Aussie Exec wins prestigious diversity award

Janet Granger-Wilcox, General Manager of Corporate Affairs at Aussie Broadband, has been recognised for her stellar contribution to diversity in the workplace.

Janet received the Diversity Initiative award, as part of the 2020 CISCO Women in IT awards.

The awards event, which was scheduled to take place in Melbourne last week, was cancelled due to ongoing concerns about the coronavirus outbreak and winners were instead announced via email.

“I am really humbled to win this accolade, because diversity is really important to use here at Aussie Broadband,” Janet said.

As General Manager Corporate Affairs and a member of Aussie Broadband’s senior leadership team, Janet has led the company’s diversity strategy and stance on social responsibility for the last 3 years.

She is a passionate advocate of inclusion and is founder and executive of Aussie Broadband’s Corporate Giving, Wellbeing, Diversity & Inclusion and LGBTI network groups.

“I believe that a diverse workforce brings unique experiences that help make our company stronger,” Janet said.

Her approach to diversity has not been focused on any specific large project, but an absolute belief that it is the small things that make a bigger impact over time.

Her “all the small things” strategy has focused on real actions rather than words on paper, so that diversity and inclusion have become part of the DNA of Aussie Broadband.

As an example, in 2016 when Janet joined Aussie Broadband, she noticed there were no women working in tech support. She intervened with small actions – changing job descriptions to gender-neutral language, introducing gender-balanced interview panels and talking about gender balance at a senior leadership level. Today, nearly 40% of the support team are female, and 3 women hold leadership positions.

She has been instrumental in Aussie Broadband developing partnerships with a range of organisations, including Pride in Diversity, STEM Sisters, and Gippsland Shadow Day. She was a guest speaker at last year’s Tech Inclusion conference in Melbourne and represents Aussie Broadband on the Telco Together Foundation’s Domestic Violence roundtable.

Janet strongly believes that senior leaders should get involved at a grass roots level, and so has participated alongside Aussie staff at events like the Midsumma Festival, “Go Girl, Go for IT”, and Smith Family functions for disadvantaged kids in the Latrobe Valley.

She is also heavily involved in volunteering outside her work, particularly as a volunteer leader with Scouts Victoria.

Janet has been nominated for her philanthropic initiatives and making a difference in the telco community in the ARN Women in ICT Awards 2019, and in 2019 was also awarded the Silver Koala by Scouts Victoria for distinguished service.