Winning the War on Talent through an Inclusive Culture: Interview with: Suzanne Colbert, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Network on Disability, a sponsor at the marcus evans HR Summit 2013, discusses how a more inclusive culture would give organisations access to a wider choice of talent.

1. Winning the War on Talent through an
Inclusive Culture
disability but are incredibly talented and markets they serve. Historically,
skilled. HR systems are often homogenous organisations have not
reductionist in approach. A resume from been successful. Organisations can be
a graduate who may have taken a stronger by more appropriately
semester off for a knee operation may representing the service delivery
automatically get discarded, despite an requirements in the customer base that
excellent academic transcript. Anything they are supporting.
that is a little different does not get
through automated processes. Organisations have to be broad in their
approach and inclusive in their design.
What is the best way of gaining By overlooking certain groups of people,
access to this talent pool? including people with disability, they are
not accessing the entire pool of talented
Interview with: Suzanne Colbert, The brand must be associated with people out there.
Chief Executive Officer, Australian being able to confidently recruit and
Network on Disability retain people who have disability. Some
of that competence comes from already
being skilled at retaining people, but the
“Employers recruit people for their skills rest is from understanding the diversity
and want the best possible talent, of talent that is available and ensuring
however, by overlooking the skills that the organisation welcomes people based
people with disability can bring in, they on their skills and capabilities. Access to
are not accessing the entire talent
pool,” says Suzanne Colbert, Chief
the entire talent pool means being able
to consider all diverse candidates. Organisations
Executive Officer, Australian Network
on Disability. Does this call for an organisational
culture change? What are the
have to be
A sponsor company at the marcus
evans HR Summit 2013, in the Gold
biggest obstacles to a more
inclusive culture? broad in their
Coast, Queensland, Australia, 13 - 15
March, Colbert shares her perspective
on why Human Resources (HR)
The biggest obstacle is the concern
about not knowing about the disability,
approach
directors have to be broader in their
approach to finding and retaining
but that is not so important. It is all
about job match and culture fit. That is and inclusive
employees. when they will get fantastic results,
Why should HR directors increase
great employee engagement and job
satisfaction.
in their design
their organisation’s disability
confidence and competence? How What if an organisation is
does this relate to the war for concerned about the cost
talent? implications of a more inclusive
approach?
Australia has an aging workforce, and
people already in the workforce may I will give you an example of why this
acquire a disability at any point. approach makes business sense. IBM
Organisations need to have the right considers itself an innovations company,
processes and approaches in place to be and believes that innovation comes from
able to retain their skilled and talented a diversity of thought, which comes
people. from a diversity of people. People with
disability are part of the natural
The other part to this is the war for diversity of humanity. For many
talent and ensuring that organisations organisations, having diverse thinkers
access the entire talent pool, and people from all walks of life is
particularly graduates who may have critical for being able to tap into the

2. About the HR Summit 2013
The HR Network –
marcus evans Summits group
This unique forum will take place at the RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast,
delivers peer-to-peer information
Queensland, Australia, 13 - 15 March 2013. Offering much more than any conference,
on strategic matters, professional
exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry
trends and breakthrough
thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking
innovations.
event.
www.hranzsummit.com
Contact
Please note that the Summit is a Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits
closed business event and the Division
number of participants strictly
Tel: + 357 22 849 313
limited. Email: press@marcusevanscy.com
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inform us by sending an email to press@marcusevanscy.com
About Australian Network on Disability
Australian Network on Disability (AND) is a not-for-profit organization that advances the inclusion of people with disability in all
aspects of business.
We provide expert advice and services to our member organisations, helping them to welcome people with disability as employees,
customers and suppliers.
We are not an employment agency and do not find jobs for people with disability. We assist employers, government departments
and industry bodies in creating disability inclusive organisations.
www.and.org.au
About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss
strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to
individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-to-one business meetings.
For more information, please visit: www.marcusevans.com
Upcoming Events
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To view the web version of this interview, please click here: www.hranzsummit.com/SuzanneColbert