Talent Parity

COVID IMPACTED WOMEN LESS THAN EXPECTED

Despite multiple studies suggesting the pandemic has impacted women worse than men in the general economy, this seems not to have been the case within the private markets and real estate sectors. Speakers in our forum reported that their firms had seen no specific rise in women being made redundant or choosing to leave work.

That said, lockdowns and remote working loosened the bonds between teams due to lack of face- to-face contact. Most firms are now looking ahead to hybrid working and ways to successfully promote company culture.

PROS AND CONS OF HYBRID WORKING FOR SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAMS

Many firms see hybrid working as way to foster flexibility, trust, and high productivity amongst staff. Having some time in the office should help to restore collaboration and team spirit, while boosting engagement. Firm leaders also see hybrid working as a means to become more attractive to top talent—including female talent, as many women favor flexibility, especially if they are working parents.

However, the speakers did say that many firms are apprehensive about how the hybrid model will work in practice. Some are worried that allowing employees to stay working from home may exacerbate the problem of employees not feeling engaged.

POSSIBLE CHALLENGES OF HYBRID WORKING FOR WOMEN

The speakers added that the hybrid model could prove negative for many women—particularly those who value the opportunity to spend more time working from home. The general feeling appears to be that those who spend the most time in the office will be most likely to get preferential treatment and progress their career over those who spend more time working from home.

Statistically, given that working mothers are most likely to want more time at home to look after children, the risk is that men are more likely to spend more time in the office while women spend less time in the office.¹ The result could be that women lose out on career progression opportunities, hampering the development of female talent across the industry.

At the same time, for working mothers, spending some time in the office and some at home could make it more difficult to arrange childcare, unless the specific days are fixed. Flexibility and reliable childcare do not always align.

HOW ARE FIRMS APPROACHING HYBRID WORKING?

Speakers expressed that firms were being overly negative about blending work from home and office, likely due to the apprehension and uncertainty with which real estate firms regard hybrid working. One said that it was important for senior leaders, middle managers, and junior employees equally to approach hybrid working with a positive mindset, as a negative mindset would make failure more likely.

On a practical level, firms have been testing a variety of approaches to hybrid working:

• Some firms have started hybrid working as of September 2021, while others are waiting until January 2022.

• Larger firms tend to give their business heads and managers more flexibility over how to implement hybrid working (for example, how many days per week to expect their staff to come to the office).

• Smaller firms tend towards taking a more top-down “directive” approach, with the most common approach being to ask employees to work in the office three days per week, with the days being fixed.

Most attendees and speakers agreed that commitment to returning to the office is important to mitigate the potential inequality between men and women, as well as to help support junior analysts, who will likely benefit most by learning from more senior employees.

Some firms are asking their employees to take lateral flow tests for COVID-19 and, while some US firms are making vaccination mandatory before returning to the office, UK and European firms are largely not following this lead. Some companies are, however, requiring employees to fill out a health form every day unless they have been double-vaccinated. The thinking is that younger employees are less likely to be vaccinated and may need more monitoring or supervision.

Most companies agree that they won’t implement a fully remote working model. McKinsey recently performed an analysis on remote working and how it affects different industries, stating:

“More employers have found during the pandemic that although some tasks can be done remotely in a crisis, they are much more effectively done in person. These activities include coaching, counseling, and providing advice and feedback; building customer and colleague relationships; bringing new employees into a company; negotiating and making critical decisions, among others.”²

WHAT ELSE ARE FIRMS DOING TO SUPPORT THEIR FEMALE TALENT?

Besides hybrid working, the speakers discussed other initiatives real estate firms have been trying to help support women, with a particular focus on parents.

For example, many companies have updated their maternity and paternity policies to allow for more flexibility. During lockdown, several companies provided access to psychologists and coaches to help parents handle home schooling while working, and to face the mental-health challenges of being a parent during a pandemic. Many of these companies are continuing this kind of coaching going forward, such as offering support to parents for returning to the workplace.

Other initiatives to support parents with younger children include a maternity ‘buddy’ system and setting up parents’ resource groups.

And more broadly, during lockdowns, several fi rms set up online groups for employee networking, such as “Friday clubs,” which aimed to offer a fun, social outlet to help relieve the pressures of lockdown. The speakers felt that this social dynamic could be particularly helpful for women, and that having intentionally designed employee groups focused on promoting relationship building and facilitating honest, candid conversations, was key to foster the team dynamic during remote working—especially for working women.

Some companies are providing training to employees returning to the office, in part to help improve engagement and business discipline. Courses around how to have more productive meetings, collaborate more effectively or leadership development programs. Speakers felt this would be beneficial to women because it allows them to share best practices, improve their confidence and ultimately it makes succession planning easier.

WHAT ARE REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT FIRMS DOING TO DEVELOP MID-LEVEL FEMALE LEADERS?

As in many industries, the real estate sector has seen increased gender diversity in graduate recruitment, as well as more women in senior leadership roles. The speakers noted that their biggest challenge is developing women with around ten years of experience into middle management, where they remain particularly underrepresented. Here, the speakers discussed several initiatives, including:

• Mentorship programs, both formal and informal, including one-to-one mentoring where ambitious female employees are matched to appropriate senior mentors by HR.

• Discussion groups, both those organized by companies and informal ones set up by employees, focusing on topics such as networking, negotiating, and building confidence.

• Paying for online learning platforms from third parties on useful skills—a particularly cost-effective option for smaller firms with fewer resources.

• Motivational coaching focused on middle-management skills, behaviors, and mindsets.

• Investing in personal development of female talent and incentivizing senior managers to spot and develop female talent.

LOTS OF IDEAS, BUT WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?

Real estate investment companies agree on the importance of developing female talent. However, while the discussion highlighted several initiatives firms had already taken and were considering taking, there was no clear consensus on what works or is likely to work most effectively.

The main reason for this lack of consensus is the lack of data to prove what works, especially given the destabilizing effect of the pandemic and the uncertainty around how hybrid working may affect women in particular. At the end of our Summer 2021 roundtable discussion, attendees and speakers alike agreed that the desire to succeed was genuine, and firms were willing to try new ideas, and so agreed to organize a follow-up roundtable to focus on tangible, practical solutions.

The answer to the question of whether 50% representation is achievable for women in real estate is ultimately dependent on who you ask. However, the senior HR managers from our own view in the real estate sector believe this goal is achievable, and is actively committed to finding workable solutions. It will be exciting to see what comes next.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isabel Ruiz Halter is a Director in the Global Real Assets Practice at Sheffield Haworth, a leading global executive search, talent advisory, and interim consulting firm.

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NOTES

¹See also: Lindsey Trimble O’Connor and Erin A. Cech, “Not Just a Mothers’ Problem: The Consequences of Perceived Workplace Flexibility Bias for All Workers,” Sociological Perspectives 61, no. 5 (Fall 2018): 808-829, https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121418768235; Alexandra Samuel and Tara Robertson, “Don’t Let Hybrid Work Set Back Your DEI Efforts,” Harvard Business Review, October 13, 2021, hbr.org/2021/10/dont-lethybrid-work-set-back-your-dei-efforts.

²Susan Lund, Anu Madgavkar, James Manyika, and Sven Smit, “What’s Next for Remote Work: An Analysis of 2,000 Tasks, 800 Jobs, and Nine Countries,” McKinsey Global Institute, November 23, 2020, mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/whats-next-for-remote-work-an-analysis-of-2000-tasks-800-jobs-and-nine-countries.