Gender equality at work: What Singapore companies are doing for women
A colleague shared that when she was meaning with her terminal kid while at her former company, she debated how to tell her supervisor. It wasn't a question of when to permit her know but the best way to suspension the news.
She already had a few children and the "unspoken expectation" from her boss, she said, was that at that place would be no more than pregnancies. There wasn't fourth dimension to strategise her announcement as she would before long need to keep long medical go out considering of her pregnancy nausea, which tended to be severe.
So she booked an early morning time coming together with her boss and said: "I have something to tell you. I'm significant. Once more." She was so overwhelmed with guilt that she broke down and cried.
On the surface, the supervisor was understanding. "She told me non to worry and that the team would manage things equally they came. Only I was taken aback when she said that, she thought that after my concluding pregnancy, I had 'done something about information technology'." Her dominate was referring to contraception.
That'due south but one of many stories you hear whenever women gather to talk about work and motherhood. Being afraid to share pregnancy news with employers is not unheard of in Singapore.
And it'southward not simply the guilt of "letting your team down" because of your increased absences, from monthly check-ups to maternity leave. Information technology'due south besides the worry that you are doing your career some serious harm simply by being pregnant, and allow'due south non talk about being away from work for 4 months after yous requite birth.
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In a contempo podcast by content platform Clarity, where three local radio deejays discuss women-related problems, such as the fright of being pregnant and having children, Mediacorp'southward 987FM presenter Natasha Faisal said: "Information technology gets scary for me to have kids considering does it mean I tin't progress every bit a DJ?"
She was referring to her personal experience with a sometime supervisor who "sat her downward" before her hymeneals and asked her to agree off pregnancy for the first two years of her marriage.
It'south not merely pregnancy and the pressure that women experience to filibuster having children if they desire to progress in their careers. It's also about existence able to enjoy equal opportunities for career advancement, and existence valued equally to their male counterparts.
WHAT DOES A GENDER-INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE LOOK LIKE?
Time and fourth dimension once more, you hear women bemoaning the fact that leadership positions in their companies tend to exist filled by men and that women's voices are not heard enough in policy-making.
A gender-inclusive workplace is one that offers, amongst other things, equal opportunities in areas like job roles, where promotions are based on merit and where platforms be to help encourage a diversity of voices.
The Ministry of Manpower, in its showtime nationwide study on the gender pay gap, said that women earned six per cent less in 2022 compared to a male analogue property the aforementioned job in the same industry, and who had the aforementioned academic groundwork and age.
Highlighting a woman'south caregiving responsibilities at domicile every bit a cardinal contributing factor to the pay gap, President Halimah Yacob said at the opening address of the Found of Policy Studies Women's Conference on Jun three: "The need to take time off piece of work leads to lags in work experience and career progression, and consequently earnings. Employers and family members therefore demand to exist more understanding and encouraging by giving them greater back up."
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When it comes to identifying "attractive" workplaces, most people are drawn to benefits ranging from comprehensive health insurance coverage to generous compensation packages.
Additionally, women too appreciate a family-friendly work culture that allows for flexi-work when needed, every bit well every bit sensation by line managers of unconscious biases in the workplace.
Chee Su Eing, who was recently appointed every bit the first female president of not-profit Design Business Chamber Singapore in its 36-year-history, told CNA Lifestyle that she saw an opportunity to build a more flexible and empathetic workplace for her all-women secretariat.
The mother of three wants to nurture a civilization where women have equal opportunity to reach their long-term potential in their career and nonetheless make a meaningful contribution at home.
Here are some areas that signal to a company's gender-inclusive policies.
IT EMPHASISES Preparation AND MENTORSHIP
A visitor that makes upskilling its employees a priority, along with having a nurturing culture that focuses on mentorship would do good women.
For example, telecommunications behemoth Telstra is prioritising gender-inclusive initiatives through its Brilliant Connected Women committee that acts equally a forum for women employees to connect, build relationships and gain mentoring opportunities for career progression.
Mentorship programmes at consumer goods giant the Procter & Gamble (P&One thousand) Singapore role involve men as allies to remove bias and help women progress in their careers.
At financial tech company Revolut, its Caput of Engagement and Executive Assistance Hannah Francis shared that some upskilling programmes the company has organised include an introduction to programming language Python and raising the awareness of imposter syndrome.
The visitor is too finalising its targets and a roadmap to increase the percentage of women in its leadership roles, Francis added, including exploring external partnerships and networks to provide mentoring for its women employees, too as for the wider tech manufacture.
It PROVIDES A Safety ENVIRONMENT FOR WOMEN TO SPEAK OUT
Women are too hard on themselves, said Joan Chan, Caput of People Capability Delivery at Standard Chartered Singapore.
Chan, who coaches employees at the bank likewise as in her personal capacity, told CNA Lifestyle about women employees who "felt discriminated against" when they came dorsum from maternity get out or a long-term illness.
They grew worried when their line managers did not assign them more work, although it was considering the supervisors themselves had wanted to give these women more time with their newborns.
According to Chan, having open up communication with your line manager may help to remove pre-conceived perspectives that may not be true. Being positive is too benign – believe that in that location are adept intentions backside every behaviour, Chan said.
"Women do non want their employers to take the misconception that being pregnant means information technology would bear upon our work capabilities," shared Rena Teng, Caput of Strategic & Corporate Communication, Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore and Association of southeast asian nations & Due south Asia.
She told CNA Lifestyle: "I remember working the hardest when I was meaning only because I didn't want my squad members to think that I was holding them back."
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Charlotte Thng, who heads the bank'due south human resource section, said that line managers, called People Leaders, are encouraged to go for an inclusive leadership plan that equips them with skills to recognise unconscious bias and how to mitigate its effect on employees. Over 94 per cent of its leaders globally have gone through the training.
Geraldine Kor, Managing Managing director of Due south Asia and Country Managing Managing director Singapore at Telstra, said one of the ways her company fosters multifariousness of thought is to encourage and challenge employees to express alternative viewpoints.
"Irrespective of gender, we also recognise the importance of creating a prophylactic and conducive environment to empower our employees to freely voice their opinions and challenge stereotypes," Kor added.
IT IS SERIOUS ABOUT RETAINING TALENT FOR THE LONG-TERM
Standard Chartered Singapore launched a campaign in June aimed at creating greater awareness when it comes to mitigating unconscious biases, especially in hiring and talent development.
"Overcoming biases is not a ane-fourth dimension awareness practice. It's an ongoing journey and all of united states need to continue to work at it," says Standard Chartered Singapore'southward Thng.
To ensure gender diversity, Revolut undertook an inclusive-recruitment audit in the first half of 2021, focusing on director level positions and above. It included looking at how the company screened resumes for executive roles to avoid generating biases against women applicants, likewise as finding innovative ways to attract more than women to employ for such jobs.
The visitor is also doing a full review of its global parental go out policies this year, Francis added. "We want to invest in the long-term careers of our female employees," she said.
IT ALLOWS PARENTS TO SHARE THE WORKLOAD
Yein Mei, a female parent of 2 who joined tech behemothic Facebook tardily terminal twelvemonth as a programs manager, shared in an commodity by Facebook Careers that she plant back up as a working parent during COVID-19. As part of its civilisation of empowerment, the company allowed her to piece of work with flexibility, manage her ain time, and exist strategic about how to prioritise her work.
P&Thousand has also put new family unit-friendly policies in place. Starting in January, secondary caregivers such every bit fathers can take up to eight weeks of shared parental leave over a menstruum of 18 months.
Standard Chartered Bank too, takes pride in its family-friendly culture. Female employees are entitled to twenty weeks of fully-paid maternity or adoption leave,regardless of length of service. Currently, only iv weeks of paid adoption leave is mandated by the Ministry of Manpower.
Since 2019, British beverage company Diageo besides, has provided progressive parental go out packages that utilise to its Singapore office, offer 26 weeks of paid exit, regardless of the parent's gender or status equally a primary or secondary carer.
IT IS INTENTIONAL IN MAKING Sure WOMEN Tin can Be IN LEADERSHIP ROLES
Companies that commit to having a counterbalanced gender ratio in leadership and management roles appear to perform better. A 2022 McKinsey & Company written report titled Delivering through Diversity, showed that such companies were 21 per cent more likely to have college profitability.
Across the offices in the Eye Eastward, Africa and Asia Pacific, besides as Singapore, P&G wants to accept 50 per cent of its management teams filled by women past 2022. Every bit of May this year, they have attained 48 per cent.
Similarly, Diageo is on track to striking its global target of having 50 per cent of its leadership roles filled by women, including in Singapore. Information technology achieved a rate of 30 per cent in 2020.
Ensuring equal opportunities as well starts when new staff are recruited. Revolut says its women employees already make up half of their new hires in Singapore while sixty per cent of the leadership team are women.
But there are challenges in hiring women for more avant-garde roles in the financial tech company. "At entry level we're glad that women aren't far off when we recruit young engineers, designers, and data scientists. But like many tech companies, there are far fewer as you lot go up the levels," shared Francis.
To ensure more women are represented at every level of the business organisation, especially in leadership roles, the company is hoping to be more flexible in the recruiting procedure, such as allowing remote working for roles that are open globally.
Editor'southward Notation: This story has been edited to reverberate clarifications from P&K on their leave policies.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/women/women-workplace-singapore-gender-equality-equal-opportunities-270166
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