Justine Campbell, managing partner for talent at EY
Credit: EY
The shockwaves from Covid-19 are rippling through the business world and, according to the United Nations Global Compact “many of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic are hitting women disproportionately hard.” A study by the Institute of Fiscal Studies also shows that women working from home are shouldering more of the burden of childcare and housework.
There are organizations that have maintained a focus on gender throughout this pandemic, knowing that focusing on and prioritizing the mental health of their people will reap rewards in the end.
The multi-national professional services firm, EY, was rated as a Times Top 50 Employers for Women in 2019 and six of the 10 positions on EY UK LLP Board are now held by women. EY is an exemplar of a firm that has put its people first during this crisis. Justine Campbell, its managing partner for talent, talks to me about what it has done to support its female employees over the past 15 weeks.
“When the crisis hit, it was the most intense period of my working life. Everybody wanted to know what we were going to do. We were developing new policies really quickly in response to all the changes across the country. I am immensely proud of how everyone has stepped up around this. We identified the key strategic priorities from the outset, and have maintained focus on these.”
Passionate About People
Campbell says that she’s never felt held back in any way since joining the firm and is now a senior partner. She admits it hasn’t always been easy but is as “still in love with the firm” today as she was 25 years ago.
She adds: “Whilst we haven’t nailed it yet, as an organization we are genuinely passionate about our people and believe in having an equal working environment; whatever background you are from, we always put our people first and create a place where everyone can be themselves.
“Two years ago, we felt we weren’t making the progress we wanted in terms of diversity and inclusion, and we refreshed our strategy to help bring about a shift in the make-up of our firm. We have a bold commitment to double the proportion of female and BME talent in the UK partnership to 40% female and 20% BME by July 2025.”
Research shows that more diverse teams take better, more sustainable decisions. Now, more than ever, businesses stand to benefit from greater gender equality. Some of the UN’s Women’s Empowerment Principles can help guide businesses to advance gender equality in the workplace and Campbell explains the approach they have been taking.
Invest In Leadership Development
Even though some businesses are having to make cuts, it is important to maintain a focus on development programmes. EY has doubled its investment in targeted talent development programmes. Campbell explains: “It’s not about fixing women, but about giving everyone the springboard to be successful. White males have automatic privilege, and this is our way of helping those in underrepresented groups have the same leadership access.”
Scrap The Term “Flexible Working”
Flexibility in the workplace has started to become the norm, not the exception. At EY they have long embraced flexible working. Pre-Covid, Campbell explains: “84% of us worked in an agile and flexible way in the UK. And now that we’ve proved everyone can do it, I can’t ever see us going back to a pre-Covid world.”
Invest In Shared Parental Leave
Campbell explains that EY is trying to increase take up of shared parental leave. She admits: “there is a big cultural shift that still needs to happen. We are working hard to change the mindset of more traditional employees who think it would be a career limiting choice to take this up.”
Allow Working Groups To Flourish
Encouraging people to join and participate in working groups and networks is one way to keep your people engaged. At EY, for example, its UK Women’s Network helps to support the progress of more women into senior positions, and the Gender Working Group started “Let’s chat” webcasts during the crisis to give people a forum to connect and share experiences whilst working from home.
Actively Ask And Listen
Campbell was overwhelmed when 1,300 people in the UK responded to a request for focus group participants to discuss the future of the workplace: “I was amazed by the level of engagement we received and how grateful people were to have an opportunity to talk about this.” She explains she always makes a point of asking her teams at the start of calls: “how is working from home for you?” By sharing and caring, it can help to alleviate some of the additional burden these women are facing.
Focus On Output Rather Than Input
Being aware that self-isolation and working from home for prolonged periods of time could have an impact on health, EY put in place extra measures to support its people. For example, it doubled its period of “special paid leave” in the UK, allowing people to take up to two weeks’ of emergency leave instead of one. They made it very clear to their staff that they were not expected to follow normal office hours as they adjusted to mass remote working and to consider flexing their day to better suit their responsibilities. People were encouraged to focus on output rather than input.
Share Stories
Campbell explained: “We have repurposed our communications and have shared stories from our people about their everyday lives. One of things the crisis has helped with is allowing us all to connect in a different way, seeing a snapshot of our colleagues’ lives, and being more open and human. My team often see my dog’s tail wagging on the sofa behind me!”
Continue To Report Data
Despite the relaxation of the rules from the UK government on reporting on gender pay gap statistics, EY has still published its data earlier this year. Campbell feels it’s more important than ever to do this, helping the firm track progress.
What Will Life Post-Covid Look Like?
“I keep reminding everyone that we are not over this by a long shot,” Campbell explains. “We will certainly need to start taking steps to get back to some sort of normality, but as long as business is still going, we don’t need to rush..”
There was a lot of consistency in the views shared by its focus groups and the main feedback was a desire for a greater degree of choice. “People have enjoyed not having to be so office-bound and have enjoyed spending more time with families by missing out the commute, but equally, there is also a desire to ensure that social collaboration is not lost. We must be careful to remember that some people don’t want to only work from home and that there are those that need and want interaction like the graduate community, for example, who enjoy the social element of work.”
“So far, we are seeing remarkable resilience in the workforce, but the future world of work needs to be thoughtfully worked through,” Campbell explains. “We need to be careful in this new post-Covid world that, if we’re working remotely more, it doesn’t impact and disenfranchize people in minorities. This is something we need to keep a very close eye on.”
“The silver lining, if there is one, is the impact on the planet that we can make as a firm. This time has made many question why we used to get on planes to see clients for a meeting as much as we have in the past, when we can easily do this remotely. It has also put a stop to the idea that you have to be present in the office to make a significant contribution. Sometimes, of course, it is advantageous but businesses should be more mindful about this in the future.”
