Diana Wilde

Co-Founder, Aurora50

HOW ARE YOU CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR THE REGION?

The UAE has aligned itself to the United Nation’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), from zero hunger to clean water. When Aurora50 first launched in 2020, we directly aligned our Pathway20 accelerator – which prepares regional women board directors for their first independent board role – to SDG-5, gender equality.

But as we have spread our wings to cover all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, we see our work also covering SDG-10 (reduced inequalities), SDG-4 (quality education and lifelong learning), SDG-8 (decent work and economic growth) and even SDG-3 (good health and well-being)

SDG-13, climate action, also sits well with environment, social and corporate governance (ESG): companies are scored on their ESG rating to measure their impact on society, the environment and how transparent and accountable they are, and this is often a target for companies we work with, replacing older corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which could not be measured so well.

For instance, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) was upgraded from the A to AA category last year by ESG scorer MSCI, putting it in the leader category, and that move was in part made because FAB had partnered with Aurora50.

We were also proud to see our work with Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) being referenced by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change for “driving positive change and equality” in the finance sector (traditionally male-dominated globally), in a report on the modernisation of the Middle East this year. To create high-performance teams and get to the best decisions, organisations need an environment where all voices are valued – we cannot tackle the UN’s sustainable goals without inclusion. This is why Aurora50 grew further into the inclusion space: to achieve our vision of gender balance in the workplace for the GCC region.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOU FACE?

The biggest challenge we see is to generate a culture shift in the middle of organisations – the middle managers, at the mid-level. All organisations have different problems: some have women in the boardroom but not in the ‘C-suite’ - that’s executive-level managers such as the chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO) or chief operating officer (COO).

There is no one-size-fits-all solution but the common theme in companies we talk to is a pain point at the mid-level of the business. In leadership, there tends to be a high willingness and awareness to create an inclusive workplace. Meanwhile the youngest employees in the workforce are highly purpose-driven already. According to research done by consultancy Cubist Martini last year, almost half of Generation Z (those born in 1997 and later) say they would take a substantial pay cut to work for a business that focuses on its social impact as well as its financial returns.

The incoming Generation Z (the so-called ‘Zoomers’) are not an insignificant number either: over 100 million people in the Middle East are aged 15 to 29 years – that’s 27% of the population – making it one of the youngest regions in the world according to the Middle East Youth Initiative. In the UAE, it’s even higher: almost half the population was aged 15 to 35 years in 2020 in 2020.

So, the top is trying to cascade down and the ‘bottom’ is built differently, but there’s a real squeeze in the middle. Middle managers are the “lynchpin” of DEI, according to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. They are responsible for daily operational tasks and for carrying out policies implemented by the executive. They interact closely with employees on a day-to-day level and have a huge amount of discretion, and therefore power, in changing the workplace culture - or not.

HOW ARE YOU OVERCOMING THE AFOREMENTIONED CHALLENGES?

There’s a lot of education to be done at the mid-level, to create buy-in from these crucial and to engage managers to understand the business case - and need - for DEI. Businesses, after all, make decisions on what’s going to make them more money.

McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)’s 2015 report, The Power of Parity, stated that full gender equality in the UAE could contribute US$101 billion to the UAE’s economy within a decade – $10,985 per person. But at a granular level, it is hard for the average manager to understand how they can influence that $101 billion figure. Actually, they need to understand that the Middle East is often not that different to other regions when it comes to the issues it’s tackling; for instance, around 5% of CEOs in the UAE are women, compared to 6% in the US, and gender pay gaps will affect parity in their own team. The Covid-19 pandemic delayed gender equality by at least three decades, the World Economic

Forum thinks.

Parity worldwide is now expected to take 132 years, compared to 100 pre-pandemic, and female labour force participation is at its lowest level since WEF started tracking it in 2006. Again, that is something managers can really influence. Managers have a huge role to play in allyship with their staff: they need to familiarise themselves with their company’s DEI policies and programmes, use inclusive language, be transparent about hiring policies and reinforce zero-tolerance towards disrespectful behaviour. But they also have the challenge of managing both up and down, often without formal recognition of their DEI duties in performance evaluations.

Table Talks is Aurora50’s solution for mid-level inclusion challenges, to activate DEI strategies and to champion diversity of thought across the business, while our AIM accelerator for internal management helps more women reach leadership positions. A key thing we’ve learned is to go beyond unconscious bias training. It’s good that people understand the stereotypes and attitudes that affect our judgement, such as choosing to hire someone from your hometown, but we need to move beyond just surfacing and contemplating our biases to really activating behavioural change by making specific shifts in line with each individual company’s culture and needs.

We work with industry-leading organisations with an authentic culture where leaders genuinely intend to make change, and we provide them with the roadmap to make that change. That creates a trickledown effect from the showcase companies, so the laggards also feel the pressure to change - and eventually we reach the full societal change that will impact global sustainability and help us attain the sustainable development goals.