'Workplaces need to consult, bring people on the journey to help teach and learn, and this comes down to leadership'
Over 100 business leaders across New Zealand convened for lunch to discuss diversity in the workplace and how leadership can affect this.
The Out to Lunch! Pride in Business lunch was arranged by Winter Pride Festival organiser Martin King in partnership with the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce.
It was facilitated by diversity and inclusion executive and public speaker Mary Haddock-Staniland, and saw the participation of Rachel Clifford, Events and Marketing Manager for the Queenstown Chamber.
According to Clifford, the said event was "amazing" where discussions on gender and sexuality in the workplace were raised.
"A key theme to come out of the discussions was that gender and sexuality are not a choice – workplaces need to consult, bring people on the journey to help teach and learn, and this comes down to leadership," said Clifford.
Another participant, Greg Simms, who is a partner at national law firm Wynn Williams, also underscored the importance of allowing talent to be themselves in the workplace.
"It's so important for people to be able to be themselves, at work as well as outside of work," said Simms. "We have a professional and moral responsibility to do what we can to continue building and contributing to a culture and community that embraces our differences."
The event also saw the attendance of Spaceworks Interior Architecture CEO Lizzi Whaley, Mediaworks Chief People Officer Paula Williams, and PR Director of Oceania at Booking.com Simon Clark, among others.
The Winter Pride Festival is dubbed as the largest on in the southern hemisphere, where locals and visitors are invited to come together and celebrate diversity.
Read more: Coming out at work: How to support your LGBTQ staff
King, who is also the director of Pride Pledge, previously had a chat with HRD on how workplaces can celebrate varying identities in the workplace.
"The number of people who identify as rainbow is just off the scale from what previous generations used to think of as rainbow," King told HRD.
"You can ride the wave and get ahead of it so that when these people are coming into your organisation, you're already working on things that are safe and inclusive for them," he continued.
According to King, with people spending more of their waking life at work that any other aspect in their life, it is important that employers take care of the of the wellbeing of their rainbow people.
"The big issue that we have with organisations is this belief that it's not necessarily something that workplaces should have to deal with. And my view is simple, most people spend more of their waking life at work than in any other element of their life so if we can fix this at work then we’ve got half the battle won," he said.