2022 Q3 Newsletter
Gain the Benefits of Being Inclusive
The WEC quarterly newsletter explores the latest thought leadership on women empowerment and DEI, showcases the significant efforts and progress made by our committed Members, and highlights special announcements and updates about the council.
Thought Leadership
Explore the latest learnings on women empowerment and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Today, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) are required for business success. Diversity involves attracting, promoting, and retaining diverse talent and representation. Equity requires implementing processes, practices, and programs to ensure fairness and equal opportunity by taking into account the systemic advantages/disadvantages experienced by certain groups. Inclusion is complex and difficult to measure yet incredibly important. We know increasing diversity and equity takes time, but leaders can act now to be more inclusive.
Why Inclusion?
(Quote courtesy of Deloitte, “The Six Signature Traits of Inclusive Leadership: Thriving in a Diverse New World”)
Research shows that inclusion reaps many rewards and, moreover, a failure to be inclusive leads to significant negative consequences. Inclusion benefits individuals, leaders, and organizations, specific and tangible outcomes include:
- Attracting & Retaining Talent: 65% of people see an inclusive environment as “very important” when considering new roles (Bain, 2022) and experiencing inclusion explains 20% of an employee’s desire to stay at their organization (Catalyst, 2020).
- Breeding Company Ambassadors: When employees feel fully included, they are much more likely to promote their place of employment to others (Bain).
- Enhancing Innovation: Employees who feel included are far more likely to innovate and challenge the status quo (Bain), it accounts for 18% of their ability to generate new ideas, processes, and approaches to driving results (Catalyst).
- Improving Engagement & Teamwork: Inclusion explains 35% of an employee’s sense of purpose and emotional investment in their work and 49% of how effectively they perceive their team to collaborate, solve problems, and resolve conflicts (Catalyst).
The consequences of not embracing inclusion or allowing exclusion can affect people’s Wellbeing. Based on neuroscience, the feelings of exclusion show up in the brain as signals that resemble physical pain (Bain). It can also Increase Attrition. Employees who experience low levels of inclusion are up to six times more likely to actively seek new job opportunities (Bain).
What is Inclusion?
The positive impact of inclusion is obvious. Yet companies are still falling short, with fewer than 30% of employees – across industries, geographies, and demographic groups – feeling fully included. However, a recent survey of 10,000 individuals found that most people, regardless of their identities and experiences, describe the way inclusion looks and feels in the same way. Armed with these common definitions, leaders can be more strategic about recognizing and cultivating inclusion.
- How it Looks: A diverse team where everyone is heard, valued, and supported.
- How it Feels: Being treated with dignity and fairness, feeling a sense of belonging and connection, and being able to bring their authentic selves to work and contribute.
(Source: The Fabric of Belonging: How to Weave an Inclusive Culture | 2022 Bain & Company, Inc.)
(Quote courtesy of Deloitte, “The Six Signature Traits of Inclusive Leadership: Thriving in a Diverse New World”)
How to be Inclusive?
Inclusive leadership is a powerful capability that anyone can develop. Because a survey of over 2,100 employees at large corporations found that a manager’s behavior accounts for 50% of an employee’s experience of inclusion. The more inclusive the manager, the more employees feel valued, trusted, authentic, and psychologically safe at work.
To build inclusive leadership, you can take actions today:
- Don’t Equate Diversity with Inclusion: While a diversity of perspectives is important, it does not automatically mean that everyone feels safe to collaborate or contribute. Build and maintain an environment where everyone feels fully included. Diversity is always changing as the team shifts and grows, but inclusion needs to be constant and continual.
- Get Comfortable with Discomfort: Getting it wrong is an integral part of being committed to inclusion. Mistakes and missteps are par for the course. Be humble, curious, open-minded, self-reflective, and show compassion and grace to yourself and others along the way.
- Role Model Inclusive Behavior: Be responsible for changing old mindsets and behaviors. Listen to problems without trying to fix them, ask questions to invite different perspectives, encourage and elicit honest feedback, admit to failures and share lessons learned, know your values and stand up for them, be a guide and empower independent decision-making.
- Be a Vocal Ally: Start by understanding and then speaking up. Be diligent about reducing personal biases and raising self-awareness. Seek out opportunities to learn from and about people who are different to you. Do your research and trust employee feedback. Speak out against bias and discrimination, and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
(Source: Getting Real About Inclusive Leadership: Why Change Starts with You | 2020 Catalyst)
Member Spotlight
Learn about the significant efforts and progress made by our passionate and committed WEC Members to empower women and drive diversity, equity, and inclusion in their organizations or the wider community.
ConocoPhillips China DEI Achievements in Q2
Progressing our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Journey:
ConocoPhillips is one of the world’s leading exploration and production companies based on both production and reserves, with a globally diversified asset portfolio. At ConocoPhillips, we value all forms of diversity, provide equitable programs, and promote a culture of inclusion. Our commitment to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment is foundational to our SPIRIT Values, and it’s an imperative because it’s our people that make ConocoPhillips run.
The company measures progress based on three pillars that guide our DEI activities: leadership accountability, employee awareness, and processes and programs. In 2021, the company developed six multi-year priorities, based on employee feedback, and multiple tactics to bring the priorities to life and drive meaningful progress toward our DEI aspiration. Our multiyear DEI priorities are:
- LEADERSHIP ACCOUNTABILITY:
- Increase leadership visibility on DEI
- AWARENESS:
- Expand and accelerate company-wide DEI training
- Increase transparency on DEI data and trends
- PROGRAMS & PROCESSES:
- Optimize talent acquisition strategy
- Update the Talent Management Team and succession processes
- Elevate importance of the “how” rating as part of our performance management processes
DEI lives here
Locally in China, we embarked on the journey to build a more inclusive work environment in 2018. In the past four years, inclusion has been transferred from concepts to actions, and become an integral pillar of the China Business Unit (BU)’s strategy and annual goals.
To further increase the visibility of DEI across the company and support our own progressive journey, our China BU established the DEI committee. Sponsored by senior leaders, the organization recruits and mobilizes employees from various functions. Since its inception, the committee has been carrying out action-oriented campaigns and activities to address barriers and challenges along our DEI journey.
Event highlights in Q2
In the second quarter of 2022, ConocoPhillips China actioned new DEI initiatives to promote inclusive thinking and behaviors across the organization.
- Leading from the Top
This year, every employee set a DEI goal as part of their annual performance agreements. We believe this marks a big step forward as we encourage all employees to actively engage in the BU’s DEI journey.
As part of this effort, ConocoPhillips China executives took the lead by sharing their DEI goals with employees in April during our DEI Month. In their video messages, the leadership team talked about their perspectives of the DEI culture, and their further commitment to actions.
Bill Arnold, president of ConocoPhillips China, aims to become a proactive listener and an inspired ally when pursuing DEI. “My goal is to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and to create a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for our people to demonstrate their abilities and get opportunities for development,” he said.
Lydia Zhou, VP of HR and Communications, is focused on employee engagement. “I would like to connect with employees from different functions more, listen to what’s on their minds and encourage them to speak out,” Lydia shared as her DEI goal.
The sharing of these personal DEI goals followed the 2022 ConocoPhillips Perspectives survey, a time marked to advance DEI efforts after employee feedback was collected. Our leaders’ candid remarks sent an encouraging message to the workforce: they are committed to advancing DEI and to ensuring everyone can reach their full potential.
- Standing in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community
The past June was Pride month. In recognition of this, ConocoPhillips China hosted a Pride celebration with employees on June 13, raising the Pride flag, and displaying the rainbow at the event.
We believe our support of Pride month reinforces both our allyship with our LGBTQ+ employees and our support of all employees, regardless of age, ability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status and religion.
At the company, we know that the strength of each individual adds so much value. “Each of us bring a different thread to ConocoPhillips, and it is when all of our different threads are woven together that we create the fabric that defines and binds our company culture,” Bill said.
The Road Ahead: The DEI Future
The past quarter was an important one for our DEI efforts at ConocoPhillips China. Armed with the momentum from the DEI goal sharing and Pride month, we raised the visibility of DEI and sharpened our focus on this important cultural tenet.
As we approach the second half of the year, the momentum remains high. We plan to arrange more deep-dive workshops and fun cultural events to broaden the organization’s awareness and understanding of DEI. We also aim to build connections to foster close and effective communications between the leadership and the workforce.
Through these efforts, we believe we will make DEI progress more visible and tangible in our company.
Inclusive Leadership Workshop @ Merck
At Merck, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion fuel a high-impact culture where we care, thrive, and belong. That is why we have reimagined our approach to DE&I to build and maintain an Inclusive workforce. This begins with our leaders and how we engage with our teams.
We have created an Inclusive Leadership Workshop and have started an enterprise-wide rollout globally to all people managers in our organization. The two-hour workshop seeks to raise awareness of inclusion across the organization and ensures our leaders are equipped to create a “safe space” for discussion and openness – leading in a way that provides everyone with an opportunity to participate, engage, and be heard. The workshop is available in 11 different languages, and we have over 100 volunteer facilitators of existing employees with a passion for DE&I.
As a commitment to the DE&I strategy all people managers will be required to complete this workshop and we are aiming for at least 50% to have participated by the end of 2022. So far, we are on track to meet this goal (currently 39% with >3,800 managers completed) and have been met with unwavering support from all levels of management.
Diversity is one of the guiding principles of WilmerHale and a key driver of the value the firm provides to clients. The range of perspectives, backgrounds, and talents of our lawyers help us develop creative and effective solutions for some of our clients’ most complex and challenging issues. Our commitment to diversity, equity , and inclusion starts at the top and permeates throughout the firm. WilmerHale is one of very few AmLaw 50 firms with a woman currently serving as co-managing partner. The firm is among an even smaller number of large firms to either currently or in the past have a woman and a partner of color serve as a co-managing partner.
Commitment to the Advancement of Women at WilmerHale
WilmerHale has a sustained commitment to recruiting, developing, and advancing women lawyers.
- WilmerHale is an equity only partnership. Women make up 28% of our U.S. partnership, greater than the industry average of 21% for equity partners based on the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) “2020 Report on Diversity in U.S. Law Firms.”
- We continue to increase the representation of women in firm leadership. In addition to Susan Murley, our co-managing partner, women have prominent roles on three of the most influential firm-wide committees, representing 44% of the Management Committee, 52% of the Compensation Committee, and 34% of the Equity Partner Promotion Committee.
- Additionally, three of the firm’s five legal departments are chaired by women; 39% of the partners who chair a firm-wide committee are women and 28% of U.S. partners who chair a practice group are women.
In addition to firm leadership, women at WilmerHale have filled important leadership roles with clients and on case teams.
- 67% of the firm’s public offerings and Rule 144A placements were led by women, raising nearly $60 billion in 2020–2021.
- Twenty appellate arguments in 11 state and federal courts, including 2 arguments in the US Supreme Court, were handled by WilmerHale women in 2020–2021.
- 66% of the 30 largest investigatory matters handled by the firm were led or co-led by WilmerHale women in 2020–2021.
- 66% of the trials and arbitrations handled by the firm were led or co-lead by WilmerHale women in 2020-2021.
Significant Initiatives
WilmerHale’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) promotes the professional development, retention, and advancement of our women lawyers. WLI developed networking circles designed to promote internal and external networks of women attorneys, introduce senior attorneys to junior attorneys to build relationships that may carry over into substantive work and to build sponsorship and mentorship relationships. Additionally, we work to ensure work assignments, training, professional development, mentoring and client engagement processes further the firm’s goal of developing and advancing all of our outstanding lawyers. We also host a quarterly Diverse Women’s Coffee break to bring together the diverse women attorneys to help build relationships, community and to share resources in a setting that recognizes the unique challenges that exist in the intersectionality of gender, ethnic background and LGBTQ status.
WilmerHale also continues its practice of offering newly promoted senior associates and counsel the opportunity to attend two-day orientations to facilitate their successful transitions to more senior positions. At the senior associate level, we focus on building a foundation for business development, delegating, and providing effective feedback. For counsel, we expand on this curriculum by teaching pitching, networking, and branding skills in addition to best practices for providing constructive feedback. Both orientations emphasize leadership, efficiency, matter-management and client service.
Recent Recognitions
Our firm has received various industry accolades including:
- Seramount/Working Mother named WilmerHale a 2022 Best Law Firm for Women. WilmerHale is one of only two law firms recognized for being on the list since its inception in 2007.
- For the fourth consecutive year, WilmerHale achieved Mansfield Certification Plus status in 2021. WilmerHale has consistently achieved Mansfield Certification Plus status – the highest designation possible for supporting the Diversity Lab Mansfield Rule’s goal of boosting the representation of diverse lawyers and women in law firm leadership – since 2018, when we were part of the inaugural group of firms to agree to have their efforts evaluated. Our participation in Mansfield 5.0 is currently underway.
- In Law360’s 2021 Glass Ceiling Report, WilmerHale placed fourth out of 66 U.S. law firms with the greatest overall representation of women.
- The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) ranked WilmerHale “top scoring” in its inaugural Diversity Scorecard. The firm was one of 20 law firms in the 501+ lawyers category to receive the ranking.
- WilmerHale again earned a top-ten spot on The American Lawyer’s A-List in 2021, which marks the 18th year that WilmerHale has been listed and the firm’s sixth consecutive year in the top ten. This prestigious list highlights the top 20 law firms in the nation that excel in diversity, associate satisfaction, finances and pro bono.
Progress Report
Catch up on any WEC activities you’ve missed this quarter and stay up to date on important announcements.
Women Empowerment Awards in China Winners Announced
ExxonMobil x Fedex: The Value of Coaching, Mentoring, and Sponsorship for Women
On April 29th, ExxonMobil and FedEx co-hosted a webinar on Coaching, Mentoring, and Sponsorship attended by more than 120 people from WEC member companies and the larger DEI community.
Here are a few takeaways from the participants:
- A Coach talks with you, a mentor talks to you, a sponsor talks about you.
- Coaches help employees set targets and make better action plans.
- Mentors help mentees develop career goals and expand their social network.
- Sponsors can benefit employees as well as business development.
- Companies can leverage coaches to enhance corporate culture.
Girls in STEMM Virtual Graduation
At the end of May the Women Empowerment Council (WEC) hosted a final online session for the Girls in STEMM students in Beijing and Shanghai. While students are looking forward to completing the in-person company visits later in the fall, they had a chance to interact with speakers in aerospace, tech, and healthcare before their summer holiday.
Speakers:
- Christianna Bambini, Mechanical Engineer, SpaceX
- Shirley Wu, Senior Vice President at Dell Technologies
- Dr. Liu Wei, General Manager of Beijing United Women and Children Hospital and Associate Chief Medical Officer of Beijing United Family Hospital
- Jenny Yang, Executive Director of United Foundation for China’s Heath and Executive Director of CSR at UFH
Upcoming Events
Beijing – August
Invited guests: WEC member representatives, senior executives, and leaders in a position to shape and influence policies.
Purpose: Forum for women decision-makers to network in an intimate setting, exchange ideas, learn from thought-leaders, and influence each other on common challenges and topics.
Topic: Identifying Unconscious Bias
Beijing – September 22nd
DEI: Lights, Camera, Action! It’s time to shine a light on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) and inspire action to create workplaces that work for all!
The WEC’s mission is to be the collective thought leader on advancing gender equality in businesses in China. This year, we embarked on a new initiative to share company best practices and leadership insights in an inaugural DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Report.
On September 22nd, we will hold the first Women Empowerment Forum to launch the findings. We welcome all organizations, leaders, and individuals seeking to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environments and help move the needle for women in China.
Online – September 8th
Quarterly Executive Meetings engage all WEC member representatives to discuss and shape the direction of the council and reflect on current gender equality needs.
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