MOVING THE DIAL ON GENDER BALANCE WHAT IS NEXT?

MOVING THE DIAL ON GENDER BALANCE WHAT IS NEXT?

CONTENTS MOVING THE DIAL ON GENDER BALANCE WHAT IS NEXT?..... 01 SETTING WOMEN UP FOR SUCCESS...... 06 DEVELOPING MALE CHAMPIONS...... 07 RECRUITMENT............ 02 ADDRESSING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS....... 08 A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH........... 03 MULTI-GENERATIONAL WORKFORCES...... 09 DATA AND MEASUREMENT.................... 04 FINAL THOUGHTS...... 10 CAREER MANAGEMENT..................... 05

01 MOVING THE DIAL ON GENDER BALANCE WHAT IS NEXT? What new strategies are being implemented to help organisations move the dial on gender balance in the workplace? This was the key question at the latest round table event organised by Morgan McKinley as part of our Women in Leadership programme. Heads of Talent, HR and Diversity from some of Australia s leading businesses came together to share information about the initiatives they were putting in place to drive greater female representation at the senior level. The consensus was that encouraging progress was taking place in their organisations with attracting and retaining senior women leaders. However, these advances do not appear to be uniform across corporate Australia, judging by the latest data. Statistics from the Australian Institute of Company Directors show that a total of 20 boards of companies on the ASX 200 still do not have any women members. The latest percentage of women on ASX 200 boards is 23.4 per cent (as of 30 June 2016), up from 21.7 per cent in 2015.This is despite the growing evidence about the benefit women can bring to organisational performance. A recent report from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and Credit Suisse said that companies with more women in top management achieved greater returns for shareholders. A total of 20 boards of companies on the ASX 200 still do not have any women members. Nonetheless, it is clear that gender diversity has become a strategic issue for many forward-thinking listed companies. Senior management teams are working with shareholders to determine how achieving gender targets should be measured and rewarded, while also ensuring that all employees support diversity strategies, given some concerns voiced that women are receiving an unfair advantage. Morgan McKinley is committed to supporting organisations in their efforts to improve gender balance. We hope that by sharing the real successes and challenges faced by companies on the ground, we can combine to generate new ideas for how to deal with this complex issue. 01

02 RECRUITMENT Encouraging enough female candidates to apply for senior roles and achieving 50/50 shortlists remains a real challenge. Experiments with the use of blind CVs during the recruitment process have highlighted some interesting issues. One company that had been piloting this approach found that even when all identifying information had been stripped out, it was still relatively easy to guess whether the candidate was male or female. This was primarily because women had a tendency to use more emotive language, while male CVs were more structured and factual. As a result of this exercise, the company in question has been giving guidance to internal candidates on how to structure their CVs to give them an equal chance of success. Women had a tendency to use more emotive language, while male CVs were more structured and factual. Job advertisements have also come under the spotlight, with one round table member company taking a closer look at the wording and structure typically used, to ensure it was not inadvertently discouraging female candidates. The business has been using the software programme Textio to scan the wording of advertisements and identify if the language used is male or female specific. A decision was made to steer away from the use of bullet points in advertisements. Research suggests that this approach can cause women to rule themselves out of applying for roles if they can t tick all the boxes on a list of required skills and competencies. Training managers in how to hire and build diverse teams has also proved a useful approach for some, although there was consensus that although raising awareness of unconscious bias is helpful, it will never be possible to eradicate it entirely. Finding ways of stripping bias out of the recruitment process itself is therefore equally important. 02

03 A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH A commitment to diversity at the top is always going to be critical to achieving gender balance, but increasingly organisations are recognising the importance of a bottom-up approach too. A commitment to diversity at the top is always going to be critical to achieving gender balance, but increasingly organisations are recognising the importance of a bottom-up approach too. Another round table member has set up employee action groups for each of its key diversity areas, including women in leadership, flexible working and LGBT. Each group is given KPIs that link to the organisation s overall diversity strategy and is required to report back regularly on progress. These groups have not only proved to be a useful forum for generating new ideas and have also contributed greatly to employee engagement. Those involved have appreciated the opportunity to share their views and have also valued the fact that their contribution is being recognised at senior levels. One organisation has brought in diversity councils at business unit level, to complement its quarterly executive-level meetings. This allows individual units to come up with their own initiatives, track success and monitor their own diversity statistics. Each business unit also has a diversity champion, responsible for cascading information across the wider unit, involving peers at all levels and generating interest and support for diversity initiatives. 03

04 DATA AND MEASUREMENT Sophisticated technology is now available to help organisations collect, extract and analyse data at all stages of the employee life cycle. However, it is not yet widely used to support diversity and gender balance initiatives. Round table members discussed the importance of using good quality data to inform discussions and decisions, rather than making assumptions. Sometimes, data can also be used to prompt discussions why female representation is significantly lower in one division compared to others, for instance. There was also some interest in the concept of finding effective ways to measure inclusive leadership. One organisation had experimented with using score cards to measure how many women in a leader s direct line of control were promoted, for example, or how successful they had been in hiring a diverse team. There was a lot of work to do in terms of pinning down the exact measures and the project was still in experimental stages. 04

05 CAREER MANAGEMENT Organisations are using a variety of initiatives to build clear career paths and accelerate the progression of women through the business. One scheme has been set up to encourage cross-industry or cross-discipline moves for women who express an interest in, or exhibit the potential to, progress from within the organisation. This has resulted in a number of appointments being offered at a senior level to women who have been supported in the right way, to really establish confidence and progression. Candidates have made the shift from HR to operational roles, and from a legal background into a diversity role. It was acknowledged that these schemes were high maintenance in terms of time and resources, but they did appear to be delivering results. Putting the onus on employees to drive conversations about performance has also helped one organisation build the confidence of its female employees and open up discussions about future career paths. This initiative has been welcomed by employees in general although at the beginning women often needed encouragement to initiate the conversations and share their aspirations. Putting the onus on employees to drive conversations about performance has also helped one organisation build the confidence of its female employees and open up discussions about future career paths. Informal sponsorship programmes, where women are matched with senior executives who can proactively help them move forward, have highlighted an interesting dynamic for another round table member. The business found that many women had not had access to good quality career discussions in the past, and as a result did not regard themselves as leadership material. The conversations with senior level sponsors has helped the women see themselves in a different light and has also raised their profile with senior leaders who were working on succession planning. 05

06 SETTING WOMEN UP FOR SUCCESS Getting a good female candidate into a senior role is one thing making sure they receive the support to be successful in that role is another. Several examples were shared of women who had found it incredibly difficult to make real progress in their roles, because they weren t given access to key networks or made welcome by their senior peers. A planned integration process, involving mentors and executive sponsors, was the key to success. Sometimes this was simply due to lack of planning, but sadly, sometimes it was due to resentment from male colleagues, typically at middle management level. Several organisations were aware that pockets of discontent were starting to emerge, with male employees feeling that women had been promoted on gender rather than on merit, complaining that systems were unfair and being unsupportive of female colleagues returning from maternity leave. This highlighted the need for inclusion as well as diversity with round table members agreeing that support needed to be provided beyond initial recruitment or promotion into a role. A planned integration process, involving mentors and executive sponsors, was the key to success. Efforts also needed to be made to address discontent among male peers and get them on board with diversity initiatives. 06

07 DEVELOPING MALE CHAMPIONS There was universal agreement about the need for more male advocacy. Men need to be actively involved both in the diversity debate and in practical initiatives to achieve gender balance. One organisation has been working hard to engage men in its campaign to develop more widespread understanding and acceptance of flexible working. Male managers have been encouraged to use the company s Yammer network, for example, to talk about their experiences of flexible working. This had highlighted the fact that although men often do work flexibly (leaving early to watch a child s soccer game for example) they don t feel the need to seek permission in the same way as women do, and often don t recognise it as flexible working. Encouraging men to show vulnerability, and making it safe for them to do so, is another approach that has paid dividends. One round table member ran a staff forum on flexibility where a senior manager spoke openly about his need to juggle work and family responsibilities and the support he had received from the business in taking a more flexible approach to his role. This had opened the floodgates and made it acceptable or other male managers in the business to seek flexibility and talk honestly about their challenges. Although men often do work flexibly (leaving early to watch a child s soccer game for example) they don t feel the need to seek permission in the same way as women do, and often don t recognise it as flexible working. 07

08 ADDRESSING UNCONSCIOUS BIAS Most women have experienced unconscious bias at some time whether it s being the only woman in a meeting and people assuming they are the PA, or being in a restaurant entertaining clients and the waiter placing the bill in front of one of the men at the table. Knowing how to constructively challenge this kind of behaviour in meetings or how to deal with assumptions verbalised by colleagues can be difficult. One round table participant talked about how she had developed an elevator pitch which had helped her prepare to call out unconscious bias. Another talked about how thinking in advance about the kind of language to use had helped give her the confidence to challenge people in a non-confrontational way. One round table member had made a point of encouraging their team to call out unconscious bias in a respectful way whenever they encountered it, based on the premise that it was a group rather than individual responsibility. 08

09 MULTI-GENERATIONAL WORKFORCES We are now in a multi-generational workforce, where thanks to changes in demographics and legislation, employees are working longer than ever before. Skills shortages mean that Baby Boomers (those over 50) in particular will have a vital role to play in the workforce. Older workers are often blamed for stalling the career progression of those coming up through the ranks by hanging onto their positions until retirement, although this doesn t have to be the case. Many organisations employ plenty of talented women capable of progressing to a senior level. Nevertheless, they don t necessarily aspire to leadership roles due to the additional stress and long hours that typically go with them. Career plans that allow people to move sideways as well as up would ensure that more female employees are able to develop their skills and fulfil their potential. Round table participants agreed that organisations needed to take a step back and think more creatively about how they use the skills of all sections of the workforce. Older workers, for example, were often more than happy to step aside from operational roles into more strategic or advisory positions where they could mentor or coach others leaving space for the next generation of talent to come through. Many organisations employ plenty of talented women capable of progressing to a senior level. Nevertheless, they don t necessarily aspire to leadership roles due to the additional stress and long hours that typically go with them. 09

10 FINAL THOUGHTS The diversity landscape has shifted in recent years and there is now widespread acceptance of the need for equal representation at senior level in organisations. Indeed, gender parity is an imperative if Australia is to equip itself to innovate and compete in the increasingly challenging global markets. Morgan McKinley is committed to playing its part in developing the fresh thinking and innovative approaches that will really help to bring about lasting change. Its next round table will take the form of an innovation lab designed to take thinking and action to the next level. The small steps outlined above are beginning to make a difference in the battle for gender equality in the workplace. However, delegates accepted that no amount of well-meaning initiatives could move the dial sufficiently on their own. Watch this space! Diversity is a highly complex issue and if we are to see tangible results, it calls for nothing short of a revolution, with shifts not just in the workplace but also in governance, social norms and the distribution of power. THANK YOU TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS: Elizabeth Griffin - Head of Diversity and Inclusion - Commonwealth Bank Malini Raj - Head of Strategy - Multicultural Community Banking - Commonwealth Bank Michelle Tierney - General Manager Business Development & Strategy NAB Anne-Marie Holubinskyj - Head of Organisational Development - NBN Alison Burgess - Manager, Inclusion & Diversity - Westpac Elliott James - General Manager, Talent Acquisition - Commonwealth Bank Jane Hawkins - Head of Workforce Management - AMP 10

morganmckinley.com.au