Author: Judith Plastow

Leaving, then returning after maternity leave is a pivotal time in a woman's career. The 2016 Price Waterhouse Cooper’s ‘Women Returners’ survey show that three quarters of professional women wish to return to work following the break, but the experience had and the support received is mixed. Fortunately, more forward-thinking companies are acknowledging the importance … Continue reading Navigating the Maternity Transition

The buzz words of diversity and inclusion mask behaviours which can have profound psychological impact. However, businesses need to understand what is going on in their organisations, as tackling this can deliver real competitive advantage. Given the sensitivity and challenging nature of this, real “people expertise” is required to ensure initiatives are not just ticking … Continue reading Summary: The Need for People Expertise in Delivering Sustained Change (Series 4)

To counteract this, Deloitte’s Inclusion Model talks about facilitating: 1) Fairness and Respect 2) Valued and Belonging 3) Safe and Open 4) Empowered and Growing. But this is not the language of business. Talking about ‘belonging’ and ‘safety’ in a corporate setting might also make us feel uncomfortable, albeit in a different way. However, talk … Continue reading Enabling True Diversity (Series 4)

True diversity involves embracing a range of characteristics, backgrounds and world views.  Most companies are a long way from this so the start point and today’s priority for organisations is diversifying the gender and ethnic makeup of their workforce. Having a diversity issue by its very nature means people are being excluded. Why is this? … Continue reading Exclusion – The Dark Side to Diversity (Series 4)

Diversity was identified as one of the top four global recruiting trends by LinkedIn for 2018. And rightly so. Diverse organisations are proven to be three times as likely to be high performing and twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets. Why is this? Quantas turnaround CEO Alan Joyce explains the impact of … Continue reading Facing Up to the Realities of Confronting the Diversity Question (Series 4)