ISS employs people from over 119 nations worldwide. Women make up a total of 66 percent of the workforce; however, they account for only one-third of leadership positions. The goal is for women to hold 40 percent of leadership roles by 2025. In an interview with *Handelszeitung* at the first EqualVoice Community Event hosted by ISS, Tanja Aebi - Director of People & Culture at ISS - explains how Ringier’s EqualVoice initiative supports the company in this endeavor.
Ms. Aebi, you’ve been Director of People & Culture at ISS since the beginning of the month. How are you helping young, motivated women climb the career ladder today?
As an industry leader and one of the largest employers, our ambition is to serve as a role model ourselves. To that end, we have specific measures in place to motivate women. But diversity and inclusion is a bottom-up process - one that takes time. Especially for a company of our size - we have over 12,000 employees in Switzerland - it takes not only these measures but also time to embed these messages nationwide and across all our projects.
One such measure is ISS’s membership in the EqualVoice initiative; furthermore, you have signed the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and are a member of The Valuable 500. But what do the specific measures you mentioned look like?
We have launched two talent programs to develop the ambitious leaders of tomorrow. As part of this, we have stipulated that at least two-thirds of external participants must be women. In our recruitment processes, we include at least one woman on the shortlist for management positions, and in our internal succession planning, we also encourage women working part-time (less than 80 percent) to apply for leadership roles.
Those are measures related to recruitment; what are you doing to increase the visibility of women?
In our internal communications, we publish stories about men and women in a 50:50 ratio. We’re also planning an “Inclusive Language Guide” and are crafting our job postings so that the content appeals equally to all genders. In addition, for nearly five years we’ve had a clearly defined process for addressing sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace - a so-called “Speak Up Policy.”
And what about working hours?
Here, we’re creating the right conditions - such as remote work options or more flexible work schedules - to help people better balance family and career. Flexible work models, in particular, are ideal for enabling women - who still shoulder the bulk of childcare responsibilities—to enter or return to leadership positions.
What are the biggest hurdles to diversity at ISS?
Although women make up 66 percent of our workforce, two-thirds of our leadership positions are currently held by men and one-third by women. We aim to increase this proportion through targeted measures so that by 2025, women will account for 40 percent of leadership positions at all levels. To do this, we need to raise awareness at all levels, but given the large number of employees mentioned, this will require not only concrete measures but also time. We plan to achieve this through targeted communication, specific workshops with managers, and online learning programs.
How do you measure success? What factors do you use as benchmarks, and what indicators help you gauge where you are on your diversity journey?
Starting this year, we’ve been using a dashboard that provides us with concrete data on our employees regarding gender balance, age, nationalities, and so on. Diversity has always been part of our company: We employ nearly 400,000 people from more than 175 countries worldwide. That automatically entails social responsibility.
Could you elaborate on this social responsibility?
We’ve long been integrating people with disabilities and currently employ 176 refugees. So it was a logical next step for us to create a dedicated Diversity & Inclusion position in Switzerland in 2021 to approach our existing initiatives in a more structured way. We are now purposefully continuing on this journey: Our ambition is to create a culture of belonging. Or, to put it another way: an environment where everyone can be themselves, develop further, grow, and truly make a difference.
And how do you achieve that in times of a skilled labor shortage?
We’re doing this, on the one hand, through the talent and development programs I mentioned, as well as targeted professional development initiatives. At the same time, we’re launching our new Employee Value Proposition, “A Place to Be You.” What’s important to us is that diversity isn’t just a paper tiger! Every day, we see that customers want to work with a service company that actively embodies diversity and inclusion—and we convey that message to the outside world as well.
The interview appeared in the Handelszeitung on September 20, 2022