TH E B IG STO RY PAGEGROU P
Kirk says it is essential that their work is not seen as separate from the rest of the company, emphasising that it needs to be aligned to its different functions, be they marketing or talent management. “It comes back to attracting, retaining, developing and supporting talent,” she says.
Mirroring the way Kirk and Hughes themselves are the living embodiment of the company’s approach. “It doesn’t matter whether someone is a woman, a parent, LGBT or has a disability, their career options don’t change; it’s about their ability to do the job,” explains Hughes. After working for many years on the operational side of the business, having both had children they returned to work, throwing themselves into their new roles to drive greater diversity and inclusion. “We wanted a job where we had increased flexibility,” says Hughes. Surprisingly, given the volume of initiatives and programmes launched on their watch, both continue to work only three days a week. Kirk says building the business case for greater diversity & inclusion is about showing the effects of specific initiatives and programmes. Virtually everything that moves gets measured. By way of example, Kirk says there has been a 10% increase in productivity for women taking part in the company’s female mentoring scheme. Other figures regularly monitored are attrition rates, maternity return rates, engagement and absenteeism rates broken down by gender. The company’s global employee engagement survey conducted every two years has proved invaluable in gauging staff sentiment. Everything is reported back to the business ensuring there is real ownership of and accountability for delivery. Kirk points out that part of CEO Steve Ingham’s remuneration – as well as her own – is linked to achieving these targets.
Real people, real stories While gender is “the easiest place 24 RECRUITER
to start”, according to Hughes, the most challenging areas are those that have “an invisible element”, most notably LGBT and disability. “You need people to declare, and to do that you need people to feel confident in the environment in which they are working to speak out.” Hughes says the one of most powerful ways to achieve this has been through using “real people” to
WOMEN@PAGE
Actions taken as part of Women@Page include: ▶ Global mentoring scheme launched ▶ Global mini site ▶ Regularly publish ‘Real People and Real Stories’ ▶ Created Women@Page ‘Yammer’ network ▶ Introduced Everywoman female leadership programme
share their “real stories”. It could be a member of staff who has lost a loved one through mental health issues, for example. “It shows their colleagues this is how they dealt with it but their career hasn’t suffered.” While measuring how a diverse workforce is relatively straightforward, inclusion can appear a more nebulous concept. “Diversity is about respecting what makes people different – that’s what it looks like. Inclusion is what it feels like,” explains Hughes. “Everybody should be able to bring their whole selves to work,” adds Kirk, quoting a strapline used in many of the company’s internal communication campaigns. “It’s all about shifting attitudes, belonging and how people feel.” The company’s latest global engagement survey undertaken in 2017 indicates signs of progress, with 83% of staff positively engaged compared with 81% in 2015.
Feeling it Language is important, says Kirk. Indeed, she reveals “internally we
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