At ERM we know that creating a diverse and inclusive work environment is not only an essential part of making our company a great place to build a career. Our diversity is a strength that helps us create better solutions for our clients.
Only when we reflect the communities in which we work, celebrate and promote difference and diversity of thought, and assume our collective responsibility towards inclusion, do we realize our full potential as an organization.
We confirmed our commitment to this over 10 years ago in the first global company policy on diversity and, through our active approach to building an inclusive culture, we strive to create an environment where every person can bring their full self to their work. Inclusion relates directly to our company values in the following ways:
- Accountability - knowing that everyone is responsible for building an inclusive culture, as individuals and together;
- Caring for our people - creating a supportive environment to work in;
- Client focus - recognizing the value that we can bring to clients through a diverse employee base;
- Collaboration - encouraging a workforce that works across borders, cultures and diverse backgrounds;
- Empowerment - giving everyone the space to be who they are and realize their full potential;
- Transparency - being open as a culture and eliminating non-inclusive behaviour, including giving a voice to all employees.
A global perspective
At ERM, we have a global Advisory Group that guides the development and implementation of our inclusion strategy across the business. It provides insight and assists us in creating awareness, education and, where appropriate, training across the company. It is open to all employees and we run an annual application process to replace members who have served their two-year term.
Building an inclusive culture – an ongoing journey
We have introduced training to raise awareness of some of the business-related issues associated with not having a diverse and inclusive culture. All employees take part in an online module, which is the start of learning more about this area. We also have more in-depth training for managers and the senior leaders in ERM. We have Employee Resource Groups to provide networks to like-minded communities of our people. We also work across internal functions to make sure our systems and processes are free from bias and promote equal opportunity.
ERM’s latest Diversity and Inclusion news
March was an important month for ERM as we observed two global awareness days: International Women’s Day and International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
In 2023, we decided to observe these days in an intersectional way, by inviting renowned diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) leader, Janet Stovall, for a companywide session called Context, challenges, choices: What you can do to dismantle inequity. Through a keynote presentation, fireside chat with our Global Head of Mining and Metals and Global Head of Risk, Louise Pearce, and an interactive Q&A, we addressed some of the principal DE&I challenges facing our sector. Janet shared actions that we can all take to break down inequity wherever we encounter it:
- Personal inequity: Breaking our bias – by pushing back against what we believe and what we think we see, we can help mitigate against our implicit bias. We can learn with intention to interrupt the automatic action which follows a biased thought in ourselves and help our colleagues to do the same.
- Organisational inequity: Include with intention – find common ground to send relatedness signals, lift people up by sending status and fairness signals and provide clarity by creating a sense of certainty and autonomy.
- Systemic inequity: Align with allyship – leverage whatever advantages we have in order to help someone who doesn’t have the same advantage
International Women’s Day
The 2023 theme was ‘Embrace Equity’, and we used this moment in time to reflect on the areas ERM has been embracing equity over the last year and where we needed to do more. We recently shared the positive results of our annual pay equity review with ERMers, which showed improvement over the last 12 months. In addition, we held sessions with our GLOW (Global Women) ERG on ‘Impostering Moments’, and heard from our Partners on how they were embracing equity within their business units. Offices across the world held their own, local sessions to connect with colleagues and promote the progress we are making across the business on gender equity.
Connect with us on LinkedIn and hear from some ERM women on our ‘Shaping Our Future’ blog here.
International Day of Elimination of Racial Discrimination
ERM rallied around an ‘Active Ally’ theme this year. Since 2022’s observance, we have advanced on the commitments of the Race at Work Charter, of which ERM is a signatory. We have matured our ethnicity diversity data reporting substantially so that we can track patterns and trends across the key people process moments (hiring, promotions, pay, talent reviews, attrition, etc.) and are reporting internally to highlight where we need further action, through systemic change or active allies. To mark the IDERD, one of our North American embRACE (Race/Ethnicity) ERG Leads wrote a blog on how microaggressions, allies and the power of ERGs have impacted his professional life. We also had our external partners, Business in the Community, hold a 2-hour advanced workshop that dove into racism, privilege and allyship. Finally, we had some ERMers using our social channels to make an active allyship pledge for the coming year.
