Reference no: EM132996084

BSBDIV601 Develop and implement diversity policy

Assessment 2 - Project - 1 - Develop a diversity policy and action plan

Scenario

Soft-Authent is a startup which provides two-factor authentication software. The founder and CEO of the company, Brent Halliday, wants to build an inclusive culture in his workplace.

The current diversity policy of Soft-Authent is a generic policy, which does not reflect the values which the CEO wants to create in his tech startup.

Due to the lack of an effective diversity policy, the company is making recruitment decisions that are affected by unconscious biases of the recruiters. Teams are being built by staff and new recruits whom the team leaders or managers in charge or recruitment already know and trust.

Currently, Soft-Authent employs 120 people. Its employees are 95% male and 5% female. Their ethnicity data refers to Australian employees only, and indicates 90% white, 7% Asian, 3% identifying as two or more races. The company does not have any support systems for employees from diverse racial or religious backgrounds, veterans, women in IT, people with disability, LGBTQ+ employees, etc.

Soft-Authent's strategic objectives for 2020-2021 are as follows:
• Increase revenue by 5%
• Increase employee retention rates to 75%
• Establish a culture of innovation to improve process efficiencies and release a minimum of 2 product upgrades per year

You are the Human Resources Manager of Soft-Authent, and you have been tasked with preparing a diversity policy tailored to the needs of the company.

Part A - Research and report on inclusions of diversity policy

Read the case study scenario and analyse Soft-Authent's existing diversity policy in Appendix A.

1. Conduct research to identify at least 3 potential benefits of organisational diversity for Soft- Authent's in relation to achieving their strategic objectives.

2. Access diversity policies from at least 3 similar organisations and review them for relevance to Soft-Authent's needs.

3. Prepare a report for the CEO that contains the following:

a. Description of the benefits of diversity in relation to Soft-Authent's strategic objectives
b. Diversity policies and practices of similar organisations, including:

o An overview of 3 similar organisations' diversity policies (indicate the name of the organisation and the source/ location from where you accessed the policy), and a discussion of which policy was most relevant to Soft-Authent's needs
o At least 2 critical aspects of relevant policies that can be adopted by Soft-Authent for their own diversity policy

4. At least 3 gaps in Soft-Authent's existing diversity policy, in relation to strategic objectives, and suggestions for inclusions or changes to be made to close gaps, identified through your research.

Your report should be no longer than 500 words.

Part B - Role play: Consult stakeholders about diversity policy requirements

This is a continuation of the scenario in Part A.

In this part, you are to consult key stakeholders at Soft-Authent about their requirements for the diversity policy.

Meet with Brent Halliday, the CEO, and Ahmed Faiz, the COO, and:
• explain the purpose of the meeting
• present the gap analysis and recommendations from your report in Part A
• seek inputs from stakeholders about policy elements, processes or practices that they would like to include in the diversity policy
• make notes of their inputs during the meeting
• conclude meeting by summarising all the inputs from stakeholders, and identifying how they will affect the development of the diversity policy (e.g. actions you need to take, etc.)

Retain the notes of inputs you have made during the meeting. These inputs will form the basis of the new diversity policy and plan for the company, which you will prepare.

This is a role play.

Your assessor will organise for two volunteers to play the parts of Brent Halliday and Ahmed Faiz. Alternately, your assessor will play one of the roles themselves. Volunteers will be given cue cards on the basis of which they will brief you about their ideas and needs.

Part C - Draft diversity policy

1. Draft a comprehensive diversity policy for Soft-Authent based on your research, and your discussion with stakeholders in Parts A and B.
Use the policy template provided in Appendix B. The policy should cover the following points:
• legislations and standards the policy will adhere to
• key policy areas and practices, including:
o recruitment practices and quotas
o employee benefits and support systems
o training and professional development for employees
• at least 3 monitoring methods and metrics used to measure effectiveness of policy implementation, and the frequency of monitoring
• 3 benchmarks against which effectiveness of policy implementation will be measured
• allocation of responsibilities for implementing and monitoring policy
• other related policies
• version control and approval information
• a Diversity Action Plan with at least 5 actions that the organisation should take immediately to start implementing the diversity policy, such as but not limited to:
o development of materials or documents
o creation of teams
o further research, etc.

Attachment:- Develop and implement diversity policy.rar