Boosting Gender Equality
Fusion HR were engaged to undertake an audit of HR policies and practices, in banks located in Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Samoa, Vietnam and Uzbekistan. The purpose of this first ever study, was to identify to what extent the policies and practices in place supported increased hiring, retention, advancement and promotion of women in the workplace.
The study highlighted existing good practice and areas for further development. We also considered some key factors necessary for the organisations to reach gender equality as well as the barriers to progress both at the level of the Bank and country legislation.
A set of practical recommendations (short, medium and long term) for each bank was provided to assist them on their gender journey as they worked towards the fostering and advancement of the employment, retention and progression of women within their organisations and women as drivers of economic growth.
Building upon the already established relationships with the Banks, Fusion HR worked worked closely with them to discuss and review the recommendations made. With the Banks we then ascertained which of the proposed recommendations the Banks would like to prioritise and provided bespoke advice, guidance and planning on implementation. The objective to ensure that the Banks demonstrate that they have adopted at least one recommendation.
With Fusion HR’s expert support and practical help, the Bank’s success was gratifying. The outcome showed a widening field between those willing or able to progress on their gender journey and those constrained by other legitimate priorities, funding or lack of ambition.
It is clear from the engagement of the Banks that the importance of gender equality was raised to the highest levels in the Banks. There was an eagerness to increase gender equality linked to the need for greater female representation, promotion and development in the workplace. It is now possible for the Banks to have a first view on where their greatest challenges lie, where most progress is being made and what potential next steps and approaches they may require for long term sustained change.
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If as an organisation you are interested and determined to move your gender journey from concept to plan to implementation to results: contact Fusion HR and we will work with you to achieve very evident and tangible results.
Assessing Gender Champions
Fusion HR were delighted to be asked to provide input to the first ever Gender Award presented at the Asian Development Bank’s 2017 annual meeting for Trade Finance Program (TFP) clients in Singapore, to highlight the good work done in the area of gender equality in local Banks.
The ADB’s TFP introduced this inaugural award in 2017 for the ‘Most Progressive Bank on Gender Strategy’, following the first phase of the TFP Gender Equality Initiative. The basis for the award was the review by Fusion HR of each participating banks policies, practices and procedures and the extent to which they support the recruitment, retention and development of women in the workplace and society.
www.adb.org/site/trade-finance-program/award
Following on from the second phase of the Gender Initiative a new award entitled ‘Gender Champion Award” for 2018 was developed by Fusion HR with the TFP team. The award enabled the ADB to take stock of the progress made by participating banks in the Gender Initiative during the course of 2017/18.
In setting the criteria for the 2018 award, a broad brush approach was agreed to determine on the one hand specific progress and on the other to encourage participating banks to continue their gender journey. They are set out below:
- Demonstrate the organisation’s support for increased employment, retention and progression of women in the workplace
- Advancement of the place of women in society
- Progression with specific gender recommendations from phase one and two of the Gender Equity Initiative
- Other gender initiatives implemented or planned
Fusion HR found it encouraging and immensely pleasing to see that so many of the banks had implemented the suggested recommendations from the gender initiative that Fusion HR has worked with them on and in some instances, gone further.
Some Banks had demonstrated tactical quick wins and some more strategic long term approaches/initiatives; all are starting from very different baselines. All banks showed actions of encouragement and desire to help and engage women in leadership.
What changes and impact this will have and continued commitment for the future remains to be seen; there is a clear appetite amongst banks to continue their gender journey.
Ethical Job Framework
Fusion HR recently worked with SafeSpace on organisational development and capacity building. The assignment was to develop the framework for an Ethical Function including the roles and responsibilities, skills and competencies necessary to meet the function’s goals and the full learning curriculum for the Ethical Team.
This assignment involved a complete review of an Ethical Department in light of requirements for companies to work towards the sustainable development goals and in particular to mitigate human rights abuses in the supply chain.
Fusion HR collaborated closely with the client to design the organisational structure, the job family, with role specifications, competency models and progression criteria. A full learning curriculum was developed with a range of interventions to build capacity of both technical skills and knowledge and behavioural competencies to ensure an effective function.
The framework allowed for assessment of skills and competencies against the desired requirements and to build tailor made development packages in function of skills gap.
Charity Pay Model
A large well known charity commissioned Fusion HR to assess and provide reassurance that the current review of their new pay model was fit for purpose and addressed the challenges that had developed over time within the existing pay framework.
Fusion HR were able to build trust and confidence with stakeholders through well reflected communication, based on our experience of similar sensitive projects.
Fusion HR’s key role was to:
- Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of pay model approach
- Review the risk elements of proposed new model
- Check whether the new approach is future-proofed and did not have unintended consequences
- Applied our in depth knowledge of systems and public/private pay structure, reward, job design and classification to answer whether the approach adopted is in keeping with the company culture, meets the objectives identified and solves the challenges in the best way
- Review the merits of the approach and equality issues that may arise and ascertain whether or not the pay level appears to set at the right level (public sector perspective) and whether the approach is logical from an employee perspective
- Confirm that the approach is sufficiently innovative and modern