Duleesha says she was asked to change her name to something ‘more Australian’ at work. She’s not alone

Growing up in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, feeling ‘different’ wasn’t something Duleesha Boteju often thought about.

Her high school was extremely diverse, with students from many different cultures and backgrounds. Likewise, in her neighbourhood, the fact her family had come to Australia from Sri Lanka was rarely an issue.

Then she entered the workforce, and something unexpected happened. For the first time, she said she was made to feel different.

She said she began to notice discrimination in the workplace, beginning at a job where she said she was often confused with another employee.

“My friend and I … we don’t look alike, we’re just both brown girls essentially. And they would just confuse us … they just couldn’t get it right in their heads that we were two different people,” she said.

“And it was actually the diversity team who confused us … we were just like, how is that possible?”

There have been other instances where Duleesha said she felt uncomfortable at work, but nothing was as bad as when she was hired as an office administrator.

The role involved answering calls from the public. When she was offered the job, she said it came with a request.

“He said, ‘Oh, while I have you on the phone, would you consider changing your name to something that sounded more Australian?'”

Ms Boteju was taken aback. But she needed the job.

“I said, ‘Well, I guess you could call me Dee’. And to this day, if anyone calls me that … I cringe and I just hate it. I hate it,” she said.

“I found out that anyone who had, like, an ethnic sounding name was changed to a more anglicised name.

“I just feel enraged that I was even asked to do this.”

Perception doesn’t match with reality

Ms Boteju’s story is reflected in one of the biggest ever surveys on diversity in the Australian workplace.

Recruiting company Indeed commissioned YouGov to survey 2060 working age Australians about diversity and inclusion in the workplace in February this year.

“There seems to be a disconnect between what most working Australians see in the workplace and what’s experienced by those in minority groups,” said Jay Munro from Indeed.

Overall, 84 per cent of working Australians recognised the importance of promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, but only 60 per cent said they worked somewhere that employs a diverse workforce.

The survey revealed 81 per cent of working Australians believe people from different ethnic or cultural backgrounds are treated equally at work, but that number was lower — 73 per cent — for workers from a cultural or ethnic minority group.

Crucially, one in five workers (21 per cent) from a different ethnic or cultural background feel they are not treated equally.

And 62 per cent of workers said they concealed part of their identities from colleagues, either all or some of the time.

“It’s disappointing that people feel they can’t be their true selves at work and have to hide parts of themselves,” Mr Munro said.

“The report showed that they don’t feel they can be open enough, that the environment is not safe to be with that criticism or judgements of those parts of themselves that they’re hiding.”

‘I had a lot of shame’

Concealing her identity is something Laura McConnell Conti said she became an expert at during her 17-year corporate career.

She grew up in a fundamentalist Christian community with extremely conservative practices and beliefs.

Until her twenties, she hadn’t travelled, watched television, or experienced popular culture. All of those activities were frowned upon by her community.

“I always felt like a bit of an alien,” she said. “There were these pieces of me that I had to …  just keep separate. Like there were very big boundaries of things that you just wouldn’t speak about,” she said.

“I had a lot of shame. I still do have a lot of shame and a lot of embarrassment about our belief system.

“When everything about your life and your lived experience is very different to your colleagues and your managers and your leaders, it’s quite isolating.

“You just learn that people kind of pigeonhole you as being a bit weird because you don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Ms McConnell Conti said she never experienced a work environment that was truly inclusive. Eventually she left the corporate world and has started her own online business.

“I no longer work in my field because it wasn’t something I felt like I was going to flourish in,” she said.

“It is a loss to work forces if they don’t encourage diversity and they don’t actively include people of difference.”

It’s long been known a lack of inclusion in the workforce is bad for business, according to the Diversity Council of Australia — which is funded by nearly 800 organisations, including partners Cisco, HSBC, and KPMG.

“Diverse and inclusive organisations are organisations that lead to improved productivity, improved engagement with staff, a reduction in absenteeism, a reduction in risk around bullying, harassment and discrimination,” said Lisa Annese, DCA’s chief executive.

“If [the workplace is] not inclusive, it will have an impact on those individuals. But it will also have an impact on the workplace productivity. So it’s a win-win to actually try and get this right.”

Duleesha Boteju believes it’s worth the effort.

For the past six years she’s worked at a company where diversity is valued and inclusion is a priority.

“I don’t want to say that I want people to not see colour because that’s not what any person of colour wants. We want to be recognised as people of colour and celebrated as people of colour,” she said.

“Treat everyone with respect and let everyone bring their whole selves to work.”

Gallery: Actresses on aging and being older (StarsInsider)