While every self-respecting company will have embraced the importance of Diversity and Inclusion by now, actual gender equality is still a long way off. elipsLife’s Stefan Duran warns that we should not fixate on the present and “focus instead on the ultimate goal: providing equal opportunities for all.”
Since last year’s update to the corporate governance code for large companies, organizations are required to ensure an ‘appropriate’ degree of diversity in senior management positions. It is another step towards more diversity that also has implications for SMEs, says Stefan Duran, head of Business Development Benelux at insurer elipsLife. “The code only applies to big corporates, but they do have the power to move the needle. Once large companies embrace D&I, smaller companies have to follow suit. After all, you are fishing in the same pond, looking for ever-more scarce candidates."
More and more organizations are recognising the importance of D&I. “We have already come quite far in quantifying D&I and are quite capable of measuring employee influx and churn. However, while we are aware that we are some way off achieving a gender balance in senior management positions, the reasons for this and the best way to design a D&I strategy are still big unknowns.HR is perfectly placed to help foster change,” Duran notes.
Not a business case
Fostering change is a good thing, but there is no roadmap yet for safeguarding gender balance on the workplace as people’s careers progress - no matter how natural it may be - and putting a representative number of women in leadership roles. It all starts with changing your approach, Duran argues. “The issue is often seen as little more than a business case: diverse teams make better decisions and thus achieve better results. This is yet another results-based perspective, and the real question is whether your ultimate goal is to optimise results or to provide men and women exactly the same opportunities to advance their careers from an authentic, intrinsic motivation. If you are striving for the latter, this balance should be reflected throughout the organization.”
Linking D&I to business objectives appeals primarily to goal- and results-oriented individuals. "The female side of the business has different drivers and will be motivated by factors other than tangible results to achieve a 50-50 balance. It is important to ask yourself whether 'more women in leadership roles’ in your organization is an end in itself or a necessary consequence of the ultimate goal of equal opportunities for all."
“Only by fighting to provide equal opportunities to all men, women, religions and cultures can you inspire real change”
Job ads
An everyday example that Duran is personally familiar with is writing job ads. “Do you put enough thought into your job requirements, making sure that the role is equally appealing to men and women? You do not have to achieve a 50-50 split for every role. Certain terms, for instance, like "self-starter" and "results-oriented" are more fundamentally appealing to men. Job ads are a reflection of the author’s own context and framework. Adopting a different, more feminine perspective, may actually net more results and produce a better candidate: one who is not results-oriented, but relationship-oriented, which can be more beneficial in the long run.”
Embracing diversity may prompt you to revisit and reformulate your objectives. "Take elipsLife. We strive to gain and retain customers because we want to provide fitting risk coverage and want to help customers who find themselves in a tricky situation. Importantly, pursuing this goal required us to redefine what constitutes a good result, focusing not on hard, quantifiable metrics like customer numbers, but on helping people instead. In the end, that’s what we do, so perhaps we are setting the wrong targets.”
From results to mission
If you want your company to reflect society at all levels, you may have to set different goals. “It all revolves around culture. Transforming your culture without certain promise of results requires letting go of the familiar and taking a leap of faith. What will you have to sacrifice to create truly equal opportunities for every member of your organization? You have to leave your comfort zone to achieve change. Look inward and ask what you want to achieve as a company: good results or conveying your purpose or mission as optimally as possible?”
Look inward and ask what you want to achieve as a company: good results or conveying your purpose or mission as optimally as possible?”
Speaking of culture, surely diversity and inclusion is not just about men and women, but also about cultures, religion and gender identity? “Absolutely. But even gender diversity alone is a tall order, so let’s start there first. Genuinely providing equal opportunities for all is complex enough, and while the benefits for team performance are welcome, they should not be the main goal.”
Give men space
Many men are already intrinsically motivated to provide equal opportunities, Duran claims. You can help them by shifting your company culture: “It is still common for women to take a step back and care for children, for example, and men are given much less room for parenting. In some companies, men who express their wish to take a day off to look after the children are told that ‘children are for the weekend’. If it is easier for men to pursue careers, you should make it easier for them to enable their wives to advance their careers. This change can harm your organization: setting developments into motion to offer more career opportunities to your employees’ partners may see your staffing hours plummet.
Achieving gender diversity alone is a tall order, so let’s start with that first.”
In doing so, you will be making a greater contribution to D&I than by simply setting the goal of ensuring that 50% of leadership roles are held by women. “Only by fighting to provide equal opportunities to all men, women, religions and cultures can you inspire real change. Equal opportunities in senior management will be the natural result.”
