Menopause Training at AngloGold Ashanti; Public Transport Use by Women Drops Off a Cliff After They have Children; Shocking Bamboo Ceiling; Practical Ways to Manage Neurodiverse Folks

We’re in Engineers Australia’s excellent theatre room in downtown Perth, with some very innovative thinkers. The people in the room want to help create workplaces that make sense for Australia’s increasingly diverse workforce.  

Here is what we learned:

1.     Perth Public Transport for Women. Zoe Maher, Principal at WA Strategic Rail Planning lead at WSP, has completed a fascinating study on how Perth women use public transport. Young women are large users of rail and bus services until they have small children, then usage drops off a cliff. According to Melbourne statistics (the only ones available atm), about one quarter of fathers collect children from daycare and school, while three quarters of mothers do. Little children love using public transport, but it is often not practical for them to do so. More than 100,000 people commute to centre of Perth for work each day and there are only four childcare centres. Those centres have waitlists of two years. Zoe’s presentation on her recent research – the bulk of which was completed on maternity leave after the birth of her second baby – was magnificent. Original, fascinating and useful. If you are planning major infrastructure in Perth, please seek Zoe out.

2.     Menstruation and Menopause at AngloGold Ashanti. Two hundred of the 800 workers at Anglo Gold Ashanti in WA are women. Now all workers (yes men too) are now attending compulsory menstruation and menopause training as part of the gold miner’s overall women’s participation strategy, a policy implemented since 2022. Rebecca Darby, Senior Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Business Partner, People & Capability, at AngloGold Ashanti has also been successful in introducing more comfortable work clothing for women, with ‘jegging’ style pants for FIFO workers! How fantastic! Her email signature has banners readers may want to look into further: ‘We are a period proud organisation’; ‘Committed to being a menopause friendly employer’; ‘Endorsed Employer For all Women 2024 Work 180’; and ‘Our Pride Ally’.

3.     Neurodiversity. ADHD, autism, mental illness, and much more. Many people do not fit traditional ‘work’ environments. If companies embrace neurodiverse workers, and incorporate changes to accommodate them (alterations are often simple and low cost), then companies can access talents and the ‘out of the box thinking’ of neurodiverse workers. The theory has been proven many times over, but Western Australian work culture still has a way to go. Emily Kendall – a process engineer– and Emma Ketley – a mental health therapist/ADHD coach – are both gorgeous, talented women who spoke about their personal journey so the audience could understand some of the pressures experienced by those with neurodiversity. Emily has started the Perth Neurodiversity Network so people can connect in this space. Its initial meetups have been extremely well attended. She says thoughtful changes (at work) to accommodate neurodiverse folk are often inexpensive. Cara Leavesley, a lawyer at 3D HR Legal PT Ltd, was highly articulate. She has been designing training packages to help managers prevent and manage psychosocial hazards.

4.     New Autism Academy for Curtin University.  The academy will celebrate strengths, says Professor Tele Tan, a Distinguished Professor in artificial Intelligence and mechatronics at Curtin University.

5.     Bamboo Ceiling. The bamboo ceiling is real and pretty shocking. It is likely that talent within Asian Australian community is overlooked. Of 26 million people in Australia, 17% identify as Asian Australian. Only 3% of Australia’s corporate and business leaders are Asian, and only 1% are leaders at CEO level. Information was shared in an excellent speech by Dr Tom Verghese, based in Melbourne and Principal of Cultural Synergies.

6.     Jeremy Campbell-Wray’s career continues to inspire others. He spoke about supporting a co-worker at energy technology company, Baker Hughes, on their transition journey over the past year. More of Jeremy’s personal story was covered by Energy News Bulletin: I came out on an oil rig, the inspiring story of Jeremy Campbell-Wray.  Jeremy is a global expert on DEI in the energy sector. He was awarded the 2023 GRIT Executive Award, the premier award for DEI in the whole energy sector globally, ‘best energy workplaces’ in the world.

7.     Perth-based Susan Kreemer-Pickford, General Manager of Engineers Australia WA, continues to champion diversity and is leader here.

8.     The Diversity and Inclusion Summit has been created by Dr Tanya Finnie, of Perth-based RedHead Communications.  It’s in its third year in Perth, and I’m returning for the second time. Once again, Tanya has brought together an unbelievable cohort of kind, thoughtful individuals across a huge spectrum of industries – from gold mining to engineering, aged care to energy. A wide range of government agencies, not-for-profits and corporates (from many sectors) are attending.

9.     If you don’t think high-level diversity and inclusion practice is important, then you need to book yourself a ticket to the summit in 2025, and improve your understanding.  Diversity and inclusion policy and practice is vital, it is complex, it is different in every workforce in every company, and continuous learning will assist all organisations. If organisations are successful at seamlessly stitching teams together, it has a massive impact on profitability, retention, and long-term outcomes. Well done to Dr Tanya on another terrific event. A huge achievement. Here is an excellent article on Dr Tanya Finnie in Pro Bono Australia, ‘Creating a world where everyone can meaningfully participate.’

Conflict of Interest: Cate Rocchi (Perth Media) was contracted by the Diversity & Inclusion Summit as well as Baker Hughes in 2024, for Public Relations and Media Relations. The organiser is running a second summit in 2025, in Melbourne on November 15.