Diversity, equity & inclusion: actionable tips from PE professionals

Addressing delegates at the Real Deals HR Summit, held in London on 25 May, four PE and VC professionals with a particular focus on people management took part in a panel exploring why diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policies are now essential to both individual and business success.

As part of the discussion, the panellists were asked to share actionable steps they experienced in their own business, and the investee company they work with, to foster an inclusive work environment.

Ask and listen

“The key is to communicate: ask employees what they want,” said Jordana Semaan, HR director and manager at Investcorp. “It’s very easy for me to sit there and tell you what’s best practice for you, but we realised that every office has a different culture and different needs. So we started there, we sent out engagement surveys and asked employees where they thought we were, and what they wanted to see.”

“Use the appraisals,” added Cate Poulson, head of the talent network at BGF. “Really listen to a diverse range of people on how you can tackle specific issues in the business. You start having a more inclusive approach, and you are in turn constantly improving by bringing these more diverse profiles and opinions on board.”

Look at your family leave policy

“Two of our team members were expecting babies, so we got them in the room and asked if they could help us craft our family leave policy,” said Lynn Akashi, co-founder at Zetland Capital. “That policy is a very powerful tool to foster inclusion. There is this empathetic impact, whereby if you have a gender-neutral policy it will encourage men to think practically about the impact of family leave on their career, asking themselves the same questions that women typically would have thought about. And you want to be supportive of the whole ecosystem: most of our young professionals are in relationships with other professionals as well, and family leave is a very tangible way of having a wider impact.”

Data is king

“You need data around DE&I to be able to give meaningful answers back to investors, who are increasingly demanding when it comes to that issue,” said Amandeep Singh Johal, legal counsel for portfolio governance at Triton. “If you don’t have measurements, it’s very hard to understand where you stand and what progress you are making. Data crystallises the issues and makes people take notice - it is irrefutable. Right now we are focusing on keeping that data simple and straightforward, so that we can give very clear answers to all the stakeholders (and it also helps when it comes to the legal ramifications of data protection). It is also really important to feed that data back to the organisation, and not just the good stuff - you have to be really honest in showing people what the organisation looks like.”