Blog   /   Articles
February 24, 2021

Transparency in the workplace: Ten companies share their successful approach to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Looking for a new opportunity?

Our transparent job board only has vacancies from employers we endorse and lets you see what benefits, policies and perks come with the job.

WORK180 Endorsed Employers openly shared their approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to encourage other organizations to be transparent about their own achievements and mistakes.

These companies proved that being transparent in communicating their benefits and policies has helped to remove barriers in the recruitment process, increased applications from women or jobseekers from underrepresented groups, improved employee satisfaction, and built diversity at the workplace.


Poly | Mitigating gender bias

PowerFlip_WORK180Blog_Poly_TBC_Feb21

“Coming out at work as a transgender woman at the age of 55 is not for the faint of heart! One of the hardest decisions I have ever made was to finally decide to live my authentic life and be true to myself. Of course, I felt trepidation about coming out at work; but having worked at Poly for fourteen years, I already knew that Poly had a very inclusive and welcoming culture and a strong commitment to employee work/life balance.
HR worked with me to communicate my transition at work to all worldwide employees, created gender-neutral bathrooms, gave me options as to when and how the communication would happen and always consulted with me. With HR’s assistance, I was able to change my employee records to my chosen name and gender without any issues at all, my benefit providers were informed of my changes, and there was no lapse in the coverage. As Poly offers Medical Insurance options at different levels, it allowed me to have the therapy, medical support, and surgeries I needed to fully transition to my chosen gender as a woman.”

Laura Castillo | Senior IT Services Manager, Poly

Kalpa Patel, Sr. Talent Acquisition Partner, shares Poly’s progressive practices:

  • Mitigating gender bias by using gender neutralizing software when writing job adverts to make sure job posts are inclusive.
  • Providing continuous education programs around subjects like battling bias using neuroscience, the importance of allyship and inclusive leadership.
  • Creating a one-page benefits overview for every country we operate in and using it to have transparent conversations with candidates based on the questions they ask and the information they share during the recruiting process.
  • Showcasing our policies, benefits and actions here.


Telegraph Media Group (TMG) | Technology to remove barriers

PowerFlip_WORK180Blog_TMG_Lizzie_Feb21

“I’ve had a few achievements I’m really proud of since I joined TMG and chaired the 100 Gender network (and been an active member of the Working Families network). From qualifying a facilitator for the #IamRemarkable Google initiative –having been inspired by two of my colleagues who are also facilitators–, to run workshops that aim to empower women, allies and other underrepresented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond.”

Lizzie Knights | Head of Programmes – Commercial Operations, Commercial Revenue, chair of TMG’s gender network

Will Smith, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist, highlights TMG’s most successful programs:

  • Providing a benefits package that includes information around work-life balance and our range of benefits to candidates interviewing with TMG. Find details of our benefits, policies and activities here.
  • Using ReciteMe, a cloud-based web accessibility solution that removes barriers faced by those with a disability when browsing inaccessible websites.
  • Supporting our employees via our Emergency Back-Up Care benefit, giving access to nannies, nurseries, childminders, carers, or eldercare specialists.
  • Creating inclusive job descriptions and ads, and posting our roles on a diverse range of platforms to encourage applications from people from underrepresented groups. Black Young Professionals and WORK180 are part of the organizations we work with.


Vaultex | Standing for what is right

Vaultex logo

We have recently updated our policies and internal recruitment courses to make sure we continue to drive equality and offer equal opportunities across the business.

Nicole Tomlinson, HR Manager at Vaultex, shares Vaultex’s approach:

  • Building trust by being transparent and having high ethical standards. Read more about our diversity and inclusion pillars here, including our plan to tackle discrimination.
  • Empowering people at work and allowing them to display creativity, share ideas, and bring their full, authentic selves to work.


Ericsson | Leadership to retain a diverse workforce

PowerFlip_WORK180Blog_Ericsson_Jackie_Feb21

“Knowing the benefits and policies helped me to seek a suitable job role. For example, the flexible work and leadership in gender equality gave me a view of whether the job role would meet my career and personal goals. With employee engagement and support, I could also explore the organization’s culture and understand how the employees were taken care of.

Clearly communicating the benefits and policies helped me to see my future in the organization, which made me more confident in the recruitment process and more dedicated in my daily work.”

Jackie Zhang | ICT Manager, Ericsson

Dixy De La Rosa, Head of Service Delivery, highlights Ericsson’s most relevant practices:

  • Changing the requirement attached to job descriptions that roles be performed from specific ‘home’ office locations. All job ads are now advertised with the ability to work remotely. We also removed the minimum 12-month tenure period making various forms of permanent flexible work available to new employees.
  • Becoming WORK180 Flex Able Certified in 2020 and proudly promoting this certification both internally and externally as part of being an employer of choice. The result: recruitment of women into Ericsson has increased to 26% of all external hires in the last 12 months,
  • Releasing information publicly on key Diversity and Inclusion data every year in the Annual Report and making transparent all the details about our benefits here.
  • Supporting and retaining a diverse workforce not only by these policies and benefits but by the culture and the leadership of senior leaders.
  • Training 130 leaders across Australia and New Zealand in Leading for Health, Wellbeing and Performance, Leading Through Change and Uncertainty, Digital Ways of Working and Inclusive Leadership to support their teams.

In researching Ericsson as a potential employer on the WORK180 website, I found the transparency on policies and benefits invaluable. For me, deciding to move to a new company or new role goes beyond the salary. Being armed with the information on Ericsson’s policies and benefits empowered me to make an informed decision, for both my family and me, and have the confidence to know I am joining a company that not only says it supports long term personal and professional growth but demonstrates this through their actions.

Joining programs such as the Ericsson Empowering Women in leadership – FUEL enabled me to foster connections with employees across the business that I don’t have the opportunity to interact within my day to day role.

Nicola Morris | Group Legal Counsel, Ericsson


Alstom | Improving, evolving and challenging stereotypes

PowerFlip_WORK180Blog_Alstom_Sneha_Feb21

“When I came out at work and expressed my interest to contribute to the D&I space at work, the leadership team was extremely supportive and encouraging. I reached out to D&I Champions at Alstom Australia with the idea to celebrate Wear it Purple Day to raise awareness of the plight of LGBTIQA+ identifying youth in Australia.

I was stoked to see great participation and response from all levels across the organization. It was heart-warming to see so many colleagues support the LGBTIQA+ community and send such a powerful and beautiful message to the organization and the wider community. It was an enriching experience to be able to lead that cultural shift at Alstom, and I’m excited to see us grow in this space.”

Sneha Sobti | Electrical Design Engineer, Alstom

Alstom initiatives shared by Alanna Billington, HR Director:

  • Communicating our policies through the advertising and interview process with potential candidates. The result: increased applications from underrepresented groups.
  • Highlighting our policies are gender neutral and making public all the details about our benefits here.
  • Offering flexible working for all roles and providing workplace adjustments that best support individual employees’ needs. This includes breastfeeding and prayer rooms at each location.
  • Implementing a Workplace Adjustment Policy to further support employees with a disability.


TransGrid | Share the care

PowerFlip_WORK180Blog_Transgrid_Micheal_Feb21

“Share the Care enabled me to really empathize with taking care of a young child by myself — something my wife had done for several months while I was at work. Taking these opportunities is a great way to develop.”

Michael Lowe | Spatial Systems Data Analyst, TransGrid

Chiara Van Vliet, Employment Relations Advisor, reveals Transgrid’s most successful actions:

  • Promoting TransGrid’s inclusive benefits and policies as part of our recruitment process through social media channels, career fairs, partnerships with WORK180 and Universities. The result: In 2020, women represented 50% of our graduate intake and 43% of our apprenticeship intake, while across all vacancies we have seen a general increase in the number of applications from women.
  • Developing Share the Care, an innovative program created to encourage more men to take up primary caring roles and therefore create gender equality at the workplace. Six fathers took up Share the Care in the first year of implementation.


Melbourne Water | Support at all levels

PowerFlip_WORK180Blog_MelbourneWater_Tashia_Feb21

“I’m currently working a compressed working week, enabling me to excel at achieving a work-life balance. For me, that balance is spending a few days a week painting and hanging out on the right side of my brain. It is a lovely retreat from my left side, where I spend a lot of my time at work. This increases my job satisfaction and generally makes me a happier employee.”

Tashia Dixon | Land Planning, Melbourne Water

Tara Zwaans, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor, explains some of Melbourne Water’s most important practices:

  • Facilitating adjustments during the recruitment process. Those adjustments include additional time at interviews, being provided with questions prior to the interview, ensuring that interview rooms are booked close to amenities, and allowing a support person to be present during the interview. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates have the opportunity to speak with a respected member of the Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to obtain information on what it’s like to work at Melbourne Water.
  • Conducting regular pay equity analyses to identify and resolve any instances of pay inequity. The result: our recruitment policy was updated in March 2019 to provide greater flexibility in salary recommendations on promotion, allowing for appropriate acknowledgment of capability and skill regardless of time in the role.
  • Supporting employees on their journeys as parents via our Keeping Touch Program to ensure they feel engaged while on leave and on their interest in advising, advocating and delivering diversity and inclusion initiatives within the organization.
  • Actively showcasing our benefits, policies and programs via our website, social media and our WORK180 site. Find details here.


BOC member of The Linde Group | Ownership and accountability

PowerFlip_WORK180Blog_BOC_Paulette_Bec_Feb21

“Linde’s managers and leaders are encouraged to challenge homogeneity and groupthink, leverage diverse thinking, understand the business case for diversity and inclusion, be mindful of both personal and organizational biases, and be aware of cultural differences and norms.”

Paulette Ansara | Head of Talent Development, Resourcing, Diversity & Inclusion, BOC

Paulette Ansara, Head of Talent Development, Resourcing, Diversity & Inclusion, shares BOC’s key pillars:

  • Steering our activities via our Diversity Dashboard to ensure we are attracting and retaining diverse talent. This tool helps us to track the number of diverse applicants, interviews, shortlists and hires. It also measures gender diversity at all levels of the organization to understand the ratio of women leaving and entering the company.
  • Running unconscious bias training for all people managers and senior leaders to ensure that they are eliminating any biases from the recruitment and selection process.
  • Partnering with different organizations to attract early in career talent from underrepresented groups with a special emphasis in Indigenous students, refugee seekers and women further ensuring gender diversity. More details about our progressive programs and policies here.
  • Measuring women’s representation in all training and development programs. The result: BOC currently has equal participation.


Stanwell Corporation Ltd | Flexibility upfront

PowerFlip_WORK180Blog_Stanwell_Bec_Feb21

“The transparency of Stanwell’s policies meant my transition back to work from parental leave was less-terrifying. I was confident I worked for an employer that understood that flexibility in the workplace was a key enabler of diversity and inclusion, and allows people to bring their best selves to work.

Having the flexibility to return from parental leave to work part-time and regularly work from home has given my life more balance. Stanwell’s flexible work policy means I can more effectively wear my many hats — mum, wife, professional, student, friend, daughter and more!”

Bec Manley | Senior Marketing and Communication Advisor, Stanwell

Sally Hamshaw, Recruitment Manager, highlights Stanwell’s most relevant initiatives:

  • Sharing the organization’s commitment to flexible working early on in the recruitment process.
  • Informing very precisely on our benefits and policies here.

Sally also adds:

“I decided to incorporate flex work requirements in my telephone screening of applicants so I can pre-empt their requirements and flag this with hiring managers. This demonstrates our commitment to getting the flex workpiece right and attracting candidates!”


Embracing The Power Flip

We are thrilled to partner with these organizations whose efforts are going beyond the standards. Their actions reflect their commitment to The Power Flip — putting the power in the hands of the job seeker by revealing their benefits, policies, and perks before the candidates even consider applying. Watch The Power Flip in action.

To find a job with employers committed to The Power Flip explore our job board today.

To learn more about you can be part of The Power Flip and raise your company’s profile as an employer of choice, visit our Why WORK180 page.

Want more articles like this sent to your inbox every month?

Just let us know what kind of support you’re looking for so we can sign you up to receive the right newsletter for you.

About the Author

Looking for a new opportunity?

Our transparent job board only has vacancies from employers we endorse and lets you see what benefits, policies and perks come with the job.