Stockland has worked hard to embed diversity into its company culture and the hard work is paying off. What can we learn from one of the world’s most gender equal companies?
Diversity isn’t something you can “just tick off on a list of action items,” says Karen Lonergan, Stockland’s group executive responsible for people and culture.
“Over a number of years, Stockland has stitched diversity into our DNA and we are now getting a lot of success.”
Stockland was recently named on Equileap’s 2019 top 100 list as the sixth most gender equal company in the world. Mirvac came in second, while Lendlease, the GPT Group, Dexus and Vicinity Centres were all counted in the top 100.
Lonergan applauds the result, which she says reflects an industry-wide commitment to shifting the dial on diversity.
A “newcomer” to property, Lonergan spent the last two decades working with Australian icons like David Jones, Woolworths and Qantas before joining Stockland in March. She’s observed property leaders coming together to “tackle gender diversity as an industry in a way I haven’t seen before – and I think this has been hugely beneficial”.
Leadership starts at the top, Lonergan adds. Stockland’s managing director Mark Steinert is a Property Male Champion of Change, and Stockland’s board and executive are “very focused on diversity, not only because it’s the right thing to do but because it makes good business sense”.
Women currently make up 45.8 per cent of management roles and 50 per cent of Stockland’s executive committee, and Lonergan says her team will continue to target balanced representation across all management levels and gender pay equity across all like for like roles.
“We are really clear that we do our best job for our customers when our team reflects the diversity of the customers we serve,” Lonergan explains.
Simple steps to success
What are Stockland’s secrets to success? Lonergan points to several important steps.
The first is to set measurable targets and for the leadership team to look at their business through a diversity lens. Stockland’s board established “clearly articulated targets”, that Lonergan emphasises are different from quotas, but which the executive team are responsible for achieving.
The next step is to shine a spotlight on female talent. “It’s a cliché because it’s true: you can’t be what you haven’t seen. We’ve got some awesome women leaders at Stockland, and we have put a lot of effort into showing what women’s leadership looks like.”
Stockland’s approach has delivered long-term change because it is underpinned by employee advocacy groups – or “engines rooms” – focused on diversity. “This has helped us create practical programs and sustainable pathways – and because women and men at all levels of the business are involved, we’ve experienced less backlash than other organisations may have encountered.”
Stockland has been collaborating with universities to boost the pipeline of female talent “but this can take years,” Lonergan admits. Stockland’s Accelerate talent development program is helping “fabulous women leaders” with complementary skills from within its business transfer into coveted development roles. “One of our senior development leaders running some of our biggest projects comes from a marketing background, but had the talent and transferrable skills, and was sponsored by one of our executives,” Lonergan explains.
Creating a culture of inclusion
While Stockland is “where we need to be from a numbers point of view”, Lonergan says the company is now “focused on getting the full value from our diversity – and that is about being more inclusive”.
“We never want to be in the territory of ‘fix the women’ because our women don’t need fixing. But they can benefit from more networking opportunities and role models, so we are focused on that.
“We are also continuing to broaden our focus into other areas of diversity – we have a very active employee group supporting our LGBTI community, and another working on wellbeing so we can get the best contributions from all people.”
Cultural diversity is also on the radar, because “we recognise we do better when our sales and frontline people reflect the diversity of the communities they are in”.
Looking more broadly, Lonergan is passionate about creating support systems for people experiencing domestic and family violence. Stockland recently upgraded its policy to ensure it is best practice and has introduced first responder training to provide support for employees. Shopping centres are at the heart of communities, she adds, and Stockland is preparing to pilot a new program in Gladstone that looks to “turn the retail town centre into a safe space for people dealing with domestic and family violence”.
One of the biggest drivers of Stockland’s success in the diversity realm has been “getting really serious about flexibility”. The company’s Flexibility@Stockland program has helped 85 per cent of its staff to identify one simple action that can help them achieve work life balance – whether that’s dropping children at school, working from home one day a week or heading to the gym each lunch.
Flexibility@Stockland has contributed to Stockland’s astronomically high return to work rate after maternity leave – which is close to 90 per cent and “the highest I’ve ever seen,” Lonergan explains.
“We also have a really good rate of fathers accessing parental leave, and I think this is because we are building a culture of flexibility from the top down. Our policy isn’t any different to that in other companies. The difference is people feel safe to access it. And that has been a game changer for us.”