GETTINGTOEQUAL 2020

SOUTH AFRICA

THE HIDDEN VALUE

OFCULTURE MAKERS
Where Culture Makers lead,
organisations grow twice as fast

Provocative thinking, transformative insights, tangible outcomes

 Put ‘culture of equality’ at the top of your strategic agenda

Ntombi Mhangwani
Director, Integrated Marketing & Communications and
DIVERSITY AT ACCENTURE
Women’s Forum Lead, Accenture Africa

Diversity is an important cornerstone

of Accenture’s business. It makes us
stronger and more innovative.
The policies are in place. Intellectuals, The only cure is real action.
We believe a culture of equality is
rights organisations, business leaders
one in which everyone—regardless of
agree—and rational thinking dictates— Closing the perception gap starts with age, ability, ethnicity, gender identity
“women must be equal”. Research shows leaders understanding that there is a and expression, religion or sexual
there are potent economic and societal gap. orientation—can bring their whole
advantages: equality and advancement selves to work and thrive.
for women in the workplace is good for To put creating a culture of equality at
men, for business, for society and for the the top of the business agenda, there At Accenture, our goal is to achieve a
economy. When she rises, we all rise. needs to be a belief that diversity is not 50/50 gender split by 2025. We are
only the right thing to do, but a well on our way to achieving this
So why is “getting to equal” taking so business imperative—and that it must target.
long. be treated the same as any other
strategic priority. The findings and Our annual Getting to Equal research
recommendations of this research can aims to uncover insights that can
Accenture’s 2020 Getting to Equal help organisations accelerate
research tells us what’s really happening empower leaders to take action, no
achieving a culture of equality.
on the ground. matter where they are on their journey
to a culture of equality.
Contents
/04 Think your workplace culture is inclusive? /19 Prioritise culture, get ahead of thecurve

/06 Turning caring into doing /23 Bring everyone in, lift everyone up

/08 Two cultures, one company? /26 Methodology

/14 Make the win with culture /30 Acknowledgments and references

/16 Meet the Culture Makers

GETTINGTOEQUAL2020 3
THINKYOUR
WORKPLACE
CULTURE IS
INCLUSIVE?
Your employees might think differently.
Closing this perception gap will yield
substantialbenefits forcompaniesand their
employees.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 4

We are at an inflection point:

When it comes to workplace Employees care increasingly about Our 2020 Getting to Equal research
workplace culture and more reveals the answer:
culture, there is a large gap companies recognise the
between what leaders think is importance of equality, yet progress There is a large gap between what
going on and what employees say remains dismal! leaders think is going on and what
is happening on the ground. employees say is happening.
Despite growing awareness,
progress just isn’t fast Closing this gap will help
enough. companies thrive in a hyper-
competitive economic
Why aren’t companies more diverse environment and benefit all
and inclusive when the business
case for it is clear?
employees, especially women.

The findings and recommendations of

Why is the number of women in the
this research can empower leaders to
C-suite still so low?
take action, no matter where they are
on their journey to a culture of equality.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 5

TURNING CARING
INTO DOING

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 6

Globally, women are still The World Economic Forum Global Women are more highly represented in
Gender Gap Report 20204 concurs. roles that have been hit hardest by
incredibly scarce at the top—just automation, for example, retail and
under 3 percent of FORTUNE The move towards parity is slow, and at white-collar clerical roles, and a lack of
Global 500 CEOs1 are women the present rate it will take 100 years to care infrastructure and access to capital
and just one-in-five start-ups close this gap. While South Africa has further limit women’s workforce
moved up two places from 19th in 2018 opportunities. In addition, not enough
have a woman founder.2 to 17th in 2020 (out of 153 countries), the women are entering professions such
country performs badly in terms of as those in technology, where wage
In South Africa, women continue to be economic participation. South Africa growth has been most pronounced.
underrepresented at top executive and comes in at 121 for wage equality for Most women find themselves in low-
board levels, and gender targets are not similar work, but ranks in 10th position in middle wage positions where there has
being met. political empowerment and been very little income growth.
opportunity.
In 2019 and 2020, Accenture’s
Our 2018 research showed that while The reasons for the economic gender research indicates that commitment to
South Africa ranked ninth in the world in gap include low levels of women in build an inclusive culture remains low.
terms of women in parliament and in managerial or leadership positions, wage
ministerial positions,3 almost a third of stagnation, lower labour force
organisations had no women in senior Companies are ticking the
participation and income. This gap is
management positions and less than five being widened by a number of factors.
boxes on paper but are failing
percent of organisations had women to implement on the ground.
CEOs.

This adds to the perception gap

in South Africa!

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 7

TWO CULTURES,
ONE COMPANY?
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 8
Employee perception of leaders’ efforts to build a more inclusive culture has remained steady.

The proportion of employees who

Index showing employee perception of leaders’ For the past three years, we have
do not feel included in their
efforts to build more inclusive cultures. asked employees to share their
organisations (i.e., who do not feel
perceptions of leaders’ actions around
they are welcome at work and can
building more inclusive cultures. Our
contribute fully and thrive) is 6x
questions targeted key actions needed
52% 55% 59% to drive inclusivity—e.g., “Is your
higher than leaders believe.
organisation fully committed to hiring,
progressing and retaining women?”.
We grouped the answers of nine such 58%
questions together to create an overall of employees
scorecard.

We found that little has

changed over three years.
Perception scores have
increased by only seven
points.
2018 2019 2020
This pattern is a warning sign for
leaders, because employee
9%
ofleaders
(Score out of 100, where 100 is complete expectations are set to increase—we
commitment) found that younger generations (e.g.,
Gen Z) are more concerned with
workplace culture than their older
counterparts.
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 9
This year, we found that leaders say a culture of equality is important, and they think their organisations
are inclusive. But employees feel very differently.
Since we have proven that a culture of equality allows everyone to advance and thrive, the perception gap is noteworthy:

83% 44% 81% 27% 91% 42%

ofleaders of employees ofleaders of employees ofleaders of employees

Over 80 percent of leaders feel they create More than 80 percent of leaders say More than 90 percent of executives
empowering environments in which employees employees have good control over feel their employees are included,
can be themselves, can raise concerns and can when, where and how they work. Just only 42 percent of employees agree.
innovate without fear of failure. Less than half 27 percent of employees agree.
(44 percent) of employees agree.

Our 2019 Getting to Equal research found that while 95 percent of employees in
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 10
South Africa want to innovate, only 44 percent feel empowered to.
To make equality a reality, it has to be a priority.
In 2018, we identified 40 factors [see appendix for full list] that are proven to influence
advancement, and we organised them into three pillars:

BOLD COMPREHENSIVE EMPOWERING

LEADERSHIP= ACTION= ENVIRONMENT=

A diverse leadership team that Policies and practices that are One that trusts employees,
sets, shares and measures family-friendly, support all respects individuals and offers the
equality targets openly. genders and are bias-free in freedom to be creative and train
attracting and retaining people. and work flexibly.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 11

When she rises, everyone rises

In 2018, we found that

workplace culture is critical
In more equal cultures, women are 43 percent more
for women’s advancement, likely to advance to manager level and beyond, and
and that when women rise, almost four times more likely to advance to senior
manager/director level and beyond.
men rise too. In organisations
where the 40 factors are most
common, women’s odds of In more equal cultures women who, on average,
progress improve, helping earn R59 for every R100 that a man earns, could
earn as much as R87 for every R100 a man earns.
close the gender gap. That’s a 47 percent salary increase.

The impact of an equal

Furthermore, just by uplifting 13 percent of women
culture on advancement, in the workplace to fill medium rather than low-skill
GDP and pay. roles, South Africa could add R319 billion to its GDP.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 12

Innovation mindset is almost twice as high
where cultures are more EQUAL

A culture of equality is In 2019, our research found that Innovation Mindset score
innovation is a powerful multiplier of
a powerful multiplier of growth. In South Africa, employees’ Min=0; Max=100
workplace innovation “innovation mindset”—their
willingness and ability to innovate at
and growth. work—is nearly six times higher in
companies with a robust culture of
equality than in least-equal
companies. 1.7x
87
While diversity factors alone (e.g.,
a diverse leadership team and a
gender-balanced workforce)
5.5x
significantly impact innovation 52
mindset, a culture of equality is the
essential multiplier to help
companies maximise innovation.
16
MOST LEAST
EQUAL TYPICAL EQUAL

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 13

MAKE THE WIN
WITH CULTURE
If the leader/employee perception gap
were narrowed, employees—and the
organisations they work for—could
benefit significantly.

That’s because equality =growth.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 14

If the employee perception gap were narrowed by 50 percent...
We estimate that global profits would be higher by 33
percent, equivalent to $3.7 trillion in 2019.

Employees would benefit, too:

Canada $120bn The proportion of women who

feel like a key component of
Europe $850bn their team with real influence
over decisions would rise from
US $1.05tn one in five to over three in 10.
Africa/Middle East $170bn
The proportion of women
Latin America
planning to stay with their
and Caribbean Asia/Pacific current employer over the
$1.35tn next 12 months would rise by
$200bn 10 percent from 81 percent to
South Africa
89 percent.

$9.7bn

[In USD]
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 14
MEET THE
CULTURE MAKERS

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 16

 These leaders...

A small group of leaders—we SAY:

Building a more inclusive culture is an organisational priority.
call them CultureMakers—are
ahead of thecurve.
DO:
Recognise the importance of culture and identify change as a
personal goal.
We looked at leaders along the
“say-do-drive” spectrum of
commitment to building more DRIVE:
equal cultures. Reward their people for building a more inclusive
culture.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 17

Culture Makers make the difference.
They are more in tune with the workforce, and they recognise They are much more likely to have spoken out on a range of
the importance of cultural factors like pay transparency, the issues, including gender equality (52 percent vs. 35 percent of
availability of family leave and the freedom to be creative in all leaders) and sexual harassment/discrimination (51 percent
helping employees thrive. vs. 30 percent). They hold themselves accountable, leading
organisations that are 1.8x more likely to have publicly
Interestingly, they skew female and younger. They are a more announced a target to get more women into the workforce.
gender-balanced group, since 45 percent of them are women,
whereas women comprise just 32 percent of all the leaders And they model being the same person both inside and
we surveyed. A full 68 percent of them are Millennials, outside of work—85 percent of them believe that senior
compared to 59 percent of all leaders. leaders who talk openly about personal hardships and
challenges are stronger leaders.
Culture All Culture All
Makers Leaders Makers Leaders
Notably, they lead organisations that are growing more than
twice as fast as those of their peers. In fact, they report their
sales are 2.2x higher and their profits are 3.2x higher.

Unfortunately, Culture Makers are still few and far between.

Only six percent of leaders in our survey (rising to nine
percent of women leaders) reach the standard.

45% 32% 68% 59%

women women Millennials Millennials GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 18
PRIORITISE
CULTURE, GET
AHEAD OF
THE CURVE

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 19

Leader priorities:
While leaders think culture is important,
most of them are not prioritising it. Just
23 percent identify culture as a top
priority, and only 42 percent have set a
79% 76% related target or goal.

62% 58%

44% 42%

23% 20%

Financial Brand/Quality Innovation Expansion Talent Diversity Culture Environmental

Performance (Building the (Driving (Growing (Retaining your (Increasing (Building a more (Reducing the
(Growing reputation of your innovation, market share, best people/ Leadership inclusive carbon footprint of
profits, organisation, developing new expanding into talent, diversity, workplace your operations)
maximising increasing products/ new improving increasing environment/
shareholder/ responsiveness to services/ geographic employee workforce culture)
owner returns, customer/citizen content) markets) productivity) diversity)
reducing costs) needs, improving
quality)
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 20
Our research examines
the root causes of why
culture is low on the list
and reveals the hurdles to
progress:
2 in 3 50% 2 in 5
We asked leaders who do not have Over two in three Over 50 Two in five say
South African percent say it’s too hard to
targets in place around building a
executives say it’s they have measure and
more inclusive environment—but hard to link culture other priorities that not all of
who think they should have to business as a business. their
them—what limits their performance. organisation’s
leaders believe
organisations’ ability to set those it’s important.
targets.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 21

Inconclusion
Now that leaders are armed with If leaders prioritise a culture of equality now, they will
create an environment that is more likely to produce
an awareness of both the the financial results they want and need.

perception gap and the barriers to If people feel a sense of belonging and are valued by
building more equal cultures, they their employers for their unique contributions,
perspectives and circumstances, they are empowered
can “say, do and drive” the to innovate more. Everyone will rise.
behaviours and policies that will
And with more gender-balanced leadership teams,
close the gap and overcome the workplace cultures will continue to become more
inclusive.
obstacles in their organisations.
Eventually, leaders will evolve to see profit and culture
not as separate endeavours at all, but as tightly
interdependent goals, equally crucial to success.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 22

BRING EVERYONE IN,
LIFT EVERYONE UP
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 23
CASE STUDY:Microsoft

After years of working to create a diverse Today, Microsoft has about 22 percent Locally, Microsoft South Africa
and inclusive culture, tech giant more women employees globally than in appointed a woman as its new
Microsoft found it was not meeting its 2016, and in technical roles alone, Managing Director in January 2019.5
goals, and in some cases losing ground. Microsoft has 49 percent more women. She has been pivotal in re-igniting the
In 2016 Microsoft made a bold move to Since 2016, Microsoft has seen a 56 South African chapter of
energise and spark broader leadership percent increase in women executives, Women@Microsoft and spurring a
engagement by making diversity one of and the number of women executives in culture that embraces gender equality
the strategic performance goals that technical roles has almost doubled in in the workplace. She is a patron of
determine annual incentives. Senior three years, a 95 percent increase. This the Dream Girls International Outreach
executives are also evaluated on progress is attributable to many factors and Mentoring Programme of South
qualitative performance categories and the work of many people, including Africa.
related to culture in the context of the work done to engage executives on
inclusion. In fact, Microsoft has now Microsoft’s broader cultural
made diversity and inclusion a “core transformation of which diversity and
priority” for everyone working there, inclusion is one aspect.
factoring how well employees meet that
standard into their performance
conversations.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 24

CASE STUDY:Accenture

Accenture is committed to accelerating equality in the

workplace as responsible business leaders and to drive our
innovation agenda. Because we believe a culture of equality is
one where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and
thrive, we trust, respect and empower our people. We offer
them the freedom to be creative and constant access to
learning, training and support to help elevate their careers.

Several years ago, we set two clear goals: to achieve a gender-

balanced workforce by 2025, and to increase the diversity of
our leadership by growing the percentage of women
managing directors to at least 25 percent by the end of 2020.

Today, our workforce is 44 percent women and the

percentage of women managing directors is 24 percent.

Treating our gender goals like any other business priority, we

hold leaders accountable, collect data, measure progress and
publish workforce demographics across key geographies.

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 25

METHODOLOGY

GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 26

 1 Survey: 2 Modelling: 3 Impact on Profitability:

The study was built upon the established Over 40 statistically significant cultural To calculate the South African impact
methodology for measuring the culture of differences (“perception gaps”) between on profitability, we used a combination
the workplace (developed for the 2018 what executives say and what employees of our global modelling and S&P Capital
study, When She Rises, We All Rise and experience were identified by comparing IQ:
leveraged again for Equality = Innovation). paired questions across the two surveys.
These gaps were based on country-level • The global econometric model
Two global online surveys were designed: differences; assigning each individual in revealed that across the globe, there
one for senior executives and one for the survey with a perception gap measure will be a 33 percent profit uplift by
employees. These contained for each question based on country of closing the perception by 50
considerable overlap to allow the location. The study leveraged modelling percent.
comparison and contrast of responses: to asses perception gaps and scenarios to • We calculated the latest available
simulate what the impact of a 50 percent financial year profit of 333
• The employee study (completed by decrease in all perception gaps would companies listed on the JSE using
30,382 individuals) included quotas to have on employees’ sense of inclusion, S&P Capital IQ.
ensure a 50:50 split by gender as well aspirations and retention (split by • We applied the 33 percent global
as broad representation by industry, gender). profit impact to the 333 companies.
size and seniority.
• The senior executive study (completed
by 1,748 individuals) was completed by
individuals in the senior leadership
team/management committee of
organisations employing 50+
employees.

Both surveys were fielded across 28

countries, between October and
November 2019.
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 27
The 40 factors that influence advancement and characterise a culture of equality

BOLDLEADERSHIP COMPREHENSIVEACTION
• Gender diversity is a priority for • Progress has been made in • Progress has been made in
management* attracting, retaining and progressing improving gender equality in senior
• A diversity target or goal is women* leadership
shared outside the • The company has a women’s • There is a clear maternity policy in
organisation* network open only to women* place
• The organisation clearly states • The company has a women’s • Women are encouraged to take
gender pay gap goals and network that is open to both women maternity leave
ambitions* and men* • There is a clear parental policy in
• Progress on gender diversity is • Men are encouraged to take parental place
measured and shared with leave*
employees • The organisation hires people from
• Employees trust that the a variety of backgrounds
• Leaders are held accountable organisation pays women and men • Leaders take action to get more
for improving gender diversity equally for the same work women into senior roles
• A diversity target or goal is • The proportion of women in senior
shared inside the organisation leadership has increased over the
• The leadership team is diverse last five years
• The organisation is fully committed
to hiring, progressing and retaining
women
*14 cultural drivers
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 28
EMPOWERINGENVIRONMENT
• Employees have never been asked to • Leadership has a positive attitude • Company training times and formats
change their appearance to conform toward failure are flexible
to company culture* • Leaders set a positive example • Supervisors respond favourably to
• Employees have the freedom to be around work-life balance flexible working requests
creative and innovative* • Networking events with company • The organisation respects
• Virtual/remote working is widely leaders take place during office employees’ needs to balance work
available and is common practice* hours with other commitments

• The organisation provides training to • Employees can decline a request to • The organisation has made progress
keep their employees’ skills relevant* work later without negative on building a workplace where no
consequences one feels excluded
• Employees can avoid overseas or
long-distance travel via virtual • Employees can decline a request to
meetings* attend early morning/late evening
meetings without negative
• Employees can work from home on a consequences
day when they have a personal
commitment* • Sexual discrimination/harassment is
not tolerated at work
• Employees are comfortable reporting
sexual discrimination/harassment • The company has made progress in
incident(s) to the company* reducing tolerance of sex
discrimination or gender-biased
• Employees feel trusted and are given language
responsibility
• Employees have the freedom to be
themselves at work
*14 cultural drivers
GETTING TO EQUAL SOUTH AFRICA 2020 29
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS REFERENCES

1
GLOBAL PROJECT LEADS https://fortune.com/2019/07/22/women-lead-only-2-8-
of-fortune-global-500-companies-the-broadsheet/
Barbara Harvey [email protected]
2
Annemarie Reed [email protected] https://news.crunchbase.com/news/eoy-2019-diversity-
report-20-percent-of-newly-funded-startups-in-2019-
have-a-female-founder/
SOUTH AFRICA PROJECT LEADS
3
https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/Accenture/
Elizabeth Hakutangwi - [email protected] pdf/Accenture-Getting-to-Equal-POV.pdf

Michelle Ganchinho –[email protected] 4

World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2020

5
https://news.microsoft.com/en-
xm/2019/01/14/microsoft-south-africa-appoints-lillian-
barnard-as-new-managing-director/

GETTING TOEQUAL 2020 33

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