Toolkit
GR-11 Actions to support Diversity and Gender Equality @ KLEEMANN
Organisations type: | Business Service Production |
Organisations size: | Large business (more than 250 staff members) |
Action fields: |
Career and professional development Recruitment and the filling of vacancies Senior Management commitment and organisational gender equality policies |
Keywords: | Career development, Recruiting, Management commitment . |
Contacts: Ms Eleni Asvesta HR Director Tel: 0030 23410 38275 email: easve@kleemann.gr www.kleemann.gr |
Short description of the measure
Since 2004 KLEEMANN has put in place initiatives aimed at promoting Diversity and Gender Equality, which are over and above statutory minimum requirements. The company has participated in a number of funded projects to map the current position of women in the organisation, promote work-life balance and support women’s professional development. The company has signed the “Declaration of Diversity” of the Greek Network for Social Corporate Responsibility and actively supports the employment of women by recruiting them into typically male dominated functions and positions.
In-depth description of the measure
Information about the organisation
KLEEMANN is a Greek-owned industrial company that operates in the elevating systems industry and is based in the Northern part of the country (Kilkis, Macedonia). It produces and sells lifts (for mass consumption but also providing specialised solutions) and escalators. It has 610 employees (2011) and had a turnover of more than 75.000.000 Euros in 2010. 17% of employees are women, and 18% of the top management team in the company is held by women.
Motivation for implementing the measure
KLEEMANN aimed to use the diversity and gender equality actions as a step towards achieving a working environment of equality and justice where all employees will be able to deploy their full potential and develop their careers based on merit. The specific problems the company aimed to tackle were:
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conflict between work and personal life, and
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stereotyping the traditional roles of men and women, resulting in a very small numbers of women working in the company’s sales department.
Description of good practice
The goals of the diversity and gender equality policy were to:
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Improve the quality of work life, taking into account the work-life balance of employees.
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Promote gender equality in the workplace and, ultimately, improve the efficiency and productivity of the company.
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Identify, analyse and challenge traditional held assumptions, beliefs and values that underpin working practices and which, although not efficient or effective in the modern working environment, have over time been incorporated as norms and are nowadays considered as given, and therefore not challenged.
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Develop work practices based only on the nature of each specific project/ function and not on traditional assumptions and expectations about how they should be implemented.
In 2004 KLEEMANN participated in a research program funded by the EQUAL Community Initiative to understand the role of women in the organisation and plan specific actions for the position, improvement and development of female employees. In 2006, KLEEMANN participated in the "Action for Women" Program of the Greek General Secretariat for Gender Equality, under which the company designed and implemented training programs in sales and leadership development, as well as career counselling programs exclusively for female employees. In 2007 the company started a partnership with Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Department of Economics, looking at work-life balance, improvements to gender equality in the workplace and increasing the company’s efficiency and productivity. Furthermore, the company has signed the “Declaration of Diversity” of the Greek Network for Social Corporate Responsibility.
As a result, KLEEMANN’s top management better understand the problems facing women in the organization, as well as the opportunities available to women to develop themselves, whilst still maintaining profitable organizational operations. Because of the very nature of the work (construction business) and the characteristics of the clients (technicians – installers), women were not considered to have a suitable working profile to be employed in the sales and after sales departments of the company. For business (the “pool” of prospective employees were very limited when women were not included) but also for social reasons (as an action to support female employability in this region), KLEEMANN decided to open the hiring procedure to women on equal terms with men. Therefore, the company’s top management set a strategic goal to increase the number of women in the sales and technical support departments of the company.
Implementation
Key to successful implementation was the open and continuous communication between management and employees. An employee opinion survey gave important quantitative feedback regarding the employees approach to the subject of gender equality. Moreover, and in order to also provide the qualitative information needed, focus groups gave useful insights on the way the company was organised and operated.
The focus was on the sales and technical departments of the company. The main goal was to change the existing mentality of “stand-alone” areas between these two departments and promote a common approach to company issues. External providers were used in different stages of this project, which caused some reluctance in parts of the company in providing/ sharing info or implementing proposed actions. Continuous and open communication, but also top management attitude, was again crucial in overcoming such problems.
An underpinning action was the public commitment made by the company’s top management to all company employees, in promoting equal opportunities for all employees irrespective of gender, race or age. One of the first interventions was the introduction of a new hiring, rewarding and career development system that covered all employees, but at the same time placed specific emphasis on the needs and characteristics of the female population of the organisation. At a later stage, actions were implemented specifically for the upskilling of women’s professional attributes (courses in leadership and sales) and professional development (career counselling). Around work-life balance, KLEEMANN introduced a flexible working hours policy, as well as measures for the protection of pregnant employees that included the internal transfer of the pregnant employee to another department when safety issues arose. Last but not least, the company promoted internal networking among female employees in order to create an informal supportive network to promote and facilitate women’s career development.
Impact
The first, and most important result, was that the company offered better working conditions to its employees (in terms of hiring, performance appraisal, work-life balance, career development) and developed a more balanced modus operandi for the organisation. As a result, KLEEMANN experienced reduced numbers of client complaints, evidence that the quality of the company’s customer services has improved.
Special mention should be made of the results of the company’s decision to hire women on equal terms with men in the sales and after sales functions. This increased the pool of candidates (increasing the availability of a wider range of skills and competences) and reduced the response time to recruiting requests. But the most important result is that the increased presence of women in the daily interaction with the clients, and their calm and responsive resolution of complaints, led to a better relationship with clients. In terms of numbers, women accounted for 12.6% of the total company workforce in 2004 (32% in administration and only 5.3% in sales). In 2011 women had increased to 16% of the total workforce (37.4% in the administration and 27% in sales!).
“Top tips” for anyone who would like to follow the example.
Dos:
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Create voluntary working groups with members of different backgrounds and personal characteristics, which are encouraged to act as agents of change in the daily working reality of the organisation.
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Reliable and timely information to all employees with particular emphasis on new employees.
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Continuity and consistency.
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Encourage employee participation (not only at a “theoretical level” but also in the implementation and application of selected actions). Make employees part of the solution.
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Regular feedback.
Don’ts:
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Do not raise expectations beyond the organisation’s capabilities.