Paradigm for Parity® Coalition Companies Are Prioritizing Hiring and Promoting Diverse Candidates
Women and men enter the workforce at the same rate, but as women climb the corporate ladder the percent of women in leadership positions drops significantly, according to the 2018 Women in the Workplace report. Paradigm for Parity® coalition companies are working to prioritize diversity as they hire and promote employees. Executives from Bloomberg LP, Ingersoll Rand and Willis Towers Watson share the steps they are taking to get more women into leadership positions.
Peter Grauer, the Chairman of Bloomberg LP, discusses the company’s approach to hiring and promoting diverse candidates for all open positions.
“Diversity and equality have been at the core of Bloomberg culture as long as we have been around. Creating a process to attract and give equal opportunity to applicants of all genders is a banner we are proud to have taken up. It has to be from the top down — employees need to know leadership has bought in, and we have seen this approach create a rising tide across our business.
“Cas Holloway, global head of technical operations, runs an international team with over a thousand people. Regardless if an internal candidate or a front runner exists, he requires his managers to post all open positions internally and externally, and commits the time and resources to attract a diverse slate of talent for every role. Casting a wide net is the only way to ensure that the best candidate gets the job. By personally reviewing the candidate slates for every role, he sets the tone from the top and his managers understand that diversity — whatever form it takes — makes our teams better. Today, Bloomberg has one of the most diverse technical operations teams out there and is stronger for it.
“Inclusive hiring practices give our managers more qualified candidates to consider, and empower them with the information they need to make the best hiring decision for our business.
“Bloomberg is proud to have been at the forefront of including gender equality as a best practice for hiring, and we will continue to make it a priority.”
Michelle Murphy, the Vice President Global Talent Acquisition and Chief Diversity Officer of Ingersoll Rand, discusses how joining the Paradigm for Parity® coalition has helped the company learn best practices on creating a diverse workforce.
“At Ingersoll Rand, inclusion and respect are core to who we are. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is rooted in longstanding values — integrity, respect, teamwork, innovation, and courage; it’s a key reason we’ve endured since 1871.
“Ingersoll Rand was the first in our industry to join the Paradigm for Parity® coalition and commit to gender parity in our corporate leadership structure by 2030. The Paradigm for Parity® coalition connects us with like-minded companies striving for gender parity; we are able to learn from one another and accelerate progress. We are seeing a positive effect in our company, too. The Paradigm for Parity® coalition offers a powerful global platform to talk about the need for gender parity, and what we’re doing to address it.
“The Paradigm for Parity® roadmap is a natural extension of our efforts to create a progressive, diverse and inclusive workplace. We have a suite of programs and resources that help our people learn about and celebrate diversity and inclusion. Our businesses and functions have customized action plans that address opportunities holistically, including workforce goals and hiring plans, leadership programs for women and diverse talent, external partnerships, flexible work programs, employee resource groups, and more.
“These efforts work in concert to elevate awareness and action for a more gender-balanced workforce. We have more to do, and we look forward to continued dialogue, learning and accelerated progress with our Paradigm for Parity® coalition peers.”
Beatrice Opoku-Asare, the Global Director of Inclusion and Diversity of Newmont Mining, shares the steps the company is taking to create a diverse and inclusive workforce.
“Paradigm for Parity® coalition is a call to action from business leaders, both women and men, to achieve gender parity in corporate America by 2030. It is a movement of CEOs, senior executives, founders, board members and academics committed to building inclusive workplaces where women and men have equal representation, status and opportunity to achieve sustainable business and societal goals. Newmont Board members Noreen Doyle (Board Chair), Ronee Hagan (Chair- Leadership Development and Compensation Committee) and Jane Nelson (Board member) are also founding members of Paradigm for Parity.
“On August 12, 2016, Gary Goldberg (Chief Executive Officer) formally signed the CEO statement in support of ‘Paradigm for Parity® — A Call to Action and Model for Gender Equality”. He is publicly committed to gender parity in leadership positions in corporate America by 2030 and actively driving the movement’s roadmap within Newmont. All of Newmont’s Regional Senior Vice Presidents also formalized their personal commitments to the Paradigm for Parity® coalition in 2017.
“The roadmap and toolkit provided by the Paradigm for Parity® coalition outlines a scientific framework and roadmap and aligns with Newmont’s values and commitment to creating an environment where everyone has the opportunity to contribute, develop and work together to deliver our purpose.
“In 2017, Newmont leveraged the Paradigm for Parity® framework — especially Toolkit one, Understand your Baseline — to undertake a comprehensive three-year, look-back analysis at our overall Inclusion and Diversity progress while engaging more than 800 employees globally in a root cause analysis of obstacle to parity through focus group discussions.
“Going forward Newmont’s efforts will emphasize genuine culture change, supported by pragmatic systemic actions to enable interruption of unconscious biases that exist in our Talent Management processes. Newmont’s three key global objectives for 2018, informed by the Paradigm for Parity® toolkit, include:
· Eliminating basic symbols of exclusion
· Role modeling inclusive behaviors; continuing our Inclusive Leadership Workshops
· Improving Talent Management processes through testing and learning from three initial systemic disruptors
o Diverse hiring/ succession slates and interview panels
o Gender neutral job descriptions or postings
o Blind resume recruiting Continuing to support and partner with our Business Resource Groups to create an even more inclusive culture at the grassroots level
“We value the thorough and detailed lessons that other Paradigm for Parity® coalition members have shared so we can continue making progress together.”
John Haley, the CEO of Willis Towers Watson, which joined the coalition in December 2016, shares the company’s focus on increasing the number of women in leadership and how the company is working towards this goal.
“Our company had been focused on Inclusion and Diversity internally for a number of years, and had made modest progress. With the growing fact base to underscore the benefits of a diverse workforce and inclusive environment, it was the right time to publicly signal Willis Towers Watson’s commitment to gender balance. A key differentiator for joining the Paradigm for Parity® coalition was the 5-Point Action Plan. We have incorporated aspects of the plan throughout our talent strategy and objectives.
“Last year, we agreed to three company-wide areas of focus: increasing the pipeline for underrepresented talent; increasing the number of women and overall diversity in leadership; and, promoting an inclusive culture. This year, we launched an integrated approach to building gender balance in leadership by targeting key aspects of the “talent lifecycle” — how we attract, develop, promote and retain women. We continue to look to the work of the Paradigm for Parity® coalition for key insights and the latest learning to drive Willis Towers Watson forward in this important effort.”
About the Paradigm for Parity® Coalition
The Paradigm for Parity® coalition is composed of CEOs, senior executives, founders, board members and business academics who are committed to achieving a new norm in corporate leadership: one in which women and men have equal power, status, and opportunity.
The coalition created the Paradigm for Parity® 5-Point Action Plan for corporations to accelerate the pace of gender equity in senior executive roles. This unique agenda defines bold and specific actions that, taken together and simultaneously implemented as a package, will catalyze change and enable today’s business executives to secure the best leaders of tomorrow. Visit www.paradigm4parity.com or follow us on Twitter using @p4parity to learn more about this exciting initiative.
