Reader's Letter: Diversity in the Workplace

Dear EiE-Team,

Just providing some feedback on your last Ethics in Electronics friend letter. I had worked for the now for one of Australia’s first telecommunications companies from 1982 to 2020. In that time, much change has occurred within the organisation with contemporary day attitudes across many aspects of our society. Of course, this includes diversity on many fronts, gender, religion, cultural and many other diverse changes.

This company used to be run as a vertical structured organisation with the key lead people being senior men with engineering degrees. There were no women in lead roles, and the ethnicity of those men were predominantly Anglo-Saxon. Today, many lead roles have diversity, particularly in tangible aspects such as gender and race. Although there is diversity in roles from my memory at the workplace, attitudes amongst the employees towards diversity have not progressed with these changes as much. Those unaccepting attitudes are instilled more so with the older generations, than younger. In my space as having a Greek heritage, I was confronted with a lot of racist comments and even actions, but it was like water off a duck’s back to me due to having enough insight and maturity to why this has occurred over my whole life. I am sure many if not a majority of women themselves have faced these same diversity issues with respective attitudes borne from previous generations and will continue to do so in the future.

Today’s CEO is the first time ever a female CEO in my former company. When I was employed with them, staff were privy to the approximate pay scales of male and female direct reports (executive director roles) to the CEO. Although not directly disclosed to us staff, there was a firm belief that the pay difference was remarkably against the female directors. However, my former company is continuing to become progressive and the most notable change I recalled is the ratio of women to men within the organisation is more balanced for technical and engineering roles.