Get in touch
555-555-5555
mymail@mailservice.com
Investing in your inclusive progress #IWD
Catherine Kennedy (Host): Well, I'm delighted now to be joined, as I said, by Kirsten Garrett, who you can see on the screen there, who is a longstanding female leader at People to People. So thanks for joining us, Kirsten. Great to have you on P2P Live.
Kirsten Garrett (Guest): Thank you very much. Pleasure.
Catherine Kennedy: The theme of this year's International Women's Day is really about inspiring women. Inclusion so celebrating and promoting that kind of empowerment. So I'm really interested, I guess, to hear some of your experience in terms of that in the workplace and how you might have seen things change around embracing inclusion and equity over the time that you've been in the professional workforce.
Kirsten Garrett: Well, thank you, Catherine. Pleasure to be here. I guess first and foremost, the biggest change or progression that I've seen, and I've been in this recruitment industry now for well over 25, in fact, closer to the next decade there, is the fact that equity and inclusion is actually being discussed. It's a topic at the table, and I think this is the first and a very positive move forward. I'd also like to acknowledge that the biggest change I've seen, or one of the biggest changes I've seen, is bias is not as blatant as it was once upon a time, you know, 10 years ago. It is, however, definitely present, but it is more of an unconscious bias. And I kind of think that that makes it harder to address and to call out behaviours related to unconscious bias, and that's where education programs really play into it. I am going to wave the P2P flag just ever so quickly because I did a rough calculation. And here at People to People, I think we're a great example of breaking down the barriers in gender bias. We offer strong training and mentoring programs available to all without exclusion. And we now have approximately 75% of our leadership or management roles across our entire business held by women. And I think that's a great reflection. It's a great platform to go out to the market, particularly because we are in recruitment. That aside, some of the areas that I've seen really develop as uncomfortable, I should say, as they might be to talk about is women's health. Sometimes a little bit of an icky subject that we are starting to see topics that would never have been discussed in a corporate boardroom being raised around menstrual leave, menopausal leave, And in fact, tomorrow, the Minister for Women is going to release Australia's first ever strategy for gender equality, covering five areas of priority, but one of them is women's health. And I think that's a big step forward. Paternity versus maternity leave programs, allowing the other partner, not just the childbearing mother, to have leave. to support on the home front, another big step forward. And the impact of that is that if women want to, they may be able to return to the workforce earlier than in previous years. And therefore the impact on their career and the ability to earn higher salaries is greater. And I think that's a step forward. So I guess the last thing I'll say about progression is that I'm constantly excited about the number of roles in large corporates, admittedly, and that's the first step, that are devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion. Two, three, five years ago, the phrase diversity, equity, inclusion wasn't even on anyone's radar. And now you have directors of. And I think that's a really step forward. So these are visible progressions on a continuous journey of equity and inclusion in the workplace.
Catherine Kennedy: Yeah, indeed. I think one of the comments I was just as you were speaking then that I thought is, I know a lot of particularly big corporates who have those resources, they're implementing things around that unconscious bias, particularly in that selection process as well around sort of AI. And so there's almost a role that technology is starting to play in that as well, which is interesting. I think we were chatting briefly before, and there could be a list, almost an infinite list of things that we can talk about, and we have finite time, obviously. But what do you think are some of the ways that individuals and or organizations can inspire inclusion? So really say that the needs and interests and aspirations of this diverse group of women and diverse group of people can be really sponsored and supported.
Kirsten Garrett: As you say, there are so many areas that we could address as individuals, as employees, as well as people who are part of the management team. But for me, first and foremost, inspiring inclusion starts with celebrating how far we've come already, recognizing perspective and contributions of all. And I believe it's about creating a mood and an environment within the workplace where everyone has a voice. Education, mentorships and awareness programs will create opportunities for women to thrive and develop. And with gender pay gaps being on the radar at the moment, we all know large organizations of 100-plus people have to account for their pay gaps and have to report on them every year. But I'd like to see some analyses recognizing and reporting of these pay gaps at team level, business level, for all sizes of companies. Obviously, the data stays in-house, but it will raise an awareness... I think addressing any imbalance is about thinking differently and leading by example. And I think that's the broad stroke approach to improving and making progression. And my final comment, because we are conscious of time, is for me personally, it is about supporting women, but it's not to the detriment of men, because a lot of the women who are in positions they're in today, myself included, their personal and career mentors are men. And I think that's something that we need to acknowledge, but the imbalance of women in leadership roles does need to be addressed.
Catherine Kennedy: Yeah, indeed. Oh, there's some great points there. Sorry?
Kirsten Garrett: Very sobering comment there at the end.
Catherine Kennedy: Oh, well, no, indeed. But as you say, I think a big part of it is also having that celebration of how far we have come. So I think, you know, of course there's always more that can be done, but I think we're both mothers of daughters who will come through in this next generation. And I just think that their early experience going into the workforce is going to be so different to what mine was and so different to what yours was as well. So I think we're definitely heading in the right direction, but still, yeah, we need to keep it on the radar. Thank you for joining us, Kirsten. Appreciate your time and your insight as well.
Kirsten Garrett: Thank you. Thank you.
Kirsten Garrett (Guest): Thank you very much. Pleasure.
Catherine Kennedy: The theme of this year's International Women's Day is really about inspiring women. Inclusion so celebrating and promoting that kind of empowerment. So I'm really interested, I guess, to hear some of your experience in terms of that in the workplace and how you might have seen things change around embracing inclusion and equity over the time that you've been in the professional workforce.
Kirsten Garrett: Well, thank you, Catherine. Pleasure to be here. I guess first and foremost, the biggest change or progression that I've seen, and I've been in this recruitment industry now for well over 25, in fact, closer to the next decade there, is the fact that equity and inclusion is actually being discussed. It's a topic at the table, and I think this is the first and a very positive move forward. I'd also like to acknowledge that the biggest change I've seen, or one of the biggest changes I've seen, is bias is not as blatant as it was once upon a time, you know, 10 years ago. It is, however, definitely present, but it is more of an unconscious bias. And I kind of think that that makes it harder to address and to call out behaviours related to unconscious bias, and that's where education programs really play into it. I am going to wave the P2P flag just ever so quickly because I did a rough calculation. And here at People to People, I think we're a great example of breaking down the barriers in gender bias. We offer strong training and mentoring programs available to all without exclusion. And we now have approximately 75% of our leadership or management roles across our entire business held by women. And I think that's a great reflection. It's a great platform to go out to the market, particularly because we are in recruitment. That aside, some of the areas that I've seen really develop as uncomfortable, I should say, as they might be to talk about is women's health. Sometimes a little bit of an icky subject that we are starting to see topics that would never have been discussed in a corporate boardroom being raised around menstrual leave, menopausal leave, And in fact, tomorrow, the Minister for Women is going to release Australia's first ever strategy for gender equality, covering five areas of priority, but one of them is women's health. And I think that's a big step forward. Paternity versus maternity leave programs, allowing the other partner, not just the childbearing mother, to have leave. to support on the home front, another big step forward. And the impact of that is that if women want to, they may be able to return to the workforce earlier than in previous years. And therefore the impact on their career and the ability to earn higher salaries is greater. And I think that's a step forward. So I guess the last thing I'll say about progression is that I'm constantly excited about the number of roles in large corporates, admittedly, and that's the first step, that are devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion. Two, three, five years ago, the phrase diversity, equity, inclusion wasn't even on anyone's radar. And now you have directors of. And I think that's a really step forward. So these are visible progressions on a continuous journey of equity and inclusion in the workplace.
Catherine Kennedy: Yeah, indeed. I think one of the comments I was just as you were speaking then that I thought is, I know a lot of particularly big corporates who have those resources, they're implementing things around that unconscious bias, particularly in that selection process as well around sort of AI. And so there's almost a role that technology is starting to play in that as well, which is interesting. I think we were chatting briefly before, and there could be a list, almost an infinite list of things that we can talk about, and we have finite time, obviously. But what do you think are some of the ways that individuals and or organizations can inspire inclusion? So really say that the needs and interests and aspirations of this diverse group of women and diverse group of people can be really sponsored and supported.
Kirsten Garrett: As you say, there are so many areas that we could address as individuals, as employees, as well as people who are part of the management team. But for me, first and foremost, inspiring inclusion starts with celebrating how far we've come already, recognizing perspective and contributions of all. And I believe it's about creating a mood and an environment within the workplace where everyone has a voice. Education, mentorships and awareness programs will create opportunities for women to thrive and develop. And with gender pay gaps being on the radar at the moment, we all know large organizations of 100-plus people have to account for their pay gaps and have to report on them every year. But I'd like to see some analyses recognizing and reporting of these pay gaps at team level, business level, for all sizes of companies. Obviously, the data stays in-house, but it will raise an awareness... I think addressing any imbalance is about thinking differently and leading by example. And I think that's the broad stroke approach to improving and making progression. And my final comment, because we are conscious of time, is for me personally, it is about supporting women, but it's not to the detriment of men, because a lot of the women who are in positions they're in today, myself included, their personal and career mentors are men. And I think that's something that we need to acknowledge, but the imbalance of women in leadership roles does need to be addressed.
Catherine Kennedy: Yeah, indeed. Oh, there's some great points there. Sorry?
Kirsten Garrett: Very sobering comment there at the end.
Catherine Kennedy: Oh, well, no, indeed. But as you say, I think a big part of it is also having that celebration of how far we have come. So I think, you know, of course there's always more that can be done, but I think we're both mothers of daughters who will come through in this next generation. And I just think that their early experience going into the workforce is going to be so different to what mine was and so different to what yours was as well. So I think we're definitely heading in the right direction, but still, yeah, we need to keep it on the radar. Thank you for joining us, Kirsten. Appreciate your time and your insight as well.
Kirsten Garrett: Thank you. Thank you.
Share our insights
Featuring Kirsten Garrett
Season Three
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ช๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฐ?
Join NSW Managing Director Catherine Kennedy for the latest insights into the employment and job seeker markets. Explore our hot jobs across Australia and some exciting opportunities abroad in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
This week, Catherine is joined by Accounting and Finance Manager Kirsten Garrett to discuss the importance of celebrating International Women's Day, and what investing in women and accelerating the progress means in 2024. .
Join NSW Managing Director Catherine Kennedy for the latest insights into the employment and job seeker markets. Explore our hot jobs across Australia and some exciting opportunities abroad in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
This week, Catherine is joined by Accounting and Finance Manager Kirsten Garrett to discuss the importance of celebrating International Women's Day, and what investing in women and accelerating the progress means in 2024. .
About our speaker
Kirsten, having enjoyed a working relationship since 1999 with the directors of people2people, joined on people2people’s inception in February 2005. With twenty years’ recruitment experience, Kirsten specialises in the accounting and finance sector. Kirsten’s client are from a broad range of commercial and professional services businesses.โโ
Copyright © 2024, people2people
people2people acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country, pays respect to their Elders past and present, and extends that respect to all Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Mฤori peoples today.
Specialisations
Locations
Resources