Championing diversity and inclusion
Read time: 5 minutes
With over a third of the population of Australia and New Zealand born overseas, diversity comes naturally to the CNH ANZ team
We have exceeded the Australian workforce scores in each category, and we know that we have only just begun this journey. It is exciting to contemplate where this will take us
“Inclusion, equity and belonging comes from our culture and we are so proud of the efforts we have made over the last three years. Having a diverse workforce makes you a stronger, better company and what we’ve achieved so far amounts to positive steps toward ensuring our competitiveness,” says Brandon Stannett, managing director of CNH Australia and New Zealand (CNH ANZ).
Stannett is clearly proud that the Company was recognized as an Inclusive Employer in 2023 by the Diversity Council of Australia (DCA) — scoring significantly above the national averages. It found that 68% of employees felt they belonged to an inclusive team and 69% thought of CNH as an inclusive employer.
“We have exceeded the Australian workforce scores in each category, and we know that we have only just begun this journey. It is exciting to contemplate where this will take us,” says Jeanette Andrade, Head of HR for CNH ANZ. “We know that inclusion is good for our people, their satisfaction with their jobs and their engagement with the Company. Inclusion drives employee wellbeing and has a positive impact upon mental health,” she adds.
“We work in sectors that historically have not employed enough women. Removing gender barriers internally has created a paradigm shift in our gender employee mix, increasing internal mobility for female employees to nearly 30%. We are so proud to nurture and support women in industries that have been primarily male focused. This is a key first step for us,” says Stannett.
Women employees of CNH ANZ receive their certificate of achievement during an iGLOW-sponsored event.
Shifting the corporate mindset
But inclusivity and diversity needs the whole Company to be on board. Steps have already been taken to educate the senior team about the benefits of diversity and inclusivity, and moving forward there are plans to roll out training more widely in the second half of 2024.
“It’s really around prioritizing the commercial middle, every hiring manager, to ensure we’ve the intention to make a difference and act accordingly when we hire,” says Stannett.
Inclusivity is now reflected in various ways — from the neutral language used in position descriptions and job advertisements through to vetting CVs without gender, university or school information to help avoid bias. The Company has also eliminated some words that could play to stereotypes such as ‘storeman’ and ‘salesman’ in its literature.
Andrade admits it’s still too early to notice a big difference in who’s applying for jobs, but believes the focus will bring about a change that will create more inclusive environment.
The Company has increased paid parental leave from 6 weeks to 14 (the average in Australia is 12 weeks and in the Company’s sectors it is just 9.3 weeks) and made the leave available to whoever is the primary care giver, this provides up to 36 weeks paid leave across the statutory period of up to 2 years leave. CNH now also pays superannuation contributions for paid parental leave, an initiative Andrade hopes will progressively increase women’s retirement pensions to match those of male peers.
Meanwhile, the Company has set a target to reduce the gender pay gap to 5% by 2026, down from 9.7% today compared to the industry average of 25.8%. “We have improved our position by 5 percentage points in two years, and we are proud to say that we hire and promote on merit. We are working to elevate women by offering leadership opportunities, development and training, and ensuring that they are not paid less than men in the same positions” says Andrade.
Annual engagement and quarterly pulse surveys all play a key role in shifting the corporate mindset, and measuring D&I success is key. CNH ANZ has been formally endorsed as a “Great Place to Work” since 2021. When surveyed, staff said they are treated equally regardless of their personal characteristics. ‘Fairness’ scored highly – 89% for sexual orientation, 87% for race; 84% for gender and 83% for age.
In April 2024, CNH ANZ’s inclusiveness score was 75% – demonstrating that this is a strength and a high impact driver of overall engagement amongst our employees. We will be participating in the Diversity Council of Australia’s survey again in late 2024 where we hope to gain further insights into our diversity and inclusion.
“I am fortunate to be a part of a team of 10 members comprising 6 different nationalities. This has created an amazing opportunity for the team members to learn from each other’s ideas — collectively we have bonded and grown as a productive business unit” says Lia Ornellas, Purchasing, CNH ANZ.
These efforts are complemented by staff initiatives, notably employee resource groups (ERGs) that focus on a range of objectives from forums for women through to mental health education for all.
CNH ANZ started its own chapter of the Global ERG iGLOW which was founded in the US to promote women in the workplace. It now has more than 100 members – both men and women.
“Through iGLOW, we’re partnering with local businesses who employ women. This has opened up avenues for us to share stories that support our women. More recently we have been able to fund leadership development initiatives for women to support them on their journey at CNH which has been invaluable,” says Stannett.
Moreover, a new ERG in ANZ has been launched. MERG, is the first across the region and we will incorporate three streams – iGLOW, Multiculture and First Nations. This third branch is where we will continue our important work with First Nations.
Pictures from the event for the CNH's Reconciliation Action Plan.
We can be and want to be a pivotal influencer. Our objective is to use our leadership position to make a positive difference
Celebrating cultural diversity
Of course, diversity is not just about women; it’s also about ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation and identification, among others, and these policies are designed to take all this in.
Alexis Rivero, who works with Andrade on diversity and inclusion at CNH ANZ, explains: “We have staff from 46 different cultural backgrounds, who practice 11 different religions — our multi-cultural baseline is very rich. We endeavor to make everybody feel seen and that they belong.”
“We have embarked upon a period of learning in relation to the Indigenous populations of Australia. In partnership with Evolve, an Indigenous educational leader, we are providing cultural training to staff via e-learning. The aim is about everyone having an opportunity to learn more about our history and this important offering concludes our commitments made to the Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan. We are very proud of our efforts over the last 18 months. We have put in place a means of working with suppliers who have indigenous links, and we continue to open major meetings with an acknowledgement of the traditional custodians of the land” explains Stannett.
The Company also encourages staff to share their culture with colleagues, holding celebrations for key cultural events. A celebration for Diwali in November 2023 attracted over 50 staff, who cooked traditional Indian food to share, decorated the office, wore national dress and took time to explain the meaning of the celebration. It was a huge success.
“I was surprised and happy to see people from different backgrounds showing a real interest in different culture and food, and embracing the celebration. This clearly showed the inclusive culture within CNH in Australia” says Rajesh Rao from the Transport & Logistics team.
The new multi-purpose event space on site which is available to all staff is another great initiative that is proving popular. It will be used by Merg, a new multicultural employee resource group that was launched recently.
For Stannett, it all boils down to CNH ANZ’s desire to recognize and promote respect for the diversity found today in the sectors in which it operates. “We can be and want to be a pivotal influencer. Our objective is to use our leadership position to make a positive difference,” he concludes.
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