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After going through this activity, you are expected to:
Read the following case studies that promote gender equality in the workplace:
*Disclaimer: The developed scenarios for jobseekers and HR professionals are linked to existing case studies which report on companies promoting gender equality in the workplace. Read the studies and scenarios and try to think about what you would do in each case.
While the issue of gender diversity, equality, biases and discrimination remain challenges for many businesses, Grant Thornton has been focusing on this for quite a long ago. In October 2020, Grant Thornton Cyprus was certified with the “Great Place to Work” Award and as an “Equality Employer” by the National Certification Body of the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance.
GT supported the promotion of fairness and differentiation based on of ethnicity, race, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity, marital status, age or disability. The company achieved to create an inclusive environment where each colleague is valued for their unique differences and supported to develop their career and grow both professionally and personally.
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) strategy prioritises initiatives that contribute to the benefit of all people and society and ensure that everything is underpinned by respect, psychological safety, acceptance, as well as healthy working environment conditions where the development of everyone is supported. It also empowers people to thrive, regardless of gender, age, and other unique embracing the fact that all people are important and deserve to have equal opportunities.
Its “Leading Inclusively" mission and the Diversity, Inclusion & Wellbeing committee aim to create a culture of inclusion where employees believe that individual differences are valued and that everyone has equitable access to opportunities for growth and development. The committee is made up of six colleagues and every possible effort is made so that the team represents diversity and inclusion.
The members of the committee are acting on behalf of all colleagues, and through their actions, they are promoting and influencing an inclusive and equality-driven culture. Working as a team, assessing ideas and suggestions, bringing innovative ways of thinking and broader perspectives to the table for discussion and consideration, communicating feedback, and identifying solutions to overcome any obstacles that get in the way of achieving this mission.
Throughout the years, the company has implemented a range of actions to increase the support of gender equality and equity in the workplace. The initiatives focus on ensuring equal development opportunities as well as ensuring the same people experience for everyone. A very important strategic initiative to promote diversity, inclusion, and equality is the collaboration with the ‘Equality Allies at work’ program, led by the University of Cyprus. More specifically, it includes the following:
Based on the above case studies that promote gender equality in the workplace, a job applicant or employee must think what they would do to address the following issue:
You are a high positioned female working in a big financial company. Many times, while you warn the employees not to underestimate the deadlines and workload, you notice that they don't take your words seriously and that many times they sit around and waste time instead of working. They know that if they stop working the tasks and deadlines will not progress.
How can you address this by being a men's supervisor?
Based on the above case studies that promote gender equality in the workplace, an HR professionals must think what they would you do to address the following issue:
You work as an HR Professional in a big financial company. You recently got informed by a female supervisor employee who work with you that the majority of male employees don’t take their work seriously and often they underestimate the deadlines and workload by wasting their time instead of working. The female also told you that maybe the other employees do not take seriously the warnings that she makes to them because she is a woman.
How to you address the issue?
While the issue of the gender pay gap saw increasing public attention in 2015, Deloitte has been focusing on understanding the issues that hold women back in the workplace and how to tackle them.
Deloitte supported the Prime Minister’s proposals to require larger employers. For that reason, the company increased the number of women they have at senior levels. Deloitte’s gender pay gap results confirmed the challenge it has to accept, as a business. When someone looks across the organisation as a whole, the gender pay gap stands at 17.8% (around 1.3% below the national figure); however, the pay gap between male and female employees at each grade is significantly lower, at 1.5% on average.
In FY14, the company set an ambition that 25% of its partner group would be women by 2020 and 30% by 2030. It has been understood that if the company achieves this ambition would require sustained and meaningful action and where needed, cultural change.
Since this time, it has implemented a range of actions to increase the number of women it recruits (at both an entry and experienced-hire level), ensured that development opportunities for women are clear, relevant and bespoke to the individual, and worked hard to provide a working environment that truly enables all employees, men and women to balance a successful career with family life.
This focus has been critical to the progress it is now making. It has embraced agile working as a business priority, ensuring our people can work in a way that suits them and the business and has introduced the award-winning Time Out scheme, which enables all our people to take a month’s unpaid leave each year, for any reason.
Its relentless focus on respect and inclusion, of which its “Ask Yourself” film is a part, has also helped to ensure that the company provides the working environment needed – one where the people are judged on the value they can bring to the firm. Alongside this, its new return-to-work placement program for women who have been out of the workforce for more than three years is enabling women who had not previously considered re-starting their careers to do so.
In addition, the re-designed Working Parents’ Transition Programme has enabled those returning from maternity, paternity, parental, and adoption leave to do so with the support needed, to achieve greater gender diversity and meaningful and sustainable change in accelerating progress.
Therefore, to create a more equal and inclusive environment for all employees, human resources staff must consider:
Based on the above case studies promoting gender equality in the workplace, a job applicant or employee like you should think about what you would do to address the following issue:
You are a female employee working in a male-dominated work environment. You have recently taken on a lot of difficult tasks and you wanted to be rewarded for it like everyone else. You decide to discuss with your boss the possibility of a pay rise, but he refuses to tell you that you should try harder. At the same time, you know that a male colleague performed the same tasks and was rewarded with a pay rise.
How do you deal with this action and what is your opinion on equal pay for men and women?
Based on the above case studies promoting gender equality in the workplace, think about what you would do to address the following issue:
A female employee comes to you to talk about an issue that is bothering her. She mentioned that she had taken on a lot of difficult tasks and wanted to be rewarded for it like everyone else. She asked you about the possibility of a pay rise, but you refused to tell her that she had to work harder. At the same time, you were rewarded with those words of applause a male employee who performed exactly the same tasks.
As an HR manager, how do you explain your behaviour?
What would you do differently?
Many HR Professionals of companies and organisations tend to struggle with the implementation of best recruitment practices when it comes to hiring an employee.
Recruitment is one of the most important aspects of any business and its process can be defined as a set of steps that are taken to recruit, screen, and select candidates for a job opening. Many cases of gender bias start at the beginning of the recruitment process before organisations have even had the chance to meet prospective employees.
Numerous studies have demonstrated that job titles, job description language, and role requirements all influence whether or not a candidate self-selects in or out of the hiring process. As researchers at Duke University and the University of Waterloo analysed several job posts, they concluded that the following words are heavily gendered:
Therefore, in many jobs, candidates are judged based on gender stereotypes rather than their skills.
Supporting the recommendations of the Business in the Community (BITC) report, “Route Map to a More Gender Equal Future”, this document provides real-life examples of how these objectives are being achieved in business and outlines the approach businesses should take to protect and where possible, accelerate gender equality at work.
Decisions around job design, marketing of opportunities and hiring criteria are extremely vulnerable to gender bias, significantly shaping who applies for and gets jobs in different sectors, at different levels, and with different pay and reward packages. To address this, each company interested in promoting gender equality in the workforce not only needs to offer training programs on gender equality to its employees and managers but also to offer and promote a transparent approach towards the candidates.
BITC’s gender campaign provides some steps that ensure and support the smooth gender-diverse recruitment process:
Achieving a truly gender-balanced workforce means employers must recruit and progress the best talent – irrespective of gender. The commercial imperative for realising women’s potential in the workplace is clear: gender equality enhances employee engagement, boosts productivity, meets the diverse needs of customers and suppliers, and improves brand reputation.
Based on the above case studies that promote gender equality in the workplace, a job applicant or employee must think about what they would do to address the following issue:
You are a female applicant who was interested in the vacant position of secretary in a law company. During the interview, the male HR professional instead of focusing on your skills kept asking personal questions that were not job-related.
What advice would you give to a hiring manager who conducts interviews and is constantly in contact with male and female applicants?
Based on the above case studies that promote gender equality in the workplace, a job applicant or employee must think about what they would do to address the following issue:
You work as an HR Professional in a law company. You just finished a job interview with a female applicant who was interested in the vacant position of secretary, you saw the applicant quite sceptical. You noticed that from all the questions you asked, you focused on asking her personal questions rather than questions related to their skills.
Do you think that this is appropriate in a job interview?
Yes or no, and why?
What would you do differently?