Gemma Lloyd (Work180)
Expert guidance on how to build workplaces where women can thrive will take centre stage at EDGE 2022, as Gemma Lloyd outlines the standards and policies required to drive gender equity across Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ).
As co-founder and CEO of Work180 – a specialist human resources partner which sets, reviews and drives global workplace standards for women – Lloyd will document the importance of organisations converting PR messaging into corporate policies, stressing the need for concrete action rather than empty words.
“Women continue to face a multitude of barriers in the workplace, which are often compounded with prejudices such as racism, ableism and ageism,” Lloyd noted. “These inequities are more than just a moral issue; holding back over half the world’s population is negatively impacting us all, including businesses.
“We are dedicated to removing these barriers, and we do this by focusing on our mission: to raise organisational standards so that all women can choose workplaces where they can thrive.”
According to Work180, 10 key standards are driving equity in the workplace, spanning inclusive hiring processes; representative leadership; flexible working arrangements; pay equity and shared caring responsibility. This is in addition to empowering employees; career development opportunities; an inclusive culture; employee safety and support services plus strategic commitments.
“We only endorse employers that are committed to making real progress so that all women can expect better,” Lloyd said.
But in 2021, only 50 per cent of employers met the criteria of the Work180 endorsement check.
“That’s not because we ask organisations to be perfect, but they do need to be committed,” Lloyd stressed. “Our endorsement standards protect the reputation of those organisations we already work with and, importantly, the women around the world that trust in our endorsement.
“We only endorse employers that are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. These organisations recognise the moral and economic necessity for gender equity, and their collective efforts are raising workplace standards to make this happen. We support, celebrate, and raise the profile of these organisations so that women can find workplaces where they can thrive.”
At EDGE 2022, Lloyd will provide step-by-step guidance for CEOs in relation to building workplaces where women can thrive on both sides of the Tasman, sharing frameworks and audits backed with data and research.
Strategic Skills
Lloyd’s insights dovetail into the overarching editorial theme of EDGE 2022, which focuses on Skills: Sharp, Strategic & Smart.
As the market engages in a stalemate struggle for talent – a struggle in which employees rule and salaries swing the balance – a pragmatic approach to skills is required.
Winning the talent war is impossible, time to focus on the more realistic battles ahead and build out skills aligned to three core objectives – Sharp, Strategic and Smart.
With new technologies flooding the industry at pace, partners must prioritise solutions aligned to internal capacity and end-user demand, while also exploring viable outsourcing strategies and practical methods to achieve scale. But this can only be achieved through a commitment to individual up-skilling as an executive leader, armed with the modern-day attributes to spearhead growth.
On the one hand, this is a market bursting at the seams with new technology projects and increased outsourcing demand. Yet on the other, remains woefully under resourced and unable to capitalise.
EDGE 2022 will side-step the predicable talent rhetoric to focus on solving the most crippling skills challenges facing the technology ecosystem – converting questions into answers and ideas into game-plans.
Specifically, Lloyd will align to Strategic Skills.
Strategic linked to business transformation to achieve scale at a sustainable pace, while outlining the corporate benefits of embracing diversity and inclusion (D&) and how employers can reduce reliance on premium labour while enhancing employee retention and acquisition approaches.
- How to scale at an achievable and pragmatic pace
- Value of embracing D&I to meet strategic objectives
- Best practice specific to employee retention and acquisition
- Ways to reduce reliance on labour by eliminating manual processes
- Salary insights and tapping adjacent industries for talent
- Best methods to acquire new skills (M&A, onshore vs. offshore etc)
More broadly speaking, EDGE 2022 will run as the leading technology outsourcing conference for business leaders in Australia and New Zealand (A/NZ), built on the foundations of collaboration, education and advancement.
Attendance at EDGE 2022 is by invitation only, limited to 380 decision-makers shaping the technology outsourcing landscape on both sides of the Tasman. Such high calibre of attendance is the catalyst for a four-day destination event designed to provide business coaching at an executive-level, targeting seasoned leaders to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Plans are now underway shaping an editorial narrative built around the theme of Skills: Sharp, Strategic & Smart – offering step-by-step guidance on pragmatic and realistic ways to overcome ongoing resource challenges. This will be underpinned by EDGE Research, housing in-depth end-user and partner analysis across A/NZ, uniquely delivered in partnership with Tech Research Asia.
For more information about EDGE 2022, click here
