The pandemic put a spotlight on inequalities at work and brought a renewed focus to fixing workplaces and not people, business leaders say. (Content Partnership)
Women, Pasifika and Māori were most impacted by job losses in the wake of Covid. Of the 11,000 people who lost their jobs in the June 2020 quarter, 90 percent were women.
While the rate of unemployed women has declined since then, latest labour market figures from Stats NZ show the high rate of underemployment, 12.2 percent, was largely due to more women being on part-time work.
Kiwibank chief people officer Charlotte Ward has worked in human resources for more than 20 years and says Covid brought a number of issues that had been normalised in the workplace to the surface.
The closure of schools and daycares because of Covid meant women took on the bulk of childcare duties and a poll of 40,000 workers in the United States by McKinsey revealed women were more likely than men to opt out of work, with 1 in 4 women considering leaving their jobs, cutting back hours, or scaling back work because of the pandemic.
Ward says for too long the conversation around inclusivity has centred around “fixing” women, but Covid has shown workplaces need to be redesigned to become more inclusive of people from all walks of life.
“We are still talking about women needing to be more self confident, having mentors and removing unconscious bias, leaning in, like there is something wrong with women," Ward says.
“But what if it's not the women or the workers, but the environment that needs to be changed? When a flower doesn’t bloom, you need to look at the soil in which it grows, not the flower itself.”
Ward says she had an “aha!” moment while reading the book The Fix, by gender and organisations expert and former New Zealand journalist Michelle P King, that outlines how to change workplaces to foster inclusivity throughout an organisation, all the way to leadership.
The book starts with an anecdote about Sarah, a diligent, hard working 40-something-year-old woman who was "smart, capable, experienced, well experienced" who King came across in her career.
Sarah was one of the best leaders King knew, yet, year after year she would get passed over for senior leadership roles. When King finally confronted the company’s chief operating officer why he rejected her year after year, he said it was because "she just doesn't fit in...She has those glasses and wears that clip in her hair, you know”.
Sarah didn't fit into the traditional mould of a leader.
A Bain & Company US survey of 1000 men and women in 2014 found 60 percent of respondents said an ideal worker maintained a high profile, worked long hours, and put the company's needs ahead of family's needs.
King argues this prototypical leader could also be seen as the fictional character Don Draper, who is an advertising executive living in the 1960s in the TV series Mad Men. The character personifies toxic masculinity, the author argues.
Kiwi Wealth acting chief executive Rhiannon McKinnon says while the Don Draper-type of leader might be a little outdated, she has certainly seen many Sarahs in her career.
“I've seen it play out more for women 10 years ahead of me in my career. I’ve seen really competent women who had to be assertive and were then penalised for being assertive,” McKinnon says.
Women in leadership positions have to fit “extremely narrow” ideas of what a leader should look like.
“You've got to be assertive but also walk the tightrope of being extremely feminine in some other way.”
McKinnon says she’s seen women she’s looked up to struggle to get to the top tier of leadership despite being highly competent and “no more assertive than any male in the room”.
It wasn’t until she became a mother that she took a deep interest in making workplaces inclusive.
“I wanted to understand what it means to be out of the workforce for a while and then come back and how does that look and how to make workplaces fair for both parents.”
Researching this while transitioning back to the workplace full time also exposed her to the intersectionality of inclusivity and how workplaces have been designed by able-bodied men, for people who look like them.
Ward says inequality is ingrained in the workplace, and a number of studies carried out last year in the wake of the pandemic only prove that.
For instance, research by McKinsey last year surveying 1122 executives and 2656 employees across 11 countries, including Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom found Covid disproportionately impacted women and minorities in the workplace. The survey found women were more likely to cut hours to manage childcare responsibilities or lose jobs because they were in female-dominated industries like hospitality and retail, which were severely impacted by lockdowns.
“An inclusive leader is aware of their own biases and preferences." – Charlotte Ward, Kiwibank
Meanwhile LGBTQ+ employees reported a higher loss of belonging than their straight and cisgender peers - and people of colour in majority-white countries were especially worried about workplace health and safety, as well as career progression and balancing responsibilities at home.
Louise Aitken, chief executive of social enterprise Ākina, says thinking about inclusivity and flexibility before the pandemic, prepared the organisation well for the Covid disruption last year.
When she was promoted to head the social enterprise four years ago, Aitken wanted to encourage her team to bring their “whole selves” to work.
“I wanted to be open, share that I have a small child, that their work is only a part of their lives and to recognise the importance of what they had outside of work,” Aitken says.
Her biggest learning experience has been undergoing organisational change to incorporate, celebrate and reflect Te Ao Māori by upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
“As a tangata tiriti organisation with a Māori name, we have a responsibility to contribute to a more equitable society that supports tangata whenua-led processes, where Māori worldviews and values shape how we work every day,” she says.
“We’ve undergone organisation-wide Tiriti ō Waitangi training, and we’re supporting staff to learn and use more Te Reo Māori. We are working on ways to weave tikanga into how we work, and direct more of our services towards Māori organisations.”
Aitken says those changes mean she’s had to give up her seat at the table.
“The biggest learning I've had is that when contributing to a more inclusive society, sometimes you have to step out of the way. Being able to recognise you're not the organisation or individual who should have a seat at the table or the loudest voice.”
Aitken says it's only recently that there has been a focus on vulnerability and honesty in leadership.
“You had to pretend you knew it all and often that came at the detriment of other parts of your life.
“But we're seeing a change in how leaders lead and those who are extremely successful are the ones who openly talk about that and make the changes they need within their organisation."
Ward says gone are the days of the leader who calls all the shots.
Someone who comes up with all the ideas themselves, without listening to others, is damaging not only to women but also to men about what they're expected to live up to, she says.
“An inclusive leader is aware of their own biases and preferences.
“Knowing who you are as a person and as a leader and actively seeking different viewpoints and perspectives and drawing on the strengths of others, is increasingly being recognised as a really important basis for leadership,” Ward says.
She says it makes business sense too.
“The more diverse the team, the more innovative, you are likely to come up with different, better ideas rather than group thinking,” Ward says.
McKinnon says “fixing” the workplace also benefits men rather than penalising them for wanting to take a break to look after their children.
“It’s hard for men to think they will take parental leave. We need to normalise that. Covid showed us women were still mainly in charge of childcare duties during lockdown.”
She says change has to be led from the top. “It's making sure you're listening to people's opinions and what they can bring to the table. Avoiding affinity bias is something I'm conscious of and still working on.”
Affinity bias is the unconscious tendency to get along with others who are like us.
"Women in leadership positions have to fit extremely narrow ideas of what a leader should look like." – Rhiannon McKinnon, Kiwi Wealth
McKinnon says leaders should recognise and acknowledge their privilege.
“No matter how competent that I may be at my job, there might be lots of other people that are equally competent that haven't had the chance to go for it, for a whole range of other factors.
“That's a really interesting thing to get your head around. The lack of diversity stems from looking for skills in people that happen to look the same.”
Even at the recruitment level, the net must be cast wider. “When leaders look one way, you end up hiring the same people.”
AUT business school professor Jarrod Harr says the tide is turning in the job market, tipping in favour of workers.
According to Seek, June was the fourth consecutive month to see record jobs being advertised. Job ads grew by 24 percent compared with June 2019.
Harr says since the pandemic, workers are seeking roles that offer flexibility and give people a sense of purpose.
And if you want to be a desirable workplace, you have to offer what workers want.
Ward says the key to creating an inclusive workplace starts with the little things.
It's the combination of hundreds of small steps, like offering flexibility, not holding meetings before or after work hours, or having inclusivity and diversity conversations and events as well as training, that are required to make long-lasting change.Aitken says businesses have no choice but to adapt or die.
“Not only are consumers and employees expecting more from companies, but also investors and boards. This helps improve outcomes for all, by either shutting down businesses not fit for purpose or by recognising that they have to go on a journey that might expose their flaws. But the best leaders are the ones that are able to respond and adapt.”
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