LGBTQ+ at Dentons New Zealand

Our GLOW Social Impact Group is a forum for discussion and progression of LGBTTQIA+ inclusion issues.

Rainbow Tick

In March 2020 Dentons Kensington Swan started the process to become a Rainbow Tick certified organisation.

“Rainbow Tick is about accepting and valuing people in the workplace, embracing the diversity of sexual and gender identities. A supportive work environment that is accepting of peoples’ differences benefits everybody in your organisation.

The certification process tests whether a workplace understands and welcomes sexual and gender diversity. The process involves an on-going quality improvement process.

Getting the Rainbow Tick allows you to show employees, customers and the wider world that you are a progressive, inclusive and dynamic organisation that reflects the community you are based in.” www.rainbowtick.nz

As part of the evaluation process, we:

Ran a number of education workshops (named “Rainbow 101”) that were led by the Rainbow Tick organisation for all staff and partners.
Established the Rainbow Alliance named GLOW to provide a forum for discussion and progression of LGBTTQIA+ inclusion issues.
Held a morning tea to celebrate that launch of GLOW, International Day against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia and Dentons Global Pride Day.
Introduced a policy on Trans* Employees and Transitioning at Work and guidelines for managers.

Dentons Kensington Swan was awarded the Rainbow Tick on 1 September 2021. Receiving this accreditation is a testament to our ongoing focus around inclusion and diversity. In 2022 we were reaccredited with the Rainbow Tick, a testament to our ongoing focus around diversity and inclusion.

Training

We provide ongoing training programmes to promote a positive culture across the firm, including:

Unconscious bias training
Prevention of workplace harassment
Rainbow 101 workshops

Other Activities

Our rainbow alliance group, GLOW, provides a forum for discussion and progression of LGBTTQIA+ inclusion, ensuring our people feel comfortable and supported to bring their authentic selves to work. GLOW ensures that everyone, no matter their background, gender or sexuality, feel like they belong. Our events and initiatives included:

Pride Month – Jennifer Goddard joined us as our inaugural Pride Month guest speaker and spoke openly of her experiences and transition journey which began at the age of 40. The session was extremely informative, insightful and educational.
To celebrate Dentons Global Pride Day, the GLOW committee hosted “The Importance to Business of LGBT+ Inclusion.” with Adam Mycyk, a Partner from our Kyiv office who was forced to flee Ukraine with his husband. We heard his harrowing account of the events taking place in Europe, the difficulties this is causing displaced members of the LGBTQ+ community and what Dentons is doing to help.
Charlotte Henley, former partner and executive sponsor of our GLOW group, joined our global colleagues hosting a virtual space for GLOW LGBT+ Network members and allies to connect with one another cross-regionally as part of Dentons Inclusion Month.
We sponsor annually the diversity and inclusion breakfast at Infrastructure New Zealand Building Nations conference. In 2024, we will be the diversity and inclusion sponsor for the whole conference, strengthening that message through the two-day conference in June.
Charlotte Henley and HR Director Emma Gibbins met with Victoria University’s Rainbow Law Students Association Co-Presidents to discuss ways we can support them and their activities. We hope to meet with the Rainbow Law Students associations in Otago and Auckland in 2023 to offer similar support.

Diversity surveys

The firm’s Inclusion and Diversity Committee, alongside HR, conduct a Diversity survey focusing on identifying key diversity metrics of our people as well as the effectiveness of firm policies, processes, culture and attitudes. The last survey was in 2021. When comparing the 2019/2021 Diversity survey results, we can confirm we had an uplift on participation responses increasing from 46% in 2019 to 49% in 2021 to 68% participation in 2022 (including partners). 80% of our 2022 Diversity Survey participants responded they agreed or strongly agreed, “I feel like I can be my authentic self”. We are committed to running the survey regularly to ensure we are continuing to progress in this area.

Diversity works

Alongside our surveys, the firm has engaged Diversity Works to help us better understand past and future results. This will allow the firm to identify key areas of focus for inclusion and diversity and shape our strategy going forward.

Recognition

We were the winner of the ‘Outstanding Firm for D&I’ award at the 2022 Chambers and Partners Asia Pacific & Greater China Region awards.
In 2020, the online publication “Human Resources Director” labelled Dentons Kensington Swan as ‘gender leader’ – applauding our adoption of strategies involving mentoring, pay audits, leadership and other courses and programmes
We are signatories to the NZLS ‘Gender Equality Charter’ and adopters of the Gender Equitable Engagement and Instruction policy.

Inclusion and diversity globally

The Inclusion Advisory Council (IAC) forms part of our Global Inclusion and Diversity governance structure and provides a mechanism to bring together colleagues from all parts of the global Dentons network multiple times each year. Two Senior Associates from New Zealand have been nominated and appointed to serve a 12-month term on the IAC. The role of IAC members is to listen, share and build our collective understanding, which is a critical element in ensuring we advance and create a truly inclusive environment in our firm. The IAC meets virtually at least three times per year and share insights, experiences, reflections, thoughts, as well as provide reaction and feedback on proposed actions steps. The IAC champions inclusion in the firm, in coordination with Regional I&D Committees.

Through Dentons Global, our employees have access to resources that further support cultural competency such as Global Allyship training, focused on reflecting on the role of allies in inclusion and diversity, and concrete action-items on what we can do to support one another. We also have a Global statement on inclusion and diversity outlining the firm’s commitment to fostering an inclusive environment where everyone respects, supports and learns from each other’s diverse skillsets, talents and experiences.