DEI Executive | Personal Coach | Public Speaker | Non Executive Director | Macroeconomist
Actions over words About a year ago, I had a pivotal conversation with the co-chairs of our Gender Balance Network to discuss future plans for the network. While I support book clubs, panel discussions, etc., I shared my preference for action over words. So, I challenged them to leverage their position to highlight the lived experiences of their members. I listened to the feedback, and some stories were difficult to hear. Some stories echoed my experience many years ago when I was a young parent in the early stages of my career. Today is a special moment for me. I'm proud to share that, following a lot of hard work by colleagues in the UK business unit, we are introducing seven new/enhanced policies to support our employees as they navigate work and the ever-changing home life: ✅Paid neonatal leave ✅Paid fertility leave ✅Paid time off for dependants ✅Paid carers leave ✅Enhancements to our maternity/new parent leave ✅Enhancements to our paternity/partner leave for onshore employees ✅Sabbatical leave Some of these changes go above and beyond statutory compliance because we believe that you cannot separate life from an individual at work. I am sharing this because we need to start taking action and stop performative actions like lovely poses with meaningless hashtags. If you're in a position of influence, your role is crucial. Please listen to your employees and use your influence to support them in navigating life as they support your business. As we've seen in the political debate across the pond this week, not everyone has kids 😀 , so let's be inclusive in our policies and remember to think beyond traditional family structures. A special shout out to Rosann Middleton, who led this project in my team, and Jeni Bratton and Teresa Redondo López, PhD FGS for your exemplary leadership of the Harbour Energy Gender Balance Network. It takes a team to deliver a change of this nature, so thank you, Sharon Bruce, Fiona B., Melanie Lewis and Sharon Henderson MCIPD, for working tirelessly to support this project. #actionoverwords #inclusion #inclusivepolicies Pic credit (author's own from morning walk today)
