so was not expecting to be able to go. After a discussion with his people leader, he realised that he could work around the planned family event and still get his work done.

Another key factor has been flattening the management structure. Around four years ago they got rid of hierarchies and today they describe them as “people leaders” or “coaches” making it clear that the behaviour is to encourage and nurture their staff.

To sum up, Accuteque has a unique way of working that really puts their people first. When asked why this is important, Caroline explains that it’s her role to “leave the ladder out for others and to help them with the climb.” With her championing these initiatives and her team embracing them you can understand why they were finalists in the Recalibrate – Gender Equity Awards.

Giving Women a Voice

by awardsadmin | Nov 29, 2022 | Uncategorized

For Dan Bognar, General Manager at DocuSign in Asia Pacific, giving women a voice is something he is deeply passionate about.

Over his career, this has taken many forms. From mentoring and sponsoring high potential female talent, to creating a safe place for women to work and championing them to raise issues when they have been bullied or harassed, Dan has done it all.

Early in his career, he realised there were many talented young women who had the potential to be great leaders though often lacked the confidence in themselves to see this. He found by demonstrating his confidence in them, finding them opportunities to take on opportunity outside their role and encouraging them to go beyond what they thought possible, they were able to flourish.

One example he shared was of a young woman in the marketing team who became increasingly more uncomfortable as her stakeholder map grew. When asked why she was becoming withdrawn in meetings, he found out it was because she did not feel her voice mattered, that she did not always agree with everyone else and her ideas would not be accepted. Dan, who values a diversity of perspectives & ideas, was able to get her to understand just how valuable her contributions could be in getting the team to a better outcome. Armed with renewed confidence she slowly began to speak up. It didn’t take too long for her to be promoted and she has had a fabulous career trajectory ever since.

As their mentor, female employees have often confided in Dan about situations of harassment or bullying. They go on to share that they only want him to listen and not to act. The women are concerned that if they do speak up, change won’t occur and the worst case scenario is that they will have negative career repercussions a result. Dan openly admits he is conflicted. As a mentor, he must maintain confidentiality, but as a senior leader he does not condone activities that are counter to the company’s and his own values. He says he is often “aghast at the behaviour of some men”. The only solution has been to address this at the leadership level by being clearer about the values the company stands for and the behaviours which won’t be tolerated.

One situation he described happened after a customer dinner. The morning after, he was approached by the female account executive who confided in him that one of the male customers had manhandled her as she was attempting to leave for the night. It was an awkward situation because the account executive was working on a significant deal with that customer with commercial ramifications for the company. At the same time, this behaviour was contradictory to the customer’s company’s values too. Dan was concerned about ensuring the account executive have a voice and that she could share her story safely. His decision was to get HR and the other senior leaders involved. They all agreed it was unacceptable behaviour and they would back their values and their team member despite the potential negative commercial impact. They wanted the female account executive to feel they had her back, that she was in the driver’s seat and the decision to proceed with any formal complaint was hers.

Promoting a safe environment for females to work is something that Dan is very aware of. He feels privileged to have these confidences shared with him and is actively working to raise the awareness of his male team to the problems of female employees not always feeling safe. “Many men don’t even realise that before women will go to a social event, they think who will I be going with? Am I going to be safe? And how am I getting home? Whereas men only need to consider turning up at the event.”

His overall goal is to embrace diversity in all its forms and break down the barriers, not just around gender, but across experience. disability, religion, gender orientation and more. Dan is continuing to champion awareness with ongoing training on “How to have difficult conversations” & “How to Find your Voice”. There is no doubt his actions will continue to make a difference to his team and enable many women to find their voices.

Achieving the Gender Equality Citation for WGEA

by awardsadmin | Nov 25, 2022 | Entertainment

Rosie Poniris is a senior leader at The Star Entertainment Group and winner of the Gender Equity Award for Senior Manager Making a Difference. When we caught up with Rosie, she shared that she had leveraged her role in senior leadership to agitate for The Star’s recent policy improvements in order to achieve the WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality citation, which The Star was awarded in March 2022.

To get these improvements across the line, Rosie participated in The Star’s gender equity working group ‘Balance @ Star’ to divide and concur the extensive list of requirements. This included undertaking the role of researcher, advocate, policy developer, and stakeholder engagement leader to increase The Star’s paid parental leave offering and achieve a generous outcome for The Star’s team members. As a result, The Star increased it paid parental leave offering from 10 weeks to 16 weeks, introduced 4 weeks secondary carers leave, removed all qualifying restrictions and now pay 18 weeks of Superannuation on top. These policy improvements have given Team Members more choice in how and when they take parental leave and has a seen a 74% increase in the uptake of parental leave since its inception.

To further establish The Star as an employer of choice, the company is championing part-time and flexible employment options. In fact, Rosie is now part-time in a senior leadership role, something that was not heard of in the organisation only a few years earlier. She walks the walk leading by example as the only part-time employee in the general management team and was promoted into the role as a part-time employee after having returned from parental leave. “I work from home as required and encourage my team to do the same,” says Rosie. “I promote work-life balance by normalising things such as caring for my daughter when she is sick, doctor’s appointments and exercising.”

Implementing these types of initiatives would not be possible without the dedication of the whole People and Performance team and the buy in of the Board and Senior Executive team. “The Board and Executive Committee has been incredibly supportive. You can’t do a change of this magnitude if you don’t have the support of all the leaders,” says Rosie. These policy enhancements are designed to attract more female talent to the organisation, as the Company aims to achieve 45% female representation in management levels. Rosie has even gone so far as to introduce mandatory Diversity and Inclusion Key Performance Indicators to link gender equity outcomes to bonus payments. This included directly contacting leaders whose teams do not currently meet the Company’s gender representation targets to include this on their individual performance scorecard.

Another key initiative Rosie has championed is embedding gender equality into the remuneration policies and processes. This started by completing regular gender pay gap audits and correcting identified issues during the annual remuneration review. In another example of the unequivocal support The Star Executive team have for gender equality, during one remuneration review the team asked for, and was given, an additional $300k by the CEO for gender pay corrections. Today, gender pay equity is one of their five remuneration principles which underpins all remuneration designs and processes. Gender pay inequities are tracked and audited by Rosie’s team, with managers required to correct these during the annual remuneration review process. This rigorous process has seen The Star’s gender pay gap reduce from 10% to 6.8% in the past three years.

Rosie’s advice to others going through the WGEA Employer of Choice citation process? “There are two critical elements that you must have to succeed. The first is the support of the Board and the Executive team and the second is a dedicated working group to make it happen.”

CHECK OUT THE WINNERS