COMMENTARY / EMBRACING EQUITY

In this edition’s commentary, our Sterling Members share how their companies #EmbraceEquity, the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day.

What does equity mean for you?

For Barclays, equity means that all colleagues are considered equivalent in terms of their rights, benefits, wellbeing, obligations, and opportunities. COO for Asia Pacific and Middle East, and Country CEO for Singapore, Alex Harrison, explains: “It is a crucial responsibility that we all share, and we have taken significant steps to embrace equity in the workplace by advocating women’s development and advancement making Barclays a great place to work for all our female colleagues. We believe that embracing equity and creating an inclusive and supportive culture is not only the right thing to do, but also the right thing for business.”

At BT, Rodney Kinchington, Regional Managing Director, International Markets APJC and MEA Regions, believes embracing equity is about fostering a culture that champions equality while celebrating the differences that make us unique. “We help empower female colleagues in our workplace by cultivating an environment where every individual feels comfortable to be themselves and receive equal access to career opportunities. Approximately 45% of leaders in the AMEA region are female, and we aim to attain a diversity balance of 50/50.”

Natalie Clark, VP of Apparel Product Supply for VF Asia says: “We are aware that equity is not the same as equality and we are continually reviewing our people development processes and leadership training to ensure our people leaders are directing their efforts to the nuanced needs of each individual. By doing this, we can enable targeted support to under-represented groups within the organization.”

How does it play out in the workplace?

EY has several well-established programmes supporting women in the workplace, shared by Liew Nam Soon, Country Managing Partner for Singapore and Brunei and Asean Regional Managing Partner. The EY global gender accelerator program, Women. Fast Forward, provides support through education, mentorship, innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities. Additional examples include the EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women, the Global Women’s Business Athlete Network, the EY NextGen Women competition and EY Women in Technology.

Josephine Allen (She/Her), Chairperson of the Senior School DEIJ Committee at Tanglin Trust School, explains how the topics are a focus area both for employees and in the curriculum. “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice is one of the school’s strategic priorities, driven by a whole school committee who have both received and deliver DEIJ training. [The School] embraces equity for its students through its curriculum, pastoral structure, and co-curricular activities. The achievements of women are represented in subjects across the curriculum and the pastoral system supports teachers to challenge sexist behaviours.”

At Barclays, their gender employee resource group, Win, is dedicated to enhancing the work environment to attract, retain, and develop women at all levels and career trajectories. The network is designed to empower women, with the support of male allies, to navigate and leverage available resources and networking opportunities.

BT run regular engagement sessions where all female colleagues are invited to exchange ideas on tackling challenges for future BT women leaders, and have recently implemented inclusion allyship training.

What does progress look like?

For Alex Harrison, equity is a journey and a broader issue. “We’ve done a lot of work to engender an environment that is supportive in Singapore, and that’s something we’ll continue to do…. Beyond the bank, it’s also imperative that we improve and enhance the collaboration across various industries – the more collective and aligned scale that we have will be a key enabler to achieving a gender-balanced workforce.”

Liew Nam Soon explains that in 2022, 49% of EY’s Asean promotees were women, compared to 40% the previous year, reflecting the continued focus on enabling everyone to excel. “With women making up half the world’s population, ensuring that they are included in every conversation, decision and solution is not just a business but also a moral imperative to help the world get to a better place.”

Natalie Clark shares her experience as a female leader: “I feel fortunate to be able to work every day, surrounded by a diverse community, that is motivating and satisfying – however embracing equity needs to start with me and how I role model this with my team and my peers. Being curious and listening to one’s teams and their specific individual needs is the journey that we are progressing on at VF, to build a culture of inclusion, consistently demonstrate how we drive awareness on discrimination and take the action that is needed to #embraceequity.”

Read the full story from each company on our LinkedIn page.