How leading employers are hiring and promoting for diversity

Unconscious bias can come from surprising quarters.

Westpac executive Yung Ngo was doing a leadership course with a Stanford University professor. During the break, Mr Ngo recalls, the pair "got into a good conversation, about the type of businesses that I've run, and some of the issues that I've been grappling with at work".

Suddenly the course leader stopped him and said: "No disrespect, but you seem to be quite young to be running those type of businesses of that magnitude and complexity."

Mr Ngo is the state general manager for NSW and Victoria of Westpac's premium business. He is a commercial lawyer who has led a start-up, and worked in insurance before joining Westpac. He acknowledges that his Asian appearance does make him seem young.

But he shakes his head at the professor's underlying assumption about what a leader looks like. Or, as he says, "what a leader should look like".

While diversity might be the buzzword in recruitment circles, eradicating biases in the workplace fully integrating colleagues from diverse backgrounds are still challenges.

At PwC, the consultancy giant, they are setting the benchmarks at the top — at partner level.

Twenty per cent of the 50 to 80 new partners admitted each year must be from diverse cultural backgrounds, reflecting Australian society.

For women, there is a "40, 40, 20" rule. That means 40 per cent are men, 40 per cent women, and the other 20 per cent driven purely by that year's business needs.

"We fundamentally believe that to build a diverse organisation, it has to start with a diverse leadership group," says Sue Horlin, PwC Australia's managing partner for human capital.

Focus turns to finding staff with potential

Because those targets have to be met every year, the firm must focus on talent pipelines.

"It forces leaders to reach into their business and find high potential people, and give them the learning and development they need," Ms Horlin says.

It also helps prevent staff who are less confident in the corporate world, and may be quieter or less demanding, from being overlooked.

And it's not that those people necessarily have to change, Ms Horlin emphasises.

"We want an organisation where there are extroverts and introverts, and people who are more and less confident," she says.

"We are not trying to just make one type of person to admit into the partnership."

Photo: Yung Ngo is the state general manager for NSW and Victoria of Westpac's premium business. (ABC RN: Tiger Webb)

This broader definition of diversity, including personality types and individual styles, is a recruitment trend we will see more of in the next decade, predicts Associate Professor Rae Cooper, associate dean at the University of Sydney Business School.

"Progressive organisations are ... looking at the innovators, looking at the technical people, systems people ... and really attempting to put together quite diverse groups of humans in their organisations," she says.

PwC is about to begin a traineeship program, in conjunction with other companies, which identifies Year 12 students from disadvantaged schools, who may not have considered university but may have skills valued in the corporate world.

And the graduate hire process in Melbourne and Sydney is to be overhauled.

CVs will not be required, because references to schools and universities can bring unconscious bias.

Instead, on the basis of a range of online tests, a large group of people will be invited to a two-day introduction and assessment event.

"We are aiming to attract a group of individuals who might not otherwise have considered us," Sue Horlin says.

And she is adamant that that is not about corporate image or goodwill. It's "100% about performance".

Recruitment is only step one

Non-traditional employees will struggle in an organisation, however, if the dominant culture does not adapt to accommodate them, says Dr Cooper.

The newcomers have to be heard. "Often networks are a really important part of that," she says.

The capacity to influence those around you can be as important as your technical competence.

"If you pitch an idea, it might be a great idea — but if it's been pitched by you, and you are not seen as legitimate and having the right networks in the organisation, that makes it much less likely that you're going to be able to achieve and be successful," she says.

Photo: The capacity to influence those around you can be as important as your technical competence. (ABC RN: Tiger Webb)

Dr Cooper's researches gender, cultural diversity and leadership. She says recruiting for diversity us a long-term project.

"We hear time and time again when we talk to organisations, 'yes, we had a woman', or 'we had a culturally diverse person, and it didn't go so well'," she says.

"That person then becomes the reason why 'we tried it and it didn't work'."

It's a lack of follow-through that sets diversity up to fail, she says.

Working inside the system

At Westpac, Mr Ngo is the chair of the Employee Committee for Cultural Diversity and Leadership, formerly known as the Asian leadership group. Behind the committee is a membership of 1,600 employees from across the Westpac Group.

It's one of eight employee advocacy groups at Westpac: some of the others are for Indigenous, LGBTI and disability interests.

The cultural diversity committee members have a lot going on: Chinese language classes for staff, a leadership summit, mentoring, even a Toastmasters club.

The committee also acts as a de facto internal recruitment agency. Currently one of the business units is having trouble attracting diverse staff, so the committee is helping to spread the word.

Australian-born staff from Anglo backgrounds join the group for their own cross-cultural cultural education.

Photo: Diversity might be a buzzword, but making employees feel comfortable is still a challenge. (ABC RN: Tiger Webb)

Mr Ngo's family is Chinese, but he was born in Vietnam and fled from there as a three-year-old refugee.

He says his family has gone through a lot of tragedy and hardship, and that background "has been one that absolutely grounds me, as an individual, but it also grounds me as a leader, now in business".

He acknowledges a key role of the cultural diversity and leadership group is company image: "positioning and recognising Westpac as an employer of choice for people from culturally diverse backgrounds".

Dr Cooper says that's because the market is forcing employers to be innovative.

"The workforce looks at organisations and tries to choose who they work for, on the basis of indicators such as diversity," she says.

"In order to attract a talented workforce — I think that's compelling a lot of action in this area."

Hear more of Ann Arnold's series on recruiting outside the box by subscribing to the Best Practice podcast on iTunes, the ABC Radio app or your favourite podcasting app.