“Equal opportunities between men and women is not only a matter of justice, but in the future it will become a decisive factor in business success in an environment of globalized competition. “Whoever wants to recruit the best cannot ignore equal opportunities or women.” The phrase, uttered in its day by Christine Bergmann, Minister of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth of Germany between 1998 and 2002, continues to have maximum validity today, two decades later. Multiple and different studies support the contributions of equality. Thus, for example, the ClosinGap Index indicates that the Spanish economy, if full parity occurs, could generate wealth worth more than 212 billion euros, equivalent to 17.6% of GDP in 2021.
However, progress in gender equality in the world has stalled, according to the latest global report from the World Economic Forum, which predicts that equality will be achieved within 131 years. Despite this stagnation, of which the Covid pandemic is no exception, experts gathered by La Vanguardia and AENOR agreed that “there is no turning back.” Susana Estudillos, Social Sustainability Manager at AENOR, participated in the debate; Teresa Manjón, director of Labor Relations and Diversity at Sacyr; Diego Trombatore, Manager of Labor Relations and Social Affairs, Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at McDonald’s; and Alfonso Garrido-Lestache, director of Human Resources at JCDecaux Spain.
Companies have a lot to do and say in this process. Sacyr, McDonald’s and JCDecaux are a good example that there are companies committed to gender equality and the inclusive management of diversity that, in addition, “go beyond pure regulatory compliance,” said Susana Estudillos. McDonald’s and JCDecaux are certified by AENOR in gender equality and equal pay, while Sacyr has diversity and inclusion certification. “AENOR, as a trusted partner, accompanies them in their process of growth and improvement, contributing to the transformation of society and positioning the People Department as the protagonist of all this,” added Estudillos.
The people responsible for the three companies emphasized that equality, diversity and inclusion measures positively impact their organizations. “It is very difficult for organizations to improve or reach their best capabilities if they do not enhance the talent of 52% of the world’s population, which are women,” said Alfonso Garrido-Lestache. Equality, they agreed, plays an important role in retaining and attracting talent. In this sense, Diego Trombatore stressed that Generation Z not only takes into account what the company offers them, but also the company’s values, its purpose. A company committed to equality, diversity and inclusion achieves a much more powerful “attraction”. McDonald’s, he explained, has also proposed bringing this recruitment of female talent to the franchises.
But it is not only in talent management that equality and diversity drive business success. “We have identified impacts on financing and obtaining projects,” said Teresa Manjón. “Today you cannot access sustainable financing without a sustainability model, where the axis of diversity contributes with indicators that help meet the objectives,” she stressed. Nor are investors willing to bet on firms that are not socially committed. Also regarding obtaining projects, Manjón and Trombatore explained that in tenders the management of equality and diversity has specific scores. “Failure to comply with the criteria subtracts points or directly leaves you out of the bidding,” they stated.
The task is arduous because it requires a cultural change in society and, therefore, in companies. “We all know the phrase that culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Garrido-Lestache emphasized, going on to warn that, no matter how much there is a strategic approach, it is essential to work on the cultural transformation of the organization. “The key is to involve the entire staff. When the entire organization has come to understand that equality and diversity is everyone’s business and that by joining together we can transform the company, we have been taking important steps and we have noticed a cultural change,” Manjón concluded. In this sense, Trombatore pointed out that for it to permeate the entire organization, management must believe and support equality. Hence, everyone highlighted the importance of including equality of treatment and opportunities in the conversation of company management.
Spanish law obliges companies with more than 50 people on staff to have equality plans. However, according to data provided by Estudillos, only approximately 30% of those that are obligated have registered their equality plan. In a country of SMEs, the challenge is huge, stated the JCDecaux manager. Multinationals and large companies have an advantage, because they have a more internalized objective, which is why they advocate accompanying SMEs in this process. An argument to convince small companies, according to the AENOR directive, is to explain to them that “this investment to comply with legal compliance will generate a positive impact on the business and will help improve labor relations.”
In Trombatore’s opinion, equality plans, to be successful, must be solid and built on a good diagnostic report, both qualitative and quantitative. “And give people a voice, listen to them,” he added. And then, he continued, this equality plan has to be complemented with a management system, like the one offered by AENOR, that holds the people who manage each of the areas responsible so that they, in turn, “in cascade, involve to the rest of the staff” and allow for continuous improvement. In this sense, Estudillos highlighted that People Management also needs models that “help highlight and make visible the work they have been doing, both at the level of compliance, which is what is expected, and improvement, which exceeds the established legal ground.”
In this context, the equality agent is revealed to be a fundamental figure, since he is the one who has the responsibility of leading the strategy. And to respond to the needs that companies have in this area, AENOR has created a specific equality agent course. The representative of JCDecaux stressed the importance of this agent “being empowered in effective processes in the organization or having the means to achieve the ends and not ending up crying in the desert.” For Manjón, this awareness-raising role has to be done in such a way that the agent is not seen as “a problem but as an ally.” At this point, Estudillos celebrated that the profile of equality agent is increasingly trending towards those responsible for labor relations.
There is mental resistance, derived from an unconscious bias, and barriers to overcome, and more in some very masculinized sectors, such as construction, than in others. But also requirements or demands, such as 24-hour customer service every day of the week, that clash with the objective of conciliation, which affects women more than men. Hence, Manjón and Garrido-Lestache demanded that equality be addressed on a sectoral basis and within the framework of collective bargaining. “The sector agreement would thus be a lever for all organizations to work towards equality, diversity and social commitment,” said Sacyr’s diversity manager.
Involving the entire value chain is another essential requirement to achieve success in terms of equality and inclusion. “In the case of Sacyr, with a large subcontracting chain, it is our biggest challenge,” said Manjón. Large companies are making considerable efforts to extend their commitment to their entire value chain, offering them their knowledge and tools. “Because if not, in the end it becomes an obstacle that prevents you from evolving in the direction you want,” he highlighted. In this sense, the McDonald’s manager demanded that the coordination of business activity (CAE) be applied in matters of equality, which is mandatory in the prevention of occupational risks. “That does not happen today with equality, unless you do it, like us, because of culture,” he warned. Estudillos recalled that this CAE is mandatory and highlighted that the focus has been on “the most sensitive”, which is what has to do with protocols for the prevention of sexual harassment and harassment based on sex. The debate also addressed technological advances, such as artificial intelligence, and the impact they can have on equality and diversity. In his opinion, they are tools that make work easier, but they warned that care must be taken to ensure that biases are not perpetuated. “If the people who design the algorithms continue to maintain the same biases, we may find that in the end the technology itself will make us go backwards,” warned Estudillos. For this reason, he demanded that in the development of any technology we return to “ethical and humanistic” principles.
Although the work ahead is enormous, they estimated that “there is no turning back” in terms of equality and diversity. For the AENOR board, “in order not to go backwards, we must leverage on the good work that companies are doing that go beyond strict legal compliance.” And if Estudillos alluded to the 131st anniversary of the Davos Economic Forum as a date to achieve parity, Garrido-Lestache made a sporting reference. “The objective will have been achieved when, for example, a Real Madrid or a Barça are chaired by a woman and the women’s soccer league is comparable in all areas to the men’s league,” she stated.