Community Business

The pandemic brought mental health challenges to everybody's doorstep. We've known that our mental health is critical to our overall wellbeing for a long time, even before the pandemic, with the WHO estimating that depression affects about 300 million people worldwide. This time with extended lockdowns, quarantine and travel restrictions establishing an entirely new way of living, we have all expe...

Organisations with an international presence often talk about their ‘global’ approach to diversity and inclusion (D&I) and how they ensure that programmes are relevant wherever they are implemented. However, despite great efforts, a common source of frustration from individuals tasked to drive D&I in Asia is the superficial nature of these localisation attempts.

One of the business drivers for diversity and inclusion is its capacity to raise an organisation’s competitive advantage, particularly in terms of enhancing creativity and innovation. The rationale is clear- to create a diverse workforce where people are able to express themselves, to contribute, challenge, collaborate, co-create and most importantly to innovate. This highlight...

In January of 2021, Community Business launched its pilot 9-month LGBT+ Mentoring Programme with a cohort of 42 participants including 21 Mentee and Mentor pairs. The programme consists of monthly professional development sessions, monthly check-ins between Mentees and Mentors and group networking sessions. -- Read More:  bit.ly/3yVILFW

Last year, Community Business published an IMPACTxAsia blog piece on emotional intelligence as an essential skill for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. In that piece, I argued that “emotional intelligence will work as a lubricant to help people work together smoothly, not only facilitating the better management of feelings, but also an acute perception and acknowledgement of other’s feel...

Community Business works with organisations to help them better reach their goals around responsible and inclusive practices. A portion of that, when it comes to the LGBT+ programmes, includes advocating for and raising the voices of various community members and making sure they can access an equitable working life. Sometimes this means being a first stop for questions, so that when allies meet w...

At every stage of their personal (and therefore working) lives, women face changes and challenges that are unique to them and poorly understood or catered for by men and - more often than not - male-dominated or designed workplaces. Across the globe, but particularly in Asia, these topics are rarely discussed and seen as shameful or taboo to be tackled in an open forum. This silence, misunderstand...

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives in corporates in Asia have been viewed in the past as a nice to have. However, things have changed in 2020. Spurred by the racial justice movement in the United States, increasing numbers of companies in Asia are starting to realise the importance and benefits of a diverse workforce to a sustainable business. Despite this realisation, a diverse workfor...

Is it time for gender quotas on boards in Hong Kong? Sadly, this question is worth asking as progress in board diversity continues to stall on the Hang Seng Index. As of July 2020, women occupy only 13.7% of board seats – the same level as in 2018. Contrast Hong Kong with other advanced economies in Asia, and we see a widening gap. In Singapore, 16.2% female participation was recorded on the large...

Our world changed overnight with the coronavirus outbreak. The rising death toll, combined with the economic impact to businesses of all sizes has shaken people to their core.  The outbreak has also upended traditional work practices, including the expectations of what role a company should play in wider society during the pandemic. In August 2019, the Business Roundtable released a statement...

Beyond COVID-19: Building a Workplace for Caregivers in Asia The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the challenge of juggling work and caregiving. With school closures and lockdowns, many people are busy caring for loved ones while trying to get work done at home. While these disruptions from the pandemic may be temporary, the quest to balance family and professional commitments is here to stay. Ev...

The negativity, worry and uncertainty sweeping the globe at the moment is undeniably impacting our interactions at work and at home. With workforces unsure of what their job security may look like in the long-term, it falls to the responsible leader to steer their organisation with integrity, mindfulness and intentional listening in order to defuse tension and ensure productivity, wellbeing a...

Are Open-Plan Offices Ruining Your Inclusion Efforts? Picture this – you are at your desk, filed alongside several others. You open your email to provide critical feedback on a time-sensitive project, as your colleagues behind choose this very moment to discuss their weekend plans. You plug in your headphones to tune them out but as you do, you spot your neighbour from the corner of your eye, wavi...

We are all guilty of keeping one eye (or ear) on a colleague and the other on our phones when in a meeting or continuing to draft an email as a colleague steps over to our desk with a question. Even in researching around this topic I am ashamed to admit that I continued to peruse articles while a colleague asked me a question – which I then needed to return to 30 minutes later to clarify as I had...

Over the last few months, the world has changed significantly and our societies and businesses are learning to cope with ‘the new normal’ – whatever that might be – for the foreseeable future. While our governments struggle to implement safety measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 while ensuring economies and livelihoods are kept afloat, a certain duty of care has defaulted to the business com...

To commemorate IDAHOTB (International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia - 17 May 2020) and LGBT+ Pride Month in June, Community Business has collated an LGBT+ Dictionary to help our supporters and allies understand and use people’s correct terminology respectfully and confidently.  Self-identification and pride are powerful tools and we want to encourage our community to equip...

In a very timely move, the Mental Health Foundation announced recently that it was changing the theme of Mental Health Awareness Week (18 – 24 May 2020) from sleep to kindness to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.  As pundits and politicians around the world speculate about how long social distancing and virtual working will need to continue, we have seen daily acts of kindness – both on a...

Over the last few months, the world has changed significantly and our societies and businesses are learning to cope with ‘the new normal’ – whatever that might be – for the foreseeable future. While our governments struggle to implement safety measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 while ensuring economies and livelihoods are kept afloat, a certain duty of care has defaulted to the business com...

In driving gender equality, who gets left out of the conversation? In 2014, it was men according to UN Women. As the spokesperson of its HeForShe campaign, Emma Watson called on men to advocate for gender equality, as she asked, "How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feels welcome to participate in the conversation?" It is important to include men in the movement...

This opinion piece forms part of our IMPACTxAsia blog series and was originally published on the Community Business website

Launch of The Building Responsible Leadership Podcast Series Building Responsible Leadership Ep. 1 | Tackling Workplace Mental Health Through Virtual Reality

This opinion piece forms part of our IMPACTxAsia blog series and was originally published on the Community Business website

This opinion piece forms part of our IMPACTxAsia blog series and was originally published on the Community Business website

This opinion piece forms part of our IMPACTxAsia blog series and was originally published on the Community Business website

This opinion piece forms part of our IMPACTxAsia blog series and was originally published on the Community Business website