Gender diversity sets apart “trailblazing” companies

The HESTA-founded investor-led initiative, 40:40 Vision, has urged companies to improve gender diversity among their ranks and leadership teams to gain a long-term “performance edge” to compete with ASX 300 companies.

Debby Blakey, HESTA chief executive and 40:40 Vision Chair, said the “trailblazing” ASX 300 companies have taken on a “whole-of-company” approach to improving and increasing female representation.

A 2022 report from Chief Executive Women (CEW) and Bain & Company titled Take It from the Top: Accelerating Women’s Representation in Executive Leadership, revealed top companies were developing and implementing several initiatives to improve company culture and equality across all ranks and divisions.

These strategies included sharing detailed pay gap data and creating job-share positions at senior levels to provide more opportunities to diversify roles.

“They’re looking across talent management, recruitment and succession planning to create a coordinated approach that’s helping identify and accelerate talented women into leadership positions,” she said.

“Underpinning these strategies is a focus at executive and board level on turning commitments into action. It’s this accountability to improving gender diversity that investors are increasingly seeing as an accurate indicator of a well-run company.”

Research from Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, a joint initiative between Bankwest and Curtin University, compiled into the Gender Equity Insights 2020: Delivering the Business Outcomes report found more female representation increased profitability, performance and productivity and led to better member investments and outcomes.

“By putting themselves in a position to achieve gender-balanced leadership teams before their competitors, these trailblazing companies potentially have a vital edge,” Blakey said.

“They’re building a consistent pipeline of women ready to fulfil leadership roles of the future, while fostering more inclusive and flexible cultures that are setting them apart in a highly competitive jobs market.”

Blakey also said while targets are crucial for companies to kickstart the momentum towards gender diversity in leadership, they should be more than just a “set-and-forget mechanism”.