Managing Diversity and Inclusion in the Real Estate Sector

Amanda Clack, Judith Gabler

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429768583
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Professional Practice in Architecture

Research shows that high-performing organisations focus on diversity and inclusion (D&I). In any workplace, it is important to both understand and recognise the benefits that having a D&I workforce provides. It is integral to developing people within an organisation, serving clients as best we can, and playing an important leadership role in communities.

This book is the first to place D&I at the centre of successful real estate and construction organisations. It provides guidance to, and most importantly, actions for professionals in the sector who want to make D&I an inherent part of the culture of their organisation. This book has been written to bring the sector up to speed with what D&I is all about and how a D&I strategy can be implemented to secure future success. It presents a practical and easy-to-read guide that can help organisations and their leaders engage with and apply this agenda to win the war for talent in real estate and construction.

This book is essential reading for all property leaders and professionals working in the real estate and construction sectors. Readers will gain especially from personal reflections on all aspects of diversity by a broad range of people working in the property industry.

1 Setting the scene

1.1 Introduction

For many organisations D&I is synonymous with being part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda. Across the globe a growing number of industry leaders are reinforcing their commitment to embracing a culture, both internally and externally, of principles and values of which D&I is just one part of the whole. The United Nations Global Compact¹ stands firm on commitments from over 9,867 companies in 164 countries to embed into their overall strategies, culture and day-to-day operations ten universal principles of sustainable business practices covering human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. Worldwide, real estate and construction organisations are also aligning their business practices with the principles of CSR in order to recruit, develop and retain an increasingly diverse and inclusive workforce. By doing so they are establishing core business practices that are considered essential ethical choices, positively defining the organisational reputation and establishing the bedrock for long-term sustainable business models.

1.2 A global challenge

If many organisations are already interacting within their own sphere of influence, it seems out of place that many others (still) feel challenged by D&I. One of the main reasons for this is that the road to understanding and embedding D&I is multi-faceted, multi-layered and multi-complex. Secondly, D&I is continually evolving, as organisations themselves evolve and develop, with established cultural norms being challenged in support of the war for talent, equality and the creation of a balanced and harmonious workplace. Centuries of pre-conditioning, culture, socio-economic evolution and demographics, to name but a few, mean that a true D&I culture will, for many, not land overnight with a bang, but will be a gentle evolution of step-by-step progress. In reality it can take time to move the organisational dial, but it does gain greater momentum when the collective power of all stakeholders working together helps make that change more quickly.

1.3 Legislation

Underpinning CSR are multiple layers of legislation, guidelines and codices. While these create a strong foundation upon which to embed a D&I culture, they are in turn bound by restrictions.

Take India, for example. As a union of states it is governed by the overarching Constitution of India,² which first came into effect in 1950, but which is regularly updated in order to include any new legislation. Accordingly, all citizens have a right to equality before law with the State prohibiting discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and stipulating equal pay for equal work for both men and women.³ The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act was also passed in India in 2016⁴ so that it could meet its obligations to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,⁵ alongside the United Kingdom, the USA and many European countries, and which it had already ratified in 2007. Yet the sheer size of a rapidly growing 1.35 billion population together with huge social, economic and environment problems mean that change is extremely slow. In March 2017, for example, the India National Herald⁶ raised its voice against 15 different forms of direct and indirect discrimination, including biased recruitment practices due to caste, harassment relating to gender identity, and segregation due to religion.

Yet there is hope. While metamorphosing out of long-standing traditions and customs takes a seemingly endless amount of time, awareness-raising and lobbying, change can nevertheless happen. The most recent example is the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of India in September 2018 which overturned colonial-era legislation known as section 377 and which now allows sex in private between consenting homosexual adults.⁷ It is a beacon of encouragement that will hopefully set an example for others to follow.

In Great Britain, more than 110 individual pieces of legislation are combined into the Equality Act 2010⁸ in order to protect people in the workplace and in wider society. It is a comprehensive piece of legislation applicable throughout England, Scotland and Wales setting out who is protected from discrimination, the different types of discrimination, and action that individuals can take if they feel they have been discriminated against. The nine “protected characteristics” are discussed in more detail in Chapter 2.

In Continental Europe it is the European Union (EU) that is responsible for forging political and economic collaboration, maintaining stability and peace, and creating a European identity in a globalised world. Currently with 28 member countries and 24 official languages, it is founded on the universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity so that all are “united in diversity”. Human rights are embedded in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union⁹ and are legally binding in the EU since the Treaty of Lisbon was enacted in 2009. European law enforces a number of directives in order to protect citizens’ rights against discrimination, and all the D&I characteristics are covered within the individual categories of laws both in and beyond the workplace. Directive 2000/78/EC¹⁰ in particular establishes and upholds the overall framework for non-discriminatory practices in the workplace. At national level, member states and non-EU member states have in turn interpreted and implemented the directives within local legislation.

Yet while legislation can provide a framework to protect individuals’ rights to be treated fairly, equally and, where required, anonymously, it can also mean that data collection and monitoring of progress can be (considerably) restricted.

In order to better assess the impact of data legislation, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) commissioned research in late 2017 into four countries in Continental Europe. This was important given the cultural diversity and potential sensitivities around D&I in some countries about what is “acceptable” or “not acceptable” to openly discuss and disclose. The research was a legal assessment¹¹ of existing legislation in France, Germany, The Netherlands and Spain relating to six characteristics of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, religion and belief, as well as sexual orientation. Parental leave and data around socio-economic background were also considered as a secondary focus. The primary objective was to identify those questions specifically relating to the six characteristics that a third party could legally ask an organisation to disclose based on six elements of the workforce life-cycle, namely leadership, recruitment, development, retention, engagement and continuous improvement. The three main conclusions indicated that:

1 In all four countries there are no restrictions on asking firms to provide general information relating to the organisation’s contact person, sector and number of employees.

2 There are also no restrictions on asking an organisation whether:

a there is a D&I strategy in place;

b D&I is a corporate goal underpinned by objective-driven action plans;

c the organisation has a data protection policy;

d D&I related data is collected.

3 There are restrictions in three of the four countries when it comes to workforce monitoring. Data collection and processing can only be effected with prior standard consent in Germany, France and Spain due to strict limitations of the data protection legislation and especially due to the perceived risk that data provided anonymously may become inadvertently linked to individual employees. In these countries:

a An organisation can disclose whether it collects data relating to age, gender, ethnicity, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation and parental leave.

b An organisation may not disclose specific data provided by the workforce self-identifying either gender (e.g. male, female, transgender), ethnicity, physical or mental impairment, religion, sexual orientation, or parental leave inasmuch as the latter relates to gender.

In the mean time, the introduction of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)¹² in May 2018 has fundamentally changed how data can be collected, stored and administrated. While the legislation goes a considerable step further in protecting the rights of the data subject, including data access and the right to be forgotten, for the purpose of D&I monitoring and benchmarking it has certainly added a further layer of complexity.

Government legislation is a key anchor to changing the D&I landscape globally, but the transformational journey is not without roadblocks. Years of culture and tradition may impact legislation. Consequently, data collection, while providing indicators of workforce composition and how this changes over a period of time, may be restricted in scope and depth by what is legally permissible.

1.4 International firms versus SMEs

The rich fabric of diversity poses different challenges for different organisations simply because of varying size, purpose or sector. An international organisation with business operations and subsidiary offices in several global markets has different resources than, for example, a micro,...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Praise
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword: Diversity in Action
• Foreword: Inclusion is Not an Illusion
• Introduction
• 1 Setting the Scene
• 2 The Relevance of D&I in Real Estate and Construction
• 3 Gender Parity
• 4 Workplace Realities
• 5 The Principles of Building an Inclusive Workplace
• 6 How to Successfully Implement a D&I Strategy
• 7 Perspectives
• 8 Be the Change that You Want to Create
• Biographies
• Index