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11/07/2018
Speaking as part of a CEDA Women in Leadership panel, Ms Bergin said the institutional framework around workplace culture is still one of the biggest barriers in achieving gender equality but there is work being done.
“The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has done some fantastic work collecting longitudinal data from companies that employ over 100 people,” she said.
“The issue there is often that gender pay gaps exist in organisations where everybody quite happily says ‘no we pay everybody the same for the same work’ and it’s not until they conduct an audit that they find there is a difference.
“I think accountability is the really big bit that’s missing in a lot of organisations, it’s up to them to say ‘well how are we reporting on this to our board, and to the public’.
“In the UK the Gender Equalities Office has just enacted legislation that means that companies over 250 employees have to post on the Gender Equalities Office’s website their gender pay gap according to a certain methodology.
“So literally, public companies are having to disclose what the gender pay gap is.
“The Gender Equalities Office doesn’t do anything, they just publish the information and that in itself is having an impact.”
BHP Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Fiona Vines said to achieve gender equality organisations need to be clear in their goals and be prepared to be held accountable to them.
“Two years ago, BHP’s CEO announced at our AGM that we would achieve gender balance by 2025 and at that point in time we had 17 per cent women in our organisation,” she said.
“That’s quite a shift and it caused quite a stir both within our organisation and particularly outside in the industry where it was seen by some as ‘damn it they got in first’, but by most people as ‘that’s irresponsible, that’s not sustainable, that won’t be done safely, you can’t do that, that’s not possible’.
“So, I think it takes courage of conviction from leaders, not just because it’s the right thing to do but because they absolutely believe it will inform the business strategy and enable the business strategy.”
Ms Vines said organisations need to pay significant attention to the everyday experience of people within the organisation.
“What we’ve discovered at BHP, is that how inclusive an environment is, is very much dependent on the local leader and the other people that they’re working with,” she said.
“It’s very difficult to manage that from the top and so you have to care about people’s experience, you have to have mechanisms to find out about what’s happening, and you have to take action to show that you value the everyday experience that people are having.”
University of Canberra Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, Adjunct Professor and 50/50 by 2030 Foundation Steering Committee Member, Carmel McGregor PSM spoke about the lack of confidence women have around returning to work.
“They’re not the dominant part of the workforce, so they’re under the spotlight and what came out from our study is the lack of confidence that women had,” she said.
“But returning to work actually means that they have to be welcome, that they have the connection about what’s been going on, the ‘what have I missed’.
“And I think that connection with women, or anyone that’s absent from a workplace, is about talking to them on their terms about what it means to come back and being reasonable about expectations.
“I do say to women, don’t hide your situation, because I’ve always found if you are upfront about what you need, men or women, there’s an emotional contract that you’re drawing up and you’re committing to it, as are they.
“If you aren’t upfront and you say I now need to have Friday afternoon off for something with my kids and they didn’t even know you have kids, and they think there’s something almost secretive and dishonest about it, you’ve eroded that trust.”
Ms McGregor said it isn’t just about putting policies in place but also living and breathing those policies.
“And the criticality of the middle managers or the first line managers who read the policy and think ‘hmm that’s great but I’m not going to pay any attention to it’ they have to be held to account, they actually have to implement it,” she said.
“There is definitely a need for those systems but there’s also a need for holding managers to account.”
“The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has done some fantastic work collecting longitudinal data from companies that employ over 100 people,” she said.
“The issue there is often that gender pay gaps exist in organisations where everybody quite happily says ‘no we pay everybody the same for the same work’ and it’s not until they conduct an audit that they find there is a difference.
“I think accountability is the really big bit that’s missing in a lot of organisations, it’s up to them to say ‘well how are we reporting on this to our board, and to the public’.
“In the UK the Gender Equalities Office has just enacted legislation that means that companies over 250 employees have to post on the Gender Equalities Office’s website their gender pay gap according to a certain methodology.
“So literally, public companies are having to disclose what the gender pay gap is.
“The Gender Equalities Office doesn’t do anything, they just publish the information and that in itself is having an impact.”
BHP Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Fiona Vines said to achieve gender equality organisations need to be clear in their goals and be prepared to be held accountable to them.
“Two years ago, BHP’s CEO announced at our AGM that we would achieve gender balance by 2025 and at that point in time we had 17 per cent women in our organisation,” she said.
“That’s quite a shift and it caused quite a stir both within our organisation and particularly outside in the industry where it was seen by some as ‘damn it they got in first’, but by most people as ‘that’s irresponsible, that’s not sustainable, that won’t be done safely, you can’t do that, that’s not possible’.
“So, I think it takes courage of conviction from leaders, not just because it’s the right thing to do but because they absolutely believe it will inform the business strategy and enable the business strategy.”
Ms Vines said organisations need to pay significant attention to the everyday experience of people within the organisation.
“What we’ve discovered at BHP, is that how inclusive an environment is, is very much dependent on the local leader and the other people that they’re working with,” she said.
“It’s very difficult to manage that from the top and so you have to care about people’s experience, you have to have mechanisms to find out about what’s happening, and you have to take action to show that you value the everyday experience that people are having.”
University of Canberra Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, Adjunct Professor and 50/50 by 2030 Foundation Steering Committee Member, Carmel McGregor PSM spoke about the lack of confidence women have around returning to work.
“They’re not the dominant part of the workforce, so they’re under the spotlight and what came out from our study is the lack of confidence that women had,” she said.
“But returning to work actually means that they have to be welcome, that they have the connection about what’s been going on, the ‘what have I missed’.
“And I think that connection with women, or anyone that’s absent from a workplace, is about talking to them on their terms about what it means to come back and being reasonable about expectations.
“I do say to women, don’t hide your situation, because I’ve always found if you are upfront about what you need, men or women, there’s an emotional contract that you’re drawing up and you’re committing to it, as are they.
“If you aren’t upfront and you say I now need to have Friday afternoon off for something with my kids and they didn’t even know you have kids, and they think there’s something almost secretive and dishonest about it, you’ve eroded that trust.”
Ms McGregor said it isn’t just about putting policies in place but also living and breathing those policies.
“And the criticality of the middle managers or the first line managers who read the policy and think ‘hmm that’s great but I’m not going to pay any attention to it’ they have to be held to account, they actually have to implement it,” she said.
“There is definitely a need for those systems but there’s also a need for holding managers to account.”