Speaking on the Diversity and Inclusivity Finance Forum (DIFF) podcast, Beardmore spoke about L&G’s targets for race and ethnicity as part of a policy it introduced last year to increase representation at a senior level.
Beardmore said when hiring, all the personal details on a CV were stripped away, so there was just a focus on the skillset.
Sameera Khaliq, head of financial strategy and business partnering at Skipton Building Society, asked how this target had been received by employees as it was often an area which could divide opinion.
Beardmore said companies had to be careful that any targets set were for the right reasons, which came down to the culture within the organisation.
She said when she looked at how (L&G managing director of distribution) Ali Crossley managed it, it was clear she was not ticking boxes.
“It’s absolutely genuinely, coming from a really good place and that filters down to her direct reports and their direct reports,” Beardmore added.
Podcast host Bharat Sagar noted that often these targets were a short-term tool which acted as a catalyst to drive change.
Khaliq agreed and said: “What you’d like to hope over time is it becomes embedded in your organisation such that you can remove limits and targets. It has to be within your culture, within your values, within your behaviours, within your processes. The whole ecosystem has to support that.”
Beardmore said that was the crux of it and “when we stop talking about it, that’s when it’s been delivered”.
Being represented
When asked how it felt to be one of the few Asian or Muslim women either at school or in the workplace, Khaliq said for all women, it was about “being able to see those role models. Looking around and being able to see others that have achieved that. It’s about people feeling like it’s attainable and you can achieve it and you can break the barriers.”
She said it was important to create a work-life balance for all women, but different cultures added another layer.
Khaliq added: “Previous generations culturally were very much about those maternal figures in the home. If I think about my childhood, I grew up with my mum being at home and my mum’s home cooking… but that’s instilled something in me and makes me think I want to do that for my kids…”
Khaliq said even though she did not see it with her mum, her sisters were “strong independent women”, and her oldest sister was the first in her generation to go onto higher education.
“It wasn’t the done thing in our extended family but seeing things like that gave me the confidence that you can build careers and have children,” she added.
Khaliq said there needed to be more role models for people to look up to.
Beardmore said that growing up, she did not have any role models encouraging her to go into higher education either.
“I felt supported by my parents but what I didn’t see was my mum going into a job like I’ve done. She stayed at home… she worked part time.”
Beardmore lived in a council house where she “felt that stigma” and said that drove her to “not ever be embarrassed in the future”.
She said it was a “ridiculous thing to say in this day and age” but when she was younger, she did not think to invite people over and that became her motivation, to give her children pride so they did not have the same stigma.
Standing out and fitting in
Khaliq was asked about the impact that the attire of Muslim women could have on their careers and in the workplace.
She said: “Anything that makes you look physically different to somebody else can immediately create a perception. People can see you differently… where people may have the same skills and capabilities and yet Muslim women are still less likely to be put in certain positions.
“Things like how they look or if they wear a headscarf, I think it can impact things… unconscious biases can kick in.
Khaliq said she intentionally used the phrase unconscious bias because “a lot of the time people don’t even realise they’re making those judgments.”
She said it was nice to see her male colleagues come in traditional dress and mosque hats during Ramadan last year, and she said it was good to see people feel empowered to do that.
“But it’s still very much in the minority and I don’t know how many people would feel comfortable doing that. I think if you spoke to a Muslim woman that wears a headscarf, I think they would tell you they feel different or they feel they’re treated different,” she added.
Sagar said there were also “assumptive biases”, for example, because he wears a turban people might assume he was “deeply religious and quietly spoken. They soon find out that neither of these things are true, but there is always an assumption there”.
Sagar asked if employers had an extra responsibility to look past these physical attributes.
Beardmore agreed, adding: “Why would that mean you can’t perform the job equally as well as me who wouldn’t wear that? It doesn’t and it shouldn’t be a consideration”.
She said there were unconscious biases and some people may decide it is not what they are looking for [in an employee] but said “more fool them”.
Sagar said sometimes, for people from minority groups to achieve certain positions there was a requirement for them to be “absolutely, amazingly exceptional” while people who fit the norm were allowed to be average.
Beardmore said it was more than that, and it was “having the confidence as a woman to not be an alpha male”.
She said when she was first given her role, [L&G managing director, mortgage services] Kevin Roberts told her to take some time to think about how she wanted to be seen, but straight away she decided she only wanted to be perceived as herself.
Listen to the episode [39:28] hosted by Bharat Sagar, ambassador-at-large of AE3 Media, Clare Beardmore, director of Legal and General Mortgage Club and Sameera Khaliq, head of financial strategy and business partnering at Skipton Building Society.
