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Setting benchmarks in diversity
Emerson Automation has set diversity as one of its major company goals, said Widad Haddad, the company’s vice president & general manager for United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen & Lebanon, in an exclusive interview with Oil Review Middle East at ADIPEC.
EMERSON AUTOMATION IS focusing heavily on increasing diversity within its workforce. In fact, at the ADIPEC 2022 Awards, Emerson was named the 'Oil and Gas Inclusion and Diversity Company of the Year,’ a recognition given to the company for its efforts to drive diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry. The award recognises the top company in the energy industry that promotes, delivers and embeds inclusion and diversity into its business strategy, creating a work environment that is equitable, diverse and inclusive for all employees.
“We got shortlisted as one of three for the Inclusion and Diversity awards at ADIPEC 2022, and we emerged as the winners in that category. Diversity, equity and inclusion at Emerson has been a journey for over five years now, where it’s driven globally, but it’s what we did locally that differentiated us and gave us the advantage to win the award,” said Haddad.
Haddad said that they need to deliberately work on bringing diversity into the work space, because “in the male dominated industry that we are in, if we leave it to an organic way of increasing diversity, it may never happen.” This is mainly because there are not many women already in the industry. According to research from Boston Consulting Group and the World Petroleum Council, women accounted for only 22% of employees in the oil and gas industry globally in 2020.
There are different components in the chain that are needed in order to increase diversity, said Haddad, with acquiring candidates being the first step. Here, Emerson’s HR team is tasked with creating a diverse slate of candidates they pool in. Secondly, it is also important that the panel which interviews candidates is also made up of a diverse group of people.
“We want that diversity in the judging element and in the pool of talent that we bring in,” explained Haddad. “We have several mentorship programmes. We have programmes that take women and show them the different aspects of the business, so they get to see what finance, marketing, sales, and operations are, regardless of what their job is, so that they realise that they have different opportunities.”
Haddad commented that this encourages women to believe that they will never be boxed into one profession if they choose to change.
In addition to one-on-one mentorship to keep women encouraged, Emerson also makes sure to promote and position women in senior leadership positions. The company has increased the participation of women in its Middle East and Africa leadership, with the goal to double the representation of women globally at this level by 2030.
“A lot of the time companies manage to pull in women and develop their talent, but they never get promoted,” commented Haddad. This advocacy is important as well for bringing confidence into an organisation to make them believe that women can be put into leadership roles.
Emerson’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council, as well as the development of a DEI roadmap, has been critical in making impactful strides in fostering a culture of inclusion. Additionally, Emerson has encouraged and supported the establishment of various Employee Resource Groups (ERG) to facilitate the networking of employees and promote awareness of underrepresented communities. n
Emerson lifted the ‘Oil and Gas Inclusion and Diversity Company of the Year’ award at ADIPEC 2022.
