First introduced in 1911, International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated around the globe, honouring the extraordinary contributions of women, and recognising the importance of gender equality. Much has been accomplished since the first celebration, but the road ahead is still long. Change is achieved with concrete steps – both big and small – taken consciously to create a more equal world. This is in line with the goals that we share at Julius Baer and our purpose of creating value beyond wealth.

Fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment has implications that go beyond daily business. At Julius Baer, we firmly believe – backed also by an increasing number of studies – that organisations with a strong focus on diversity and inclusion (D&I) are better at decision-making and innovating, show higher levels of employee engagement and retention, are more attractive to potential employees and clients, and ultimately boast greater profitability and better results.

With this belief, the mission of Human Resources at Julius Baer is to create an inspiring and inclusive environment, empowering people to perform at their best. Our focus is on fairness and inclusiveness, on creating a safe environment where people feel secure and have equal opportunities, and on setting up processes to create fair outcomes. This is not just about doing good; it is a necessity for the future health and success of a company. Yet we must be realistic about what has been achieved and about what still needs to be addressed.

An honest and ongoing journey
As an institution we take responsibility beyond our core business of managing wealth. We strive to foster a working culture of belonging, where everyone is seen and heard and can bring in every aspect of their personality to create solutions that provide the most value to our clients and truly advance our organisation.

We approach these goals in different ways. The first layer is based on creating awareness around diversity topics, be it through training and various learning offerings, or events, or communities and networks. In 2022, for example, this included an online workshop on ‘50 Ways to Fight Bias’ as well as an online seminar on ‘Sexism and gender-based marginalisation in the workplace’ both highlighting that many forms of stereotyping, prejudice, or biased attitudes and behaviours are subtle and often subconscious.

In the second layer, arguably the most important one at this stage of our journey towards equality, we address processes. Awareness around equality is key. But any desire for advancement risks getting lost without the correct infrastructure and clear processes in place to attain the highest likelihood of a fair outcome. Take the recruiting process: if the interview panel itself does not reflect diversity in gender, background, and experience, it is more likely that the same will be true of the chosen candidate. At Julius Baer we highly recommend a diverse interview panel and are striving to make it a fixed requirement.

One recent infrastructure success story at Julius Baer focussed on our promotion process. Research has shown that women are less proactive in raising their hands to ask for a promotion. We therefore removed a voluntary ‘opt-in’ clause in most promotion processes to try to address this ingrained bias against candidates who do not feel comfortable presenting themselves for a promotion. Prior to this change, only employees who had proactively chosen to be considered for a promotion were assessed. Now all eligible employees from the designated rank are considered for a promotion – no longer only those who proactively expressed their desire to be considered. This has been a simple, yet very powerful process change that has not only increased the chances of a fair outcome but has also led to a rise in the number of women being considered for promotion.

Another important milestone, which we were able to announce recently, has been Julius Baer’s inclusion in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI). This global reference index tracks the performance of listed companies committed to publicly disclosing their efforts to support gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency. The number of women in senior management remains a global challenge that needs to be tackled. At Julius Baer we strive for 30 per cent female representation at senior management level by the end of 2023 as part of ongoing D&I efforts – and we’re almost there.

Driving change from the bottom up
The next steps will include further institutionalising the topic of diversity. In 2021 we established a global D&I roadmap with its own committee. The D&I committee includes representatives from all our major locations as well as two members of the Executive Board. Our dedicated global D&I manager coordinates and further advances our global effort.

Alongside our D&I committee, equally if not more important, are our D&I volunteer network and numerous grassroots communities, which are driving change bottom-up. Some of the most active groups are our women networks such as our Women in Tech community, Women@JB in Asia Pacific, and H.E.R., a network of our women in Wealth Management that, for example, offers a platform for knowledge sharing and organises workshops where participants are given the opportunity to explore diverse roles and career opportunities, interact and learn from senior management and external experts.

What needs to be tackled next?
As the husband of a successful businesswoman and father of two, my greatest personal hope for the future is that International Women’s Day will one day only be used to celebrate the achievements of women rather than as a day to address inequality issues that still need to be tackled. If we create an open, respectful, and inclusive environment, this will invite people to share more of their ideas and bring different perspectives to work, which will lead to greater innovation and ultimately to greater resilience.

At Julius Baer, we can be pleased with what we have achieved so far but we are also fully aware of the long road still ahead of us. We have a responsibility and duty towards the future and the next generation to continue along this path step by step.

Further reading

Click here to learn more about diversity & inclusion at Julius Baer.