By following the principles of good work design and bringing WHS and DEI streams of work together, businesses can put preventative measures in place to create safer, more inclusive environments.

Workplace culture in Australia is under sharper scrutiny than ever before. The Respect@Work positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act, along with recent WGEA amendments requiring gender equality targets, including action on culture and sexual harassment, are raising the bar for employers. 

At the same time, Safe Work Australia’s Model Code of Practice on psychosocial hazards makes it clear that psychosocial risks associated with work must be managed with the same rigour as physical risks. With regulators watching and costly payouts becoming a reality –  such as the recent $305,000 award in the sexual harassment case – the stakes are high.

Despite these shifts, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and work health and safety (WHS) are still too often treated as separate streams of work. 

DEI is seen as culture and representation, while WHS is framed as rules and risk. When siloed, both approaches miss the opportunity to prevent harm and build workplaces that are safe, inclusive and high-performing.

Inclusive work design brings DEI and WHS together in a practical, proactive way. By weaving a DEI perspective into work design, practitioners can gain a deeper understanding of how structures impact different individuals and the power dynamics at play. 

Read HRM’s article ‘Want a safer, more inclusive culture? Start with your WHS strategy’.

What is inclusive work design?

Inclusive work design extends the good work design principles outlined by Safe Work Australia. Good work design focuses on structuring the work, the physical work environment,  systems and processes while also considering the workers’ needs to protect their health and safety. 

Inclusive work design ensures this applies equitably across a diverse workforce, setting up the environmental conditions for respectful behaviours to occur.

Think of the relationship between DEI, WHS and inclusive work design as a stage production. WHS is the structure that keeps the stage safe and stable. DEI is the lighting and sound that ensures all performers are seen and heard. Inclusive work design is the director, making sure the stage is safe and the performance allows everyone to shine.

Inclusive work design is not about adding a DEI program on top of existing systems; it’s about incorporating a DEI perspective into every part of designing work and the employee experience.

Examples of inclusive work design include:

• Participation in decisions: Consultation is a WHS duty. DEI ensures underrepresented groups are consciously included and have a voice in changes that affect them.

• Role clarity and fair workloads: This reduces the hazard of role conflict or overload. DEI ensures that tasks are not unfairly shifted to women, junior employees or people from underrepresented backgrounds.

• Autonomy and flexibility: Low job control is a psychosocial hazard. Building autonomy and flexibility into work practices supports everyone, particularly parents, carers and people living with disability.

• Respectful culture: This helps prevent bullying, harassment and hostility. DEI embeds belonging and cultural safety, ensuring respect is defined inclusively, not just through majority norms.

• Fair processes: Transparency in recruitment, promotion decisions, complaints and change management reduces hazards. DEI highlights inequities and helps design processes that distribute opportunities and protections fairly.

A DEI perspective helps identify who may be most vulnerable and why. Inclusive work design then puts WHS duties into practice by providing controls that reduce risk in ways that reflect the different experiences and needs of people in the workplace.

Hear more from Anna Dawson and Emilie Priday as part of AHRI’s DEI Week webinar series from 14-16 October, 2025. This event is exclusive to AHRI members. Not a member yet? Join AHRI’s growing membership today to gain access to a range of resources, member benefits and a network of dedicated HR practitioners.

The risks of a lack of inclusive work design 

A recent Federal Court decision acts as an example of the importance of  applying DEI principles into the WHS framework and implementing inclusive work design. In this instance, it may have prevented a sexual harassment incident from escalating. 

In this recent Federal Court decision, an employee of a restaurant-chain franchised outlet successfully proved that her manager, who was also the company’s sole director, had sexually harassed her, harassed her on the grounds of sex, and victimised her when she complained. The manager has denied these claims.

The court found that repeated sexualised comments, intrusive questioning and unwelcome conduct met the statutory threshold under the Sex Discrimination Act. 

Further, attempts by the manager to issue defamation “concerns notices” following her complaint were held to constitute unlawful victimisation. 

Here’s how an inclusive work design approach could have prevented harm:

1. It helps you to understand the risk profile of the organisation

Inclusive work design can shift an organisation from reacting to incidents to preventing them at the source. 

When assessing the case above through a DEI perspective and taking a safety risk lens, the following risk factors emerge: 

• A young, migrant, visa-dependent worker had less power and fewer exit options, which increased her exposure to harm and lowered the likelihood of speaking up.

• Her manager requested her to accompany him alone to purchase food supplies in his car on multiple occasions, a work environment that contributed to an increased risk of harassment.

• The Court heard that the manager made sexual comments about female customers and enabled a workplace culture that was “tolerant, or even conducive” to sexist banter and harassment.

• Examining employee turnover and retention data across employee demographics would have identified that there were “very few female employees” and “most of them were leaving”, as the employee alleged when giving evidence.

If the organisation had applied inclusive work design principles, such as reviewing employee survey data intersectionally, consulting directly with vulnerable workers and considering who is most at risk and why, the risks would have been visible before any harassment occurred.

2. Engage and co-design

Inclusive work design supports a speak up culture, with independent reporting channels that are accessible, multilingual and free from managerial control. 

In addition, all employees need to be provided with information and training on how to report incidents, hazards and risks so these safety matters can be addressed promptly. 

In this case, after repeated exposure to sexual harassment from her manager, the employee contacted the company’s HR Manager via LinkedIn. If reporting systems had been trusted, escalation could have happened earlier and the behaviour may not have continued unchecked. 

Employees need to be provided with appropriate support options to ensure any risks to their psychological health and safety continue to be managed. 

Work design decisions are central to prevention. Setting up a safe, inclusive and respectful work environment involves embedding good-quality work design. For example, rosters and task allocation could have been structured to avoid leaving vulnerable employees alone with high-status managers, especially after hours or off site. 

3. Measure what matters

Most organisations tend to report on WHS performance and progress towards DEI metrics separately, which is a missed opportunity to understand the true impact of safety risks on the workforce. 

A more strategic and preventative approach involves understanding risk profiles by integrating both these DEI and WHS metrics into business planning. Examining WHS performance through the DEI lens can be a lead indicator and serve to prevent future incidents. 

For example, consider which groups of workers with particular characteristics are under-represented and if they are more likely to be exposed to psychosocial hazards.

In this case, there were very few female employees on staff and, as HR practitioners will know, gender inequality is a key driver of sexual and gender-based harassment at work. Therefore, developing initiatives to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based harassment is a proactive approach to influence safety outcomes before incidents occur. 

4. Adjust and embed

Every incident and hazard report presents an opportunity to review key themes and consider the effectiveness of the existing design of work to mitigate the psychosocial risks. 

This can be extended to involve employee reference groups to support the evaluation of the effectiveness of initiatives and provide feedback on how work can be designed for greater inclusivity. 

Culture needs to be reinforced through job design and leadership. Inclusive work design embeds respectful conduct into induction, daily work and performance measures. 

Supervisors and leaders should be assessed not only for operational results but also for inclusive behaviours. Although this case is slightly different due to the franchise structure, the parent company also bears responsibility for establishing leadership standards. 

The key takeaway for HR and business leaders 

Training and awareness sessions alone will not prevent serious harm. Treat sexual harassment as a psychosocial hazard under WHS, deliberately using a DEI perspective to understand who is most at risk and why. Prevention must be built in, not bolted on after harm has occurred.

By stopping to ask questions, looking at issues from multiple perspectives and ensuring diverse voices are heard, organisations can not only prevent harm but also create workplaces that are positive and fair. As the Court case demonstrated, when organisations fail to do this, the consequences are dire.

Anna Dawson is an organisational psychologist with expertise in psychological health and safety, employee experience and workplace wellbeing. She has led projects to build leaders’ capability to foster healthy work cultures and elevate the employee experience by designing safe work.

Emilie Priday is a DEI and gender equality specialist consultant. She is an experienced senior executive who has led inclusion and cultural reform initiatives across government, and now advises organisations on building safe and inclusive workplaces.