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Promoting diversity must be at the heart of our corporate strategies
On International Women’s Day, and a century on from women gaining the vote, the diversity battle is far from won, argues Bjorn Howard
Today is International Women’s Day, and this year also marks the 100th anniversary of some women being granted the vote in the UK.
It’s an important milestone for the country, not least because, even a century on, there’s still a need to create a society that has genuine gender diversity.
And this is true for our sector, too.
As well as supporting our social purpose, being more proactive on diversity could actually help housing address some of its key challenges.
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McKinsey’s study on the topic last year found that moves towards diversity improve decision-making as boards better represent society, as well as customer groups.
It also pointed out that doing so fosters talent across the rest of a business – appealing to everyone by giving them strong role models from both genders.
Since attracting talent is a key issue facing the sector in the coming years, we need to ensure that boards demonstrate that career progression is down to individual talent.
But it’s not about being blind to gender – workplaces must adjust so people, such as working parents, are supported.
“Moves towards diversity improve decision-making.”
For example, truly flexible working, which we have implemented at Aster, means people can do their jobs regardless of where they live and both women and men can work around childcare or other family commitments.
As part of our drive towards greater diversity, we’ve partnered with Vote 100 – a high-profile campaign that raises awareness of the Representation of the People Act of 1918 that changed the law on who could vote.
Our involvement, led by our people and transformation director, Rachel Credidio, was a result of the number of women in senior positions across our business. We recognise, however, that this is simply one measure and we have more work to do.
Gender is not the only marker of diversity – having a range of social backgrounds is harder to measure but is something the sector needs to be better at.
Senior decision-makers of different backgrounds bring a plurality of opinions and challenge boards.
This is important as we know investors seek strong corporate governance.
Meanwhile, according to the latest RepTrack report, which tracks consumer perceptions of brands, customers are increasingly putting more importance on it, too.
“Senior decision-makers of different backgrounds bring a plurality of opinions.”
At Aster, we’re asking ourselves some questions as part of our new approach – for example do some job specifications in our business require people to have degree-level qualifications when they aren’t necessary?
Many of our colleagues can work from home or another office to suit them, meaning we can hire people based on their suitability for the job, not simply how close they live to our offices.
As the sector becomes increasingly pressured by high delivery targets amid a UK-wide skills shortage, promoting diversity must be at the heart of our corporate strategies. It is the right thing to do, of course, but it also makes total business sense.
Bjorn Howard, group chief executive, Aster Group
Inclusive Futures
Inside Housing’s Inclusive Futures campaign aims to promote and celebrate diversity and inclusion.
We are pledging to publish diversity audits of our own coverage.
We are also committed to proactively promoting positive role models.
We will do this through the pages of Inside Housing. But we will also seek to support other publications and events organisations to be more inclusive.
Our Inclusive Futures Bureau will provide a database of speakers and commentators from all backgrounds, for use by all media organisations.
We are also challenging readers to take five clear steps to promote diversity, informed by the Chartered Institute of Housing’s diversity commission and the Leadership 2025 project.
THE INCLUSIVE FUTURES CHALLENGE
Inside Housing calls on organisations to sign up to an inclusive future by taking five steps:
Prioritise diversity and inclusion at the top: commitment and persistence from chief executives, directors and chairs in setting goals and monitoring progress.
Collect data on the diversity of your board, leadership and total workforce and publish annually with your annual report. Consider gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality, age, and representation of tenants on the board.
Set aspirational targets for recruitment to the executive team, board and committees from under-represented groups.
Challenge recruiting staff and agencies to ensure that all shortlists include candidates from under-represented groups.
Make diversity and inclusion a core theme in your talent management strategy to ensure you support people from under-represented groups to progress their careers.
INSIDE HOUSING’S PLEDGES
We will take proactive steps to promote positive role models from under-represented groups and provide information to support change.
We pledge to:
Publish diversity audits: We will audit the diversity of the commentators we feature. We will formalise this process and publish the results for future audits twice a year.
Promote role models: We will work to highlight leading lights from specific under-represented groups, starting in early 2018 with our new BME Leaders List.
Launch Inclusive Futures Bureau: We will work with the sector to compile a database of speakers, commentators and experts from under-represented groups. The bureau will be available to events organisers, media outlets and publications to support them to better represent the talent in the sector.
Take forward the Women in Housing Awards: Inside Housing has taken on these successful awards and will work to grow and develop them.
Convene Inclusive Futures Summit: Our new high-level event will support organisations to develop and implement strategies to become more diverse and inclusive.
CIH Careers Week
What is CIH Careers Week?
- CIH Careers Week (#CIHCareersweek) is running all this week (5-9 March).
- This coincides with National Careers Week #NCW2018 which promotes careers guidance for young people
- Inside Housing will be running a series of pieces throughout the week about housing careers, from both junior and senior sector staff
- CIH Futures - a board of 15 CIH members under 40 - also has lots of activity planned
- It will be encouraging CIH members to use a #careerpledge template to pledge action to promote careers
- Follow the hashtag #CIHCareersweek to keep up to speed with the week's events, which include CIH Futures webinars and a live Q&A on Wednesday
Careers Week articles:
What are you doing to make a career in housing attractive? Faisal Butt challenges the sector on what its doing to attract and retain talent
Promoting housing careers beyond the sector's echo chamber We all have a role to play in making a career in housing more appealing, writes Adam Clark
Use the power of mentoring Why everybody in the sector should mentor a young person, by Elly Hoult
The apprenticeship game To mark the Chartered Institute of Housing’s #CIHCareersWeek, we are republish a piece looking at apprenticeships in the sector
Your #CIHCareersWeek videos Housing’s best and brightest have made Twitter videos this week to answer the question: why housing? Watch a selection of them below
