Inclusion forums

you can't put everybody in one bucket so I I love lived experience because it Honors that uniqueness of experience you can't say all refugees and migrants all first nation's people all women we hold and we go there's a uniqueness there there's a Nuance there and I'm glad that you cover the topic of intersectionality because that's also key in how someone expresses the different parts of their identity and lived experience so firstand knowledge we want to explore how we can leverage lived experience but sometimes it's not really easily known the how the how to uh and how we can do that and where we can start until we actually have a really deep understanding and practical understanding of what it actually means to leverage lived experience and and just why it is so important um in terms of leveraging um the lived experience of different employees particularly across the New South Wales government sector um it's it's critical because it informs all of the systems we design the policies the procedures all of our practices the way we work it it's it's it gives us that wonderful insight into what our people need so we can design for them properly there is work that we need to do around how we value and how we recognize lived experience from community there's potential there in the closing the Gap space or to use closing the Gap as a way to leverage insights from original people about how to test lived experience if the if the role requires lived experience then build it in for our non-aboriginal colleagues that work in the space there sometimes needs to be a recollection uh it needs to be a recognition that you are a non ariginal person working in an abinal space so you need to put on your Alli cap rather than your Savor C our Aboriginal Network which we call Ace Aboriginal connections ealth New South Wales so we we got a catchy title so that Ace can actually have input provide feedback on that policy so it benefits the agency as much as it um as it de um as it benefits ourselves and our communities as well and further down the track listening to staff networks chairs of Staff networks and general dni requests that we get by email and using all that to build your own uh skill set experience and and inform your practice and the work that the organization leads and it's an evolving iterative way of working where it's you have your own lived experience but you are allowing space to grow what others experience are and sometimes you get informed by living experience as you mentioned I think what you've just shared um has a lot of uh relevance both if you're working in the space in dni but also if you're part of our employee networks as well so thank you the key of what I think I do in spaces like the employee Resources Group for Department of customer service the sector-wide disability employee network D connect um and a number of other roles another lot of hats I put on is it's about um listening deeply to the stories that people are sharing I I see myself as a bit of a Keeper of the stories and it's a great honor to be able to do that and to be able to use those stories when we're trying to impact change and trying to you know get people to really hear what the community is saying it's toofold right so giving people space to share the lived experience is one it creates community and connection uh shared meaning understanding all of those good things within a safe space the topic overarching of this event is leveraging it now that's got to be done as I mentioned with a lot of safety in it but it means that those voices must count somewhere in in terms of decision making it's it's got a substantively improved the lived and living experience of people especially if they are facing discrimination or bias so impact measurement means it actually has to make a substantive difference and we have to actually understand what are our metrics what do we use to measure whether it's improved the lives of people we know that um ergs or employee networks play a huge and invaluable role uh to the work that we do so over the past few months we've been working to create a practical e resource that can help agencies to support um eigs and I think what you touched on that um maned about that partnership as an you know obious is m I think telling my story the Liv experience actually helped me to bring my authentic self to work so uh and also particularly you know in this sub wealth I think you know of almost half of the residents either themselves or the parents are born overseas so bringing that live experience bringing that sort of you know your whole self to work um not just you know boosting your productivity at work but also at the same time you kind of reflective of what the community that you're serving in this well so I'm very you know very glad that you know I can bring that LE experience and share that in a safe way and also connect better with the community members that I serve on every day I worked with um people with lived experience I worked with the client and I worked with the co the call center team to um establish um sort of how they thought and I created some impactful training for them about conscious and unconscious bias um and and how to sort of identify and challenge those biases that they have it brings us together as Aboriginal people we're able to bounce ideas off each other but it's all about people it's all about us connecting it's a safe space where people can come along have a bit of a yarn they've got a problem or they've got a great idea providing that safe place and that's encouraging people to um enjoy that safe space and also to it's a support mechanism so what the employee reference group that I part of which is the culture connect which is def's Multicultural Network what it has done is it's G me great sense of psychological safety to be able to know that my experience is not weird is not wrong is not unjustified because other people have similar experiences and that validates your experience and that also makes you creates you sense of belonging it creates a sense of psychological safety and then it brings connects you to people that have similar experiences uh where you share problems the challenges what causes those issues systematically process-wise and how to influence and advocate for change to change the situations for the people that are going to come and walk your paths take your journey to coming to Australia or who experienced racism in the workplace uh and where you were where I was 10 years 15 years ago whoever walked that paths but by being in a staff Network and having the power to combine and collaborate on Solutions and and champion and have the courage for advocacy I can help improve the experience of people that have come and create psychological safety for them so it kind of creates a cycle that sort of supports each other and creates a sense of belonging for anybody in any organization listen with no judgment and that's a fundamental principle of listening to people's lived experience is that it is their own you should honor that you should protect that voice you should allow that voice safety to be able to speak their truth with no judgment or backlash or negative consequence as a result

good morning folks my name is Charles medad I'd like to take this opportunity this morning to extend a warm and sincere welcome to all of my Aboriginal brothers and sisters non-aboriginal brothers and sisters as part of the uh PSC belonging and inclusion strategy we've really started doing these forums to bring diversity and inclusion practitioners and others together to have the opportunity to connect to facilitate learning and to pick up on some really practical and topical issues so to us today is around employee well-being it's a topic that is absolutely critically important to every single one of the more than 450,000 employees we have in the new Southwest public service but I want to challenge you to take a different view to look Beyond ticking boxes or compliance or risk mitigation as important as it is to open your minds to transformational change to take a forward thinking and a preventative approach that proactively reduces risk and Views employee well-being as the foundation stone to a flourishing organization it's about whether our people can balance their lives and commitments Beyond work to live full productive and meaningful lives I feel like you're so caught up sometimes in your own agency bubble and when you talk to other people and see what other agencies are doing feels so insightful and I actually found it super inspiring so I feel like I'm definitely walking away from this like with more knowledge feeling inspired with something to give back to my organization so yeah it was it was fantastic they've shared some really useful data and some really good Frameworks as well that we can take away into our own organization um I think the data helps to you know make sure that we've got a clear business justification and we've got like evidence behind some of the things that we want to do a really strong point was made it's not going to think these things don't kind of resolve themselves overnight um and keeping up that that fight and and just keeping at it until it lands is probably another message that that struck a cord um and I think we're starting to see some of that um in in education um but I think yeah just kind of centering centering yourself and re-evaluating and going you know like that there is actually a journey to this it was um good to hear that uh organizations now see well-being as intrinsic to what they do now I can say look if you want the best out of me let's consider my well-being and if we make these adjustments I'll I'll be fine a really key thing I think I've learned from this journey as as an individual in an organization no matter what position you're in you can make a difference um and like the little things matter some of our best ideas in fact most of our best ideas have all come from Frontline staff and so putting in a framework and governance structure that allows their voices to be heard I hope that this forum is a chance for you to listen learn and take away some really practical ideas that build healthy workplaces wherever you work so that we can all drive an ethical and inclusive New South Wales public sector because that is all of our responsibility thank you

good morning everyone I'm Emily prider I'm the director of Workforce inclusion and experience at the PSC and a big thank you for joining us today for our Forum on

[Music] carers so what is a carer well I'm sure others will give better definitions than me today I'm going to Define carer caring as anyone who provides unpaid assistance in daily tasks to someone whether because they have disability or an illness or age or often children Forum today about cares and caring responsibilities was brilliant bringing together people to understand that there are different types of carers there's a carer who may be a parent but a carer such as myself who may have be caring for someone who has a disability or mental illness the implementation piece is critical so we've kind of gone from having to make the arguments using internet National evidence to make those arguments and some local evidence to being at a much more interesting point where we're seeing policy change in the right direction more to do but we now need to think very carefully about operationalizing that I think our workplaces could really lean into learning more about the diverse types of carers that are out there including carers of children in out of home care and thinking about ways to celebrate and recognize these types of car as in our workplace and help helping them understand what sort of flexible leave Arrangements um and opportunities there are so that we can support um those people in our workplaces and keep our workplaces really diverse our labor market and our organizations assume who the carer is and assumes who has the capacity to to be able to have that great engaged relationship with people in families assume that that's women actually diminishes the lives of men um and let's start to think about both of them at once not just a motherhood penalty in paid employment let's talk about fatherhood penalty in the capacity to have great relationships and quite a nice life as well what I think times are changing uh I also think that men uh are also sharing caring responsibilities both for uh you know caring for school going children or daycare going children I certainly have and I've had flexibility needs no matter who is demanding for flexibility whether that's a man or a woman the flexibility demand should be taken on a Case by case spes again on a matter of trust and and and honor and trust and integrity in that equation and no other unconscious bias should feed into it and everybody should be supported the key barrier for career progression is family and personal responsibilities that is what is identified in every cohort in our sector even more so for carers and for parents as well the usual pattern is that for women their amount of paid work they can do plummets down to zero and takes a very long time to come back up and for men the shock is a lot less so having dads be able to take work also have the experience of coming back down closer to zero and then having both parents move back into the workforce together um creates a lot more opportunities for women to get back to work sooner and work more if that's what they want to do in way of what workplaces can do to be more knowledgeable and aware of Aboriginal people and their roles and responsibilities that we have is to stop think and listen first but actually hear us because the responsibilities and cultural cultural protocols that we have we will walk away from a job so I have been that person when you're in that situation where you're that unofficial carer or Nan Rings up and says pop sick sis you got to come home we do that because that's part of knowing being and doing irregardless of the salary that's attached to the job but as employers to sit and take time and yarn with us and actually hear our story give us a reason some incentive to actually stay because black follow is pretty deadly right so we are very diverse we are your intellectual equal we're genetically predisposed to real agile work environment so we're a real deadly asset to have but our culture comes first for me it will always come down to that flexibility and and being sure that we look at the quality of the work and the quality of the outcomes and the meaning of deliverables as opposed to this strict adherence to how many hours you worked and when you work them and when you take your breaks and all of those things if it's possible in the type of work that you do as long as the work's being done well and delivered on time then we can really be as flexible as needed I think it was more about people's experience going I'm not alone I'm not in this by myself that other people have the same experiences and that you know maybe we have the same uh different different ways of doing things that we can look at ourselves and making sure we don't burn out that we also provide support and um uh flexibility for our our carers and and parents as

well

essentially I see racism as being a mindset you can choose choose to be thinking in a biased way or you can choose to be anti-racist and open up your mind to a whole range of possibilities collectively as the public sector um we need to come together to remove uh barriers and and societal issues that prevent people from being able to perform and work and live to their best anti-racism is about more than just being not racist it's an active process it involves actions to combat racist policies practices and culture and ideas to promote racial equity and Justice in 2021 the PSC introduced a question in the pmes about experiences of racism and discrimination in the workplace in the 2021 p.m years 14% of Aboriginal respondents and 7% of cow staff reported that they experienced racism the past 12 months compared to 4.2% for whole of sector respondents so racism stops with me as co-chair of the transport Multicultural Network we are going to Champion and Lead that change we're going to try and create that um that support and that environment so that we can be a collective and that we have that safe space for staff to connect and to speak their truth and to tell the stories so racism stops with me in the public sector because I'm a leader and as a leader in the New South Wales public sector it's so important that we look at our own individual practice how we relate to our people but also the processes that really make sure that we're giving everyone the opportunity and that we actually live the values of anti-racism what is it we're talking about when we talk about racism in all the things you do you may 10,000 reasons to be offended or not like another person we get to the point understanding that race and cultural background should not be one of those reasons then you in a better place it is imperative that the Public Service reflects and gives voice to our communities diversity and concerns regarding racism and Racial equality victims for the targets of racism should not be expected to be the one doing all the work and leading in that area you're a victim therefore for you got sounding Out you don't say it we can't help you or hang on it doesn't work that way it's about a collective sense of responsibility understanding that all Targets of racism and the existing racism ought to be dealt with collectively by the organizations over communities but the bystander is terribly important we still emphasize that because the support from someone who witnesses racism is a terribly important factor in supporting um that individual but in supporting this this whole concept of being anti-racist that that you're saying a clear message of saying no we will not tolerate that as a community when I was thinking about how can I stop it it's about awareness so asking questions being really inquisitive being really open-minded about what people are experiencing and you know having them share that with you so one of the steps that I'm really Keen to take with my team is about how can I create a psychologically safe workplace so that people feel comfortable to share their stories share their background share their history share their family what it is whatever it is that they feel comfortable sharing um and that way that when there are concerns or when there are issues that they also feel safe to be able to share that with me it has so much significance to the work that we're doing particularly in the cultural diversity uh space but I think it's so important to um also understand the lived experience of Aboriginal colleagues um and I think what means for me to be anti-racist or to progress the anti-racism work is ensuring that in all the policies and initiatives that we're doing is that we are centering that from the very beginning that we are actively thinking about how we remove barriers um and also at the same time ensuring that we take a learning perspective that this is something that we're all going through um and it's something that uh is really important that we learn from one another and also calling out when we do see racism in any kind of context within our workplaces as an Aboriginal woman I've experienced the impacts of racism not necessarily directly towards me as a fkin black fell but definitely family and Community um I feel those impacts and it's very personal racism and so I've personally you know tried to push an anti-racism um campaign at work in the public service um and attending events like today enable me to have the tools to continue that work and so that's how I'm trying to contribute to this space going firstly from a personal point of view I've always been a really big um big supporter of like what's your power as an individual and I think it doesn't matter where you are if you're you know kind of entry level in an organization or a senior leader um using your own power to if you see anything happening calling it out and saying this is not okay this is not acceptable where we are um obviously we do recognize that depending on your positional power it can be a really scary experience for you um but I think particularly for folk from more more privileged backgrounds um it's really important to use what power you have in those spaces to say like this isn't okay stop and to really um be there to stand up for people who maybe feel like they can't for whatever reason I think racism stops with me in the public sector by being somebody who calls out racism when I see it um somebody who calls out the systems that are enabling it so for instance you know what are we doing in our exit interviews and asking people you know how have they experienced racism and how has that contributed to them leaving the organization what are we doing when we look at our talent pipeline um when we're recruiting people what kind of questions are we asking and how is everything that we do in terms of work centered in whiteness and how does that inform the solutions that we're creating so really asking those thought-provoking questions and challenging people to think differently and create Solutions you know with people with lived experience and considered um I think considered Solutions is really the main thing to make sure that you're acting with intention and creating positive change to create more inclusive organizations so I'm going to leave you just with a a quote um that I find very U helpful meaningful to me from from AA aluo uh where she said the beauty of anti-racism is that you don't have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it including in yourself and it's the No Way Forward I'm proud to announce that the PC has forly pledged its support for the racism it stops with me campaign and that we will leverage the resources of the human rights Comm commission I encourage you to consider this opportunity for your agency too you know we're always going to have a racism problem if everybody at the top looks the same that's always going to be a problem it doesn't reflect the workforce of the public service and it certainly doesn't reflect the communities that we serve so I'm really looking forward to all the senior Executives here today and listening to this online to take on the challenge of driving racism out of your workplace and working constructively to build anti-racist organizations organizations that don't allow racism through the front door and when it does rear its ugly head he's jumped on and stamped out as a pernicious disease that it is hopefully you'll take that

challenge