{"id":4477,"date":"2024-04-15T06:07:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T06:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-alumn-nus.pantheonsite.io\/alumnus\/?p=4477"},"modified":"2025-07-15T16:07:56","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T08:07:56","slug":"values-to-work-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2024\/04\/15\/values-to-work-with\/","title":{"rendered":"Values to Work With"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. These may sound like trendy terms, but DEI concepts have been around long enough for multiple studies to show that organisations that embrace them are better for it in the long run.<\/p>

Emphasising the point with a range of examples, the four panellists at the NUS Be A-HEAD: Inspiring Inclusion \u2013 Fostering a Culture of Respect and Diversity in the Workplace event held on 6 March were clear that DEI has to be an integral part of everything that is being done to drive the whole people experience in an organisation, and should not be perceived as being supplementary or nice-to-have. The session was moderated by Ms Renita Sophia Crasta, Head of Legal, TGR Real Estate (Law \u201906, Public Policy \u201920).<\/p>

Although ensuring DEI seems simple on the surface, it is complex and difficult to achieve in practice. Panellist Dr Yvonne Gao, Principal Investigator, Centre for Quantum Technologies, and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore (NUS), noted that the spectrum of humanity includes much more than the eye can see.<\/p>

\u201cThere\u2019s also identity, sexuality, ideology, religion etc., that cannot be seen, that people don\u2019t wear identifying labels for,\u201d she explained. \u201cReal DEI must take this into account, even if it does not serve the easy optics of making it look like the organisation has embraced diversity and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Alumni across a broad spectrum of races, ages and genders participated in the lively session.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar, Associate Professor (Business, Communication and Design Cluster) and Director of the Community Leadership and Social Innovation Centre at the Singapore Institute of Technology (Science \u201998, Public Policy \u201908), agreed that DEI must be genuine \u2014 and that is why it is such hard and difficult work.<\/p>

\u201cIt must be more than an effort to just do representation; (the idea that) \u2018as long we have all groups represented, it\u2019s all good\u2019,\u201d she emphasised. \u201cThis is concerning to me because it is nothing more than tokenism. (To me) DEI is really about what the person brings to the table, be they male, female, typical or atypical, old or young\u2026 we want to have this range of experiences and insights.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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(To me) DEI is really about what the person brings to the table, be they male, female, typical or atypical, old or young\u2026 we want to have this range of experiences and insights\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Mr Dane Lim, Executive Director of Group Human Resources at DBS, said that the onus is on organisations to ensure that DEI is a core part of operations. \u201cIt must also go deep, in starting conversations about difficult subjects with staff; things that may make people uncomfortable to discuss openly. Is the organisation creating opportunities to have these conversations?”<\/p>

Mr Lim, who was previously the External Affairs and Marketing Director at the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, added, “Many senior executives worry about (stoking) conflict. How we talk about these subjects is important; to ask people what kind of culture they want to see in the workplace, and to accept that there will be disagreements.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The lively session generated insightful conversations and sparked deeper insights into a range of everyday situations where DEI plays a part.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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EQUITY VS EQUALITY<\/strong><\/p>

Given that conversations about diversity and inclusiveness could potentially be tough ones, the panellists agreed that the key is in the \u2018E\u2019 part of DEI. \u201cWe are striving for equitable solutions, not equality,\u201d said Dr Gao. \u201cThere is no \u2018one-size fits all\u2019 strategy and that is what makes it such hard work.\u201d<\/p>

Dr Intan added, \u201cIt is really important to consider what fair looks like; it is not that everyone will be treated the same (because) it is often not possible to satisfy everyone at the same time. Individuals in organisations need to work together to understand one another.\u201d<\/p>

Dr Gao presented a concrete example of when \u2018fair\u2019 might be different for different people. \u201cWe can look at workplaces \u2014 many of which still have more men than women \u2014 but have restrooms that are the same size. This seems (more than) fair,\u201d said Dr Gao. \u201cBut women need more space and more time in restrooms (by virtue of simple physical needs) so just having restrooms that are the same size is perhaps not equitable.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Women need more space and more time in restrooms (by virtue of simple physical needs) so just having restrooms that are the same size is perhaps not equitable.\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Dr Yvonne Gao<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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DEI IN PRACTICE<\/strong><\/p>

At the end of the day, success comes down to how individuals practise DEI.<\/p>

On a day-to-day basis, the panellists said this comes down to showing kindness and empathy to the people around us, manifested in small actions. For instance, speaking up to support colleagues or be an ally for someone who may feel excluded. Dr Gao shared that in her experience, efforts were made to use colour themes in Powerpoint presentation slides that were discernible to colour-blind colleagues. \u201cIt\u2019s a very small thing but it made a big difference,\u201d she said.<\/p>

Dr Intan agreed. \u201cIf we wait for change to happen, change will never happen. Every one of us has to play an active role.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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WHAT DO THE CORE COMPONENTS OF DEI REPRESENT?<\/strong><\/p>

Diversity: This refers to the range of characteristics of those who make up the workforce. This includes, but is not limited to, gender, age, ethnicity, physical ability and neurodiversity. It also represents diversity in thought.<\/p>

Equity: Fairness for all \u2014 regardless of all other factors \u2014 in how people are treated. Equity is not equality; equity adjusts for a person\u2019s starting position to ensure that everyone can achieve best results.<\/p>

Inclusion: How people experience the workplace, and how organisations empower their staff to make the best possible contributions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Photos by Kelvin Chia<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives are well worth the effort that companies and organisations are putting into them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-events","category-social-impact"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4477"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5055,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4477\/revisions\/5055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}