IBCWE and ILO are hosting this webinar to
discuss the importance of gender equality and reporting, and how it can
be leveraged to attract and maintain investors.
Background
Company performance is a combination of both the
financial and non-financial aspects of an organization. These aspects
gauge how well a company is executing their business strategy and can be
looked at to identify areas for improvement.
Investors have
been voicing concerns about sustainability for several decades. But not
until recently have they translated their words into action. Most of the
investment leaders in the study described meaningful steps their firms
are taking to integrate sustainability issues into their investing
criteria. It was clear to us that corporate leaders will soon be held
accountable by shareholders for ESG performance, including gender
equality—if they aren’t already.
“ESG issues have become much
more important for us as long-term investors,” Cyrus Taraporevala,
president and CEO of State Street Global Advisors, said, expressing a
view echoed in many of our interviews. “We seek to analyze material
issues such as climate risk, board quality, or cybersecurity in terms of
how they impact financial value in a positive or a negative way. That’s
the integrative approach we are increasingly taking for all of our
investments.”
In recent years, incorporating gender
indicators in a company’s mandatory reports has seen a positive trend in
the market, due to new regulations as well as further understanding
from businesses that having gender diversity in the company has a
positive impact on the company’s performance. Nevertheless, a 2020 study
by KPMG, found that only 43% of companies who publish Sustainability
Reporting include Gender Equality (SDGs no. 5) in their reports. Aligned
with our experiences, we found many companies have had policies and
practices that promote workplace gender equality. However, these are not
captured in the company’s mandatory reports as they were seen as
internal programs, and unnecessary to report it externally. Whereas,
including them in the mandatory reports can provide transparency of the
company’s commitment to Gender Equality (SDGs no. 5) and further improve
the company’s values and profile in the eyes of its stakeholders.
In a study of 1,069 leading firms across 35 countries and 24 industries
by Professor Zhang1, it was found that gender diversity relates to more
productive companies, as measured by market value and revenue, only in
contexts where gender diversity is viewed as “normatively” accepted. By
normative acceptance, we mean a widespread cultural belief that gender
diversity is important. In other words, beliefs about gender diversity
create a self-fulfilling cycle. Countries and industries that view
gender diversity as important capture benefits from it. Those that
don’t, don’t.
Gender diversity can also signal to investors
that a firm is well-run. Sociological research on market valuation
suggests that investors value when firms use commonly-accepted “best
practices,” such as the inclusion of diverse groups in hiring, and they
penalize those that break these norms.
If an investor was in a
context that accepted gender diversity, they were more likely to value
those diverse companies highly. In fact, prior research has even shown a
jump in stock prices after firms win an award related to diversity
initiatives.
The finding extends past research that analyzed
the differences between investors who rewarded firms that hired female
board members from those that did not. Those that did value female board
members were often part of pension funds, an industry that tends to
strongly value gender and other forms of diversity. Those that did not
were often part of older, less culturally liberal industries.
In sum, the link between diversity and company performance isn’t as
black and white as we once thought. Like many aspects of business, the
effect of diversity is context dependent, especially on country and
industry norms around gender diversity and inclusion.
However,
for almost all companies, we believe the investment in gender diversity
is a good one. By most measures, the global business community is
becoming more supportive of women and of women’s importance in the
economy. This leads to a positive feedback loop – firms that support
gender diversity will capture these benefits earlier, leading them to
outlast their competitors.
Therefore, IBCWE and ILO are
hosting a webinar to discuss the importance of gender equality and
reporting, and how it can be leveraged to attract and maintain
investors.
Objective
The objectives of this event are:
- to discuss the importance of gender diversity and equality for business
- to discuss how to embed gender indicators in company's mandatory reporting to attract investors
- to discuss other ways to communicate company's commitment to gender diversity and equality to its investors
Participants
The principle target audience of this program is human resource directors, managers, and practitioners from:
- IBCWE members
- Private sectors
- Public sectors
- State-owned enterprises
- Public
- HR Communities
Speakers
Welcoming Speech
- Mr. Yono Reksoprodjo, Board Member of IBCWE
- Mr. Kazutoshi Chatani, Employment Specialist of ILO
Panelists
- Mr.
Rey Sihotang, Head of CEO office and Corporate Secretary, VP of
Digiserve (sharing how to convincing the new shareholder about workplace
gender equality)
- Bukalapak* (sharing the gender equality programs, both internally and externally to strengthen the annual company reporting)
Moderator
- Ms. Maya Juwita, Executive Director of IBCWE
Agenda
14.00 Opening by MC
14.05 Welcoming speech
14.10 Ice breaking -- Word cloud by MC
14.15 Panel discussion with opening by Moderator
15.00 Q & A session led by Moderator
15.20 Quiz/Polling led by MC
15.25 Closing by MC