Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just about policies and programs but also about equipping people in the organization with the means to benefit from them.
Prachi Jain, Head of Human Resources at Macquarie in India, discusses the varied facets of the holistic DEI approach adopted by the organization.
How does Macquarie look at Diversity and Inclusion?
According to our recently refreshed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategy, ‘We aim to be diverse, equitable and inclusive, building a better future for people, clients and communities.’ It consists of three pillars – Our Diverse People, Our Equity Commitment and Our Inclusive Culture
-Our Diverse People – Building a workforce that harnesses a range of perspectives, ideas and insights in everything we do.
-Our Equity Commitment – Achieving equitable outcomes by removing barriers and valuing differences, enabling everyone to be included and to reach their full potential.
-Our Inclusive Culture – Creating an environment where people are respected for their uniqueness, valued for their contributions and celebrated for being their authentic selves.
What is the most crucial decision that was taken to improve the gender ratio?
With our holistic approach to DEI, we have continued to invest in our talent pipeline from recruiting to developing and promoting our talent. We ensure diverse representation across our workforce and in senior leadership through strategic sourcing/pipeline development, leveraging our employer value proposition to attract women candidates from diverse backgrounds, support early career development/future skilling, internships and partnerships. We aim to maintain diverse balance at all levels, including in our Intern and Graduate Programs. With our Returner program we focus on skill building and employment opportunities for those on a career break, and through our internal and external talent programs for sponsorship and leadership development, Macquarie has remained focussed on nurturing diverse talent. We also continue to support long-term flexibility in all forms, including hybrid work and continue to improve pay equity. We also make sure we engage men in the journey towards gender equity and have recently launched a regional Male Allies network, empowering them with the tools to make an impact as well as building a community of accountability and empathy to move them towards action.
What was your biggest challenge in creating inclusion at your workplace?
Our focus on creating and maintaining an inclusive culture in the workplace means we need to continue educating staff, maintain awareness in building empathy, psychological safety and cultural competence, and promote visibility of diverse role models. We also need to empower inclusive leaders through various trainings and hold them accountable through scorecards, reporting, etc. We listen to our employees by using DEI data, insights and initiatives such as listening circles and we support our leaders in making informed decisions and having an impactful DEI objective for everyone. In addition, we leverage employee network groups across regions to elevate their networks and encourage strong allyship. We also encourage staff to complete their self ID.
What does Macquarie do to support parent or caregiving responsibility?
Research shows that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on women with reduced economic opportunities and increased responsibilities at home like child supervision and other household responsibilities. Our introduction of gender-neutral parental leave not only increases the amount of time but most importantly indicates our inclusion of all types of families and their compositions, as well as the importance of encouraging men to take more parental leave. Research has shown that more men taking parental leave will have a bigger impact on gender equity for our workplaces as well as across society. It not only allows a father to bond with their child at an important time, as well as build future responsibilities as a parent, but builds empathy for their women team members who go on parental leave and could face similar concerns of facing slower career progression, judgement by colleagues, etc. Additionally, transition leave has been introduced for primary carers to transition back to work with some degree of flexibility, for balancing their childcare responsibilities as they return to work. For a secondary carer (parent), six weeks of leave is available at the time of birth, adoption or custody.
To support our employees’ wellbeing and in recognition of the important role our people undertake through volunteering with thousands of community organisations each year, we offer a wellbeing leave and two days as volunteer leave respectively. As a company we want to build a better future for everyone and as part of our newly launched global DEI strategy, equity means also doing better for our future employees as well as our employees’ families.
What role do men at Macquarie play in bringing gender inclusion at the workplace?
Men play an extremely important role not just as male allies who role model inclusive behaviour and call out non-inclusive comments and behaviour but also as managers and leaders in championing and elevating equity for our people, making data driven, objective and informed decisions, and elevate voices from underrepresented groups. We cannot move forward on gender equity if we do not engage men and work together.
What are the two important steps that organizations should take to become more inclusive?
A famous quote from leading diversity and inclusion expert Verna Myers says, “Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.” Since it is easier to measure diversity than inclusion, many organisations focus on that. However, once a diverse workforce is created, it cannot be sustained if the culture of the organisation is not inclusive. The most important step in creating an inclusive culture is to listen to your people and act on it. Most of the time employees will tell you how to create a psychologically safe environment for them, i.e. how they want to be treated and what will enable them to bring their whole selves to work. Hence, listening to them and creating an action plan to address their concerns is the first step in creating an inclusive culture. The other important element of success is commitment from CEOs and leaders. While the business case for D&I is powerful, it is the combination of the improved financial performance and committed leadership that changes behavior. Them setting the tone from the top, asking direct and meaningful questions on how diverse talent is being nurtured and promoted will pave way to actual change in creating a more inclusive environment.
