Why diversity and inclusion matters in China, now more than ever

I attended a major conference around diversity and inclusion in Hong Kong late last year.

Things were moving along nicely until the question-and-answer segment, when a reporter stood up and asked, “So are the local representatives from Chinese businesses here?”. At that moment, the few hundred or so delegates, mainly expats from large multinationals awkwardly glanced around the room. It was true — there weren't any.

Just why is diversity and inclusion, especially in China, such a weighty — and necessary — topic of debate in conferences and boardrooms these days?

The answer is simple. As mainland Chinese businesses begin to expand and look at overseas markets, the competition for talent also takes place on a global scale. Talent is now borderless and in order to win, companies need to have access to the best talent, period.

Our 2017 China Salary and Employment Outlook reveals that having active diversity and inclusion policies at work can swing the battle for the best talent. More than 1 in 2 companies surveyed had active diversity policies at work. Gender inclusivity remains the top focus of most D&I programmes, with 53% of companies making a clear push for recruiting and promoting women. Beyond gender, companies also focus programmes on age (42%) and minority groups (34%).

Within Greater China, Hong Kong remains the most progressive, in part due to its status as a financial hub for MNCs (multinationals), who have policies mandated by head offices. But local Chinese businesses are just at the very beginning of this process, and for many, D&I remains a relatively low priority.

Gender equality

But things are changing.

A leading advocate of women's issues in China, Christine Liu — who organised the 2016 China Women and Diversity Forum: Beyond Best Practices — told me that Chinese companies are placing greater focus on gender equality and inclusion policies at work.

She gave the example of Little Star Group, a Chinese global group providing children's products and services, that started to offer career development programmes for their female employees and actively build a community to engage working and stay-at-home mum since 2014.

Chinese MNCs like Alibaba are also leading the way, she said. In 2015, Alibaba hosted the Global Women Entrepreneurs Conference in Hangzhou, which gathered over 1,000 female leaders and featured celebrity entrepreneurs like Arianna Huffington and Jessica Alba.

Shanghai-based Liu, who also founded sHero, a social enterprise consultancy aimed at empowering women in 2011, said the percentage of female leaders in China is growing, but not quickly enough.

“The current perception is if the business world had a sex, it would be male. If the consumer economy had a sex, it would be female,” she said, adding that “the global pool of talented, ambitious women is one of the business world’s greatest resources, yet at the highest level, it remains largely untapped.”

“The number of women in senior leadership positions is not as high as we would like it to be… still, shattering the glass ceiling requires more than mere diversity. Inclusion must be embedded into leadership development and succession plans,” she said, advocating that women should be placed in the “ready now” and “ready in three years” categories for boardroom level roles.

Going beyond gender

Diversity should go beyond just empowering women leaders. Having a truly diverse and inclusive workforce is now a critical pillar for business success. <hyperlink to APAC diversity article>.

At Michael Page China, we're proud of placing diversity — and inclusion! — at the core of our corporate philosophy.

In 2012, 55% of our senior managers or assistant directors were locally born and bred Chinese. As of Jan 2017, that's now 100%. At the director level, none were Chinese in 2012. Now, 90% of our directors are made up of locals (of those directors, 70% are female).

Globally, we also celebrate International Women's Day and have active chapters of the Women@Page all across our offices. Women@Page is part of a wider Inclusion and Diversity strategy called OpenPage, which recognises and promotes the full breadth of our talent base regardless of gender, age, sexuality, race, religion and ability.

As my colleague Aaran Dosanjh in Indonesia points out, “how many times have you faced women choosing not to return to the workforce following maternity leave, individuals resigning to take care of a loved one, or locals leaving an organisation due to cultural differences?”

And as we prepare to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, it's worth remembering this: every company needs to keep its best people, regardless of gender, colour or faith. It is this diversity and variety of thinking that keeps companies competitive and at the cutting edge of business. 

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Read: How diversity and inclusion helps a business win. And here are more examples of diversity and inclusion at work