Following our recent Benelux DE&I roundtable discussion, it was clear that in this challenging economic environment, companies need to double-down on their DEI strategy to both protect the progress already made and to attract and retain key talent.
Key business challenges under current economic circumstances
Uncertainty (which makes it difficult to make meaningful/structural decisions)
Talent attraction and retention
People productivity and engagement
Agility in reacting to unexpected disruptions
The implications for DEI people strategy
DEI is as important as ever for an effective talent strategy
Gender balance continues to dominate the conversation about Diversity in Europe, particularly in industries that are traditionally male dominated (e.g., high tech).
The extent to which this continues to be the focus can vary depending on cultural factors and geography
Female workplace participation and career trajectory continues to have more disruptions due to greater child-care and other caregiving responsibilities
Some geographies are making more progress than others – e.g., larger proportion of women in tech jobs in Central and Eastern Europe and other tech hubs like Israel than in Western business centers in France, Germany, Netherlands. Eastern European countries sometimes have a positive female: male 60/40 split while DACH countries are more balanced
Often there are cultural and historical factors - e.g., in Western Europe/Netherlands – women expected to stop working (or only work part-time) after marriage / pregnancy, or mandated to go on maternity leave 30 days prior to expected delivery
Hiring practices / social factors (like encouraging girls to study STEM) are having a positive impact on future talent pools
There is a greater focus on Equity, Inclusion and increasingly the idea of Belonging
A key component of Equity is related to equal pay for equal work – fair pay
Impact of hiring practices on diversity and equity (e.g., ensuring diverse candidates are considered and offering higher initial offers to female candidates – since male candidates are more likely to negotiate the initial offer than female candidates)
Belonging means the sense of connectedness which results from being in an environment of psychological safety where all employees are treated fairly and can be their full selves in the workplace (D+E+I = Belonging)
How companies can stay the course on DEI people initiatives / strategy
Ensure you have reviewed the foundational elements in place, e.g., Job Architecture, Job Levelling, Competencies and Skills Framework, and Rewards framework. When it comes to DEI initiatives, policies and practices ensure there is a proper governance and activation in place. All too often things look great on paper while the application is lacking.
Hiring practices
Review the whole recruitment and hiring process – including job post, application process, hiring and onboarding
Engage with hiring managers to avoid diversity fatigue – they need to live it
Work with good recruiters who help candidates better understand the DEI impact on the work environment and culture (not just good storyteller based on company website)
Monitor pay (e.g., offer based on internal/external worth not how ‘cheap’ you can get them in)
ERGs
Increase Diversity by establishing Employee Resource Groups (ERG). Effective ERGs have a clearly defined mandate and community, including:
Set up roadmap
Identify ambassadors / sponsors / community members (include different types of people)
Define budget
Articulate targets (financial and non-financial)
Culture
Executive sponsorship and influence are critical to bringing DEI vision to life in everyday company culture (e.g., Head of DEI, with strong support from CEO, coordinating initiatives top-down, more structured initiatives centrally, and scaling it locally)
Leadership roles models
Offer education programs for leaders/managers (e.g., unconscious bias training)
Establish mentoring & coaching processes (e.g., encourage more internal mobility – focus on females who tend to be less risk averse within their career)
Review promotion process to remove unconscious bias – provide additional support to minority groups
Benefits
Acknowledge that treating everyone fairly doesn’t mean treating everyone the same – different groups/individuals have different needs
Review benefits from DEI perspective to determine how equitable/inclusive these programs currently are (special attention is warrant around your health & benefits (risk) insurances)
Consider implementing global minimum standard to support equitable employee experience – some of this is also driven/supported by incoming regulations (e.g., EU Work-Life Directive)
Review the structure of leave programs to make them more inclusive (e.g., gender neutral family leave with additional medical leave for birthing mother is more inclusive and more common in the US)
Remember that social, regulatory, and infrastructural constraints/differences that may apply in various geographies make it challenging to create a consistent employee experience in multiple locations/countries – e.g., Rainbow families project
Recognize that creating inclusive benefits relies more on company DEI values / objectives and less on market median practices (unlike other benefits benchmarking projects)
