Championing diversity and representation in the workplace: ESAG

ESAG is a prominent family business in the UAE and a leading multi-faceted conglomerate, comprising over 30 companies and more than 4,000 employees. Since 1960, Dubai-based ESAG has partnered with leading brands, providing expertise across a diverse range of industries and consumer sectors.

What is the challenge?

In 2022, ESAG identified the need to further strengthen its EDI efforts. Despite already having a strong, women-led board leadership, female representation in the workforce stood at just 12% – a shortfall in diversity which it felt restricted the variety of perspectives and ideas within the company, ultimately impacting innovation, employee engagement and overall business performance.

What are the objectives?

ESAG’s overarching goal was to establish a workplace where all employees would feel equally supported in their careers and encouraged to succeed.

Specific goals included:

1. Enhance workforce diversity. Increase the representation of women in the workforce from 12% to 20%, covering all organisational levels.
2. Foster an inclusive workplace culture. Create a work environment where all employees feel valued, respected and included, regardless of their gender.
3. Eliminate unconscious bias. Implement training programmes to reduce unconscious bias in hiring, performance reviews, promotions and day-to-day interactions.
4. Integrate EDI into business strategy. Embed EDI into the overall corporate strategy and operations. 

What did it do?

A dedicated equality, diversity and inclusion committee consisting of the senior leadership team from the ESAG corporate office was established to ensure that EDI became a strategic priority across the organisation.

ESAG then carried out an in-depth assessment of its HR policies, practices and culture, and a comprehensive external evaluation of its inclusion climate, involving surveys, focus-group discussions, leadership interviews and impact metrics. Despite an overall rating of 85%, revealing generally positive feedback from the female workforce, the assessment identified several areas for improvement, such as the lack of women’s involvement in strategic decisions and higher promotions. Reports of women feeling undervalued or excluded from leadership roles highlighted gaps in the workplace culture, potentially impacting employee engagement, productivity and retention.

To address these gaps and achieve the goal of progressing women in ESAG, the company implemented the ‘Pathways to Success’ initiative, which included the following elements:

• Targeted career development programmes. Focused development pathways were designed to equip high-performing female employees with essential skills such as mentoring and peer support, and with tools to adapt their leadership behaviour and strategic foresight to unleash their potential, advance their careers and expand their professional horizons.
• Fully sponsored leadership programme. Partnership with the London Business School to offer a four-week online global programme ‘Women in Business’, for developing high-potential female leaders.
• Enhanced maternity leave and flexible work arrangements. ESAG offered employees a 90-day fully paid maternity leave, doubling the duration mandated by previous labour laws. A flexible work arrangement policy was also introduced, providing options like remote working, adjustable hours and parental leave. A dedicated nursing room was established to support new mothers returning to work.
• Mitigating unconscious bias. The organisation developed an extensive set of quantitative and qualitative metrics to measure unconscious bias in various aspects of the organisation and implemented comprehensive mitigation strategies accordingly. These include a new competency-based recruitment process and specialised training programmes for all people managers.

What outcomes have been achieved so far?

The results of ESAG’s EDI initiative have driven both cultural change and business performance improvements.

Quantifiable outcomes to date include:

• representation of women in the workforce is up from 12% to 20%
• a 25% growth in female appointments to middle management roles
• 30% more women in leadership positions, enhancing decision-making diversity and innovation
• a 12% improvement in employee engagement, with female engagement up by 15%
• a 20% increase in female employee retention – turnover rates have gone down from 15% to 10%
• absenteeism is down from 7% to 6.4%, linked to better morale from inclusive practices
• ESAG ranked among the top 10 best companies for women in the GCC region (Avtar and Seramount).

Key learnings

1. Awareness and education are crucial. Fostering awareness of EDI principles and prioritising ongoing training leads to greater engagement and a more inclusive culture.
2. Data-driven decision-making is key. Collecting and analysing relevant diversity metrics is essential for identifying areas for improvement and measuring the impact of initiatives.
3. Secure buy-in from senior leadership. The active participation and support of senior leaders reinforces the significance of initiatives across the organisation.
4. Feedback is fundamental. Continuous evaluation helps ensure that EDI efforts evolve in response to employee needs and company goals.
5. Accountability drives results. Embedding EDI objectives into all relevant HR processes ensures that diversity and inclusion are core to the organisational culture.