From crisis to recovery

Gender equity in the workplace in a new normal

From crisis to recovery: gender equity in the workplace in a new normal

Ash Moore, co-CEO Kantar Public - Australia

While many commentators around the world highlight the benefits of COVID-driven flexible working in achieving gender equality, Ash Moore takes a look at recent evidence from the Australian market, and asks what might be the unintended consequences of these changes, and what steps need to be taken now to ensure that new drivers of workplace inequality do not emerge.

Pre-COVID-19 interventions to reduce gender inequality in the workplace
In recent decades, Australian businesses and government have made significant progress towards gender equality in the workplace. Positive change is encouraging; however, true equality is yet to be achieved. Australia dropped from a baseline ranking of 15th in the world on the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), to 44th in 2020, and a range of research sources and commentary note that change has slowed – particularly in the areas of gender pay gaps and reporting requirements associated with gender equality in workplaces.¹²While gender inequality is expressed across society in many ways, systemic inequality – that is, inequity introduced through workplace inequality – underpins poor economic, social and welfare outcomes for women, and for the broader Australian society. From a purely economic perspective, an estimated AU$60 billion (US$45 billion) could be added to Australia’s GDP over the next 20 years as a direct result of halving the gender pay gap, and reducing entrenched discrimination against women in the Australian workforce.³ The societal benefits of workplace equality are also clear, with increased workplace equality reducing the potential for older women to be exposed to financial hardship, isolation and social services reliance.As one of the largest employers, government organisations at the State and Federal level have a clear opportunity to positively impact gender equity in Australia, and drive both social and economic benefits associated with positive change. Employer size aside, the ability for governments to implement sector-wide, whole-of-government initiatives also provides a foundation from which to drive rapid change – an ability which may not be present in a more fragmented, corporate or small-business environment.To directly address systemic workplace inequality and to drive positive change, the Australian government introduced a range of reporting requirements and strategic frameworks to provide a roadmap for positive change. In 2018, the Australian government committed to reduce the female-male workforce participation gap by 25% by 2025 to align with G20 workforce participation targets.⁴Moreover, a range of Gender Equity Strategies have been implemented at the State and Federal level across all agencies, with evidence suggesting that strategy implementation and investment are having an impact.⁵

But what happens when a global pandemic disrupts strategy implementation – and what can we learn from a market which is in the process of returning to ‘normality’?
Australia is in a different position to many countries around the world, at the time of writing this article taking its first steps from disaster management, to recovery and rebuild. As a result, answering this question – and ensuring the insight is integrated into strategy and investment plans as we move through 2021 and beyond, is critical for the government sector. This is also critical for Australian society as a whole, given the role of the public sector in driving economic recovery.Within this context, recent consultations with decision maker forums responsible for elements of gender equity in the workplace have included a focus on COVID-19 recovery processes and impacts. This work, and its resulting insight, potentially provide some lead indicators and considerations for other markets around the world.Early evidence from Kantar Public’s work in Australia indicates that the impact of COVID-19 on workplace equity is nuanced and will not be finite in nature. Leaders and those tasked with driving gender equality initiatives, believe that changes to the internal operating environment (such as more flexible working hours or better facilitated home/remote working), introduced as a result of COVID-19 restrictions and Health Department protocols - will drive positive change in some areas.However, consultations have also shown that dormant or currently unrealised negative consequences are hidden behind these positive changes, and represent a risk to shift disadvantage and inequality to other aspects of an individual’s work and home life.Underpinning many of these disadvantages is the potential to conflate the concept of ‘flexible work’ with ‘gender equality’. It is well known that flexible working (expressed both as working from home and working flexible hours) is increasingly being recognised as a key driver for positive change.⁶

During consultation work with government and business leaders, we have seen that conversations about COVID-19 and gender equality often start from the premise that ‘COVID has been great for gender equity as it means everyone is now used to working from home…’. This is true to an extent: flexible work was mandated, businesses and organisations across sectors continued to operate, productivity was generally maintained, and teams continued to function. Reasons to refuse to operate a flexible workplace environment from an operational standpoint, have been reduced or eliminated – a positive step forward, arguably for men as well as women.Unintended consequences of COVID-driven flexible working
That said, leaders who are focused on the road to recovery post COVID note that, to ensure sustained change, it is critical to acknowledge that a COVID-driven increase in the take-up of flexible working options may not last, may not actually be valued, and may come with a range of hidden side-effects which reduce equality, and suppress positive change for a range of reasons:

01 │Externally forced versus internally desired:

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven change via external pressures. It has placed an imperative on management, leadership and organisational systems to implement one underlying enabler of an equitable workplace, that is flexible work. For those who may be attitudinally resistant to facilitating flexible work, this forced change is not a ‘sticky’ change, and there is a high likelihood that underlying attitudes and beliefsystems about flexible work (or gender equality in general) may snap back once an external pressure has been lifted. In this way, positive change, no matter how all encompassing, may be temporary. As a result, efforts to shift the driver for engagement from an extrinsic pressure to an intrinsic motivator are essential.

02 │The One Big Thing

The significant spend, time investment, and organisational effort required to ensure workplaces could continue to function during the pandemic, can result in leaders and decision makers feeling as if flexible working was their ‘one big thing’ for the year in relation to gender equity. This may reduce their focus on broader, more sustainable workplace enhancements.

03 │ Negative normalisation

COVID-19 will end at some point, and workplaces will begin to get back to ‘normal’ (as different as ‘normal’ may be!).

Our consultations with leaders and those tasked with driving gender equity within workplaces have identified a range of potential risks associated with ‘negative normalisation’, including:

Unequal face time: There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that, as part of COVID recovery, men are generally significantly more enthusiastic about returning to the office.⁷ Leaders note that the possibility of men returning to the workplace before women, and therefore establishing stronger relationships with senior management – a core driver of inequality within advancement and promotion – needs to be considered and addressed as part of return-to-work planning and continuity efforts.

Increased caring requirements: Disproportionate rates of unpaid caring responsibilities (e.g. looking after children and/or elderly relatives) between men and women during COVID-19 have been reported internationally.⁸ As office-based work returns to normal, it is likely that the inequitable distribution of these responsibilities will continue; or indeed be exacerbated in situations where men return to work more quickly than women performing the same roles.

A COVID-driven increase in the take-up of flexible working options may not last, may not actually be valued, and may come with a range of hidden side-effects which reduce equality.

Ash Moore, Kantar Public, Australia

So, what can we take away from this, and how can some of these emerging risks be mitigated?
Firstly, we are reminded that recovery comes with a downside. The negative implications of recovery need to be considered and factored into continuity planning to ensure gender equality, and to capitalise on the systemic changes which have taken place.
Secondly, we see how critical it is to consider gender equity in the workplace as a composite issue, not one which is comprised solely of structural barriers such as the ability to work from home. It will be essential to ensure efforts are maintained to drive change across the entire workplace and workforce spectrum.Finally, it is important to note that the speed of recovery from the pandemic will be improved through a sustained focus on gender equity in the workplace. The economic evidence to support this point is clear. The challenge now is to maintain the systemic gains which have been accelerated, while ensuring our drive to return to ‘normal’ doesn’t result in new, and as yet unrealised, drivers for inequality.

References

Global Gender Gap Report 2020, World Economic Forum
PerCapita, 2020, measure for measure: gender equality in Australia,
Ending workforce discrimination against women - KPMG, 2018
Towards 2025: an Australian Government Strategy to boost women’s workforce participation - Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2020
Are we there yet: progress of the Australian Public Service Gender Equity Strategy - Australian Public Service Commission, 2018,
Workplace Gender Equity Agency, 2020
How COVID is reshaping the race for talent - Boston Consulting Group, 2020
Gender Disparities in Caretaking during the COVID-19 Pandemic - Lerner Centre for Public Health Promotion, 2020