| Political analogy
In her introduction, Senator Fatma Pehlivan
confirmed that the under-representation of women
had for too long been of their own making.
In the interim, views have changed and while
it is true that they are increasingly active on
the political scene, there are still too few women
in politics.
The broad principles for a political equal opportunity
policy, such as providing support for younger
generations of women, recruitment of talent, and
mentorship, are equally applicable in business
and industry.
It is important for the whole of society that
women find the way to political power, the economy,
the financial world and certainly to business
and industry.
A worldwide diversity program: good for
employees, patients and the results
Johnson & Johnson, the parent company
of Janssen Pharmaceutica, started a large-scale
program in 1995 with the objective of giving employees
the opportunity to grow in the organization without
being hindered by prejudice based on gender, national
origin or religion, etc.
This diversity policy is actually stated in much
the same words in the 60 years old ‘Our
Credo’ of Johnson & Johnson: ‘There
must be equal opportunity for employment, development
and advancement for those qualified.’
Ajit Shetty, Managing Director of Janssen Pharmaceutica,
says this about the diversity policy: ‘A
properly developed equal opportunity policy is
not only a moral obligation, it is also good for
the business results. Our patients can be found
all over the world. Most employees in the healthcare
sector are women, and most of the medical and
pharmacy students in Belgium are women. To be
able to correctly gauge all their expectations
and take account of their needs, it is important
for this diversity likewise to be reflected in
our company’s decision-making bodies and
in our decision-making. Moreover, there is fierce
competition for talented people. To attract the
best people to our organization we must have an
open working culture in the company, one that
takes account of employees’ expectations
and offers equal opportunity. If we can live up
to our vision, then diversity will become one
of the most important competitive advantages that
we have.’
Focus on equal opportunity for men and
women
At Janssen Pharmaceutica, the diversity policy
is initially focused on equal opportunity for
men and women. A special work group, Women’s
Leadership Initiative, has been installed for
that purpose.
‘There is an equal number of men and
women among the manual and hourly-paid workers
at Janssen Pharmaceutica. It is only at exempt
level that female employees are under-represented.
So that is where we are currently focusing all
our activities’, says Mieke Smet, Chair
of the Women’s Leadership Initiative and
Director Training and Development.
To measure is to know
One of the very first initiatives was to identify
the critical points that could be used as a working
framework. Efforts to raise awareness and specific
actions are only possible when these critical
points are known. Hilde Rombouts, Process Excellence
Leader and the person responsible for the study,
says this about it: ‘We started with
50 or so items that had to be looked at. After thorough
evaluation we were left with six points. These
are considered as being critical observations
that we intend to target with initiatives. The observations
are not judgmental. We must now figure out why
everything is the way it is, and especially what
the solutions could be’. |
