Mixing in a melting pot

What's White Sunday in Samoa all about? How is halal food prepared? What is the Hindu festival of lights called? And how do you embrace Asians in sporting activities?

The migrant influx means more workers can answer these questions than before, and with the 2001 census showing one in every three Aucklanders is born offshore, employers have little choice but to address cultural diversity.

Trudie McNaughton, executive director with the Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Trust, says many firms now realise that managing the multicultural workplace well has business advantages.

Cultural awareness pays biggest dividends in bridging the communication divide, says Avette Kelly, HR adviser with the Auckland City Council. "We're striving to be an employer of choice, so any opportunity to mirror our client base at the frontline is a plus. Spelling out expectations is the key to alleviating misunderstanding," she says.

"We run a Safe and Sound programme focusing on how to handle correctly a broad range of issues internally. We also have Maori and Pacific Island-initiated staff networks that address key outcomes."

Kelly thinks the biggest multicultural work-based prejudices have more to do with poor communication than judgments about appearance or religion. And she says there is no better way to prove the workplace isn't a cultural vortex than through flexible working conditions.

"This could simply mean signalling that it is okay to be different through tolerance over dress codes. Providing a range of food options at in-house functions or staff cafeterias is an ideal way to celebrate the range of cultures working within the organisation," she says.

Another large employer, Sky City, established a special-leave plan to recognise cultural events important to ethnic groups within its 2500 workforce.

Understanding the importance of key cultural events - such as the Samoan celebrations of Independence Day on June 1, Teuila (a flower celebration) in September, and White Sunday (a church-related children's day) in October - makes it easier to anticipate leave requirements, says employee advocate Junior Toleafoa.

One of the perennial challenges in understanding cultural diversity is striking the right balance between what is culturally correct and where the business needs to go.

To ensure all company messages are interpreted correctly, Toleafoa sees all Sky City's notifications first.

"The trick in acknowledging cultural differences is fitting them into a work context," says Toleafoa, who runs Sky City's cultural diversity programme.

"Unlike many Kiwis, Pacific Island and Asian cultures are more team-oriented. As a result, they prefer to represent their views to employers collectively. It is important for management to understand this and identify key spokespeople within each group."

Like Kelly, Toleafoa believes it is critical for managers to understand what makes different cultures tick.

"Cultural awareness is such a personal thing, it's the responsibility of everyone within the organisation to make an effort," says Toleafoa.

For example, finding out that basketball is the national sport of the Philippines helped Toleafoa embrace Filipinos in staff-organised sporting activities. "Letting new Kiwis talk about their cultural differences just seems to lift them. The minute that stops, you paint yourself into a corner."

ACI Glass Packaging HR manager Bruce Woodcock says it's also easier for employers to second-guess reasons for absenteeism if they understand different ethnic groups' cultural demands and protocols.

For example, when a Tongan comes into his office and immediately sits down without looking him in the eye, Woodcock knows it's out of respect. Similarly, when someone who's held in high esteem, such as a Samoan elder, dies, he knows it can affect a shift for several days.

"In a culture where respect is based on age, we have to be careful to select supervisors who have mana within the work group. Putting a young person in charge can be fraught with danger if they do not have the respect of the team," says Woodcock.

With more than 20 nationalities among the company's 200 staff, Woodcock believes the key to workplace harmony is tolerance and mutual respect. With English being a second language for 60 per cent of the staff, he says literacy and communication can be a stumbling block.

After running a project with Workbase (adult reading and literacy association) he discovered the average reading level of factory employees was intermediate-school level. The company has since invested heavily in improving employees' numeracy and literacy skills.

"We had a Russian engineer with all the skills in the world, but because of limited English she couldn't comprehend what people were saying to her.

"We assisted her integration into New Zealand with some project work, and after five months of work experience and support in immersion English classes, she left to take up a position in her chosen career."

Given the skill shortages in many industries, McNaughton says employers need to ask themselves if they're making sufficient efforts to mine new New Zealanders' talents. Evidence collected by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce suggests they're not.

While the Human Rights Act enshrines multiculturalism, chamber CEO Michael Barnett believes workplace practices fall short. With twice as many employers facing claims to the Human Rights Commission as last year, Barnett argues compliance with the act is a key business issue.

His research suggests most employers overlook gems among new migrants.

A quarterly survey commissioned around two years ago found that while up to 45 per cent of employers were having difficulty getting the right people, 29 per cent of Auckland's unemployed were new Kiwis - 90 per cent of whom were tertiary qualified.

Cultural narrow-mindedness among employers remains unacceptably high, argues Barnett. He believes rejection based on the "no Kiwi experience stance" hides an underlying racial intolerance.

EEO Trust research suggests lack of New Zealand experience and employer misunderstandings over applications and qualifications are the biggest barriers to employment facing migrants.

"We've heard horror stories where talented applicants are being filtered out because they've got a foreign-sounding name," says Barnett. He cites the case of an Indian woman who rejected a job offer when her interviewer told her not to front up for work on the Monday wearing sari and bindi.

The problem's not so much racial intolerance, says Kelly, as a tendency for employers to undervalue migrants' skills and experience.

To help employers to embrace cultural diversity, the Auckland Chamber of Commerce now runs a website where migrants post their CVs and employers advertise job vacancies. Barnett says the website has helped 700 migrants into jobs.

So how can companies develop business advantages through cultural diversity?

To ensure companies don't just pay lip-service to multiculturalism, McNaughton urges them to ensure their recruitment and selection processes are fair and merit-based. "The employer challenge is to see the value cultural diversity brings. Cultural diversity can provide a competitive edge by attracting a wider talent pool. It could mean more languages spoken, better customer outreach, and more relationship building know-how with both local and offshore markets."

Jan Mottram, HR director with Vodafone, believes a prescriptive approach can be counter-productive. With 1.4 million customers, she says it's important Vodafone's staff reflect society. But she also believes managing the multicultural workplace is more mindset- than policy-driven.

"During a two-day induction course [for new employees] run by directors, we focus on the values and strategies that fashion appropriate behaviour," she says.

"There's a place within these values where people can be seen to be different. Once employees understand these values, they're less likely to make cultural gaffes."

Ethnic Auckland:

In the 2001 census Auckland had a population of 1,101,597. The ethnic breakdown was:

* 62 per cent Pakeha/European

* 11.6 per cent New Zealand Maori

* 7 per cent Samoan

* 6 per cent Chinese

* 3.7 per cent Indian

* 3 per cent Tongan

* 2.8 per cent Cook Island Maori

* 1.5 per cent Niuean

* 1.2 per cent Korean

* 1.2 per cent other




www.eeotrust.org.nz


www.newkiwis.co.nz