Fujitsu Australia has been on a journey to foster greater Indigenous inclusion in a bid to be a better corporate citizen.
The IT service management company has subcontracted two First Nations businesses, including WV Technologies to recycle devices on the Australia Post account. There are plans to grow the relationship further.
It has also taken on Indigenous trainees and interns, and supported the CSIRO Young Indigenous Women's STEM Academy.
Fujitsu also works with the Bawurra Foundation, which works with First Nations communities to digitally preserve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and culture with pro bono support by hosting the library in the cloud.
The company's efforts have been led by Nicole Forrester, who stepped into the role of Vice President of Purpose, People and Culture for the APAC region nine months ago. Prior to that she was the company's head of Office of Purpose.
Forrester says her work to better support First Nations people centres on the importance of inclusion, which she is embedding into the company culture.
The proud Wiradjuri woman says the corporate mindset around Indigenous matters continues to evolve at Fujitsu Australia. The company considers itself to be still very much early on in its journey.
This includes the idea of inclusion for First Nations peoples and ensuring that we continue to add First Nations businesses into our direct supply chain, which means that Fujitsu is on the hunt for new Indigenous businesses to contract, she says.
Its efforts go above and beyond the Indigenous procurement policy introduced by the Federal Government a decade ago, which intends to bolster the rate of purchasing from Indigenous enterprises, she says.
"There needs to be a recognition that the corporate landscape has shifted, and that a direct supply relationship is no longer enough. We need to be more creative and recognise that there's an intersection of opportunity and obligation there. For us, that intersection is trust," Forrester says.
Some companies in Australia have lost trust, or haven't bothered to build it in the first place. They need to put trust building on the corporate agenda, she says. "Unfinished business must be resolved with communities prior to being able to move forward."
"You can't have trust unless people belong, and you can't have belonging unless people are truly included."
Forrester gave the example of a telecoms company that may have sold inappropriate packages to First Nations people in years gone by needing to go beyond an apology when attempting to rebuild relationships with that community.
"We're not talking about money, but there needs to be some kind of resolution that draws a line in the sand to ensure that their lessons have been learned so that it won't happen again. Otherwise there will always be that sense of unfinished business," Forrester explains.
"My advice to companies is to do better at trust building, and also to remember that it's important to meet people where they are. What I mean by that is having empathy. If you want to engage with First Nations communities, you have to understand where those communities are at and what the opportunities are that you can create with those communities. This approach shifts the lens from trying to sell them something, to wanting to build a bridge," she explains.
Companies should consider the cost of not making an investment in building relationships with First Nations people, she says.
"If you don't approach First Nations engagements in the spirit of trust and you don't meet people where they are at, you're actually not going to be successful in whatever that company is working to achieve," Forrester says.
