Empowering women in the workplaceHow to drive intent to action

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the trustee of the First State Superannuation Scheme ABN 53 226 460 365.

First State Super Empowering Women In The Workplace 2

Message from First State Super CEO Deanne Stewart

Empowering women: How to move from intent to action

Recalibrate workplace expectations

Sponsorship can help overcome bias

Women need to amplify and elevate other women

Beware of unconscious privilege, male culture

Targets can help

Men need to be part of change

Address the pay gap

Case study: Driving intent to action at Geelong Cats Football Club

Financial literacy: Critical to professional and personal success

How to move from intent to action

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First State Super Empowering Women In The Workplace 3

Message from our CEO Deanne Stewart

Empowering women makes good business sense

Empowering women in the workplace should be a critical priority for all Australian employers. It is not only the right thing to do – it simply makes good business sense.

Diverse workplaces, where both men and women have the same opportunity to thrive, deliver better business outcomes, but too often inequity in terms of pay and potential for career progression are holding Australian women and organisations back.

Female workforce participation in Australia is at an all-time high and women are seeking to enjoy long-term, meaningful careers. Unfortunately, though Australia still has a gender pay gap of more than 14%1 and only 17% of CEOs are women2. In fact, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) Gender Equity Insights 2019 Report, based on current growth patterns, female CEOs will have to wait another 80 years before achieving equal representation with their male counterparts3.

In the finance and health sectors, the statistics are even more concerning, with the gender pay gap in the healthcare and welfare sector increasing over the past 12 months to nearly 26%4, making it second only to the financial services sector.

Closing the gender pay gap and empowering women in the workplace can deliver benefits to organisational culture, encourage more inclusive and diverse thinking to drive innovation, and positively influence brand. In short, addressing any gender imbalance in the workplace will have a positive impact on the bottom line.

That is why I was so honoured to be chosen as a WGEA Pay Equity Ambassador earlier this year to help lead the conversation, and action, across not only my workplace and industry but the broader Australian community, to achieve gender pay equality and opportunity in Australia.

By providing equal opportunity and driving diverse and inclusive cultures, employers are best placed to attract the most talented employees, inspire their existing team, drive productivity and innovation, nurture future leaders and energise their organisation.

I believe a great place for a leader to start is to ask yourself how you can create an inclusive and equal work environment where everyone can bring their best self to work, where they are not judged, where they feel supported and most importantly are empowered to be innovative and strive for change.

At First State Super, we believe in empowering our team – both men and women – to become the best they can be and drive them to deliver the best products and services to our members and to the employers we work with. This is central to our ambitious growth agenda.

Moving from intention to action to achieve genuine diversity and inclusion requires a firm commitment from all levels of an organisation. The time and effort put in though, will more than be repaid.

Deanne StewartCEO First State Super

1 https://www.wgea.gov.au/data/fact-sheets/australias-gender-pay-gap-statistics2 https://www.wgea.gov.au/topics/women-in-leadership 3 https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/BCEC-WGEA-Gender-Equity-Insights-2019-Report.pdf4 https://www.wgea.gov.au/data/fact-sheets/australias-gender-pay-gap-statistics

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Empowering women in your workforce to be successful, and therefore drive business success, makes sense from an economic and social perspective.

So why are so many businesses and business leaders still struggling to realise the full potential of their female workforce?

First State Super was named a Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Employer of Choice for Gender Equality for the third consecutive year. While this is a real honour in recognition of our ongoing effort to celebrate and support diversity and inclusion, there is always more that can be done and it is important all organisations work together to empower women in Australian workplaces to the best that they can be.

To achieve this, we are driving the agenda by bringing together business leaders to share insights and experiences on this topic. We recently hosted a panel discussion on “Empowering your female workforce to succeed”, and now we are proud to share the panelists’ thoughts with you.

Our panelists included:

• Simone Bellears - Geelong Cats Head of Women’s Football and Pathways

• Dr Jess Murphy - Male Champions of Change Convener & Founder, Pathway to Your Potential Pty Ltd

• Jennifer Williams AM - Chair Yooralla, Chair Northern Health, Director Barwon Health

• Stephen Roberts - Chief Executive Officer, St John of God Geelong Hospital

We’ve summarised insights, learnings and tips from the event because we’re committed to ensuring this conversation continues in boardrooms and throughout workplaces across Australia.

Empowering women: How to move from intent to action

Recalibrate workplace expectations

A good starting point to initiating change is to acknowledge that the expectations of people now entering the workforce have changed significantly over the past 40 years, and those expectations may differ to our own expectations. Therefore, we need to accept the need to recalibrate our own expectations and listen to others, including the younger members of our teams to ensure we’re future focused.

“If we can accept difference and be a little more agile in the way we can do things now and for the future, then I think we’re in a really good position to help fast-track, and hopefully close, that (gender equality) gap, where we can see better representation of all talent, both men and women alike,” says Dr Jess Murphy

“Moving from intention to action is the responsibility of all within an organisation, not just the responsibility of the leaders, the CEO or the HR department. Small actions, such as acknowledging the people who work around us, being grateful, calling out inappropriate behaviour, and showcasing yourself and others makes the workplace better for all and helps develop leadership throughout,” says Dr Murphy.

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Sponsorship can help overcome bias

Sponsorship is very different to mentoring, and women are over-mentored and under-sponsored, according to Dr Jess Murphy.

“If each of us can do that to people below us hierarchically, as well as above us, then I think we’re actually setting the road to success in terms of equalising opportunities for men and women as leaders,” she says.

Managers and other staff in all workplaces must acknowledge that everyone has conscious and or unconscious biases that can shape a workplace and impede change. These biases reflect one’s own upbringing, values and environment. For example, affinity bias is where people are attracted to, and feel comfortable with, others who look like them or who have had similar experiences.

“Hence we have a disproportionate number of men in senior leadership roles,” Dr Murphy says. “So, what we need to do is actively identify and sponsor – publicly advocate for – those people who are different to us.”

Dr Murphy urges senior male leaders in particular to actively engage with up-and-coming talented women.

“I encourage you to pick the person most different to you, however you identify that difference and actually become their public advocate. Sponsor them to the next opportunity. That’s when we’ll have talent – men and women – thriving all the way to the top of organisations.”

“A coach talks to you, a mentor talks with you, but a sponsor talks about you.”

A sponsor is someone who is willing to champion your progress to those who are influential in your context. Sponsorship has a great capacity to help women overcome bias and support them to achieve greater opportunities such as more senior positions, but it is still underutilised for women in the workplace.

Dr Murphy also says it is important to recognise the work of others and use our own position to sponsor them, that is, to speak positively on their behalf to audiences that the sponsored individual does not have access to.

I encourage you to pick the person most different to you, however you identify that difference and actually become their public advocate. Sponsor them to the next opportunity. That’s when we’ll have talent – men and women – thriving all the way to the top of organisations.

Dr Jess Murphy

Good leaders have a combination of real credibility, real presence and real sponsorship... real advocates pounding the table for you.

Deanne Stewart

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Women need to amplify and elevate other women

Women need to reach out and pull other women upwards. The more women who coach, mentor and support other women – simply by providing feedback, for example – can make an enormous difference to women as they move through the ranks.

The Chair of Yooralla and Northern Health and Director of Barwon Health, Jennifer Williams AM, says she received help from some key people, which made a big difference to her professional career, including roles she did not expect.

“I was working in information technology, and I was given the opportunity by a female leader to take on a general management role – that moved me from a technical discipline into general management and was the first of those roles,” Ms Williams says. “I think pulling other women up into those roles, recognising their generic skills and not a narrow skill set for a role, can help a lot in moving women forward.”

Furthermore, women can help female colleagues by amplifying the views of those colleagues. Women often comment that their recommendations or opinions are ignored at meetings, but if a man echoes those recommendations or opinions, it is hailed as a “great idea”. Ms Williams says other women at such meetings need to support their female colleague by stating that she has made a good point which is worthy of discussion.

“Just giving oxygen to the views of other women can make an enormous difference in recognising and valuing a female voice which is often repressed,” Ms Williams says.

She says 93 per cent of the workforce in the nursing profession are women, but many of the directors of nursing are men even though they make up only seven per cent of the nursing workforce. Women are under-represented among senior management in healthcare.

Nonetheless, says Ms Williams, more women are now reaching the rank of chief executive in the public health service across Victoria, which compares favourably to 1997, when Ms Williams became the first female chief executive at a major hospital (Austin Health).

“I think time has started to improve the situation, and I think women are still that little bit more inclined – not always but usually – to employ other women.”

of the workforce in the nursing profession are women, but many of the directors of nursing are men... Women are under-represented among senior management in healthcare.

93%

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Beware of unconscious privilege, male culture

Unconscious privilege can often impede change in the workplace. The term describes a situation where a person encounters little or no barriers in the workplace because of their upbringing, values and environment but they are oblivious to those that do encounter such hurdles.

“We need to have awareness that there is conscious bias, unconscious bias, conscious privilege and unconscious privilege,” says Dr Jess Murphy. “And what we can do – all of us – is actually take that awareness to the next level, which is about taking action. That’s understanding that I have a responsibility to pay it forward to others that are working twice as hard as I am to get to the same destination because of these barriers that I’m completely unaware of as they don’t impact me.”

Jennifer Williams AM says it is also important men realise that “male culture” once demonstrated by actions such as putting the feet up on the desk, drinking beer and talking football on a Friday afternoon can be alienating for women even if the women are invited to participate. “Try to exhibit practices that don’t lock women out of the organisation,” she says.

Deanne Stewart says workplaces need diversity and a focus on inclusive practices for a person to give their best in their job.

The beginning of great leadership is self-awareness. Being aware of the impact you’re having on others allows you to continue to grow, whilst ensuring you have a positive impact on others.

Deanne Stewart

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Removing unconscious bias

Overcoming unconscious bias or privilege requires acute self-awareness, you cannot eliminate bias without understanding your own.

Take the first step to removing unconscious bias by identifying and understanding your own biases, preferences and beliefs.

Take the Harvard Implicit Association Test.

Targets can help

Gender targets, not necessarily quotas, can help increase the number of women promoted into management roles and represented on boards. Targets are clear, achievable, time-based objectives that organisations can use to help focus and review against their efforts.

Jennifer Williams AM says that when she was working in Washington DC in the 1970s, it was the diversity targets set for minority groups and women in workplaces that enabled her to get a start in management and to access roles that traditionally were unavailable to women.

“I worked at a company called Communication Satellite Corporation,” she says. “They were all male engineers that came from NASA. I was the only woman in my department, but they were trying to encourage women into these roles, and that really helped me kick off my career.”

Organisations need to keep good data about where women are in your organisation, so you know where you have the deficits... can address those gaps and try to get a diverse field of applicants.

Jennifer Williams AM

Men need to be part of change

To make real progress towards gender equality, both men and women need to be part of the solution.

The CEO of St John of God Geelong Hospital, Stephen Roberts, says St John of God was founded and historically run by women, and 90 per cent of the group’s 14,000 employees are women. Mr Roberts was the first male appointed to a CEO role in the organisation, and in the 1990s more men were being appointed to senior roles. Now only 25 per cent of senior executives across the organisation are women.

“We’re very, very conscious of the fact that we do have a disproportionate number of men leading an organisation that’s been traditionally run by women. For us, it is really confronting. We actually didn’t really think about it much – that’s just what happened,” Mr Roberts says. “So, I think for us, it’s first acknowledging the fact that we do have to change, and the only way we can make things change is to be involved in conversations and be pro-active role models to influence how things should be, not how they have been.”

One of the biggest challenges for St John of God is identifying talent and encouraging people to put their hand up for senior executive appointments.

“We’re at the start of a journey of trying to understand why that is and what we can do to change our culture to make ourselves more inclusive or to turn the magnet on to start attracting the sort of talent that we need to provide a better balance in the organisation,” Mr Roberts says.

He says women cannot improve their position in the workplace on their own, and change requires a partnership between men and women.

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Address the pay gap

Employers can ensure they attract the best talent to their businesses if they address the pay gap between men and women, says Deanne Stewart.

The pay gap between men and women, on average, is about 14 per cent, and in financial services it is well over 20 per cent.

“This makes no sense, and in 2019, we can do better,” Ms Stewart says.

She says it is part of any CEO’s role to be a “chief talent officer”, attracting and retaining the best people for any job.

“Whether they’re male or female, that doesn’t matter. Your (the CEO’s) job is to attract and retain the very best talent,” Ms Stewart says.

First State Super has worked hard to remove any gender inequality in our organisation, and our gender pay gap analysis had shown that this focus achieved positive change for our team; particularly in relation to the participation rate for females at senior levels at the fund.

“I feel very proud that that’s how we are, but it also feels that it’s the right thing to attract the right talent,” Ms Stewart says. “I encourage others to start the conversation on what it takes to close that gap.”

What’s really important is for people like me and other leaders, senior executives – both men and women – to create this new sense of optimism and opportunity in our organisation so we can attract the right people with the best talent.

Stephen Roberts

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Simone Bellears led the Geelong Cats’ successful entry into AFL Women’s (AFLW) competition, fielding the club’s first AFLW team in 2019. Simone is responsible for developing opportunities and pathways to support the involvement and employment of women as leaders, coaches and administrators within the program. She provides insights on how the Cats integrated the women’s team into their broader organisation and established a genuine pathway to excellence for the team.

Simone Bellears once quit her dream job working in the Community Department at the Geelong Cats AFL club because she felt she had no pathway for further achievement. Simone changed her mind when Cats CEO Brian Cook created a clear pathway to success for her and the club.

Simone’s first opportunity to lead at the Cats was through a parental leave position, filling the GM Community role on the executive leadership team for four years. The Cats have a culture of ongoing learning and development, but at one point there appeared to be no path for Simone to progress further. Simone decided it was time to move on. She found another job, received a farewell card, and Brian Cook wished her well at her farewell party, but then an honest conversation with Brian changed her path and created opportunities for Simone and her employer.

Simone was placed in the football department under former Geelong player Steve Hocking to work on the club’s academy program, and from there she landed the job as head of women’s football. The key to retaining Simone, a valuable employee, was creating a clear pathway to progress and ensuring transparency around what she needed to do to be successful.

“It’s really saying to employees that you are valued for the contribution you are making now but we can see that you can be valuable for us in the future.”

“To have an opportunity to continue to learn in the workplace really signifies your value as an employee in the business. So, to be able to continue to learn, not only develops you as a person, but allows you to understand your value within the organisation and also gives you something to take away when you move on to your next career,” says Simone.

Case Study: Driving intent to action at Geelong Football Club

The key to retaining valuable employees, was creating a clear pathway to progress and ensuring transparency around what she needed to do to be successful.

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“It really refreshes them, and they see themselves through new eyes,” says Simone. “These female athletes are hanging off every word, so keen to learn and improve their football. It reminds the coaches of why they are here and why they love their job.”

Simone’s story, and her professional insights, are a reminder that flexibility in the workplace remains important for women whilst they continue to develop and seek leadership roles. However, many employers are still yet to pivot and really embrace flexibility for men and women equally, and this can be a game-changer in terms of effectively empowering women for success.

Outside of the direct support and encouragement of Brian Cook in the workplace, Simone credits her husband’s support as key to her ability to achieve professional success.

“I have three young children, and it’s a real partnership for us. I think workplaces need to continue to evolve in how they support both partners to continue to look at roles in management.”

“I think the reason the Geelong Cats have such success with women in leadership is because of its culture. It’s built on a culture of respect, which underpins all relationships within the club, and people are valued for their contribution they make,” Simone concluded.

Integrating women’s football into the club has its challenges but the initial introduction was made a little easier by the fact the Cats did not consider the football department to be a men’s football department but a shared athletes’ department. In addition, the success of the pioneering VFL women’s football competition provided a real appetite to have women footballers at the club. This structure supported a culture of inclusion and equality.

The Cats have literally moved intention to action by developing a culture of shared knowledge and encouraging all employees to improve their performance. Senior coaches from the men’s program share knowledge with the female players, which generates a feeling of support for the AFLW program and provides a valuable opportunity for the coaches.

I think the reason Geelong Cats have such success with women in leadership is because of its culture. It’s built on a culture of respect, which underpins all relationships within the club, and people are valued for their contribution they make.

Simone Bellears

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Women on average retire with 40 per cent less superannuation, partly due to broken careers or time out in their career, but also because they may not be aware of what they need to do to get the maximum benefit from their earnings, says First State Super CEO Deanne Stewart.

Also, each dollar that you save in your 20s becomes worth six-and-a -half times more than a dollar that you save just before retirement.

“So financial literacy, particularly, for women, can actually make a huge difference to your retirement and future,” Ms Stewart says.

Jennifer Williams echoes the importance of financial literacy for women, saying it will help them in their careers. She notes that some women find finances overwhelming and “too hard”.

“Don’t be one of those women who says ‘I’m not good at numbers’. Make sure you’re good at numbers. No matter what your role is, you’re going to need to have financial literacy, even if you’re not the CFO,” Ms Williams says.

We believe women can improve their confidence and wellbeing through education, support and advice. We work with our employer partners to provide workplace programs like “Super Women”, designed to empower women and help them tackle financial challenges most relevant to them. We aim to build women’s financial literacy and help women make more informed decisions about their finances, now and in the future.

Financial literacy: Critical to professional and personal success

Each dollar that you save in your 20s becomes worth

six-and-a-half times more than a dollar you save just before retirement.

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Tips for senior leaders

Address the gender pay gap in your organisation:

Conduct a gender pay gap analysis to understand where the gaps are and what’s driving them.

Sponsor and amplify women:

Talk about good work with other leaders and let employees know you are grateful for their work.

Include everyone in creating solutions:

Men also have a vital role to play in promoting gender equality.

Build confidence through education:

Workplace education can build confidence, but don’t overlook informal knowledge sharing.

Consider gender targets:

Organisations who set voluntary targets are better placed to improve their outcomes.

How to move from intent to action

Start the conversation and be open to genuine and honest discussion.

Acknowledge that your own expectations in the workplace may differ to the expectations of others, and listen to different views.

Recognise the work of others and use your own position to sponsor them, that is, speak positively on their behalf to audiences that the sponsored individual does not have access to.

Initiate small actions – such as acknowledging the people around us, being grateful and calling out inappropriate behaviour.

Establish a target, not necessarily a quota, for placing women in management roles.

Both men and women in senior roles can coach, mentor and support other women, ranging simply from providing feedback, to formal mentoring. Actively identify and sponsor those people who are different to you.

Both men and women can “amplify” the recommendations and opinions of female colleagues by voicing support for those recommendations and opinions when they are made.

Be aware of an overtly “male culture” that can alienate women.

Company boards need to ensure that they are diverse, and select a chief executive who has the skills to ensure that the company has an appropriate, diverse, inclusive culture.

Address the gender pay gap in your organisation. Start by advocating for external gender equality reviews and analyse the data to understand what is driving any gender pay gaps.

Review and update your recruitment, performance, and talent management practices for bias, and design processes to increase fairness and equality by catching and addressing these biases.

For more on this topic visit:

firststatesuper.com.au/womenintheworkplace